"Rachel Carson is responsibe for the death of over a million Africans each year!"

Malaria is one of the most deadly diseases and the leading cause of death in the world. Malaria causes 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths a year. Malaria is an insect-borne disease, found mostly in mosquitoes. When the female mosquito feeds on the blood of a human, it injects their own saliva so that the female mosquito’s proboscis wouldn’t become clogged with blood clots. In their saliva, the parasite causing malaria may exist and travel into the host. The parasites then travel to the liver, where they mature and then move to the red blood cells to multiply. The following results in destruction of blood cells, liver failure, kidney failure, meningitis, respiratory failure from fluid in the lungs, and rupture of the spleen leading to massive internal bleeding. Malaria is not contagious but a fetus can contract malaria from its mother, because of the blood transfusions that exist between them.


Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” addresses the results of insecticides. Insecticides and pesticides were used to control the population of insects and pest surrounding their crops and trees. Carson warns that the effects of pesticides are far greater than the initial plan. In fact, the pesticides affect everyone in the area. It starts when the planes spray. The chemicals are absorbed into soil, travel into the stream affecting the fish and eventually birds of prey. As the chemicals climb up the food chain, the concentrations get more deadly. A few cases of human deaths were recorded due to the strenuous amount of the chemicals that were used.
“Silent Spring” raised awareness to all about the effects of insecticides and pesticides and the book basically screamed “STOP USING THIS STUFF”. And so the book’s wish was granted. As a result, insect population, such as mosquitoes, rose. As the mosquito population rose in certain areas of the globe, the diseases that were connected with them were also are on the rise, affecting millions of people. Mosquitoes have a way of carrying the disease from one person to another without themselves being infected and some are known to carry a strain that is not affected by the less harmful chemicals. We cannot count on the disease they carry as a weapon to kill off mosquitoes and help fight the war on malaria.




For what it is worth, I truly don't believe that rise of malaria was Carson's goal. But with every change there is a problem and to every decision there is a consequence, good or bad.

"What Are the Odds": investigating probabilites

1)What are the odds of being killed by a coconut?
General odds are 1 to 250,000,000. But it all depends if you have coconuts in your area. They can reach a speed of 50mph- fatal if you are underneath. Coconuts kill 150 people a year.

2)What are the odds that you are a decendant of someone famous (infamous)?
Four percent of people find, when searching their geneology, that they have royal blood connections. Around 23 percent have confirmed connections to the aristocracy, famous historical figures or rich landowners.

3)What are the odds of a girl/guy will be raped in their teens?
This can be a little bit of a challange to investigate, because most sexual assults are not reported, in fact, 60 percent of them. 29% of children 12-17 are victims, it jumps to 44% for those under the age of 18 and 80% under 30 years. Although 12-34 are the highest risk years, girls age 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to become a victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

In 2007 numbers reported that there were 248,300 victims not including 12 years or younger. The number has certainly decreased since 2003-2004 when there was an estimated 20.48 million victims both men and women. They say it had decreased 60% since 1993

4) What are the odds that you will misspell one of the common misspelled words?

when these words are misspelled a certain percent of those

5.What are the odds of getting struck by lightning?
Odds of being struck by lightning in a given year (estimated total deaths + injuries) 1/500,000
Odds of being struck in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/6250

6 What are the odds of the world end by asteroid?

one in one thousand