Madeline Rudd Staff Writer After earning The Iron Devil for all of his hard work over the 2016 off-season, junior Grayson Allen has been officially stripped of his Duke Basketball captain position because of his misconduct during Duke’s game against Elon on Dec. 21. Only sixteen minutes into the game, Elon guard, Steven Santa Ana, tried to get around Allen, but Allen was not having it. He stuck his foot out to trip Santa Ana and an immediate technical foul was thrown on him. This is not the first time Allen has done this, he tripped two other players in February last season, and this seems to be strike three. On top of the technical foul, Allen threw a full-blown tantrum on the bench after he was pulled from the rest of the first half. In the post-game conference Coach Krzyzewski said, “what Grayson did was unacceptable,” and continued to say that Allen apologized to Santa Ana and, he got his punishment, never mentioning any suspension time. Later Allen was suspended “indefinitely” because of his actions. This “indefinite” suspension did not last long though; Allen only sat for one game and played against Georgia Tech only fourteen days after the Elon game. There is some speculation about Coach K’s reasoning for lifting this suspension, but he has said no comments about it. This controversy around Allen could not have come at a worse time in Coach K’s career. Only a few days before the Allen incident, Duke announced that Coach K will be taking a leave of absence to undergo surgery to remove a fragment of a herniated disk in his back. He is expected to be in recovery for about a month. During this time associate head coach, Jeff Capel, will be leading the team and his first game will be Saturday the 7, against Boston College. The team is currently 1-1 in ACC play, so hopefully Grayson Allen keeps his feet to himself, and Capel can hold down the fort. Jacob Sosdian Staff Writer Fences is one of the best dramas I have seen in 2016. It was originally a 1983 play by August Wilson. Fences won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for drama and the 1987 Tony Award for best play. Just very recently this film won a Golden Globe for best actress by Viola Davis. The movie, directed by and starring Denzel Washington, is about an African American who works as a garbage man. He is a father who tries to raise his family in the 1950s while coming to terms with the events of his life. Patrick LaLiberte Staff Writer Recently conducted studies show that a small adhesive sensor can find out quite a bit about your body based on your perspiration. The sensor can even send the information gathered from your sweat wirelessly to your smartphone. This sensor could potentially become the easiest way access someone’s health information in the near future, maybe even replacing blood tests. Sweat is obviously much easier to get than blood, which makes it very possible that these sensors could soon be used as an alternative to blood tests. Sweat can be used for a number of things including diagnosing diseases and uncovering drug use. Perspiration can be used for these things because it is a chemical full of molecules ranging from electrically charged ions to more complex proteins that can help show what is happening inside of a human body. Bryce Cullen Staff Writer London is off to a not-so-great start with their new air pollution limits. Just five days into the New Year, and London has breached its annual air pollution limits. An air monitoring site located at Brixton Road South London began reading levels of nitrogen dioxide above their limits early Thursday. This however, continued throughout the day, breaking the eighteen-hour legal limit; data collected by Kings College London. The gas nitrogen dioxide is of course released from the emissions of cars, its inhalation can lead to lung disease and respiratory problems. The amount of air pollution detected at Brixton Road was “incredible”, said an environmental activist. The activist went on to say how Brixton Road being home to many shops, and transportations, the bus services in that area should have been shut down and nearby pedestrians warned to leave the area due to its air quality. The European Union law states that the maximum nitrogen dioxide concentration of two hundred micrograms per cubic meter cannot surpass for more than eighteen hours over the year. However the Brixton Road site measured its nineteenth hour above the threshold at 9 p.m. on Thursday. Simon Birkett, the found and director of the Clean Air in London campaign, stated,“Hourly nitrogen dioxide concentrations reached an incredible 347.7 micrograms per cubic (meter) in Brixton Road at 9 p.m.” These numbers never should have been passed if they could have delivered on their Clean Air Act. At the very least some steps should have been taken in order to secure public health, and even lower the amount of carbon dioxide within the air. Hopefully the European Union learns from this event and takes the necessary steps in order to secure safer air quality. Bryce Cullen Staff Writer California is finally getting what it needs… rain. Yet, too much of any good thing doesn’t mean it gets better. California could be receiving as much as fifteen inches of rain in the Sierra Nevada while other areas of higher elevation could receive two feet of snow. This year has been a wild year in terms of precipitation; places like Alpine and Soda Springs received more than seventy-five inches of snow with their recent weather system. Another one just like it isn’t too far behind. You may be asking yourself how this is possible. Well science has an explanation for that, and it is quite interesting. It is called an “atmospheric river," a weather phenomenon that is a column of moisture that flows inland from the Pacific. These atmospheric rivers can be anywhere from 250 to 375 miles wide. Strong atmospheric rivers can carry water vapor “equivalent to 7.5-15 times the average flow of liquid water at the mouth of the Mississippi River,” stated the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also says, "On average, about 30%-50% of annual precipitation in the (West Coast) states occurs in just a few (atmospheric river) events, thus contributing to water supply". Howeve, with those atmospheric river events, they also bring heavy flooding. In which case California is finally getting some rain, but just a little less would have done just fine. Rhea Sodem Staff Writer Snapchat made fictional spy gear that is usually seen in movies come to life with its new product called Snapchat Spectacles. These glasses do not take photographs, but they take ten second videos that directly upload to your Snapchat when synced with your phone. These glasses cost $130 and come in the colors black, red, and blue. The camera in the glasses are supposed to take 115 degree videos that give the impression from the user’s point of view. On the side of the lens, there is a button that can be pressed to capture a video and clicked twice to stop recording. There is no need to worry about creepers taking videos without consent because a white light illuminates on the exterior of the lens to let others know that the user is currently taking a video. The case that holds the glasses can be charged when you’re not using the glasses, they can be placed in the case to charge. According to Snapchat, a full charge should last you a casual day of recording or approximately sixteen videos. If you want to buy it, you can try them on through the Snapchat filter from the code on their website. Unfortunately, these glasses are being sold only at pop-up vending machines and are limited in location. Jessica Stiehm News Editor The death penalty is an outdated practice rapidly falling into decline only increasing in its brutality. Most of the industrialized world has abolished the death penalty, leaving the U.S, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan as the exceptions. The European Union (EU) specifically attempts to inhibit the these countries, including the U.S, from continuing the practice. All of Europe, sans Belarus, the commonly characterized dictatorship, has banned capital punishment. The EU has long championed for human rights, but they’re actually hurting more in the short term than they are helping more in the long term. In an effort to terminate the death penalty in the United States, the EU “specifically blocks the export of drugs that could potentially be used in executions”. Hospira, drug company that manufactures certain drugs that can be used for lethal injections, was pressured into halting their production because the U.S was using their products for the sinister practice. Similar companies have followed suit, either for ethical reasons or similar pressures. Carlee Lewis Staff Writer A Vancouver woman, Terra McCabe, had her dog stolen in early 2013. McCabe left the dog, Daisy, tied up outside a local grocery store to make a quick stop. When she returned to pick up Daisy, she was gone. Daisy had been stolen. Almost three years had gone by, and there was no sign of Daisy. Daisy managed to find her way to an animal shelter who realized that she had a tattoo in her ear. They used the tattoo to track down McCabe. Leland Gordon of Winnipeg Animal Services stated, “She was very lucky that there was an old tattoo associated with this dog, and through a lot of work, through the veterinary community and through animal services, we were able to work as a team and get this dog back to its owner.” Patrick LaLiberte Staff Writer Giant nets with fine mesh are being used to catch and condense fog into drinking water in southwest Morocco. Moisture from the air is gathered on the nets and combine to form liquid water, which then falls and flows into a reservoir. The project, which is run by a Moroccan woman named Dar Si Hmad, spans six hundred square miles, making it the largest functioning fog collection project in the world. It provides water for over five hundred people between five different villages. The villages have recently been hit by severe droughts, so the water gathered from the fog catchers will be of great value to the villagers. If not for the giant nets, the people of the villages would have to walk for up to three hours every day to wells which were often depleted of water. Condensing fog to make drinking water is not a new practice as it began in the 1980's. There are several active fog harvesting projects in places such as Chile, Peru, South Africa, and even California. Efforts to bring a fog harvesting project to Morocco began ten years ago, but the project did not launch until 2015 after roughly four years of testing. The project was a huge success as the nets in Morocco collect about 6,000 liters of water a day, and the water is then filtered and sent to the homes of the villagers through nearly five miles of piping. The project received much praise and was even awarded the 2016 United Nations "Momentum for Change" award. The plan over the next two years to is to expand the project to eight other villages, aiding over five hundred more people. Dar Si Hmad also plans to bring fog-catching nets to other parts of southwestern Morocco to provide clean drinking water to a wider variety of people. Amber Hancock-Burns Staff Writer A peanut allergy is one of the most known food allergies and is responsible for the most deaths caused by an allergen. Because of the high amount of those affected, doctors are trying to find a way to prevent peanut allergies in children. More than fifty million people in the United States are affected with a food allergy, and doctors want to reduce that number as much as possible. They decided to start with the peanut allergy due to it being so common among children. Doctors have found that if a child is introduced to peanut containing foods around the age of four to seven months, there is a chance that they can prevent a peanut allergy from developing. |
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