Jackie Davis

News Article 1
1. Cite the name of the news source, the article title, the date, and the byline
(the reporters name). Paste a link to the article here (in Canvas).
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161208-why-vitamin-supplements-could-kill-you
BBC.com/future/news, Why Vitamin Supplements Could Kill You, December 8,
2016. Alex Riley.

2. What are the main conclusions of the scientist(s)?

The main conclusion of the scientists is that vitamins can either have no effect or a
deadly effect.

3. What are some possible impacts this information could have on society or on
individuals?
This article is trying to say that it is better to get natural vitamin C from fruit
instead of taking pills or supplements. Your daily five of fruits and vegetables is
better for you than taking a supplement for them or added on to them.

4. Are other scientists, or policy-makers, mentioned as being in disagreement

with the research scientists? If so, what might make you tend to take their
doubts seriously (or not take them seriously)?
The article starts out with the opposing views of Nobel Prize of Chemistry; Linus
Pauling, who stated that the supplements can cure the common cold or keep you
healthier throughout your life. I take him seriously because of his title of being a
Nobel Prize winner of Chemistry and because he used supplements his whole life.

5. Are scientists mentioned in the article affiliated with a nonpartisan group, like
a University or Government, or affiliated with a for-profit corporation? If the
latter, do you suspect that altered their conclusions?
University of Rochester, New York, first identified these molecules as a possible
danger. The idea was expanded upon two years later by Denham Harman, from the
Donner Laboratory of Medical Physics at UC Berkeley. Cited from the article.

6. In what ways did the article change and expand your views of the topic? If it
did not change or expand your views, describe what you knew about the
subject before reading the article.
 Whenever I have gotten sick I would take a lot of Vitamin C pills and eat oranges. I
felt like I was cured faster, but after reading this article it may not be such a good
idea to do that. That is because in reality it is mutating DNA and not allowing my
body to use its immune system to fight back on its own. This can be harmful, and in
their tests they showed that it can lead to earlier cases of breast cancer for women.
I personally feel like you can get cancer from anything and I would rather get feeling
better sooner and just take the Vitamin C. After reading this though I may not take
as much as I usually do.

7. Do you think the reporter did a good job or a bad job of giving background for
the story? Please give an example to support your opinion.
I feel like this reporter gave a good job of giving the background of the story
because they started with the Chemist who first brought the supplements to the
table for being testing to cure/help people. Then it talked about research that was
done with mice to see how it effects them. After this it goes to it how it affects our
DNA with mutations. In the conclusion it talks about why natural fruits and
vegetables are better than taking supplements.

Reflection prompt 1. Did your article, or things you saw in your search for articles,
change the way you think about science? Did you see evidence of scientists
actively engaged in public policy debates, and were you surprised by their level of
advocacy?
The way that I searched for articles changed the way I thought about science
because I had no idea about all of the different studies that are occurring regularly.
Some of them can be really fascinating, informative, and beneficial to learn about. I
didnt look into the articles enough to see how they engaged in public policy or
debates. I only saw from the articles that I read how they feel that a persons health
could be better evaluated.
Reflection prompt 2. Discuss how your article made connections to another
discipline, like business, government, politics, economics, or humanities. If it didnt
make any connections to other disciplines, discuss a connection it could have made.
Another discipline that it related to was that of medicine and how vitamins in
large amounts are unhealthy for you. Its important to take them, but if you take too
many then it could be harmful to your body as well.
Reflection prompt 3. Describe how the class as a whole has impacted your views
on science, the human body, and human impacts on the planet.
This class has really opened my eyes to what is occurring in the body on a
constant basis. I had no idea how many different aspects and microscopic details
went into daily living or how our bodies are so influenced by our activity and what
we allow in and out of our bodies. I think that it is important to take care of our
bodies and have regular exercise, eat healthy, and to get a set cycle of sleep so that
our normal body functioning can maintain its homeostasis. I learned how important
it is for us to take care of our planet and that when we dont take care of our planet
we are also not taking care of our bodies because of the chemicals that we release
into the air are very influential to our health.