By: Thom McGlashan

Jennifer Totts has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. That is right, she has been taking lessons for ten years at Kim’s Martial Arts in Medina. She can break a pile of boards with her hand. Her Mom and Brother Jamie also take lessons there. To get the next color belt, you have to pass a test to show the instructor that you’ve learned the skills. Jennifer says, "I really like my class. I have a lot of fun there."

The cardinal is known in Ohio because it’s our state bird. I like the cardinal as Ohio’s state bird because it’s very beautiful. I think they are very breathtaking creatures. Some people call it the red bird or the Nightingale. It ‘s a very musical bird. The male sings more intensely when he looks for a mate. The male is a fire engine red, and the female is a reddish brown color. The males are very protective of their area; they will even chase other cardinals away. The reason why the male is more of a brilliant red is because he distracts snakes and other predators away from his eggs, which have a brown, speckled pattern.

The males can grow from 8 ½ inches long to 11 1/2 have rounded tails and large heads. Their legs are quite strong, especially for their small bodies.

The birds are mostly found in the Southeastern states as well in the Northeast. Cardinals are omnivores. They like to eat insects as well as corn kernels. They are very good parents, however, the birds do not put very much thought into their nests. The nests can be messy looking.

Cardinals are very majestic and proud bird that is another reasons why it is a good representative for Ohio.

Many children in third world countries die each year from disease like diarrhea and cholera. These diseases can be easily treated with medicines and generally aren’t fatal if treated correctly. The problem is that the vaccinations can be expensive. Poor countries can’t afford to pay the cost of these medicines. However, some scientists are working on genetically engineering crops to make them grow larger and healthier produce and even naturally produce vaccines themselves. How does engineering work? Well, scientists inject genes into the food. These genes trigger the fruit or vegetable to produce certain proteins. These proteins, when eaten by humans, stimulate our bodies to fight disease

According to an article on www.abc.com, Charles Arntzen is a scientist who would like to see modified food feed the world. Arntzen was a plant biologist at Texas A&M in 1990 when he attended a conference sponsored by the World Health Organization. The conference discussed ways to make sure that every child in the world received vaccinations. There are a few big reasons why it’s so hard to give vaccinations to children in Third World Countries.

First, most medicines must be refrigerated. Some places don’t have the technology to do that. In addition, the vaccines need to be given by medical personnel, which in some places is hard to find. Maybe the biggest reason is that it’s such a hard thing to do is that it’s very expensive He knew then that he could work with common fruits and vegetables to genetically engineer them to be healthier.

Arntzen started practicing his genetic 

engineering methods on tobacco plants because they are one of the easiest to modify. From there, he moved to Cornell University and began work on tomatoes and potatoes. Arntzen conducted just a few clinical trials with these potatoes. His human subjects didn’t have any side effects, but they had to eat them raw in order to get the medicine. Cooking the vegetables broke down the medicine too much. To get an adequate dose of the medicine, they’d have to eat an entire bag. It is still very hard to make sure that each plant has the same dose. If someone accidentally got to much of a vaccine, it would be just as bad as not getting any at all.

Charles Arntzen is now working with bananas. On a trip to Bangkok, he saw that bananas were everywhere and that people eat them like junk food. What if the people in Bangkok could eat the bananas they grow and get the medicines they need?

It needs to be said that not everybody is happy about genetically modified food. In fact, some call it "Frankenstein Food". This food has had trouble with the Federal Drug Administration. The FDA wants extensive testing before it to be done before humans can touch it.

Lately, there have been stories in the news regarding corn that was modified to be resistant to pesticides. In some cases, this corn has triggered allergic reactions in humans. Taco Bell and Kellogg’s have pulled product off the market due to the possibility that the corn was used.