Week 1 Journal

This week, I learned a lot in class. In our reading, I learned about several conspiracy theories such as the one with mailboxes being taken down to affect elections. I had not heard of these stories until now which illustrated to me how misinformation can be confined to certain circles, at least until they gain significant traction. I also had not heard of the Waco Siege and Branch Davidians until we mentioned them in our first class, so I briefly looked them up. I was unfamiliar with the terms "snake oil" and "yellow journalism" until we talked about them in our second class. In my virology class, we talked about the evolution of vaccination and how Louis Pasteur treated a boy who had been infected with rabies. It made me thankful that now we just do vaccinations rather than being treated with dead tissue from infected animals or humans. The next day, I talked with one of my past professors, and he told me that Pasteur was actually controversial for altering his results and methods. Another random thing that I learned, this time in my class on Christianity in Pop Culture, is that several of the posters for the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had E.T. doing famous religious poses like the Sacred Heart from Catholicism or the finger touching from the Creation of Adam. Finally, I learned about what causes inflammation in my Immunology course. Swelling is caused by the leaking of fluid into the injured area, while redness and heat are caused by increased blood flow. Additionally, the fluid can press on nerves which can contribute to pain and sometimes numbness.