Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya for three weeks. I went with the organization Me to We, which is associated with Free the Children. I stayed in the village of Eor Ewuaso in the Narok South Constituency of Kenya.

While I was there, I worked with my travel group and Kenyan construction workers to build a new classroom for the Eor Ewuaso Primary School. I was able to see many exciting new sights and meet plenty of interesting people. I also was lucky enough to go on a safari in the Masai Mara National Reserve and see animals from wildebeests to elephants.

In this slideshow, learn more about the community I visited and the plants and animals of the Masai Mara. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Acacia

In the Masai language, Masai Mara means dotted landscape, because the acacia trees are so abundant that from the air they appear to dot the dry land below.

Sign

The sign of the Eor Ewuaso Primary School

School Room

A school room currently in use in Eor Ewuaso is made up of wood walls and a tin roof.

School Room

Another school room currently in use

New School Room

A soon-to-be school room built by Free the Children in Eor Ewuaso

Ballast

Shoveling ballast is an important, if not too fun, part of mixing concrete.

Tree Nursery

The Free the Children tree nursery sends saplings out to villages in Kenya that Free the Children works with.

Tree

A freshly planted tree outside of the Eor Ewuaso Primary School

Malori

Malori, an intelligent 11-year-old girl from Eor Ewuaso

Richard

Richard, my Masai warrior guide, wearing a traditional shuka

Conga

Richard, a Masai warrior, throws his conga, a traditional weapon, across an open field.

Kisaruni Philosophy

The Philosophy of the Free the Children Kisaruni All Girls High School painted on the wall of a classroom

Books

Books sit on a table in the Free the Children Kisaruni All Girls School Library.

Footprint

Because many children in Kenya do not wear shoes, the child's footprint was left on the dirt road.

Cactus Tree

A large Cactus Tree grows in an open field in Kenya.

Acacia

Acacia trees are extremely common in Kenya.

Vultures

African White Backed Vultures seek their next meal.

Houses

Traditional Masai huts often include a kitchen area, a bed that sleeps multiple children, and a secluded room for the mother and father.

Landscape

I marveled at the beautiful Kenyan landscape.

Acacia and Water

The acacia tree situated beside the small body of water looked so picturesque.

Maize

For many subsistence farmers in Kenya, maize serves to feed and support their families.

River

This river is the main water source for the community of Eor Ewuaso.

Children

Two children pose for a picture.

Landscape

On a morning hike, the village looked so beautiful.

Nap Time

Two kids take a rest on the grass.

Acacia

An acacia tree back-lit by the sun

Sky

The sky looked menacing before a thunder storm.

Hare

This hare blends in so completely with the surrounding ground that it is almost impossible to see him from far away.

Little Girl with Glasses

An adorable little girl tries on my sunglasses.

Zebras

I saw plenty of Plains Zebras on my safari.

Acacia drepanolobium

The thorns of the Acacia drepanolobium are extremely pointy!

Lamb

Sheep are among the animals commonly kept as livestock by Kenyan herders. Livestock serves as a bank account for many Kenyan families.

Safari

A van drives through the Mara taking people on a safari.

Giraffes

These Masai Giraffes are one of two types found in Kenya. The other kind of giraffe in this region is the Rothschild Giraffe.

Wildebeest

About 1.5 million of these wildebeests will migrate between Kenya and Tanzania each year.

Elephants

I was lucky enough to get to see these African Elephants very close up.

Elephants

African Elephants are huge! They are the largest land animals in the world.

Elephants

The gestation period for elephants is a long 22 months.

Elephant

An elephant's diet consists of bark, roots, grasses, and fruit.

Giraffes and Zebras

Unlike at the zoo, where different species have different enclosures, in the wild, I saw giraffes, zebras, and many other non-predator animals existing in the same environment.

Saying Goodbye

My trip mates and I said good bye to our new friends.

To learn about the clean drinking water crisis and Kenya and around the world, check out:
The Water and Sanitation Crisis: An Obstacle to Survival
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Maddy Appelbaum is a TalkingScience intern and a senior at Scarsdale High School. She loves learning new things about science -- and any other topic. She also enjoys art and travel.

This river is the Eor Ewuaso community's main source of water. Photo credit: Maddy Appelbaum

The women filled their buckets with water and we took turns carrying them on our backs during the mile walk back to the women’s home. A few days later, my group went on a hike through the forest beside the town. After a beautiful two hour hike through trees and fields, as we were heading back toward town, we saw a same river at a different point. A boy was herding his cattle through the open space and had brought the cows to the river to drink. The cows washed off and urinated in the river. Just one half mile away, women and girls were fetching water from the same river -- water they would later drink.

An Acacia tree sits beside a small body of water. Photo credit: Maddy Appelbaum

Illnesses that come from drinking poor water are most commonly due to bacteria, protozoa, or viruses present in the water. “There are three groups of microorganisms, so if you design a treatment system for one of these groups of microorganisms and not take into account the other groups, you will not have a successful and complete treatment of the water,” explained Professor Kellogg Schwab director of the Johns Hopkins University Global Water Program.

Scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli, Photo Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH

The drinking water crisis not just about lack of access to clean water sources, it is much more complex. A contributing factor is lack of access to adequate sanitation. More than 2.6 billion people do not have access to simple sanitation technologies such as pit latrines and hand washing stations. “They have to, unfortunately, defecate in the open, which contaminates the water supply and leads to the unsafe drinking water issue as well,” said  Ana Kolodzinski, Director of Communications for the WASH Advocacy Initiative.

The water and sanitation crisis has the greatest effect on young children. “Adults also get illnesses from drinking dirty water, but children are more susceptible to dehydration, which actually leads to death in some children,” said April Davies, International Programs Manager of Water.org. This leads many children to miss school due to sickness, which only sustains the cycle of poverty.

Woman collecting water from unsafe source in Kenya. Photo credit: Sarah Bramley, courtesy of Water.org

Girls can even suffer serious bodily harm from constantly carrying such heavy loads. “They can actually have muscular skeletal problems," said Schwab. "So if they're hauling 44 pounds around, and they weigh 60 pounds, and they’re carrying it on their heads for three kilometers, [it can lead to] a permanently deformed neck.”

It is also possible for a certain parasite to infect the body of a person who is just standing in the contaminated water while fetching it for her family or herding animals. “There are other microorganisms, such as schistosomiasis, that are present in the water, so you walk in the water, you can get them causing an infection in your legs,” said Schwab.

While there is a growing awareness among North Americans and Europeans of the water crisis in the developing world, “it is oftentimes kind of the unspoken reality for many people in developing worlds that a lot people here in the United States don't completely understand or grasp,” said Kolodzinski. Because of this lack of understanding, (alongside other issues) fifty percent of the time a foreign organization steps in to help, despite the best of intentions, the project fails.

According to Schwab, this occurs “usually because the engineering tool they have chosen, the technique, might show great success in a high income country, in a laboratory, but if its not applied appropriately...or if you don’t train the individual, or if you forget that there are cultural differences...it will not be sustainable.”

Although Professor Schwab says there will be no "silver bullet,” there are several sustainable solutions that are showing promise in developing countries. One of these solutions is chlorinating the water in such a way that many of the microorganisms are destroyed but the chemical is still safe to drink. However, this is not a perfect solution. “Chlorination has a place,” said Schwab, “but it has to be integrated in with behavior and an understanding of the population before just giving someone a chlorine tablet.”

New school handpump in Kisumu, Kenya. Photo courtesy of Water.org

Water.org is implementing a new method called Water Credit, with the hope of making water a truly sustainable, accessible resource across the world. “Essentially it is applying microfinance to water and sanitation so people can take out small loans to obtain water and sanitation connections in their community or right outside their home or in their home,” said Wickenhauser. “What's really important is it is bringing a capitol market on the ground that is self sustaining so eventually we want to work ourselves out of business.”

“The grassroots approach, where you work with the individuals who you are trying to help, moving forward is one that is going to show more success,” said Kellogg Schwab.

Even here at home there are many things we can do to aid in ending the water crisis -- from donating money to donating Facebook statuses.

“We are...asking individuals who are interested in getting involved to become advocates, which means they could actually ask their senator to cosponsor the Water for the World Act which is currently in the senate, or they could ask their member of congress to ask for local funding for [water and sanitation] support in next year’s federal budget,” said Kolodzinski.

It is also important to spread the word about the water related issues affecting people worldwide. “[The issue] really is, I think, under the radar to a certain extent, so we ask people to donate their voice. We actually have a Web site calledpower.water.org where you can donate your Twitter or Facebook status and then occasionally we’ll tweet or automatically post different things about the crisis or the solutions,” said Wikenhauser.

Additionally, hosting or participating in a fundraiser is a good way to raise awareness and money. “Individuals can either join or lead a walk for water event in their community,” said Kolondzinski.

On an even smaller scale, according to Schwab, there are little things we can do each day to help solve the global water and sanitation challenge. “We all need to lead by example," he said. "The most basic thing we can do for global health is wash our hands.”

Water is one of the most basic human needs, which is why it is unacceptable that almost one billion people world wide do not have access to a safe, clean supply of it. Although there is not one simple solution, Koldodzinski is hopeful and explained:

“We have the knowledge and the technology to do it, at this point its just a matter of finding the funds and the awareness.”

Schwab agrees that the problem is solvable, but believes it will require a global, interdisciplinary effort. “We have to develop a dialogue with individuals outside our own discipline," he said. :Engineers will not solve this problem, public health practitioners alone will not solve this problem. We need to bring in the entrepreneurs, we need to bring in the social aspects of this the economic aspects, the behavior, the policy, the government, together as a unified approach.”

Want to help? Visit these sites to learn how you can get involved:

Water.org
Waterforpeople.org
WASH Advocacy Initiative
charity: water
Global Water Program
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Maddy Appelbaum is a TalkingScience intern and a senior at Scarsdale High School. She loves learning new things about science -- and any other topic. She also enjoys art and travel.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to get the chance to see “Pompeii the Exhibit: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius” at Discovery Times Square. This ‘explosive’ exhibit showcases an array of artifacts that were perfectly preserved in ash for almost two millennia. It is absolutely incredible to get such a complete look at the daily lives of people who lived in Pompeii 2,000 years ago.

One of the first artifacts that greets exhibit-goers is this ancient garden fountain (photo courtesy Discovery Times Square).

When walking through the exhibit, one gets the feeling of being transported from 21st century midtown Manhattan to 1st century Pompeii, the day of the eruption in AD 79. All of the rooms, with their walls designed to replicate those of a home in Pompeii, filled with artifacts from surgical instruments, to statues of gods, to furniture, to a loaf of bread, do a fantastic job of recreating life in Pompeii two millennia later. It is easy to imagine, while strolling through the exhibit, everything the people of Pompeii were doing the morning of the eruption, not knowing what was to come. Both visually striking and thought provoking are the quotes from visitors to Pompeii, including Mark Twain, that adorn the walls of the exhibit. They describe the horrors of the tragedy, and the feeling of exploring the ghost town years later.

Walking around in the room full of body casts gives the feel of being in an eerie graveyard.

Definitely the most creepy and perhaps the most interesting part of the exhibit is the room full of body casts. Because of the 12 feet of ash that covered all of Pompeii, all of the people who suffered death due to suffocation on the day of the eruption were preserved in the exact position that they died. Years later, when the lost city was discovered, plaster was poured into the molds left by the decayed bodies, and the ash was chipped away to leave almost perfect recreations of the citizens of Pompeii.

The cast of a child who died on eruption day (photo courtesy Discovery Times Square).

Stepping into a room full of casts of people who apparently died in agony is sufficiently disturbing, but it provides the viewer with an even clearer picture of the way the citizens of Pompeii lived and died. While it is sad and scary to see the facial expressions and contorted bodies of the deceased, in a way it is like a time capsule of human connection, allowing us, 2,000 years into the future, to empathize with the people of Pompeii. Similarly, from a scientific and archaeological perspective, the preservation of all the minute details of the human form, as well as the clothes and sometimes jewelery the victims wore gives a unique and exciting opportunity to gain insight into both the lifestyle of these ancient people, and the science behind preserving human bodies.

A still from the video that depicts the eruption of Vesuvius (photo courtesy Discovery Times Square).

Something I was pleasantly surprised to find the exhibit offered was a large amount of interesting and informative videos, charts, and interactive media. The most striking of these is a video presentation that puts the viewer directly “in the shadow of Vesuvius” and takes her through the day of the eruption, beginning with a small shake and a little smoke, and ending with the city being engulfed in ash. This forces the viewer to imagine what that day must have been like for a citizen on Pompeii. The exhibit also includes timelines detailing the volcano's activity over the years, the history of the uncovering of the city, and more.

This exhibit is effective all the way through, ending with a video of people who currently live in Pompeii discussing why they choose to live there knowing another eruption is imminent. It left me, as I walked out of Pompeii and back into New York, thinking about the "what ifs." What if in 2,000 years a cast of my body lies in an exhibit in some future version of Times Square? To me, any exhibit that can place the viewer so firmly in the shoes of people who have been dead for 2,000 years is incredible, and certainly worth the hour it takes to meander through.

This exhibit will intrigue you and leave you thinking. So make sure to catch it (or catch it again) before it closes in New York on September 5th.
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Maddy Appelbaum is a TalkingScience intern and a senior at Scarsdale High School. She loves learning new things about science -- and any other topic. She also enjoys art and travel.

During the weeks preceding the premiere of the sixth season of the revival of Doctor Who, the cast, writers, and producers journeyed across the pond to promote the show to U.S. audiences. This Sci-Fi phenomenon has been blasting its way across the Atlantic in both viewership and production (much of the upcoming season was filmed in Utah).

Recently, we had the incredible opportunity to attend an early screening of the first two episodes complete with a question and answer session with the actors and writers themselves! By simply standing outside of the event it was clear to see what a dedicated fan base Doctor Who has, fostering a line more than a block long of self-professed “nerds” dressed in costumes that ranged from the eleventh Doctor’s signature bow ties to hilarious Doctor Who-themed Tee Shirts. Many had even camped out overnight in order to ensure that they get a glimpse of Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and the rest of the cast, as well as a sneak preview of the new episodes, titled “The Impossible Astronaut” and “Day of the Moon.”

The Doctor & Co. rolled up to the East Village movie theater in a vintage blue convertible, looking hipster as can be, and appearing to be having a great time! To say the waiting crowd was excited to see them would be a vast understatement, but the cast did not seem phased by the hundreds of people screaming their names.

Once inside, following chants of “Doctor Who! Doctor Who!” from the ecstatic audience, the lights dimmed and the movie screen in front of us lit up with all of the excitement, emotion, intensity, and silliness viewers have come to expect from this long-running show. Without giving away too much, the two episodes built on an unresolved story line from the previous season while adding many layers to the plot. They did a lot to establish an over-arching story for the rest of the season, but left room for the mystery, pleasant confusion, and theorizing that “Whovians” love to partake in. These two episodes were close to, if not the best episodes of Doctor Who thus far. They truly contain all of the elements necessary for a good TV experience. They have the comedy of NBC’s Thursday line-up, the emotion of an episode of Day’s of Our Lives, and the sci-fi mystery of the original Star Trek.

Perhaps the one element that brought the new episodes to such a high level of Who-ness was the new alien featured as the “bad-guy” of the episodes. This creature created a psychological fear similar to that of the Weeping Angels. In fact, they may have been of the best Doctor Who monster of all time. This level of creepiness certainly added to the drama of the show overall, and did a lot to make the viewer think.

A common theme through season five that appears again in the first episodes of season six is the presence of “Wibbily-wobbily, timey-wimey” stuff. Writer Stephen Moffat spends a lot of time playing with the concept of time in ways that make the viewer scratch his head, rewind, attempt to understand the anomaly, and repeat. The ability to play with time in order to create interesting situations is a huge benefit of having a show with a main character who has the ability to travel in time. Moffat has used this to his advantage since he took over for season 5 and again in the beginning of this season.

Additionally the cast has never been as good as they were in these two episodes. Alex Kingston is totally bad-ass as River Song, Arthur Darvill creates a Rory that is more lovable than ever and Karan Gillan plays Amy as her usual feisty self. We also have a feeling that Matt is on his way to become our favorite doctor. What’s so great about Matt’s Doctor, is that you never forget that he isn’t human. He’s awkward, ridiculous and although he is over 900 years old, he has absolutely no idea what to do around women.

However, you should be warned that this probably isn’t a place to jump on if you’ve never watched the show before. Usually with season openers, you can enjoy them even with very minimal knowledge about the show; however, if you haven’t seen the show before, you probably will be left completely confused by these episodes. This may have been a mistake, especially because the show has gotten so huge in the US over the past year.

Really, our only complaint is that the Tardis was a bit more crowded than usual with Rory, Amy, River and guest star Mark Sheppard all along for the ride. There isn’t a whole lot of Doctor – Amy time, but it surely wasn’t enough to ruin the episode, and I’m sure we’ll get enough of that later on in the season.

The first episodes of season six promise an exciting season to come, with many Brits and Americans alike tied to the couch, eyes glued to the TV, waiting to see where the Doctor points his sonic screwdriver next.

[Editor's note: Doctor Who‘s sonic screwdriver opens locks, heals wounds, controls the TARDIS, and even — on occasion — tightens and loosens screws. Read about how his multi-purpose device may no longer be a fiction thanks to engineers in Britain who have developed a device capable of moving and manipulating objects using only ultrasonic sound waves. Read more.]

Season 6 of Doctor Who premieres on BBC America on Saturday, April 23rd.

Photos by Maddy Brout and Victoria Grempel

I asked other students at my high school to weigh in. According to many of my peers, this is the fault of high schools and colleges. Students attest that schools put too much pressure on students to be successful, which leads to a very high level of stress. One student told me that her friends often call her up at 12 midnight or 1:00 AM complaining that they are unable to finish all of their work, or they are suffering from insomnia, or just plain stress.

However, my peers did not place the blame on the shoulders of academics alone. They believe that this increase in teen mental illness is partially the fault of parents, and the increased pressure that they put on their children. Although many if not most parents pressure their children to be successful in order to benefit the children, it still produces anxiety and stress. Now there is pressure not only to succeed in A.P classes, but also to be captain of a sports team or president of a club, and to accumulate community service hours. To the modern teen, these parental expectations are just a part of life, but they do put a strain on the psyches of many adolescents.

More surprisingly, the numbers of certain mental illnesses went up even more than five times. There has been a steep rise in hypomania, a disorder that produces anxiety and unrealistic optimism, depression, and psychopathic deviation, which means having problems accepting authority and feeling exempt from the rules. According to my peers, they have not seen a prevalence of these disorders among teens that they know; however teenagers are often experts at deception.

Perhaps this rise in mental illness is not the fault of one single institution, or even a group of them. Maybe it is just the byproduct of a changing society. In the age of the Internet adults and teenagers alike want all the information, and all the success, right now. They will settle for nothing less than instant gratification, and sometimes this is a good thing. It prompts healthy ambition and self-confidence. However, when teens fall behind, or feel that they can’t measure up to the standards of this changing world, the effects are detrimental.

Please write in and tell me what you think!

“What is love?” asked the singer Haddaway in 1993, as well as plenty of people before and since then. Recently I heard Dr. Helen Fisher, Rutgers University anthropologist and the brains behind dating site chemistry.com, speak at the New York Academy of Sciences. She shed some light on the complex issue of why we humans fall in love with one person rather than another. (Dr. Fisher’s latest book is called Why Him? Why Her?) Despite the common belief that true love is simply made from magic, Dr. Fisher showed us that there is a tentative formula for this essential aspect of the human experience.

Fisher’s research has found that romantic love can be broken down into three parts, lust or sex drive, romantic attraction, and attachment. Each plays an important role in falling, and staying, in love. Dr. Fisher realized, through data gathered from personality tests completed at chemistry.com, that there are four different human personality types, each indicating higher levels of a specific chemical in the brain. The Explorer type, having a high level of dopamine, is adventurous, spontaneous, and creative, while the Builder type, having a high level of serotonin, is traditional, rule-driven, and cautious. The Director type, having a high level of testosterone, is logical, aggressive, and tough-minded, while the Negotiator type, having a high level of estrogen, is empathetic, big-picture focused, and idealistic. According to Fisher, there is a mix of all of these personality traits within each person; however, two types are dominant. For example, it is possible to be an Explorer/Negotiator, as Fisher herself says she is.

Fisher has found that depending on a person’s personality type, it is possible to predict with whom he or she will most likely fall in love. Explorers are generally attracted to Explorers, and Builders to Builders. However, Negotiators are attracted to Directors, and Directors are likewise attracted to Negotiators. This is a perfect example of opposites attracting, a concept famously used in romantic movies, books, and plays ranging over the centuries. It happens, says Fisher, because the personality traits associated with each type are perfectly balanced by those of the other type.

For example, Negotiators are often bad decision makers who easily change their minds, while Directors are quick, logical decision makers who don’t let emotion get in their way. A perfect example is the relationship between the Director Hillary Clinton, and her Negotiator husband, Bill. This can be a formula for the success of a complementary relationship, or the disaster of constant disagreement. I found the entire phenomenon that love can be boiled down to chemistry (in the scientific sense) extremely interesting. With that in mind, I decided to commission some of my friends to complete Fisher's personality test, in order to find out if her research truly holds up in our day-to-day lives.

Go to chemistry.com to take Dr. Fisher’s personality test for yourself, and learn who you are, and whom your best match might be!