December 7th 

I have come a long way since I first thought of my idea over the summer and my initial idea in the spring of 2023 through journal posts and SDAs, and it is finally time to further this knowledge of not only my project but of the class as a whole through the midterm. To show progress- we have all been assigned classmates to collaborate with, as it is a vital part of the class- part of the name itself. In addition, our midterm guidelines require that we create a podcast in the style of Radiolab from WNYC. As a guide, each partnership had been assigned a podcast to analyze- ours got Diagnosis published in 2008. 

Significance - The importance of the podcast was to show the process of thinking and how we all tend to be wrong at times. When we step back to look at other sources as to what could be going south as an explanation rather than what is in front of us, we better understand the topic(s) at hand.

Perspective - The podcast, as it mainly focused on medical issues and awareness, especially relating to mental health that we continue to push for today, affects everyone and shows people how they could be looking at things all wrong, even if their issues do not relate to the medical field. 

Evidence - They used many different examples and situations where you would need to use this idea surrounding the answers to things that are unanswered or have something wrong in your life, as they put it. The cited evidence is from reliable sources like doctors and professors of medical fields. 

Connections - Much of the podcast, as mentioned, related to other fields of study and life in general, but mainly mental and physical health, psychological/biological studies, and advancements of knowledge and discovery of diseases through diagnosis. It connects to other subjects by serving as a means of getting answers, as everything is questioned in our society. 

Supposition - If it were different, and we did not use/have the skill of diagnosis in our world today, nothing of value would be discovered, and many mysteries would be left unsolved. 

After listening to the podcast, seeing the connections between seemingly different stories, and learning how to effectively tie ideas together engagingly, I met with my assigned partner (Ishika- studying Glaucoma) to discuss possible themes. 

Idea One: Vision 

Vision. Both my partner and I have taken the straight-forward look at vision- eyes. The theme, however, deters from this one-lane thinking, as vision can be defined as a dream/prediction. In this theme, we hope to attack/research how vision will be in the future- quite a clever play on words if I do say so myself. The final product would surround/address future problems caused by our respective eye problems, future ways of improving (healthcare, upcoming inventions, and possibly companies supporting the cause), and a prediction of how these issues will look in the future using statistics to show if they will improve or get worse.

Idea Two: Eye Deterioration 

Deterioration in society today is closely related to age, and a driving factor in younger people can be attributed to the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Following this idea, my partner and I hope to research how age, drugs, and alcohol affect our respective vision problems and then delve deeper into eye deterioration, specifically by mentioning the role of brain injuries and vision correction in the worsening state of eyes. To conclude, we plan to discuss the similarities and differences of eye deterioration within our categories and how/what treatment can help solve/prevent such issues. 

Idea Three: Illusions 

Illusions are an issue related to the brain more than the eye- but that's not to say we, as a society, do not have illusions or misconceptions about the eyes and how they function concerning Glaucoma and refractive errors that my partner and I are researching. We hope to compile a list to address the confusion surrounding the eyes, as they are complex organs in the body. Although this requires further research, both of us also discussed the possibility of there being a real scientific between hallucinations/illusions and eyes- perhaps the parts of the brain controlling both are near each other or have an overlap of some kind. 

I can't wait to see where our research takes us and finally be able to bring someone else's voice and style of doing things to my research is exciting.