Have your students read the Scientific American article by D. L. Davis and H. L. Bradlow entitled "Can Environmental Estrogen Cause Breast Cancer?" October 1995, pages 166-72. Pesticides applied to control insect populations filter into our food and water supplies. These "xenoestrogens" mimic estrogen in the body and are believed to be contributing to the phenomenal rates of breast cancer in North American women, as well as to the demise of amphibian populations and the incidence of sterility in human males. Discuss this article with your students and have them come up with recommendations to ameliorate the problem.
Read and discuss N. Kalin's article entitled "The Neurobiology of Fear," Scientific American, May 1993, pages 94- 99. This article describes where fear is located in the brain and discusses the hormonal responses to this emotion.