Station 1: Blood Sugar Monitoring

Your body is made up of millions of cells, and these cells use glucose as their energy source. Your body gets glucose from the food that you eat. After a meal, your body secrets a hormone called insulin into your blood; insulin works as a signal to let your cells know that glucose is on the way to feed your cells. But, for people with diabetes, the signals that tell the cells to absorb the sugar are defective, or the body does not make enough insulin. As a result, high levels of glucose remain in the blood, which is thought to alter the structure and function of many different types of cells in your body. This is why diabetes can cause so many different kinds of serious illnesses if not controlled.

The glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test is a long-term measure of blood sugar control. It allows your doctor to figure out what your average blood sugar level has been for the past few months. An A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two different tests indicates that you have diabetes. A result between 5.7 and 6.4 percent indicates prediabetes. Normal levels are below 5.7 percent.

A typical adult has a blood volume of approximately 5 liters.

Station 2: Alternative Fuel

Ethanol is an alcohol made primarily from corn. Because ethanol is derived from a plant that is grown, it is considered a renewable fuel. In addition, since the corn for ethanol can be domestically produced, it reduces the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are designed to run on gasoline or gasoline-ethanol blends of up to 85% ethanol (E85). Except for a few engine and fuel system modifications, they are identical to gasoline-only models.

A typical car has a fuel tank that holds 14 gallons.

Station 3: Saline Solution

For medical purposes, saline is often used to flush wounds and skin abrasions. Normal saline will not burn or sting when applied.

Saline is also used in I.V. therapy, intravenously supplying extra water to rehydrate patients or supplying the daily water and salt needs of a patient who is unable to take them by mouth.

Station 4: Nutrition

The Percent Daily Value on the Nutrition Facts label is a guide to the nutrients in one serving of food. For example, if the label lists 15 percent for calcium, it means that one serving provides 15 percent of the calcium you need each day. The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet for healthy adults. They are not the percent that nutrient actually accounts for per serving, but the percent out of what is recommended to eat per day.

Station 5: Blood Alcohol Content

Blood alcohol content (BAC), is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes. A typical adult has a blood volume of approximately 5 liters.

Progressive effects of alcohol

BAC (%) Behavior Impairment

0.100–0.199 Over-expression Boisterousness Possibility of nausea and vomiting

Reflexes Reaction time Gross motor control Staggering Slurred speech Temporary erectile dysfunction

0.200–0.299

Nausea Vomiting Emotional swings Anger or sadness Partial loss of understanding Impaired sensations Decreased libido Possibility of stupor

Severe motor impairment Loss of consciousness Memory blackout

0.300–0.399

Stupor Central nervous system depression Loss of understanding Lapses in and out of consciousness Low possibility of death

Bladder function Breathing Dysequilibrium Heart rate

0.400–0.500

Severe central nervous system depression

Coma Possibility of death

Breathing Heart rate Positional Alcohol Nystagmus

>0.50 High risk of poisoning High possibility of death Life

Station 6: Diesel Fuel

Since the 1990’s, fuel quality has been increasingly more regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the authority of the Clean Air Act. Sulfur, a natural part of the crude oil from which diesel fuel is derived, is one of the key causes of particulates or soot in diesel. Soot is the main culprit of diesel engines' noxious black exhaust fumes, and is among the prime contributors to air pollution.

Diesel fuel of maximum sulfur level of 15 ppm is sold in the U.S. today. Before 2006 the standard highway-use diesel fuel sold in the U.S. contained an average of 500 ppm of sulfur.

A typical 18-wheeler has two gas tanks that each hold 100 gallons of diesel fuel.

Station 7: Greenhouse Gases

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the chief greenhouse gas that results from human activities and causes global warming and climate change. This means that means CO2 acts like a blanket that traps heat from the sun. The more CO2 in the air, the thicker the blanket is.

For most of Earth’s history, our atmosphere has had an average of 275 ppm of carbon dioxide. 300 years ago humans started burning coal and oil, and the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere started going up. 350ppm is considered by some to be the safety limit for life on Earth. Over 350, we risk hitting dangerous “tipping points”. These tipping points are major events like rising sea levels, more extreme weather, and the acidification of oceans. All of these have begun to happen and nations around the world are starting to take action by agreeing to do things like work to limit fossil fuel usage.