Unit 10 Reflection

In this unit, I learned about the different structures of the human body and their functions. In the human body, there are different systems to help function the body cavity and I learned a lot about the circulatory and respiratory system. I want to learn more about the endochrine system to get a better understanding on how it works since I do struggle a little bit. I wonder how it would be like if I were a fish because there is a different system for a fish and it will be interesting to experience that. I have developed into a better student from the beginning of the year. I have accomplished a lot with my studying skills for the class and hopefully I will be prepared for next year in Chemistry honors. My favorite posts from my blog has to be Invertebrates: Cnidaria. I like learning about different animals and what they do to survive and that is why this is my favorite blog post. This concludes my reflection.

Pig Dissection Relate and Review

In this lab, we dissected a pig and identified each system and part of the fetal pig. Throughout the process of cutting and slicing the piglet, I learned more about the anatomy of the specimen and their functions which will come in handy for the upcoming final next week. I did participate in cutting and finding the specific parts of the fetal pig which was difficult for me since it was hard to identify the organs and more. My group and I worked diligently with finding each part and in the end, we had to make a video tutorial about the specific structures of the pig and their functions in the body. We did have a set back on identifying the circulatory system of the pig, but luckily we did complete the requirements for the video (click below to see video). This concludes my relate and review.

Final 20% Time Post

1) The highlight of my project is creating an assistive device that would help get closer to curing color blindness. Encroma already made glasses to help color blind people see color but I presented an idea for my 20 time presentation to make contacts that will go on the eye, instead of over the eye.



2) Here is my TED Talk presentation:



3) Overall, my TED Talk was successful, but one thing that I would change is making my presentation more over about what I have done throughout the project. After watching myself in the video, I would grade myself a 72 out of 75. To reflect this whole process, one thing that I experienced is how much you research may not be presented in the actual talk. This was alright with me, yet I would still have liked to add more information. Continuing, my take-out from this whole experience levels off to what we can do to make society more sane or balanced. This just basically helps review homeostasis. Listening to other presentations, I have seen how some people work diligently on their project while others may have not worked as hard. This concludes my 20 Time Project.

20 Time Reflection

I challenged myself throughout this whole process of researching the different material to make a model or slides for my TED Talk. One specific thing that was challenging for me is finding what type of contacts would be necessary to make the product for color blind people. My goal is to get closer to curing color deficiency by making contacts that has the same information as EnChroma's glasses. I chose this challenge to help people that can not experience the world like the rest of the world can. Helping others is what I like to do and that is why I chose this challenge. My plan is to create eye contacts that bend the wavelengths of light the exact same way as EnChroma does for their glasses for colorblind people. This idea was the first idea that popped in my head and I definitely believed that I could have achieved making models but sadly I could not. Time for this project is hard to cope with and that is why I will not be making a model. I learned a lot about how the eye works and it makes me more interested in human anatomy. If I had the chance to do something differently, I would set goals that I could actually achieve. I would continue this challenge and share it to others that may work with me to complete this project.

Unit 9 Reflection

        Unit 9 my classmates and I learned about classification and evolutionary relationships of different organisms. Some essential understandings in this unit include how life is organized and the characteristics of the different organisms in their classified group. We classify these beings by the common traits in which they are dispersed in different groups all the way from kingdoms to the specific species. I want to learn more about the different kingdoms in the Archaea since that domain is very interesting. I wonder how ancient animals lived before the humans came since we made a lot of different animals extinct. Would they ever have a shortage of food?
       This unit we did a presentation called What on Earth Evolved (my presentation was about bananas)? This presentation was a learning experience for me since I did not do so well in front of the class. I have anxiety and this makes it harder for me to be less nervous and it makes me talk faster. I have not improved on my presenting skills since the beginning of the year and the only time where I feel less nerve-wrecked is when I know my classmates enough to feel comfortable and let loose. Everything else went well for my presentation other than this issue but from what I learned after speaking is that I should practice more and more so I can feel more comfortable.
       I enjoyed learning about taxonomy in this unit and I have been studying for many days so I can be prepared for the upcoming test. This concludes my Unit 9 Reflection.

My Inner Fish-Reflection

       In class we watched a video called, "Your Inner Fish" which talks about how humans evolved from fish. The Tiktaalik was the first fish-like creature to climb out of the water and explore dry land. I found this animal to be very interesting because it was the animal that every creature was based on. A question that I would like to go further in depth with is: "What are some of the forms the descendants of Tiktaalik evolved in their limbs"? They evolved with wrists and elbows to help themselves be propped up which is also found in reptiles and mammals. I wonder if the ancient creature went onto land once then went back in water then repeated this process until they shifted their limbs to help prop them up. It would be interesting if they already had these features before that because I would think that they would have adapted before hand. Another question is: "What is the 'Sonic Hedgehog' gene responsible for"? It tells different cells to do things(hands and digits). I found this gene very interesting because of all the scientific study that went behind to discover what actually makes your fingers. This concludes my reflection.

Getting One Step Closer to Curing Color Blind Eye Deficiency #4

For the past week I have been improving and redesigning what the models may look like for my 20 Time project. I have learned more about my topic and I recently discovered what type of contact lenses I may use for the project. This is a super exciting project and throughout the time spent doing it I learned a lot more about myself and how efficient I can work on making a blueprint for the model. I have no setbacks at the moment because I finally solved my issue with the contact lenses. I plan on making a paper model due to the timing in which the project is due. Right now, I am finishing the blueprint for the model of the eye and the process is going fast. Hopefully I can get started on the model next week or maybe at the end of today. I can apply my project to the community because my idea of making contacts for color blind people will make an impact for others outside of school, etc. This concludes my blog post.

Invertebrates: Cnidaria

As one of the oldest existing animals, cnidarians are classified as Phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfishes, also known as scyphozoans, are a part of the four major classes of cnidarians and with that they are one of the most diverse living creatures to be known. Jellyfish have two body forms, the first body form is called polyps and at that stage their tentacles face upward while their second stage, medusas, form the tentacles facing downward. An interesting fact about jellyfish is that if they are in stress (in medusas) they can easily go in reverse back to polyps. Another interesting detail about these cnidarians is that they do not have a brain but they can detect changes in the environment from their nerve nets. Jellyfish come in many different shapes and size and even at the smallest size, their sting can still pack a punch. The Irukandji Jellyfish, Carukia barnesi, measure at 5 millimeters across and is one of the smallest box jellyfish in the world. They are known as the second most venomous jellyfish according to PlanetDeadly.com.  These dangerous scyphozoans were first found in North Australia, but they were soon then spotted as far away as the British Isles. They are many interesting creatures in the sea, but jellyfish take the lead in one of the most beautiful but deadly sea animals. 

Getting One Step Closer to Curing Color Blind Eye Deficiency #3

Last week, I finished the first sketch for the first model of how an eye works and started with the another sketch for the second model. During that time I did more research for how contacts work and I am still not sure what type of contacts I will use for my project. With that, I was trying to find a diagram for what happens in the eye when there is this deficiency. What I learned from myself is that it takes a lot of research and time for this 20 Time project before you get an idea on how you should present your idea. The only setback I had was not figuring out what type of contacts would be necessary to cure this. Since I was not able to work on my project this week due to being sick, next week I will be continuing the sketch for the model. I can apply how other people feel about color blindness with my project because it gives me more motivation to work on the contacts.

Unit 8 Reflection

This unit was about change within a species and the geological history behind it. Some of the essential understandings in this unit include what is the difference between natural selection and evolution, another big topic was the constant change between a species (gene pool), also this unit discussed about speciation and how it affects a population, finally the origin of life was another essential understanding. From this unit, I want to learn more about Earth's past, and the things that contributed to what our world looks like today. From my previous blog post, I made a reflection for a timeline that my group and I completed in class. With that, I wonder what the first animals looked like on Earth and how they adapted to their environment. This topic interests me a lot and I think it is great to learn about evolution in biology class. From unit 7, everyone in the class, was shown a video on how to be assertive, from that I realized that I am becoming more assertive when working on group projects. Though, I still think that I may be a little passive because I usually do not take the role as a leader when working with more than one person. In the end, as a group, my teammates and I all show assertiveness and that really does bring our whole group together making us work more efficiently with the time provided. This concludes my reflection for Unit 8. 

Geological Timeline Reflection

In this project we made a timeline of Earth's history on 10 meter paper. Some major events that happened in Earths history include: the birth of Earth, the first mammals, and the triassic extinction. 4.5 billion years ago, the planet that we live on was first a ball of dust and rock particles and there was attraction called gravity in which then the moon would have formed around that time of gravitational pull. About 4.2 billion years later, was when Earth had the first mammals. These mammals were spreading all around and they were rodent like creatures who were nocturnal. Though 20 million years later, there was a mass extinction that killed around 80% of the animals living and this extinction was called the Triassic extinction. This mass extinction made the large dinosaurs lead the world, they were the most dominant land animals. Earth's history definitely had many ups and downs but most of all it created life. I think of Earth's history as a scarf that is being knit. Why I say that is because there are a few little mistakes and then some big ones but it still continues in an organized order. The mass extinctions definitely surprised me when learning about the history of Earth. Humans caused the most impact on other species and plants leading them to extinction due to the necessities that we need. This is a little bit worry some because it still continues in different parts of the Earth presently.

Getting One Step Closer to Curing Color Blind Eye Deficiency #2

For the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of research on what causes color blindness and what an eye looks like without that deficiency. I started to make a presentation but I soon then realized that making a model would express my 20 time project even more. Last week, I started to make a blueprint for the model. I concluded that I will be making two designs of an eyeball. One design will be a normal vision eyeball and the contents of what it can do to make you see color. For the second design it will be the same size as the other design but inside the model, there will be a display of what makes you color deficient. Right next to that model, there will be a levitating contact lens showing what a laser incision may do to help color blindness. Obviously, the model contact will not look like a laser but it will act as a display. I have been studying what type of contacts I may use. I am still on the fence about it but this is a struggle for me to find out if I want a contact that will be on the eye or inserted inside (laser). Overall, I am on a successful track that will soon lead me to my end product. For the next week, I will be working on the blueprints and I will find out more about different contacts. This concludes my second blog post

Hunger Games Analysis Questions

1. In this lab, my class and I went outside and simulated a real world population survival between different organisms/species. How we survived in the lab was by "eating" and "reproducing" in order to continue this so lifestyle. There were three groups of species in the lab: pinchers, knucklers, and stumpys. Overall, we tested out how populations evolve over time also known as natural selection.

2. The phenotype that was the best at capturing food was the "Pinchers" in which they can pick up the food between their thumb and index finger and they had an advantage of using both hands to grab food quite easily. The frequency of the "A" allele drastically changed as the lab continued (50% to 16%) while the "a" allele frequency increased significantly (50% to 83%).

3. The population definitely evolved throughout this simulation experiment and we know that because the population of the "stumpys" decreased due to having a difficulty in retrieving food by the wrists in which the population started to die out. With that, the "knucklers" and "pinchers" had an advantage over each generation. The frequency of the "A" allele drastically changed as the lab continued from .5 to .16, while the "a" allele frequency increased significantly from .5 to .83.

4. When doing this experiment, some random events occurred  when it came to reproducing and how much a pocket can fill up with the "food". When reproducing, the "species", my classmates and I, chose who we reproduced with and it varied quite a lot along the way. The random moment with carrying the food was uncontrollable due to people having bigger pockets than others and the mobility. The nonrandom moment was how everyone picked up food, the specific species, throughout each generation. The random moments definitely effected the population in which one "pincher" classmate had a harder time picking up food.

5. The results would definitely be different if the food was larger than the corks, such as a softball. If the food was as large as a softball, the "A" allele frequency would be a higher percentage than the "a" allele frequency due to "stumpys" having a bigger advantage than the "knucklers". If this occured in an environment, the three different species may migrate to the different areas to get the food that will be easier for them to consume.

6. The results will be different, if there was no incomplete dominance, "knucklers". That would mean that there would be no knucklers in which in the end of each generation, the stumpys would decrease significantly.

7. The relationship between natural selection and evolution is that natural selection is the mechanism that drives evolution while evolution is the genetic makeup of a population over time.

8. Strategies that individuals adopted throughout the experiment includes how some species decided to mate with the pinchers in order to have the likelihood of survival for their offspring and using shirts as an advantage to achieve more food.

9. In evolution, the whole population evolves and natural selection acts on both genotype and phenotype, with that, my justification for this is revealed through my graph.

10. If this lab continued, would the allele frequency reach a limit?

Bird Beak Lab Conclusion!

In this lab, we asked the question "If natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressure affect the evolution of that species?". My hypothesis for part 1 of the lab was " If there are winners and losers, then tweezers will win due to gaining most food while spoons will lose having difficulty with obtaining food". My group and I tested the 4 beaks and the tweezers had the most food in which it gained 38 chicks while the spoon beak only gained 10 chicks. In the end of part one, we found out that both scissor and tweezer beaks are the winners while spoon and binder clip beaks are the losers. The tweezers had more grip on the fake food while the spoon had no grip and very little chance with scooping up the little rubber pieces. This data supports my claim because my hypothesis was correct in the end giving me an understanding of how different phenotypes work in nature.

For part 2, we asked the same question but with a change in how many items you need to survive (10 pieces of food instead of 5) for each viable offspring. My group and I found out that this will make it harder to survive for all 3 years making each type of beak have less offspring. Tweezers still had the most offspring with the number of 13 while the spoon beak did not survive withing the first year with having not count of food in which that meant that there would be no future for the spoon beak phenotype to thrive. This information is based on the lecture notes we had for homework for the past week. My data supports my second hypothesis which is "If we tested with the different beaks, then later on the popultation will be mostly tweezers." since the tweezer will have the most offspring to survive for the future due to the beak gripping the food with ease.
While our hypothesis supported our date, there could have been errors due to miscounting the amount of food each beak gained or if the food spills out of the lab area making it difficult to obtain food in the given time. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend to count carefully and do it once or twice to make sure the amount of food you picked up is the right amount to determine if that beak phenotype will survive. Also pushing the two tables together will help prevent the loss of food that gets out of the lab-tested area.
This lab was done to demonstrate Charles Darwin's conclusions which are there are winners and losers; in the end most the population looks like the winners. From this lab, I understand more about Darwin's observations and conclusions with the help of the vodcast notes for homework that was given throughout the week. Based on my experience from this lab I already had little pieces of information that helped me comprehend what was going on through the two tests. This concludes my conclusion.

Getting One Step Closer to Curing Color Blind Eye Deficiency #1

1. 20% Time is the amount of time we have to work on the project (Mondays).

2. The essential question that I have asked for the 20 Time Project is, What can lead closer to curing color blindness?

3. For my project I have chosen to research further into making contacts that will help partially cure color blindness and with that, these contacts will help lead to the cure for color blind eye deficiency. I chose this topic because helping others interests me and making technology is one of my passions. My project answers my essential question because the answer is by making a laser-inserted contact.

4. My goals are to find the perfect type of lens for the technology needed to make this assistive device, and to make a good presentation.

5. I will measure my progress by keeping up with this daily blog and adding new things into the presentation that I have just researched.

6. My plan is to make this presentation about my project to help contribute to my Ted Talk that will be produced later on in the school year.

7. I am writing this to help spread out that the technology we have today can help along the road to make a full cure of color blindness. With that, the contacts that I would like to make will replace EnChroma's glasses for the moment.

Unit 7 Reflection

       Unit 7 was about ecology and how to keep our ecosystem the most healthy. Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment, with that there are many factors that decreases the health of our planet/ecosystem. Many of these factors can be resolved and with the help of other people, making our ecosystem healthy as it once was, can be possible. The most essential part of this unit is learning about biotic and abiotic factors & using that information to help keep an equilibrium.
       I want to learn more about what we can do to decrease the use of plastic and wasting our fossil fuels since they can only be used once. For the moment, all my questions have been answered with the help of discussing the problem with plastic after watching the movie, Bag It. I wonder about our future, will it be different from the present or will it change completely.
      On our Conservation Biologist Project, everyone in my group was excellent and always on task. Our skills throughout making the slideshow met all the requirements on our contract. I learned a lot through the project and now I have more respect for our ecosystem, especially the Amazon Rainforest. After taking the self assessment, my highest score was being assertive and I believe I was an excellent collaborator with my teammates and I have to say the same for them. This concludes my Unit 7 Reflection.

EXTRA CREDIT- Bioethics

Synthetic Rhino Horns

     Can a 3D printed rhino horn stop poachers and save the lives of rhinos? This company, Pembient, is planning to used DNA technology and economics to save rhinos. Since poachers are killing rhinos for their horns, the animals are on the verge of becoming extinct. In the article, Biotech Firm 3D Prints Fake Rhino Horn That's Genetically Identical To The Real Thing, they state "... Pembient argue this is the best bet for the survival of the rhinoceroses in the wild". The last white rhino male is on permanent guard and had part of its horn removed to become less of a target to poachers. Pembient has the idea of taking keratin, the same protein that humans have in hair and nails, with rhino horn DNA and 3D print to make a horn, thus selling them at half the price which will then put poachers out of business (Independent). One problem facing this idea is that poachers realize that they are fake and may move on to other endangered animals which will create more issues later on. The CEO of Pembient created a survey for people that use rhino horns and this is what they found out: "'We surveyed users of rhino horn and found that 45% of them would accept using rhino horn made from a lab, in comparison, only 15% said they would use water buffalo horn, the official substitute for rhino horn'"(PRNewswire). The reward is worth the risk in saving lives of rhinos, there may be hope for these endangered animals and they won't have to suffer any longer than they do right now. Pembient has a very clever idea in stopping poachers, but will it work?




Bibliography:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/synthetic-rhino-horns-are-being-3d-printed-in-an-effort-to-defeat-poachers-10334751.html

file:///Users/alwhitman/Downloads/Biotech%20Firm%203D%20Prints%20Fake%20Rhino%20Horn%20That's%20Genetically%20Identical%20To%20The%20Real%20Thing%20-%20IFLScience.pdf

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/synthetic_rhino_horn_will_it_save_the_rhino

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pembient-purveyor-of-bioengineered-rhino-horn-is-admitted-to-indiebio-accelerator-300026480.html



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Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit, my classmates and I learned about biotechnology, bioethics, and technologies used in biotechnology. Biotechnology is the study and manipulation of living things in order to benefit mankind. In short terms, it is a field that focuses on the comprehension DNA and other things. Bioethics plays a major role in the unit because it is the study of making decisions throughout morals and values the will be used in biology or in technology. Adding on, technology was used in labs that we completed in class. For the gel elctrophoresis lab we used the electrophoresis system to make dye references and dyes that we extracted from candy move across the gel to determine if the candy dye is made up of a certain dye. From this lab I learned a lot more about the technology and the function behind the system and the gel. This link is to the summary in which I created from the lab : http://alyssaleighbio.blogspot.com/2016/01/candy-electrophoresis-lab-questions.html. In the whole unit, my strengths include learning about the recombinant DNA and the technology behind it. Though, my weakness are the diagnostics of biotechnology, I am struggling a little bit with that and also remembering the different technologies that are used in biology. I am reviewing and doing better with my struggles than before, I am proud to say I learned something new. I have no unanswered questions at this point because I study the material in the afternoon and focus on what is ahead of me. I do wonder about the future a lot because there will be so many new things. Looking back at my new year's goals, I am doing my homework every night and keeping up with my schedule and turning things in on time. I am also pushing my phone away when I get home so I will not get distracted when I study or do homework. This concludes my unit 6 reflection.

pGLO Lab Conclusion

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 0 carpet clear-ish tan light tan - pGLO LB/amp 0 carpet clear clear tan + pGLO LB/amp 75 musky tan color tan color + pGLO LB/amp/ara 250 musky tan color green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have? Ampiciline resistance, and the ability to glow
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic. About a thousand bacteria we in the 100 uL that I spread because we equally distributed 25 uL in all 4 dishes and then multiplying it by 10 (amounts of bacteria). 1000.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates? The sugar that makes stuff glow.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science. It can be used to observe host-parasite interactions so scientists can study different pathogens , also can create an image for pathogenic bacteria in which it gives a measurement of bacterial association. It is also an indicator.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. Genetic Engineering has many applications including the production of human growth, insulin, vaccines and other types of drugs as well. To discover certain gene functions is the research for organisms that are genetically engineered.