Last Blog

What was your favorite topic this semester? Why? My favorite topic was when we talked about invertebrates and vertebrates because I liked the dissections we did in class. I would've never thought that I would see some of these things, and get to tough these organisms. I also liked going over, reviewing the old topics like ecology and cell communication for the AP test because I did like the ecology unit, especially because I was more familiar with it. What was your least favorite? My least favorite were the genetic chapters because I felt that I didn't have enough time to prep for them than I had for the other chapters. Sometimes, they would also be a bit confusing. What would you change about this class if you could? I think I would change the pace of which we had to learn all the chapters because I felt that we were crammed near the end and weren't able to cover as much as we could have covered. What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in biology this year? The biggest accomplishment was going through basically all the chapters because there were so many chapters to cover and so little time. I also liked doing the karaoke song because it was fun singing to a song and creatively thinking lyrics for a particular topic.

Genome: Chromosome 11 – Personality

Personality is a chromosome that includes a gene dopamine, also known as a D4DR gene. It is a recipe for a dopamine receptor and this gene is switched on in certain parts of the brain but not in others. Excess dopamine will cause the individual to become aggressive while a lack of dopamine will cause the individual to become lethargic. This gene is autosomal recessive. Studies say that people with blue eyes tend to have difficulty using chopsticks. Serotonin is a happy hormone that requulates ood, temper, anxiety, and relieves depression. There is a link between low cholesterol and violence involved in serotonin. For example, monkeys that are fed on low-cholesterol diets become more aggressive and bad-tempered and the cause of this seems to be a drop in serotonin levels.

Genome: Chromosome 9 – Disease

Chapter 9 talks about a gene that determines ABO blood type. The A, B, AB, and O is adopted by Viennese discoverer. Native Americans are most exclusively type O. There are four letters in type A: C, G, C, and G whereas there are another four letters in type B: G, A, A, and C. In type O, which is also the same as type A, the 258th letter G is missing or has been deleted. Type O is a recessive chromosome, which is susceptible to Cholera but resistant to Malaria. Type A, B, and AB are resistant to Cholera but susceptible to malaria. The sickle cell disease is a CFTR gene that’s on chromosome 7 and can cause a dangerous disease in the lungs and intestines. The effect of non-secretors means that they are unable to release the water-soluble form of the blood proteins from ABO into their body fluids.

Genome: Chromosome 8 – Conflict

This chromosome is a sex-link chromosome, also called the X and Y chromosome. Male and female traits include bigger muscles, aggressiveness in males, or using calcium to produce milk in females. This chapter is named conflict because of the evidence showing that both X and Y chromosome fight for genes, a battle over dominance between both chromosomes. The X and Y chromosome have sexually antagonistic genes, meaning that their genes only benefit one sex. Since there are more X chromosomes in the world than Y chromosomes, they have a higher probability of mutating and forming a gene lethal to the Y chromosome. Most genes on the Y chromosome serve no purpose but males will become more feminine over the years.

Genome: Chromosome 7 – Instinct

Chromosome 7 is an important chromosome that lies at the heart of all human culture. Human beings do not have to rely on instincts, instead they learn. Humans are creative, cultural, conscious creatures. Language processing is a form of culture that can shape the brain and has an inordinate time a-dying. For example, Hopi language has been exposed as simple frauds. The same part of the brain is consistently used for language processing. This for most people is located on the left side of the brain. There are two genetic conditions that affect linguistic ability. One is William’s syndrome, which is caused by a change in a gene on chromosome 11. Another genetic condition has the opposite effect; it lowers linguistic ability without apparently affecting intelligence, or at least not consistently. This gene is located on chromosome 7.

Genome: Chromosome 6 – Intelligence

In Chapter 6, towards the end of 1997, a brave scientist named Robert Polmin found the gene for intelligence. Mother Nature has not only given us the determination of our intellectual capacities to the blind fat of a gene, but also, she gave us parents learning, language, culture, and education to program ourselves with. Another scientist. H.H. Goddard’s IQ tests were biased towards middle-class or western cultural values. There are there kinds of intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical. Analytic problems are ones that are clearly defined and have only one right answer. Practical problems require you to recognize and formulate the problem itself and are poorly defined which sometimes lack information as well. Statistician Charles Spearman stated that if one child id well in one subject, that child will become independent and do well in others as well. Overall, hereditability does not mean immutability and your IQ changes with age, but so does its heritability.

AP Bio Exam Feedback

After taking the AP test, I feel that I felt the most confident with ecology, cellular respiration, and photosynthesis. I did not feel comfortable with the genetics section as well as the invertebrates and vertebrates. I felt as if I was not able to study these sections as carefully as I could've, and did not have enough time in class to go over it all.

Intelligence

After having a class discussion about nature versus nurture, and then leading to intelligence, it is important to understand intelligence and its origin; we need to know the best way for us to actually acquire the most knowledge and apply these skills into our activities and study. Each and every individual has their own intelligence, strength, ways to learn and weaknesses. It is important for us to know in what environment and in which ways we learn the most from. Some people can learn from listening to lectures, reading the books, or doing hands-on projects and much more.

For me, I work best in a relatively quiet environment. I am able to grasp the concepts better when watching videos and answering questions at the same time, listening to lectures, and reviewing my notes.

Genome: Chromosome 5 - Environment

Chromosome 5 is also known as the “asthma gene”. Those who are exposed to pollution are more likely to blame pollution for the cause of them having asthma. Others would say they got asthma because of central heating and fitted carpets which have dust mites embedded in them. Nowadays, people are more aware of asthma, ready to go to the doctor even if it was a mild case, and more prepared to treat the asthma as if it were a cold. Asthma is largely an urban problem. There are manufacturing machines increasing in urban and city areas, contributing to more citizens likely to get asthma. You can also get asthma by transported materials from other country or breathing in certain chemicals like isocyanates and phthalic anhydride. There are a few theories about asthma. One is that asthma was unleashed during the frustration of the worm-fighting element in the immune system. Another theory is that wealthy people stay indoors, heat their houses and sleep on feather pillows which are infested with dust mites. Also, casual contact viruses like the common cold are common because it’s rapid transport and education where children who tend to have new viruses.

Genome: Chromosome 4 - Fate

According to Ridley, genes are there to cause disease and the only thing we know about some genes is that their malfunction will cause a particular disease. Chromosome 4 has a very different disease, the Huntington’s chorea with C*G words repeated many times. The mutations manifested during the middle ages when people have already had children and when there is little pressure on it to die out naturally. Also, the disease worsens if it is inherited from the father, growing more severe. Huntington’s disease accumulates in aggregate chunks. It happens with the brain’s movement controls where out body’s movement become less easy or controlled. Ridley tells a story of a woman that came to Nancy Wexler’s hut to be tested for signs of the disease. After many tests, the Wexler asks the woman what she thinks the outcome is, and she hopes that she does not have the disease. Wexler, knowing that she does have the mutations, does not tell her that she has the disease. Because Wexler did not tell her the truth, she had prolonged the woman’s life because that woman was going to commit suicide if she was told she had the disease. This woman cannot stop the disease that’s already taken place in her body; he cannot escape her fate because the fate is in our genes.

Echinoderms

Echinoderms, which live in all marine environments, have 5-rayed symmetry, mostly radial but can sometimes be bilateral. It has more than two cell layers, tissues and organ. The body wall consists of three layers which includes the epidermis and dermis. Its body cavity has a true coelem. It has a poorly defined open circulatory system. They have a body shape without a head. Its reproduction is normally sexual and gonochoristic. Echinoderms are filter feeders, substrate eaters or carnivores that feed on fine particles in the water, detritus or other animals that floats towards them. They do not have excretory organs but most echinoderms have a through gut with an anus. They have a sub-epidermal nerve net running throughout its body. They also have a nervous system which includes a circum-oral nerve ring with five radical nerve cords; these chords are connected to the sub-epidermal nerve net. Class Crinodia includes sea lilies and sea feathers. Class Ophiocistioidea are echinoderms which include brittle stars, basket stars, and serpent stars. Class Astroidea include sea star or starfish. Class Echinoidea include sea urchins, heart urchins, and sanddollars. Class Holothuroidea include sea cucumbers.

Crinoidea: Sea Lilies

Ophiocistioidea: Echinoderms

Astroidea: Seastar

Echinoidea: Sea Urchin

Holothuroidea: Sea Cucumber

Source: http://www.earthlife.net/inverts/echinodermata.html
http://bio1152.nicerweb.com/Locked/media/ch33/33_40EchinodermDiversityD.jpg
http://www.palaeos.org/images/thumb/5/5a/Acanthaster_planci.jpg/340px-Acanthaster_planci.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBzy_mp5PbrNu8WIXrsfD4cjnqLewg0qpGLQhaiWq5PGLIUU4bmWFfqJmbxXS80fQTIvAlSIUQJOa4rk5Js_luuKcJ-_vERMAGAw_vsDI7DmGE7LwoOK6Ri-2roOZwgyPy0cfxg32Lmog/s1600/5284ba28ba80d72f.jpg
http://seanet.stanford.edu/EchinoHoloOphio/strongyl_fra580.jpg
http://bio1152.nicerweb.com/Locked/media/ch33/33_40EchinodermDiversityE.jpg
Images from Google

Genome: Chromosome 3 - History

In chapter 3, Dr. Archibald Garrod said that a gene was a recipe for a single chemical. He later came up with a hypothesis, the “inborn errors of metabolism”. This hypothesis states that genes were there to produce chemical catalysts with only one gene to each catalyst. Garrod further explains that the genes were devices for making proteins and that the inborn errors are because of either the loss or malfunction of an enzyme. The main purpose of a gene is to store the recipe for making proteins. Every protein in the body is made by a translation in the genetic code. We inherit from our parents is a big list of recipes for making proteins and that there are much more protein-making machines out there. Later on, Herman Joe Muller’s great discovery was that genes are artificially mutable, which started modern genetics. By using Muller’s X-rays, George Beadle and Edward Tatum proposed a law of biology where one gene specifies one enzyme. The structure of DNA contains a specific coding all lined up on the double helix, which contains four letter codes, A, T, C, and G. These four letter codes were later translated into twenty letter code of amino acids that made up proteins.

Nephron

Kidneys usually function in osmoregulation and excretion. They help regulate our blood and maintain our body’s calcium levels. After the kidney finishes processing the blood from the renal artery, the blood is returned to the body by the renal vein. During this, the wastes and other substances are removed in the urine. A nephron is a functional unit of the vertebrate kidney which consists of a single long tubule and a ball of capillaries known as the glomerulus. The blind end of the tubule forms a cup-shaped swilling called the Bowman’s capsule which surrounds the glomerulus. The nephron will restore vital nutrients and water back into the blood while retaining the waste products. Filtration occurs when the blood pressure forces the fluid from the blood from the glomerulus to the lumen of the Bowman’s capsule. From the Bowman’s capsule, the filtrate passes through three regions of the nephron, the proximal tubule, the loop of Henle, and the distal tubule, which releases the filtered wastes into the collect duct, also known as the urine and prepares to leave the body.
The hydrostatic skeleton is similar to how nephrons work. To change an organism’s shape and further producing movement, the hydrostatic skeleton needs the pressure of its fluid and muscles. Just like the hydrostatic skeleton, filtration occurs in the nephron when pressure forces the fluid from the blood from the glomerulus to the lumen of the Bowman’s capsule. Both need pressure to start their processes.

Source: Campbell book

Kidney Function Mindmap

Kidneys are two-bean shaped organs located in the middle of our back below our rib cage. They are important to our body because they help regulate our blood and maintain our body’s calcium levels. After the kidney finishes processing the blood from the renal artery, the blood is returned to the body by the renal vein. During this, the wastes and other substances are removed in the urine. There are three major steps to where kidneys regulate our blood are by filtration, reabsorption, and secretion. Kidneys are also important in making sure that our acid/base concentration in our blood is constant. Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/kidney.htm

Genome: Chromosome 2 - Species

Until 1955, humans were thought to have consisted of 24 pairs of chromosomes until Albert Levan’s experiment. Levan concluded that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes after counting the chromosomes in photograph books with captions stating that there were 23 pairs. While chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have 24 pairs, humans are similar to apes. We humans are apes, yet we have one obvious difference: humans have one less chromosomes because a pair of ape chromosomes had fused together into us humans. Natural selection is where life forms are changing to suit our exposed physical environment. Humans are able to colonize different habitats whether it is hot, cold, high, low, marine, or desert environments. We are also the most abundant large animals living on the plant, about 6 billion of us add to about 300 million tons of biomass. Ridley ends the chapter by saying that human beings and chimpanzees are similar except for their genetic differences because genes are not sufficient, at least not in apes. Genes are recipes for anatomy and behavior, as well as natural selection.

Double Fertilization

Angiosperms, also known as flowering plants, are capable of undergoing both sexual and asexual reproduction. In sexual reproduction, angiosperms are capable of double fertilization. In the process of double fertilization, sperm cells are delivered by pollen grain to the ovule, the female reproductive organ. The ovule contains a reproductive cell called the megaspore. One megaspore undergoes three rounds of mitosis, producing eight haploid nuclei, which share the same cytoplasm, the embryo sac. These eight nuclei are then separated near the micropyle and the synergids. The egg is near the synergid while two polar nuclei are located together in the middle. In order to start double fertilization, the pollen grain starts to germinate, creating a long pollen tube through the style and ovary in which the sperm is able to reach the embryo sac. The haploid sperm cell undergoes mitosis and produces two haploid sperm cells which is then released into the embryo sac. One of the sperm cells fertilizes the egg cell which produces a diploid zygote. The other sperm cell combines and fertilizes the two polar nuclei which produces a triploid (3n) cell which then develops into an endosperm. The endosperm is then known as the embryo’s food supply.

Source: http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp39/3902001.html

Genome: Chromosome 1 - Life

In this chapter, life began with a single word: DNA. Life consists of two different skills, the ability to replicate and the ability to create order. The key to both of these is information. Information is the instructions for building and maintaining the equipment that creates order. The author relates genes to coded recipes, with its four repeated letters A, T, C, and G. A gene has 120 different letters that are constantly being copied into a short filament of RNA, the copy being called 5SRNA. The genes are able to replicate because of proteins. The author mentions how RNA may have came before proteins because RNA is a chemical substance that links DNA and proteins together; therefore, RNA must have come before. Ultimately, genes are the same everywhere, in all organisms and life. Their genetic code are the same and wherever we go and whatever organism we see, they will have the same codes and languages.

Genome: Introduction

The introduction chapter basically talked about the twenty-three chromosomes of the human genes. Each of the twenty-two pairs of chromosomes are numbered based on their size whereas the last pair of chromosomes contained the sex chromosomes. Matt Ridley had compared the human genome to a book which I thought had made it easier to learn about the genome. He stated that the twenty-three chapters are chromosomes, each chapter with several thousand stories are the genes, each story that is made up of each paragraphs is the exons, each paragraph with words that are called the codons, and each letters is the bases.This introduction chapter also talks about how the genes can undergo replication and translation, how replication involves the four letters A,C,G, and T, and translation which involves RNA, replacing T for U. The rest of the chapter talks about how everything is made of proteins that is later on translated into a gene.

Extra Credit Blog: Reflection on First Semester

What topics really confused you?
I am still confused on the chemistry, cell, and bacteria chapters.

What topics do you feel very clear on?
I feel the best with the ecology chapters compared to all the chapters. All the other chapters, I feel like I don’t know it completely.

What lab/ activity was your favorite? Why?
Some of my favorite activities were when we planted our seeds into the jar. It was amazing to watch how my plant grew compared to everyone else’s plants. For the chromatography lab, it was interesting watching how the solvent gradually moved up the filter papers. As for the flower dissection activity, I liked being able to look through microscopes and be able to see the pollen clearly. I also liked being able to realize that our school had a lot of plant diversity when we explored our campus looking for different insects and flowers.

What lab/activity was your least favorite? Why?
My least favorite lab would be the fly lab because it felt tedious to cross each trait, yet I witnessed many flies with different traits that seemed interesting to me. My other least favorite lab would be the bacteria lab because I did not want to inhale or get any dye on my clothing. Knowing what problems could arise if I had inhaled anything made me afraid to be near the bacteria when opening it.

If you could change something about the class to make it better, for instance the type of homework (not the amount) what would it be and why?
Sometimes I don’t know which reading quizzes I need to complete and which blogs I have to finish. When we had a list of blogs to do, it made finishing the blogs so much easier knowing which ones I had to do.

Major Plant Divisions

Charophyceans
Charophyceans are the green algae that are most closely related to plants. They have cell walls that are made of cellulose and have the presence of chlorophylls a and b within the chloroplasts. Charophyceans are equipped with rose-shaped arrays of proteins that synthesize the cellulose microfibrils of the cell walls. They also have peroxisomes that make them closely related to land plants. They have flagellated sperm cells and are involved in the cell division formation of phragmoplast.

Bryophytes
Bryophytes have three separate phyla: liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. Mosses are the most familiar in bryophytes. It is a nonvascular plant with gametophyte being the dominate generation in their life cycles. The lack conducting tissues that help them distribute water and organic compounds within their thick tissues. Because they do not have lignified vascular tissues, their growth height is limited. These plants are common in moist alpine, boreal temperate, tropical forests and wetlands.

Pteridophytes
Pteridophytes are seedless vascular plants and have roots with lignified vascular tissue. Because their vascular system resembles earlier vascular plants, this suggests that their roots evolved from the subterranean portions of stems of ancient vascular plants. There are two phyla involved: Lycophyta and Pterophyta (ferns, whisk ferns, horsetails). For reproduction, sporophyte dominates its life cycle. Megaspores develop into female gametophytes bearing archegonia while microspores develop into male gametophytes with antheridia. Water ferns are the only heterosporous species. Because of their swimming sperm and fragile gametophytes, pteridophytes are most common in relatively damp habitats.

Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms lack enclosed chambers, also known as ovaries, where angiosperm ovules and seeds develop. Another name for gymnosperms is the naked seed. These seed bearing plants include conifers, pines, ginkos, and cycads. Most conifers are evergreens, retaining their leaves throughout the year. They are adapted to dry conditions and are amongst the largest and oldest organisms on Earth. Conifers are heterosporous. Both male and female gametophytes develop from different types of spores by separate cones. If a seed lands in a habitable place and beings to germinate, then the embryo emerges as a pine seedling.

Angiosperms
Angiosperms are also known as flowering plants. Angiosperms are vascular plants with seeds. They are divided into two main classes which differ in anatomical and morphological details: the monocots and the dicots. The flower in the angiosperm structure is specialized for reproduction and includes four circles of modified leaves: sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. After reproduction, the fruit is a mature ovary which the seeds of the angiosperm are dispersed by wind or animals. They are involved in coevolution where the pollinator-plant relationship is cause of the diversity of flowers. They play an important role in terrestrial ecosystems because animals pollinate the flowers while animals other animals transport the seeds to new and different locations. Angiosperms play an important role in agriculture because if provides nearly all our food. All our fruit and vegetable crops are angiosperms.

Source: Campbell book

Extreme Organism

One extremophile is the tardigrades, also known as waterbears or moss piglets. It is part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. They have eight legs and are microscopic. Tardigrades can be found in lichens and mosses, dunes, beaches, soil, marine or freshwater sediments, or a soaking piece of moss in spring water. Tardigrades are considered an extreme organism because they are available to survive in environments that would kill other organisms. They feed on the fluids of plants and animal cells. For a tardigrade’s life span, if it never go into a dormant state, then they only live for less than a year, whereas if they do go into dormant state, they can live up to 60 years. As for reproduction, they are oviparous and fertilization is usually external. The eggs hatch no later than fourteen days and the organism hatched already possess its adult cells. They can survive in temperatures near −273 °C (−459 °F) and 151 °C (304 °F). This temperature range has 1,000 times more radiation than other animals would absorb. They can also survive in very low and very high pressure and survive in nearly ten years of dehydration.

Source: http://www.iwu.edu/~tardisdp/tardigrade_facts.html

Cell Poem

Dear cell,
all eukaryotic cell
all prokaryotic cell
you all make me so well because you do not smell.
The nucleus,
you hold the DNA and the genes,
making me want to take a tour of your cell on a bus.
Ribosomes
producing proteins is what they do
you make me want to go to the zoo.
Golgi apparatus, cis and trans,
feels like sorting shoes from boots to laces to vans.
Endoplasmic reticulum, so smooth and rough
are you considered tough and buff?

Dear cell membrane,
includes the integral proteins which penetrates the lipid bilayer
and the peripheral proteins which are not embedded in the lipid bilayer.
please be permeable and let substances pass through you without a hassle,
needing transport protein, carrier proteins, channel proteins.
Protecting the cell is your role.

Dear cell signaling,
signal transduction pathway is a multistep process for cellular response
local regular and hormones brings organisms together
ligands bind from small molecules to big molecules.
reception, transduction, and response are the stages to cell signaling.
Cell signaling is vital to the cell’s communication process.

Three Key Ideas for Time, Love, Memory

In Quinn’s experiment, he put mutant flies into a countercurrent machine with two smells: octanol which is relatively bad, and methylcyclohexanol which is relatively good. When the flies went toward the light with octanol, Quinn gave them a chock. When the flies went toward the light with methylcyclohexanol, he did not give them a shock. After a couple of repeated experiments in a new test tube, Quinn concluded that the flies were learning from their own experience. This is similar to what we have learned in the animal behavior chapters. This experiment is related to a taxis or kinesis movement where organisms learn from repeated mistakes or experiments. The flies have learned after countless of experiments to move away from the light in an octanol environment and move toward the methlcyclohexanol environment.

As mentioned in the book, Time, Love, Memory, flies tend to form chains with each other. On pg. 126, it states that if there is good food and a nice warm constant temperature, it encourages the flies to start chaining. Food is rather important to these flies. This relates to what we are learning because all organisms require an adequate amount of food, a good temperature range, and a good social environment that helps flies become more active and therefore, allowing them to reproduce.

Throughout this book, clocks have been mentioned several times about having specific timings which they function. Clocks control the rhythmic behavior of life. This relates to photosynthesis. Just like how in photosynthesis, C3, C4 and CAM plants, some of these plants function at nighttime whereas some work during the daylight. CAM plants open their stomata at night and close them during the day, the reverse way of when other plants open their stomata during daylight. It is also similar as to when we humans have clocks in our bodies, requiring us to wake up, eat our three daily meals, and sleep around the same specific times.

Article: On Societies as Organisms

In this article, the author mainly talks about how although organisms are separate individuals, but when combined, they become one big entire organism. One big example is the ant. If they are wandering individually, they are small creatures. When they are all crowding around one similar area, then you can begin to see “the whole beast”. Termites and bees are also described similarly to the ants. Bees distribute themselves equally to work efficiently for the queen. “The phenomenon of separate animals joining up to form an organism is not unique to insects.” This means that most organisms have worked together to accomplish tasks before, and joining up is considered normal. As for humans, although we are one human being, we are all linked together for information. I agree with this article because each and every one of us are all separate humans and organisms, but at some point, we always work together during our lifetime.

Article: Thoughts for a Countdown

This article talks about how humans from another plant will view other organisms from another plant as something that shouldn’t be reconciled with. In the beginning of this article, when astronauts arrive at the moon, they wear surgical masks, meaning that they do not want to touch anything with their bare hands because they do not know what life is on the moon. If there is really life on the moon, then we “must begin by fearing it. We must guard against it.” We live with other living things in harmony. Other than organisms, we humans also exhibit symbiotic relationships. “Every creature is connected to and dependent on the rest.” It means that we all need each other. Microbes and bacteria have been said to collaborate, accommodate, exchange, and barter with each other. For example, all organisms have their own way for survival and what they do for a living. Anemones can recognize molecular configurations while crabs can recognize their own anemone. In the end of the article, Theodor says, “if same species are placed in close contact, the smaller of the two will always begin to disintegrate.” Theodor is saying that those two organisms have the same niche they need in order to survive. They will compete for it, perhaps overpowering the other party, causing the other party to start being extinct and disintegrate. I agree with this article because people will also fight for what they want because they will be able to live and survive better with it. Humans are also putting on gloves and wearing masks as they walk outdoors because they do not want to be contaminated with others’ germs.

Article: The Lives of a Cell

This article mainly focuses on how each individual and organism on this plant is interlocked with each other. In the beginning, the article states that the man is similar to “a lethal force whereas the earth is pictured as something delicate”, overall resulting to the idea that man is embedded within nature. The article says that “we are shared, rented, occupied”. There are organelles in our bodies that are driving our every day movements, and these organelles are not strictly ours. For example, the mitochondria, centrioles, basal bodies, and other organelles work inside our bodies, each with its own special genome. We should believe that these organelles are functioning for our own benefits, but it may be that the organelles are the reason why we are doing movements that we are doing now. It is similar to an example in the article, where green plants cannot be plants or be green without their chloroplast for photosynthesis; these chloroplasts are separate creatures within their own genomes. Overall, the man feels that there is differentiation and speciation, but does not feel separate at all. I agree with his man’s feelings because I believe that all the organelles inside our bodies function as one unit, each relating and leading to one another. We are connected to our inner bodies and how they function and what their outcome is depends on us and the interior of our cells.

Lit. Circle Book: Time, Love, Memory

In Time, Love, Memory, what surprised me the most was the experiment on how mutant fruit flies tend to move toward the light rather than the dark. Ever since Chapter 1, the experiment created by Seymour Benzer has reappeared in almost every chapter. In Benzer’s experiment, he connected two test tubes and put them mouth to mouth. He put one end of the test tube under the light while the other end of the test tube was in the darkness. He would make sure that the test tubes were still and tap the glass in order for the flies to start their movements. After countless of experiments, Benzer concluded that most of the flies moved toward the light. From my observations, the flies in my room like to fly in both dark and light environments. Although fruit flies are different from normal flies, I never thought about how the flies move. Benzer’s experiment was one of the most interesting and surprising experiments to me because I never thought about observing what the flies’ movements were like.

Source: Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner

Article: A Fear of Pheromones

In the article, “A Fear of Pheromones,” animals are not the only organisms that can release odors; humans can as well. Some chemical odors can either confuse or attract other organisms to each other. After reading through the ecology chapters, chemical odors are sometimes used to tell other organisms around the same vicinity a warning that predators are near and to find safety quickly. According to this article, pheromones are small, simple molecules that are active in extremely small concentrations. A neighboring territory could possibly smell the scent of the odor and react to it quickly. The odors can also have a “fragrance of ambiguity”. An example is the female moth; if it releases bombykol, that single molecule can tremble the hairs of any males relatively far within miles, causing that male to become confused. Another example is when the female monkeys respond to the estradiol released by the male primates. Other than causing the organisms to become confused, pheromones can help organisms identify what type of species the organisms is. An example is that fishes make use of chemical signals for identifying individual members of a species and announcing the changes in the statuses of certain individuals. Although there is not much information about humans being involved with pheromones until recently, I agree with this article because it states important key facts. I believe that humans can communicate and react with each other based on their pheromones. Just like the example given in the article where the dog is able to sniff out their owner shows that we humans release a scent which allows the animals to recognize their owner. In our world, there are females who sprays an excessive amount of perfume on and males who sprays axe on themselves. The scent disperses and individuals near the person may tend to walk away because the scent is so strong that it is unbearable, or walk towards it because the scent is fragrant.

Virtual Diffusion Lab

In order for the cell to have the highest rate of diffusion, the cell must have:
Surface area: 986.25
Volume: 4.25
Surface area/volume ratio: 232.13
Villi: 20%
Radius: 1X
Cell shape: 10:1
Number of dimples: 0
Dimple % of cell surface area: 10

Source: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/biolink/j_explorations/ch02expl.htm

Exemplars of Each Phyla of Protozoa

Diplomonadida
Giardia lamblia is an anaerobic parasite that colonizes and reproduces in the small intestine. It causes abdominal cramps and severe diarrhea. People pick up Giardia by drinking water that is contaminated with human feces.

Parabasala
Trichomonas vaginalis inhabits a female's vagina. It has both flagella and an undulating membrane. These structures allow the protist to move within the reproductive and urinary tracts of it's host.

Euglenozoa
Kinetoplastids has a large mitochondria with an organelle called the kinetoplast. The kinetoplast holds extranuclear DNA. The kinetoplastid are symbiotic and pathogenic to their hosts.

Alveolata
Dinoflagellates are abundant in aquatic pastures of phytoplankton near the water surface. Most are unicellar, having a shape reinforced by internal plates of cellulose. When they bloom, they cause red tides in coastal waters. Toxins produced have killed fish and invertebrates, which can also be deadly to humans as well.

Apicomplexans are parasites of animals. These parasites can disseminate as tiny infectious cells called sporozoites. The sporozoites contain specialized organelles for penetrating host cells and tissues. They have a complex life cycle, usually involving two or more host cells.

Stramenopila
Diatoms have unique glasslike walls, with each wall overlapping each other. They reproduce asexually by mitotic cell divisions. Both freshwater and marine plankton are rich in diatoms. These diatoms store food reserves in the form of a glucose polymer called the laminarin.

Golden algae are biflagellated with both flagella attached near the end of the cell. They are mixotrophic and unicellular.

Rhodophyta
Red algae lack flagella and are adapted to different water depths. The red algae is the most abundant large algae in the warm coastal waters of tropical oceans. They are multicellular, and also similar to the seaweed brown algae.

Chlorophyta
Green algae are named for their chloroplasts. Their common ancestors might have chloroplasts from cyanobacteria. They are closely related to land plants. Most chlorophytes live in plankton or inhabit damp soil or snow while some live symbiotically with other eukaryotes. They also live symbiotically with lichens.

Mycetozoa
Plasmodial slime molds are brightly yellow or orange pigment. They are heterotrophic with a feeding stage called the plasmodium which contains many nuclei. The plasmodium engulfs food particles by phagocytosis.

Cellular slime mold contains cells that maintain their identity and remain separated by their membranes. They are haploid organisms which have fruiting bodies that function in asexual reproduction. They have no flagellated stage.

Source: Campbell book