Unit 10 Reflection

      In this unit we learned about the human body. To this we did labs such as the pig dissection. Our video tutorial on the body parts is attached at the bottom. We learned about the circulatory system and the respiratory system as well as the immune system and lymphatic system. Red blood cells are used to transport carbon dioxide and oxygen. White blood cells use antibodies to fight pathogens. The lymphatic system is a system of tubes and sacs throughout the body that collect waste and blood from tissues. Phagocytosis is a process of swallowing a cell. 

      The vena cava is a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood into the heart. The inferior vena cava carries blood from the lower body and the superior vena cava carries blood from the head, arms, and upper body. The pancreas produces enzymes and hormones that help break down foods. The liver detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs. The spleen acts as a filter for blood as part of the immune system. The ureter carries urine from kidney to the bladder. The coronoary artery supplies blood to the heart muscle. The trachea brings air to the lungs and allows you to breath. The diapragm flexes to allow breathing. The renal artery is a blood vessel that carries oxygenated blood to your kidneys. The aorta is the largest artery in the body. Overall, we learned a lot about the different functions of our body. 

Our pig dissection video

link

On the left is a red cell and on the right is a white blood cell.

link

This is the structure of the heart.

20 Time Final Post

I think my Ted Talk went okay. My partner and I were nervous, so we forgot to bring up a timer. In the middle of the presentation we suddenly realized we forgot but it was too late. We tired to time it as well as possible, but still missed the time slot. If I could do my ted talk again, I would bring up my phone as a timer. I feel like I got better at speaking in front of audiences. I would also practice a lot more because I forgot some of the things I was going to say when I was up in front of everyone.  I think listening to the other presentations was very interesting. It was fun to see other people's ideas. I think our project couldv'e been a lot better as well. We had pictures to go with the things we said, but I forgot to change the slides as I was talking, since we practiced without the slides and just us talking. If I had practiced more I would have gotten the timing for that a lot better. In terms of organization, our project needed some improvement with that. I said some things that were repeated from what my partner said. In summary, we should have practiced a lot more, because if we practiced more, we would have made less mistakes.


Our Ted Talk:

Our data for our experiment:

	Free throws (5 tries)	Elbows (5 tries)	Middle (5 tries)	Total shots made
Person 1	1	0	3	4
Person 2	1	1	4	6

Music type: No Music

	Free throws(5 tries)	Elbows (5 tries)	Middle (5 tries)	Total shots made
Person 1	0	1	2	3
Person 2	3	1	4	7

Music type: Pop

	Free throws (5 tries)	Elbows (5 tries)	Middle (5 tries)	Total shots made
Person 1	1	0	2	3
Person 2	0	1	3	4

Music type: Classical

	Free throws (5 tries)	Elbows (5 tries)	Middle (5 tries)	Total shots made
Person 1	1	0	3	4
Person 2	1	1	4	6

Music type: Rap

20 Time Reflection

For our 20% time project, we were trying to see how music affects sports. We saw that their was positive effects. We chose this topic because my partner, Sirisha likes sports, while I like music. We were focused on using music to improve athletic performance. We had some setbacks because we originally were going to test for basketball, but because we couldn't get a hold of the gym we focused on running instead. We learned that listening to more upbeat music makes you faster when running. If I had a chance to this project again, I would plan our project better so that we could test in school as well. There is still a lot more to learn about this project. We could go more in depth to see which sport gets the most affected by music, or exactly which song has the most positive effect.

Unit 9 Reflection

      In this unit we learned about evolution. We learned that taxonomy is the study of naming and classifying organisms. Phylogeny is the evolutionary history and relationships of a species using taxonomy. The order is Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Archea live near hydrothermal vents, hot springs, digestive tracts of animals, and marshes. Chemoheterotrophs are heterotrophic bacteria that take in organic molecules. Photoautotrophs use light to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbon compounds. Chemoautotrophs use energy directly from chemical reactions involving ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrites, sulfur, or iron.
      Viruses are not cells.They are a very small infectious particle consisting of nucleic acid enclosed in a protein coat and, in some cases, a membranous envelope. Bryophyta are mosses. They are the most common seedless nonvascular plants. Pterophyta are ferns. The vascular system allows them to get off the fround resulting in more photosynthesis. The roots allow absorption of water and nutrients. The leaves allow for more photosynthesis. Gymnosperms are cone bearing plants. Angiosperms are flowering plants. There are two major types of Angiosperms. Monocots and Dicots. Monocots have a single seed leaf. The leaf veins are usually parallel. The flower parts are usually in multiples of three. The bundles of vascular tissue are scattered in the stem. Dicots have two seed leaves. Leaf veins are usually netlike. Flower parts are usually in multiples of four or five. They have bundles of vascular tissue in rings in stem.
     Fungal cell walls are made of chitin. Plant cell walls are made of cellulose. There are sac fungi which form a reproductive sac. Yeasts are single-celled sac fungi. Animals are diverse but share common characteristics. 97% of all animal species are invertebrates. Sponges and cnidarians are the simplest animals.Flatworms, mollusks, and annelids belong to closely related phyla.



This is my presentation on cats:

What on Earth Evolved: Cats presentation



this picture shows the difference between dicots and monocots
source

My Inner Fish

In Your Inner Fish, they talked about how fish related to humans. This relates to what we are learning this unit, which is about evolution. The video talked about how fish evolved, and how they have similar traits to humans. We learned about how there was a gene called "Sonic Hedgehog". Sometimes, when the gene is stronger, people grow extra digits, and if the gene is too weak, people end up having less than normal. Some people have six or even four digits. Humans and fish both have gill arches. They look almost identical. Gill arches in humans are jaws and in fish, they are used for gills. This shows how gill arches are analogous structures. In the video, they found a Tiktaalik. It was the first fish to come onto land. They used their neck to watch for predators and hunt smaller prey.



some people have six fingers instead of five
hand



Tiktaalik coming onto land

Purple-striped Jellyfish

The purple striped jellyfish is from the class Scyphozoa. It is from the phylum Cnidaria. It is in the kingdom Animalia. They are known as the "true jellyfish". Scyphozoa display a four type symmetry. They can consist as much as 98% of water. This jellyfish swims by alternating contracting and relaxing a ring of muscle fibers in the mesoglea around the rim of the dome.The purple-striped jellyfish (Chrysaora colorata) is from the order Semaeostomeae. It is from the family Pelagiidae and the genus Chrysoara. The sting of this jellyfish is extremely painful to humans. When the prey touches a marginal tentacle of the purple-striped jellyfish, stingers are immediately discharged to paralyze the prey and the marginal tentacle bends to the nearest oral arm. The oral arm is used to catch motionless prey and to move prey to the gastrovascular cavity. 


source
picture credits

Geologic Time Line Reflection

Three major events in Earth's history is when the colonization of plants and animals happened, when the dinosaurs were abundant, and the ice age. The first few periods were a lot longer compared to the rest of the periods combined. We have evolved a lot and done so much on our planet. I don't have any questions that I can think of at the moment. 

Unit 8 Reflection

In this unit we learned about what evolution . Variation exists everywhere and is only a difference in traits within a population. The gene pool is the total of all alleles in a population for a trait. Gene pools change as new allele combinations form when individuals of the population have offspring. The winners pass on their alleles to their offspring. A species is a group of individuals that can reproduce and have fertile offspring. Behavioral isolation is caused by changed in courtship or mating. behaviors or occupying different niches. Embryology is where similar stages of embryo development suggests common ancestry. Hox genes are responsible for turning on other genes during development. Index fossils are species that are understood well and used for comparison. Homologous structures have the same structures but have different functions which shows common ancestry. Analogous structures have the same function but different structures. It's not individuals that evolve, but the species that do. Natural selection can change the distribution of a trait in three ways, directional selection, stabilizing selection, and disruptive selection. Directional selection favor phenotypes at one extreme. Stabilizing selection favors both extreme phenotypes. Disruptive selection favors both extreme phenotypes. Genetic drift is when a random event drastically changes a population and results in change in allele frequency. Adaptive Radiation is when there is rapid speciation from a common ancestor. As demonstrated in the Hunger Games Lab, we simulated a real world population and we saw how the different species "evolved".





Homologous structures:
       



Analogous structures:      

Hunger Games Lab

1. In this lab, we simulated a real world population. There were three different genotypes. There were pinchers, knucklers, and stumpees. The pinchers and the knucklers had an advantage over the stumpees. 
2. The pinchers were the best at catching food because they could pick up the food the easiest with the least effort. 
3. Our population evolved, at first there were nine stumpees, but at the end there were only one or two.
4. How the stumpees had a disadvantage wasn't random. The way that certain people picked up food was random. Some people were better at picking up food that others. There was also that kuncklers seemed to only want to mate with knucklers so that affected the population as well 
5. If there was more food, the results might have been different. The stumpees would have more to gather before the others took them, and more of them might have survived
6. The results would have been different if there wasn't complete dominance.The stumpees would have probably all died out and only the pinchers would have survived. There wouldn't have been any knuckers. 
7. Natural selection is what causes evolution. Only the best traits survive and are passed on.
8. The way certain people picked up food, helped them survive. One person, used their hood to gather food, which made it a lot easier. This might have helped the knuckler population, which was why it remained really high. 

BIG IDEA: Only the best evolves. Natural selection acts on the phenotype. It selects if the phenotype makes it possible to survive, and then it gets passed on.

corks were used as "food"

Bird Beak Lab

We did a Bird Beak lab, where we tested to see which beak could get more offspring. We used tweezers, a binder clip, and scissors to mimic the different beak types. I thought that if one type of beak can pick up more food than the others, then that will overpower the others and only that species will survive. In this lab we asked the question: If natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species. We found that the tweezers, which is the most similar to the woodpecker, could get the most offspring. In the first part, the tweezers got 20 chicks , while the binder clips and scissors only got 16 and 18. This data supports our claim because eventually, the woodpecker would gain more and more offspring, until it overpowers the other birds.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, we could have had errors due to the speed of a person. One person might be able to pick up more "food" even with a weaker beak. To eliminate these possible errors, I would recommend having the same person test with all the different types of beaks rather than having different people using different beaks. Another thing we could do to improve this experiment is to have more tests. 

The lab was done to demonstrate how natural selection works. From this lab I learned the concept of natural selection. Based on my experience from this lab, I know how evolution can happen from natural selection. 

Unit 7 Reflection

In this unit we learned about ecology.We learned about food chains and food webs. Autotrophs provide energy for other organisms in an ecosystem. Heterotrophs are organisms that get their energy by eating other living things. Food chains and food webs model the flow of energy in an ecosystem. A food chain shows how each organisms get its energy. Tropic levels are levels in a food chain based on what something eats. From the bottom ts primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and the lastly, Quaternary consumer. Biomass is the method of measuring energy. Biodiversity is threatened due to habitat loss, introduced species, overexploitation, and change in climate. We also watched a movie called bag it. We learned how much plastic we use and why we should stop using so much plastic. We also took a questionnaire and I learned that I am passive. I should try to be more assertive.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

In this lab we used gel electrophoresis to see the dyes from candy. We did get dyes that were a different color than the reference bands. There weren't green ones in the reference bands. Our dyes did move in the wrong direction but that was only because we plugged in the power supply wrong. I think citrus red 2 would migrate like the dyes in our lab because it's very simple and short. Dog food manufacturers probably put artificial food colors in dog food to make it look more appealing to the owner. While the dog may not care, if the food is a pleasing color, it will catch some pet owners' eyes. The length of the strands and the power affect the distance the dye solutions migrate. The electric field helps move the dyes through the gel. The pores of the gel are what separates the molecules by size. The smaller ones move faster because they can get through easier. I would expect molecular weights of 600 daltons to move the furthest distnace, 1000 daltons in the far middle, 2000 closer middle , and 5000 daltons to not move much.

Recombinant DNA lab

The process for producing recombinant DNA is first to find a restriction enzyme that will cut the plasmid at one site and this same enzyme should be able to cut the cell DNA at two sites. Then we splice our insulin gene into the plasmid. Next we would add the enzyme ligase to glue the sticky ends together. We have now created a recombinant plasmdThere are different types of antibiotic resistances. Tetracycline, kanamycin, and ampiciliin are antibiotics which some plasmids provide resistance to it. I could use tetracycline and kanamycin to see if bacteria have taken in my plasmid because our plasmid doesn't have a resistance to those antibioics. I wouldn't use ampicillin because that is the antibiotic the plasmid is resistance to. Restriction enzymes are bacterial enzynes which are major tools of recombinant DNA techonology .We used Eco RI because it was the one closest to insulin and it cut the DNA twice. If I used an enzyme that cut the plasmid in two places, it wouldn't keep it's circular shape. This process is important in our everyday lives because it is essential to genetic engineering. It helps with diabetes by inserting the gene for insulin into a bacterial plasmid. This process can also be used to produce genetically modified food such as delaying fruit ripening and resistance to insects and plant viruses.

New Year's Goals

My goal for this year is to not procrastinate anymore with my homework. To achieve this I will try to do all the work I can on the first day rather than waiting till the last day. This will get me better quality work rather than rushed work that I put together on the last day. Another goal I have for this year is to sleep earlier and wake up earlier that way I won't get tardies.

Unit 5 Reflection

      In this unit we learned about genes and mutations. DNA is the code of life. It is made with a double helix which is two strands twisted around each other. It is made up of nucleotides which is made of a nitrogen base, phosphate group, and a sugar. The nitrogen bases wither come in double rings called purines such as adenine and guanine or single rings called pyrimidines such as thymine and cytosine. Semi-conservative replication is the process of creating two identical strands of DNA from one strand. the two strands end up with half of the original strand. The first step is unzipping, where the enzyme unzips DNA by breaking hydrogen bonds that hold nitrogen bases together. Then DNA polymerase adds matching nucleotides to each strand. The central dogma of biology is DNA to RNA which is transcription, then RNA to proten which is translation, and finally, protein to organism which is the phenotype. Transcription is the process where RNA polymerase reads and copies the DNA code for a protein as mRNA copy. The three steps of transcription are first DNA unzips, then RNA polymerase matches spare nucleotides to make an RNA strand, and finally, messenger RNA is produced and leaves the nucleus for the cytoplasm. Then in translation, mRNA arrives at the ribosome which reads the mRNA three bases at a time and translates DNA language to protein language.Each base sequence is known as a codon and each codon codes for one amino acid. The result is a long chain of amino acids which twists, folds, and combines with other chains and becomes a protein.
      We also learned about mutations, which is a change in the DNA code. Point mutations are a change in one or two base pairs of DNA. This is very small and common. The two main types are substitution and frameshift mutation.
     The most difficult part of this unit was about gene expression and regulation. Gene expression is the process of a gene ceing used to produce a gene product or phenotype. Gene regulation is mechanism used by cells to increase or decrease the expression of a gene. Every cell in our body has the same DNA but not all cells look the same. Cells look different because each type of cell expresses genes specific to those cells. Cells don't want to waste energy so thy have a variety of steps to control gene expression. There is a promoter, location on DNA where RNA polymerase attaches. The operon is a series of genes used to control the expression of a single gene.  The operator is a switch or segment of DNA at the start of a gene that prevents of allows RNA polymerase from attaching and reading the gene. An example would be the lac operon, where bacteria uses lactase to break down lactose.

Protein Synthesis Lab

     To produce protein, first is transcription. RNA polymerase matches reads and copies the DNA code for a protein as a messenger RNA copy. Then in translation, the messenger arrives at the ribosome. Then, the ribosome reads the mRNa three bases at a time and translates DNA language into protein language. The result is a protein! 

      Substitution seemed to have the least effect on the proteins since the protein ended up not changing at all. Deletion seemed to have the greatest effect. The protein became a lot shorter than it was originally, which meant a lot of information was left out. It does matter where the mutation occurs. If it was at the end, the results might have been different and only a small portion would've been left out. 

      I chose to do deletion again but in a different position because it seemed to change the protein the most. I took out one part from the very beginning, and it didn't change much from the first deletion. I feel like if I deleted a portion from the end instead, the results would have been different.

     Mutations affect our life since it could happen to any one of us. Mutations are the reasons for why cancer and other diseases happen. One disease that is caused my mutations is phenylketonuria. Without treatment it causes intellectual disabilities. 

DNA extraction lab

The question was How can DNA be separated from cheek cells in order to study it. In this lab we had a procedure and tried to group them according to the three basic steps: homogenization, lysis, and precipitation. We swished Gatorade around in our mouth and spit it back out. The Gatorade homogenized it. The Gatorade and saliva mixture didn't mix and the DNA precipitated because the Gatorade was polar and the alcohol was non polar. One possible error we made was when we put the alcohol in. If we didn't carefully add in the alcohol, then the two solution could have mixed and we wouldn't have been able to see the DNA. To improve this I would recommend people to carefully pour in the alcohol. Another possible error was that we didn't swish around the Gatorade in our mouth enough. This wouldn't have gotten enough DNA in the solution which would've affected how it formed later.


 

Unit 4 Reflection

This unit was about the cell cycle, genetics, The cell cycle is a series of steps that take place when a cell duplicates or reproduces. Three reasons for the cell cycle is reproduction, growth and development, and cell and tissue repair. There are two types of reproduction, sexual and asexual. In asexual reproduction , there is only one parent. All the offspring are genetically identical. Some benefits of asexual reproduction is that it's easy, takes a short amount of time, you don't need a mate, and can make lots of offspring. The cost is that there is no genetic variation and is will make it more likely to go extinct if a new pathogen attacks them or their environment changes. The benefits of sexual reproduction is that it creates genetic variation, can allow the parents to raise the young to ensure survival, and create competition for mates, ensuring the best pass on their genes. The cost is that it requires lots of energy and time. It exposes you to parasites and STDs. It could create genetic combinations that are bad. We also learned that all body cells are diploid and all gametes are haploid. In meiosis, there are four stages just like mitosis, but in meiosis it divides twice. Homozygous is having two of the same allele while heterozygous is having two different alleles. The law of segregation states that the gene pairs for a trait separate when gametes are formed. The law of independent assortment states that the gene pairs separate randomly from each other during meiosis. Autosomal inheritance is when an organism inherits or gets the gene responsible for a trait from all the other 22 chromosomes which are called autosomes. X-linked inheritance is when an organism inherits, or gets, the gene responsible for a trait from the x chromosome. The most difficult thing to understand in this unit is probably crosses. A dihybrid cross is comparing two genes at the same time and the phenotypic ration is 9:3:3:1.
My preferred learning style is kinesthetic and these results were expected. I will still try to study in different ways but copying down diagrams would probably be helpful to me for studying.

Coin Sex Lab

In this lab, we flipped coins to simulate the randomness of alleles. The coins were the genes and the sides were like the different alleles. This simulated the process of meiosis and the recombination of these genes. This showed how random it is. There is a very low chance of getting homozygous genotypes in dihybrid crosses. You can see what the probability of something is, but you'll never know what you will actually get. The coin flipping was also gene segregation and the results after flipping was the recombination. In part two we tested autosomal dominance, the ones on the 22 chromosomes. In part 3 we did an experiment on x-linked recessive traits, which in this experiment we used the allele for colorblindness. X-linked inheritance is the trait you get from the x chromosome. Monohybrid was the ones we did using only one gene. We also found the different probabilities for either heterozygous or homozygous phenotypes. For the first experiment, the females were homozygous x. Males were heterozygous. Our last experiment was dihybrid, and tested for the different colors of hair and eyes. It was wither brown or blonde hair and brown or blue eyes. This experiment showed that neither trait affected the other and it was possible to get lots of different combinations. This relates to our life because it shows what the probability is of getting certain traits for our offspring.

Genetics Infographic

Link to a bigger image:  https://magic.piktochart.com/output/8996330-genetics