Blog 12 Look up Gregor Mendel and his pea plant experiments Why does P1 look all alike and F1 looks very different?

In one experiment, Mendel cross-pollinated smooth yellow pea plants with wrinkly green peas. The organisms that are used as the original mating in an experiment are called the parental generation and are marked by P in. Every single pea in the first generation crop (marked as f1) was as yellow and as round as was the yellow, round parent. Somehow, yellow completely dominated green and round dominated wrinkly. Now he went on with his experiment and planted seeds from the all-yellow, all-round crop, achieved from the parent generation, and self-pollinated the grown up plants. Most of the second generation (marked as f2) of peas were yellow and smooth, but some were green or wrinkly. The f2 generation consistently had a 3:1 ratio of yellow to green and round to wrinkly. This happened because in order to show-up, a dominant trait needs only one trait unit from one of the parents, and the recessive one needs two, from both parents, in order to prevail, that is the reason why the ratio between occurrences of dominant traits and recessive traits is 3:1. The same explanation applies to the shape traits.

Blog 11 In the movie Gattaca parents were allowed to pick the traits of their babies, should we be able to do this? Why or why not?

          When looking upon this question, many things controversial topics arise. Especially the idea of elitism. Now, let us first look at the benefits of this topic. When we have genetically superior babies, they will all be strong and many will be close to perfect. The world will have a new generation of super humans. Now, when examining the downsides of this topic, we can see that if this were a reality, many humans would look alike, because the "perfect" gene structure would be very similar. So if it comes to that point, we might have a generation of super humans, but they won't be distinguished. How would one separate oneself from the rest of the group if EVERYBODY is the same? This is the ultimate flaw of genetic engineering super babies. So, I believe that we should not do this based on the pure opinion that, imperfections make us humans perfect.

Blog #10 Post a recipe for something made with fermentation Explain how fermentation helps make the food.

this fermented foods pickle recipe, you will need:

• 2-one gallon crocks or glass jars
• 4 lbs. of cucumbers
• 3⁄4 cup kosher salt
• 1 bunch dill weed
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, sliced
• pinch of black peppercorns (optional)
• 10 grape leaves
• 1 gallon boiling water

First, wash your cucumbers and remove any remaining blossoms. Poke them with a bamboo skewer, inserting it a few inches into one end, but not going all the way through.

Slice the onions, peel the garlic and rinse the grape leaves.

Boil the water and dissolve the salt in it and set aside to use later.

Place 2 or 3 grape leaves in the bottom of the jar(s). Place as many cucumbers as will fit in a single layer on the grape leaves. Add 5-6 cloves of garlic, a handful of onion slices, a handful of dill weed, and a pinch of black peppercorns. Put another layer of grape leaves on top.

Continue layering in this way until the jar is full. Finish with grape leaves.

Pour the hot brine into the jar(s) until full. Use a chopstick or knife to poke down into the jar (around the sides) to remove air bubbles.

Find a plastic lid (called a follower) that you can fit into the jar by bending it, and that will expand to mostly cover the grape leaves on top.

Place a weight on top of the follower (We use a mason jar filled with rocks and water) to keep the pickles under the brine. They should be covered by at least one inch of brine once the weight is in place.

Let sit at room temperature for 3-7 days, checking daily for desired taste.

When they taste right to you, cut them into slices and store them in jars covered with brine and with lids on top, in your refrigerator. You've made fermented foods!

The process of fermentation not only helps to preserve food, it breaks food nutrients down into more digestible forms, improves the bioavailability of minerals, and creates new nutrients including B vitamins (folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin). Fermented foods are also live foods, full of beneficial bacteria.

http://www.learningherbs.com/fermented_foods.html

Blog 9 How far should the government go in isolating people with an infectios diseases? Should the army be involved?

They should stop at isolating a few people. Quarantining an entire city or town is highly inconsistent and unreliable. Shown in the movie "Outbreak", when the government quarantined the town of Cedar Creek. Two families tried to escape the isolation. This is an example of how badly a quarantine can effect citizens. In terms of single person isolation; a patient often lives in a room with negative air pressure to prevent disease from spreading; an ultraviolet light may kill potential pathogens as they're sucked through a HEPA filter. Visitors must wear masks or, in some cases, sterile full-body suits.


I believe the military should not be involved with isolation but if it does get to the point where the government needs to quarantine an area, the military should get involved. Such an example can be found when looking back at the quarantine of the town Ziketan in China after two people died of pneumonic plague. The military did get involved in this incident of the quarantine of 10,000 people. 


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6736993.ece

Blog #7 Go to CYOA look at the example of an IM message Write an IM and its translation about a contagious disease

Anthony- hey have you heard about the marburg disease :O
Joe- wth is that :P
Anthony- it's like this super contagious disease that's found in fruit bats and green monkeys man :0
Joe- sounds trippy xD
Anthony- it practically makes you into a zombie dude xP
Joe- whoaa that sounds awesome but at the same time, it sounds like something i would try and avoid hahaha x)
Anthony- well duh... you know it's actually a virus that has evolved to infect humans
Joe- omg you make it sound like it's a science fiction alien thingy haha
Anthony- the virus kinda looks like an alien actually! it's all wormy...cherio-ish....shaped haha :D
Joe- so is this thing like the new swine flu or somethin?
Anthony- nawww, its just a disease mainly in africa. but if you ever did catch it, you're probably screwed. xDD
Joe- lmao well i don't think i'm going to touch any green monkeys or fruit bats any time soon
Anthony- yeah well i'm just informing you lol
Joe- yeah but i could care less
Anthony- well if the disease ever spreads in the US, i'll be sure to NOT tell you hahaha jkjk
Joe- lol yeah, i didn't think about that
Anthony- well now you have one more thing to worry about....you're welcome :D hahahahahaha
Joe- haha whatever, cya later
Anthony- laterss..

Acrostic Poem on Marburg

Monkey disease was original cause.
African originated disease
Recover percentage is very low.
Bio-safety level 4 virus. 
United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases started testing first vaccine.
Rate of fatality is from 23% to over 90%
Genphar has made a vaccine that protects animals from the disease.

Find one good prokaryote (bacteria) Describe how it helps people Include a picture of it Now find one harmful microorganism (bacteria, fungi, virus algae) Describe how it is harmful include a picture

One example of a  beneficial bacteria would be nitrosomonas.  Nitrosomonas is a genus comprising rod shaped chemoautotrophic bacteria. This certain bacteria oxidizes ammonia into nitrite as a metabolic process. This bacteria is useful in the treatment of industrial and sewage waste and in the process of biomediation.  This bacteria is found in soil, sewage, freshwater, and on building surfaces, especially in polluted areas that contains high levels of nitrogen compounds.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/microbial/nitrosomonas.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/microbial/image6.html&usg=__1N84tvEbl4Y7DC_7Z8mXcnvJOOU=&h=500&w=388&sz=40&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=FboyjXR9HWNPKM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNitrosomonas%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D865%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=126&vpy=53&dur=2082&hovh=255&hovw=198&tx=99&ty=119&ei=7fOtTN7NGoa8sAPw-tXCAg&oei=7fOtTN7NGoa8sAPw-tXCAg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

An example of a harmful bacteria would be something like Acinetobacter baumannii. It is a species of pathogenic bacteria and is resistant to most antibiotics. As a result of its resistance to drug treatment, some estimates state the disease is killing tens of thousands of US hospital patients each year and specialists say "they could emerge as a bigger threat." The illness can case severe pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract, bloodstream and other parts of the body. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acinetobacter_baumannii.JPG

Distant world could support life

     The article is about a new planet being found in the Gliese galaxy. The new found planet is about three times the size of our earth but the temperature and structure of the planet is good enough to sustain life. Scientists are saying that the temperature is the thing that might sustain life and the fact that the chance of life surviving there is about 100%. Gliese-581 is the name of the planet and scientists are speculating that there is already water there from comets, meteors, and etc. They are also saying that there might already be life there but if there isn't, it might start in 300 years or so. The only thing they are not sure about is whether or not the atmosphere of the planet is capable of sustaining the temperature. Otherwise, the winds would make it a very stable environment for  a species to evolve.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63868/title/Distant_world_could_support_life

Are non carbon based life forms possible? Why or why not? Give at least two reasons to support your answer

     The idea of non carbon based life forms are unlikely but I believe it could be possible on another planet or if a species evolves to a point where it actually changes its chemical structure. I have heard of silicon based life, fluorine based life, and electromagnetic based life forms. I do believe it is possible that an element will be found to replace carbon one day and then life will no longer require it. 
     One example of an electromagnetic life form is plasma bodies. Ninety percent of the universe consists of dark matters. In the dark universe plasma bodies flourish. These extraterrestrial life forms possess bio-plasma bodies. These are electromagnetic bodies, which generate electromagnetic fields and radiate electromagnetic waves.
     The second example is silicon life forms, this is likely because silicon is probably one of the more likely replacements for carbon. Most likely, humans would not be able to became silicon based but maybe in a different galaxy, extraterrestrial life has silicon based creatures.

Several years ago NASA rocket failed because scientists were not using the same system of measurement for all the parts. Should the US switch to the metric system? Why or why not? Give at least two reasons to support your answer

     I do believe it is time for the U.S. to convert the measurements to fit the metric system. However, it can confuse some people that are used to measuring in inches and what-not. I am personally fine fine with the metric system because I have used it a lot in math and science. I do believe the metric system is easier to convert and is more accurate in measurements. It would be easier if all measurements in the world were the same, but the beauty of the metric system is that you can convert it very easily because it is based on the number 10.
appa-1.jpg
    

Goals for this year!

For this year, I hope to achieve that perfect 4.0 GPA that so many others go for. My biggest challenge will be to adjust to the new high school lifestyle and to get an A in algebra 2 honors. I am not the smartest person so I need to depend on studying and homework habits, which thankfully, I am pretty consistent at.
I also want to get started on some clubs and sports like debate, key, and cross country. One of my goals is to stay in these clubs and sports for all four years.
I hope that one day, I can debate as well as these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT8t4liEHwU
    
During the summer I also would like to participate in some community service. I figure that I cannot get into a college that I want based on pure intelligence so I really want to distinguish myself as a hard-worker. By the end of my high school years, I hope to rack up any where from 800-1000+ hours of community service.
I also want to take some classes during the summer of next year to improve my skills as a student.

Bad habits I want to get rid of this year: I occasionally bite my nails when I am stressed or nervous.
I also want to get rid of some of my junk food eating habits, the vending machines at school seriously tempt me everyday and I just cannot help but go for the gummy bears once in a while.
And of course, I would also like to cut my internet usage time in half while I go through the year because I am just addicted to it.

These are just things that I would like to accomplish for the year, I realize that I probably will not be able to accomplish all of it but I will try my very hardest to get it all done.
I hope with all this work that one day I will end up with a successful job like these guys: http://lawyersonretainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/lawyers.jpg

Goals for this year :D

My goals for this year are to maintain a 4.0 in all of my classes including algebra 2 honors, which I am terrible at...
I want to go for some debate tournaments and get some community service hours for my records.