Blog # 2 Why is fossil record hard to interpret?

          The interpretation of the fossil record has been biased by differential preservation.  Some species are underrepresented or have not yet been found.  We are left with a somewhat blurred picture of the past, especially the early past.  Whether an organism is preserved greatly depends on the local environment in which it died.  Plants and animals from humid tropical forests are rarely preserved because they decay rapidly in these regions.  Similarly, fossils from mountainous areas rarely survive due to high rates of erosion.  Desert creatures generally become fossilized more often due to the preserving arid conditions.  Likewise, aquatic organisms are often well preserved if their bodies ended up in deep water where there is little oxygen and life. Not all bones from the same animal survive equally well.  Lightweight bones with relatively large surface areas deteriorate more quickly and are, therefore, less often fossilized.  Small, delicate bones are also more likely to be crushed or carried away from the rest of a skeleton by running water. There is bias in the fossil record resulting from the fact that paleontologists have not equally searched all areas of the globe.   Because of the inaccessibility of some regions, such as Central Asia and much of Africa, their fossil records are poorly understood compared to those of Europe and North America.

Blog #1 Why is evolution a theory and not a law?

     Theory in science means something else. It doesn't mean speculation, in science "theory" means explanation. A theory is an explanatory framework that incorporates all other data including laws. A law in science is descriptive of some kind of physical relationship for example the ideal gas law. Where as a theory is explanatory for example the ideal gas law would be explained as part of atomic theory. And you could quite easily prove that evolution is not real. Find a fossil mammal in the Silurian and you've done it. A law is a pattern that natural phenomena follow. So they're two different things. A law is great for predicting events, because we expect the events to follow the pattern. But the law won't explain why events follow the pattern. For that we need a theory. 

What was you favorite activity/topic this year? Why was it a favorite? What was your least favorite? Why?

My favorite activity last year had to be the karaoke project because it was the most creative and fun to finish. It was fun to sing it in front of the class, even if my partner and I weren't that good at singing in general. Replacing the words in songs with science related words and making them rhyme was extremely challenging but very entertaining.
My least favorite thing had to be the benchmark because I was not ready at all for it, and I only managed to pull off a B on it. There were numerous questions on it that I did not understand and I had to guess, thankfully, my guesses were not all wrong.

Blog#13 How has DNA changed how we investigate crimes? What are the two main tests? Describe them

DNA profiling has created a new form of looking at crimes. All the evidence can be DNA tested and therefore breakdown the possible victims. The two main types of DNA profiling are:
PCR Analysis
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to make millions of exact copies of DNA from a biological sample. DNA amplification with PCR allows DNA analysis on biological samples as small as a few skin cells. With RFLP, DNA samples would have to be about the size of a quarter. The ability of PCR to amplify such tiny quantities of DNA enables even highly degraded samples to be analyzed. Great care, however, must be taken to prevent contamination with other biological materials during the identifying, collecting, and preserving of a sample.
STR Analysis
Short tandem repeat (STR) technology is used to evaluate specific regions (loci) within nuclear DNA. Variability in STR regions can be used to distinguish one DNA profile from another. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses a standard set of 13 specific STR regions for CODIS. CODIS is a software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons. The odds that two individuals will have the same 13-loci DNA profile is about one in a billion.

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