Decisions, Decisions...

This week I had a really hard time deciding on an article for you to read.  So, I decided to let you choose.  I will give you four links to different articles from Smithsonian.com.  You need to read the article and write a 4 to 5 sentence summary of what you read.  The choices are....

Human Skin Can Detect Odors, Some of Which May Help Trigger Healing

Why Does Very Hot Water Sometimes Feel Cold?

Scientists Have Basically No Idea How Many Cells Are in the Human Body

Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap

If you find another article about cells, cell shape and function, mitochondrial disorders or any other topic that is relevant to what we are studying now.  Send me an email and I can add it to the list for this week.

Micro "Selfies"

For week two of our unit on Microscopes, Cells and Cell Transport, we are going to have a little contest.  Your challenge is to find the coolest electron microscope image and decide if it is from an scanning electron microscope or a transmission electron microscope.  Be sure to give the image URL and tell which type of microscope was used in taking the image.

Below is an image of a scanning electron microscope image of the head of a human flea taken by retired scientific photographer, Steve Gschmeisser.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/7397841/Creepy-crawlies-Amazing-Scanning-Electron-Microscope-pictures-of-insects-and-spiders.html

Here is a transmission electron microscope image of a human liver cell taken by Dennis Kunkel.  He even offers electron microscope calendars...how cool is that.

http://www.denniskunkel.com/

I will keep track of the favorites.  Whoever posts the image first gets credit for finding the image and will get a vote for their image to win the prize.  Good luck.

Here is a link to the Cell LibGuide that Mrs. Nelson and I created.  It has some links to microscope images, but there are tons of cool images out there.  In order to get full credit, include the link, what the image is and if it is a SEM microscope picture or a TEM microscope picture.

http://d155.libguides.com/cell_structure_function

Sugar Sugar

November is National Diabetes Month.  When you think about it, National Diabetes month is nestled between Halloween (candy, sugar and treats...oh my) and the holiday season (hello cookies, pies and candy canes).  Even the month of November has Thanksgiving which is synonymous with over-eating and sitting on the couch to watch football.  This week in class we will be learning about the liver and pancreas and blood sugar homeostasis.  It is one of my most favorite cycles that we learn about in biology.

Over 8.3 percent of the population in the United States has diabetes.  This week I want you to "de-bunk" a diabetes myth.  Below, I have attached several links to sites that have information about diabetes, but there are a plethora of other valuable sources out there.  Feel free to find your own information, but make sure that it is scientifically reliable and legitimate.  Start your post with the site that you used and then explain the myth and why it is a myth.  Do you know anyone with diabetes?  Do they have type 1 or type 2 diabetes?  Why do you think type 2 diabetes is on the rise in the United States?  How can we reverse this trend?

American Diabetes Association

What is diabetes? What causes diabetes?

WebMD Diabetes Center

Mayo Clinic Diabetes Definition

CDC/Diabetes

Understanding Diabetes and Busting Myths

8 Diabetes Myths from A Healthier Michigan

All About That Frog

This is it...frog dissection week.  I thought it would be fun to have you interview your parents, guardians, siblings or even grandparents about their biology dissection experience.  Obviously, we will be dissecting frogs and here is a little "Rainbow Connection" to get your creative juices flowing.

Your blog this week will be a narrative about someone in your family's dissection lesson in high school biology.  Who did you interview?  How long ago was the dissection?  What did they dissect?  What did they like best?  What did they like least?  How well do they remember it?  Did they have a lab practical afterwards?  (You will!)  Commenting on someone else's post is optional this week.

Enzymes in the morning, Enzymes all through the night

This week we will start our new unit on Enzymes, Digestion and Nutrition.  It is one of my favorite units of the year.  First watch the following video.  It is only 4 minutes long.

In the video, there were several enzymes that were mentioned.  (Hint:  It might be important for you to know these enzymes for your quiz on Friday.)  Your blog post for this week is to research another enzyme.  With thousands of enzymes to choose from, this is not too difficult of an assignment.  Start your post with the website where you found your enzyme (it cannot be one of the enzymes mentioned in this video and try not repeat enzymes that have been chosen by other students).  Explain what the enzyme does, where it is found and why it is important.   Post early to avoid having to look at all of the other videos that students have chosen.

Fear Factor

This morning while reading the newspaper, I came across an article about fear.  Since Halloween falls on a Friday this year, I thought it was a perfect occasion to make a list of our fears.

What are you really afraid of?  Joey, my youngest, is dressing up as Indiana Jones this year for Halloween.  Does that mean that Joey will become terrified of snakes on Friday?  I just asked him what he is afraid of and he told me casually, "nothing."  Dominic, on the other hand, is afraid of dying.  When I was their age, I was afraid of taking out the garbage at night.  My parents lived in a wooded area and I was afraid of the long shadows and creepy noises at night when I had to take out the garbage.  Currently, I am afraid of the Ebola virus.  Will it spread?  Will it mutate?  Are my kids and students safe?

What really scares us?  What causes fear?  Has fear changed over the past century?  Will fear change in the future?  Read one of the two articles about fear below.  First state which article that you read and write a response to that article.  One article is from Scientific America and is about the science behind fear.  The other article is from the USA Weekend magazine.  Write a scholarly paragraph about fear.  You can pick any aspect of fear as long as you include what you are afraid of and why.


http://www.usatoday.com/experience/weekend/lifestyle/what-really-scares-us/17604159/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/factoring-fear-what-scares/

Fight for Your Right to....Be Educated

Do you know that there are still 168 million child labourers around the world?

Last Friday, October 10, 2014, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay for their ongoing struggle against the "suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

Malaya Yousafzay is the youngest person ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize.  As a young child born in Pakistan, she was an advocate for girls' education.  The Taliban first issued a death threat against her and then on October 9, 2012, a gunman attempted to assassinate her on her way home from school.  Yes...you read that right and she is only seventeen years old.

Malala shares the Nobel Prize with Kailash Satyarthi.  Satyarthi is a human rights activist from India who gave up a lucrative career as an Electrical Engineer to initiate a crusade to end child slavery and exploitative child labor.  Satyarthi has led to the rescue of over 78,500 child slaves and helped create a model for their education and rehabilitation.

This week I want you to go on the official website of the Nobel Prize and pick one former or current Nobel Prize winner to write about.  Ideally, I would love for there to be no repeats.  Use the website to pick a winner and then give a brief synopsis of that person's life and contribution to society.  The winner does not have to be a Peace Prize winner as there are also awards for Physics, Medicine, Chemistry, Literature, and Economic Sciences.  In a scholarly paragraph, (at the very least five sentences long with proper spelling, capitalization and punctuation) present a biography and a reason why they won the award.

http://www.nobelprize.org/

Marius the Giraffe

At the conclusion of our ecology unit, we discussed the importance of biodiversity.  Back in February of this year, TIME magazine published an article about how European Zoos are using euthanasia as a "regular tool for biodiversity and population management in many European Zoos."

http://time.com/5793/marius-the-giraffe-not-the-only-animal-zoos-have-culled/

Read the article above.  In a scholarly response, provide your response to this article.  What do you think?  Would you have signed a petition to save the giraffe's life?  What are other alternatives to euthanasia in over-crowded zoos?  Are zoos really helping to protect these animals?  Is euthanasia really a result of human impact?  In seventh hour we started discussing how animals in zoos do not seem happy.  What do you think about that?  Why?  Do you have any evidence to support your opinion?  What zoos are doing a good job of simulation the animal's natural habitat?  What can we do to increase biodiversity and improve the welfare of animals in zoos?

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Clean Air

This past week in New York City, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted world leaders at the Climate Summit 2014.  The hope was to gather leaders from all walks of life to "catalyze climate action."  Climate change is an issue that not only disrupting economies today, but will be burden for every country to carry in the future.

Was the summit successful?  Will this be a step in the right direction to fix the climate change dilemma?  Where do we go from here?

Watch this video:

Or read this article from Mashable:

http://mashable.com/2014/09/24/united-nations-climate-summit-takeaways/

Were you surprised by anything that you read or watched?  The UN insists that affordable solutions are available now.  What are those solutions? What solution would you suggest?  Where do we go from here?

If you were a guest speaker at the Climate Summit, what would you talk about?  This is what Leonardo DiCaprio said last week in his opening address:

Ebola: What should we do now?

I have actually already covered Ebola last year in this blog in the April 4 post.  (You can go back and read what last year's students thought about Ebola and the potential to spread outside of Africa.)  The majority of my students were not too worried about the spread of Ebola to other countries in Africa and definitely not worried about the spread of the virus into the United States.  Should we be worried?

Articles from this weeks TIME magazine:

Timeline: The Worst Ebola Outbreak in History

"UN Launches 'Unprecedented' Mission to Combat Ebola"

Link to the World Health Organization

Link to the Center of Disease Control

Link to NPR (Includes a bunch a great articles and an awesome graph depicting the prediction of spread of Ebola by the end of this year.)

Pick an article or two from the choices above or from another article.  Start your blog post with the title of the article underlined.  Then in a scholarly paragraph explain what the article is about.  Give an overview of the article, your opinion of the article and your opinion of the Ebola outbreak.  Are we doing enough?  Are non-profits doing enough?  What do you think we should do to stop the spread of this virus?  Do you support President Obama's decision?  After your concluding statement in your post, please copy and paste the URL for the article that you read.  If you find another Ebola article from a reputable source (I can tell you if you are not sure if your source is legit or not), feel free to use other sources as long as you give me the title and URL of the article.

7 Bug and Spider Myths Squashed

     Urban myths or truly disturbing reality?  After exploring the Bess Beetle in the first unit of the school year, I thought the perfect transition into blogging would be to read an article about creepy crawlers.  Do we really swallow eight to ten spiders in a year?  Could cockroaches really survive a nuclear war?

     For our first blog post of the year, I would like you to read this short article below about bug and spider myths.  Which myth did you believe before you read this article?  Which bug or spider myth do you still have questions about?  Do you know where any of these bug and spider myths came from? 

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/09/11/bugs-animals-insects-spiders-mosquitoes-tarantulas-science-myths/

    Once you have read the article, post a scholarly response to the article.  What did you think?  Did you like the article?  Why or why not?  Would this article convince you to be less afraid of bugs and spiders or are you still going to reach for your bug spray at first site of a mosquito?  I expect you to write this paragraph in the same fashion that you would write a paragraph for English class.  Capital letters, proper punctuation, correct spelling and format are expected.  You classmates will also write a response to this article.  Can you include a link to other cool bug sites?  What other myths would you like debunked?  In addition to your own response, I would like you to comment on at least one classmates response to the article.  All of these initial responses will be posted to my blog for the world to see, so do your best.

Diggin' the dancing queen

This week in class we will wrap up evolution and start classification.  Plus our tadpoles are quickly turning into very cute little frogs.

 I found the perfect topic for this weeks blog.  According to National Geographic, scientists in western India have recently discovered fourteen new species of "Dancing Frogs."

Explain in your response, how article and video relates to evolution.  Then try and hypothesize how it relates to classification.  What is up with the dance?  Why do they do it?  Are these dancing frogs in trouble?

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/09/new-species-frogs-animals-science-dancing-india/

Why do Whales Explode?

The town of  Trout River, Newfoundland has a big problem.  What should the officials do with a 380,000 pound blue whale corpse that is stinking up their town?

Will the whale explode if they try to move it?  How will they get rid of that awful stench?  What is killing the blue whales?  What are some other occasions when dead blue whales have been hard to dispose?  Read the article and let me know what you think.  How should the town of Trout River get rid of the whale?

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/02/animals-science-world-exploding-whale-blue/

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/blue-whale-interactive/#close-modal

So Many Evolution Articles So Little Time

After a week break from the blog, I had tons of ideas about what we could write about this week.  Initially, we were going to discuss the "Drunken Monkey Hypothesis."

Drunken Monkeys: http://www.livescience.com/44787-drunken-monkeys-explain-alcoholism.html

Then, while reading the Drunken Monkey article, I got side-tracked by hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds: http://www.calacademy.org/sciencetoday/hummingbird-evolution/5515004/

Then, I found this cool article on why zebras have stripes.

Zebras: http://www.calacademy.org/sciencetoday/why-zebras-have-stripes/5514895/

You pick.  Read an article and summarize what you have read.  Then relate it to what we have been talking about in class.   Maybe you have read another evolution article that you like better.  I can't wait to read it.   If you find another evolution article that interests you more, please send me the link, so I can approve it.

Lamarck

Here are some images to help you visualize Lamarck's Theory of Acquired Characteristics:

Giraffes with long necks?  Why is that?

Neck rings for longer necks?

Your Eyes Are the Window To Your Soul

As we wrap up our unit on genetics, I can't help but think about how many problems that I have given you that have to do with eye color.  Eye color is more complex than just brown eyes or blue eyes.

Check out this cool site that will help you predict the eye color of your future children:

http://genetics.thetech.org/online-exhibits/what-color-eyes-will-your-children-have

Your eyes are truly "tiny spheres of wonder."  National Geographic posted this video about how your eyes can be used to detect warning signs of a series of health issues:

Because you have a huge, two-day test this week, I am going to make the blog post fairly easy.  You can respond about how cool the eyes are or you can simply tell me your favorite genetics problem from the unit.

Outbreak: 2014 Ebola

Have you ever seen the movie "Outbreak"?  What about the more recent movie "Contagion"?  Both of these movies gave me bad dreams for weeks.  Hollywood is excellent at introducing the terrifying world of infectious diseases.

On March 30, 2014, the local Northwest Herald reported that in Conakry, Guinea in West Africa there is a documented outbreak of the Ebola virus.  What is the Ebola virus?  Why is this such a big deal?  Previous outbreaks of Ebola were all contained to remote rural villages, while Conakry is an urban city of more than 2 million people with an international airport.  Should American citizens be worried about the spread of Ebola beyond the borders of Africa?

So I did some more research.  This week I would like you to also do some more research into this outbreak of Ebola. What are the symptoms of the virus?  How many people survive?  So far with this outbreak how many people have died?  Are they all in one country?  What measures have been taken to prevent this disease from spreading beyond the borders of Guinea?  Provide examples of former outbreaks of Ebola.  Which former outbreak was the worse?  Should we be worried?  Answer the previous questions in a scholarly response.  Be sure to include your own opinion.  Below are some links to articles that might help you.  If you find another article that has good information, please share it in your response.

Ebola spread to Guinea capital (Northwest Herald)

Outbreak of Ebola  (Center of Disease Control)

6 Things to Know About the Latest Ebola Outbreak (TIME)

Ebola Virus Disease (World Health Organization)

Why is Guinea's Ebola Outbreak so Unusual? (NPR)

GATTACA

This week in class we watched GATTACA.

What did you think?  Could this happen in real life?  What do they mean in the movie when Vincent states that we now have discrimination down to a science?  Ethically, would you consider genetically engineering your child?  Would you want the best traits of you and your partner to be passed to your offspring to insure that they have the best opportunities in life?

This is a Man's World

In a famous James Brown song, the lyrics state that "This is a Man's world, but it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl."  Feminism is clearly a topic that brings strong emotions and opinions from both males and females.  As a female science teacher, I definitely believe in strong women and think that there have been some very influential female scientists that have shaped science today.

Rosalind Franklin.  Do you remember her?  Franklin said, "Science, for me, gives a partial explanation for life."  How true is that?  She would be my choice for this week's blog.  Influential, an under-dog and definitely not appreciated by her male counterparts, Franklin is an epic female scientist.

Saturday, March 8th was International Women's Day.  It was a day not only to celebrate how far women have come, but also to look ahead to the future and realize that there is still so much that needs to be done to bridge the gap of inequality.  In some countries, women are treated like second-class citizens.  What can be done to change cultural viewpoints?

This week I would like you to pick an influential woman.  Ideally, I would like you to find an influential female scientist, but the more I pondered over this week's blog the more I realized that there are other women out there that should be recognized.  What did your influential woman do?  Why did you pick her?  Does she have any cool quotes?  Please attach a link to where you found your research.  If you are really stuck and can't think of any influential women, you can do some research about inequality instead.  Please give specific examples of inequality and tell me where you learned about it.  (Include a link to your research sites.)

Price tag: It's not about the money, money, money

This week in my TIME magazine there is an article by Dr. Marty Makary entitled, "The Cost of Chasing Cancer."  (You know I love reading my magazines.)  Makary has some pretty lofty credentials as he is a cancer surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital and an associate professor of health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

After a week of learning about cancer and watching three very sad video clips about cancer, I thought this article was perfect for this week.  The problem of unintentional harm is too big to ignore.  If harming patients in the process of trying to improve their health were a disease, it would be the number three cause of death in the United States.  Have screenings for cancer gone too far?  Is it worth it have all these screenings to detect cancer?  Why is over-diagnosis and over-treatment so out of control?  Is more medicine always the right choice?  Will women have more negative effects from having a yearly mammogram to detect cancer than they would without the test?  What about you?  Would you  have the test?  If cancer runs in your family, would you want to know if you were at risk?  Are you better off not knowing that you might develop cancer and living life to the fullest?  Can you find any examples to illustrate unintended harm, over-diagnosis or over-treatment?

The link to the article is below.  Please read the article and make your own opinion.  Think about the questions that I have posted above.  Your scholarly response is due Friday, March 7th.



Makary, Marty.  "The Cost of Chasing Cancer."  TIME.  March 10, 2014, page 24.

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2166761,00.html

Clouds

This week in Honors Biology we are going to start learning about cancer.  Watch the video below:

Do you remember the song "Clouds" from the movie "UP"?

What do you think?

Presidential Stem Cells

Happy Presidents Day!  I hope you are all enjoying this Monday with no school.  This week's blog assignment is going to be a little different than the past two weeks.  You have two options.

Option 1:
This morning at breakfast we were discussing Presidents' day and favorite presidents.  My husband, the AP U.S. History teacher loves Abraham Lincoln.  Dominic would ideally love to be a cowboy like Daniel Boone defending the Alamo.  Clearly, the glory of cowboys and soldiers makes James K. Polk his favorite president--don't mess with Texas.  Joey is a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt.  The safaris, outdoor adventures, snakes in his dorm room and the fact that DC comics created Batman because of Theodore Roosevelt make him the obvious choice for a six year old.   How does this relate to biology you might be asking yourself?

While you might be aware that James Garfield was shot in the back by an assassin, did you know that he could have survived if his doctors had listened to Joseph Lister?  Lister had all these crazy ideas about germs in the air, sanitizing tools, sterile surgical wear and the cleanliness of the general surgical field.  Garfield's doctors thought Lister was delusional.  Germs in the air?  Clean tools?  At the time, dried caked blood on your surgical gown was a sign of accomplishment.  Doctors poked their fingers around in Garfield's wound ultimately killing him with bacteria.  Alexander Graham Bell (the telephone guy) was so frustrated that he is quoted saying, "science will have to save the president."

Yes.  Indeed, President's day is related to biology.

Who is your favorite president?  Why?  What did he do?  Can you make a link to biology? Write a scholarly response describing your favorite president.

The link below will help you learn about the presidents:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

Option 2:
This week in class we will begin discussing the cell cycle.  As part of the discussion on the cell cycle, we will also be learning about stem cells.  Your book has a great section that you will read that explains stem cell research.  However, the great stem cell debate is alive and kicking.  If you choose option 2, you will find me a link to a valid article or video that discusses the stem cell debate.  In addition to the link about stem cell research, you will also write a scholarly response, explaining what you learned in the article or video.  For this option, you need to include both the media link and the summary.  Here is a cool link to NOVA to help you get started:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/miracle/stemcells.html

Hidden Messages

I don't know about you, but I have always loved books, stories and puzzles with hidden messages.  Like we discussed last week in class, I am a huge fan of crime shows and mysteries.  Trying to figure out the puzzle gives me a sense of accomplishment.  On December 12, 2013 Forbes magazine published the article below about the hidden message in DNA.  Scientists at the University of Washington have found that the 64 codons that control protein synthesis may also have another message.  Is this true?  Is it all hype?  Is there really hidden messages in the DNA (how cool would that be)?  

For this week's blog assignment, I would like you to look at the articles below.  What do you think?  Is this really a major breakthrough in the study of DNA or is it just some hype?  What is your opinion about hidden messages?  

With this being Valentines week, I can't help but ponder all the hidden messages out there... 

Long Article from Forbes magazine:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/12/13/seven-ways-to-look-at-the-double-meaning-of-dna-code/

Simplified Version:
http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/12/12/scientists-discover-double-meaning-in-genetic-code/

Reality Check (Should I believe all this hype?):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/12/13/dont-be-duped-by-duon-dna-hype/

The Gene Factory

In this month's publication of The New Yorker magazine, there is an article that discusses genetic engineering and the genetic-research center B.G.I., formerly known as the Beijing Genomics Institute.  Located in China, B.G.I. works to decipher the basic code of life.  The past two weeks in Honors Biology class we have discussed DNA, DNA replication and protein synthesis.  The basis of the "code of life" is  made up of four nucleotides:  adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. (This should sound familiar.)

B.G.I. hopes that by decoding as many life-forms as possible will enable them to explain the "origins and the evolution of humanity, improve our average life span by five years, increase global food production by ten percent, decode genetic diseases" and more.  China's one-child policy may have prevented over-population in China, but it may lead parents to genetically engineer the "perfect child."  Scientists are predicting that in the next twenty to forty years, most babies will be conceived through in-vitro fertilization.  Hank Greely, a professor at Stanford, even wrote a book on the "ethical implications of genomics and human reproduction" entitled "The End of Sex" that will be published next year.

Your blog assignment for this week is to write a persuasive response to support your opinion on using genetics to improve the quality of life.  Is it morally correct to genetically engineer the perfect child?  If China starts promoting genetic screening will the United States follow?  If you could prevent your future children from having disease or disabilities would you?  By using genomics we could create better crops and end world hunger.  Is it worth it?  Will all humans end up looking alike?  What will happen to athletics?  You need to have scholarly writing and provide examples either in favor or against using genomic data.  Be thoughtful in your writing.

Specter, Michael.  (2014).  The gene factory.  The New Yorker, 89, 34-41.

A Noble Nobel Prize

On Monday of this week, we did not have school to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.  Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Prize in 1964 not because of the war he waged against inequality to blacks, but in the way he led that struggle.

Between 1901 and 2013, there have been over 500 Nobel Prizes and Prize in Economic Sciences awarded.  In this DNA unit, we will discuss other very important Nobel Prize winners, James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine..."for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

The blog assignment for this week is for you to find another winner of a Nobel Prize.  You can pick any of the categories of the Nobel Prize that interest you and describe one winner.  In a scholarly writing, I would like you to describe the winner or winners in one or two paragraphs.  Additionally, you should include the year that they won, what prize they won, and why they won.  This blog entry should be at least 5 sentences long and be written in a scholarly manner (include capital letters and periods).  This first blog entry is worth 10 points.  

The following link will help you...

http://www.nobelprize.org/

Be sure to put the research into your own words.  Also, pick a winner that has not been described by someone else.  I will email you if your blog entry is not acceptable.