Pig Dissection

The pig dissection was a very interesting way of learning about anatomy. The purpose of the lab was to help us see where and how the organs work together. The pig has the same organs as humans do, so we could see the anatomy of the pig. In previous vodcasts, we learned about the Circulatory, Respiratory, Nervous, Endocrine, Digestive, Immune, Lymphatic, and Inflammatory systems. Throughout dissecting the pig, we saw all of the systems. Some parts were harder to find than others, because they were underneath, so we had to dig a bit to find it. My favorite part of this dissection was cutting open the heart and seeing the veins. This was interesting because we could see the bright red and blue veins.

Unit 10 Reflection

Unit 10 was about the many systems in our body. The circulatory system pumps blood throughout our body to provide oxygen. The respiratory system puts oxygen into our blood. The nervous system helps us move our body and think. The endocrine system controls the body's reproduction, growth, and metabolism. The digestive system processes food into and out of our body. The immune system helps our body fight against disease. The lymphatic and inflammatory both help the immune system fight bacteria.

I want to learn more about the nervous system, and how it sends signals to tell our body what to do. I wonder why our cells automatically do what they do.
Throughout this year of biology, I really enjoyed the What on Earth Evolved presentations. (What on Earth Evolved: Apple). The Hunger Games Lab was also very enjoyable and memorable. (Hunger Games Lab). I've learned a lot and become better at biology.

20 Time Final Post

For my 20 time project, I researched what would help me wake up on time. I did this because I hoped my results and research would help others too. I found a good combination for setting my alarms so, that it would wake me up on time and also without being groggy. 

My TED talk was much longer than I expected, 5:55. When I practiced my TED talk at home, I got the time of 3:55, so I may have talked much slower. I also may have added more things in my presentation, adding on to the length of my presentation. I could do my presentation again, I would practice my introduction better so I wouldn't have as many "uh"'s. I enjoyed listening to other people's presentations as they were very interesting. I have learned a lot about myself, and learned more about other topics. Prepping for this was more stressful than for the what on earth evolved presentation because I couldn't read off anything.

20 Time Reflection

20 Time Individual Reflection

I challenged myself to find a way to help myself and other to have an easier time in the mornings. I chose this because I have trouble waking up in the mornings. I want to improve my mornings and also help others too. I will use the research and information I have gotten to wake up easier every morning and also help others.
My project helped me learn a lot about different ways people can wake up, and how each person is different. I can't concluded what is the overall best method for waking up, because other people may respond differently, but I know what helps me wake up the best. I experimented with alarms, trying different methods to wake myself up, and I found that two separate sounds helped me the most. One loud sound at first, and ten minutes later a more quiet one that I hear, that tells me to get up.
If I could do this project again, I would make the survey earlier, so more people could take it. I will continue sharing my results and methods with others, so they can see what helps them the most.

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 was about how organisms in the past evolved to form all the organisms today. We learned about how organisms are classified, and the differences of organisms. We went on a field trip to California Academy of Sciences to do a scavenger hunt. The building had an entire ecosystem on its roof, which helps lower the destruction of habitat. It helped review the unit and see many things. Also, I made a presentation (What on Earth Evolved Presentation) describing an apple and how it evolved. We even did a little bit of research on Sponges. 

 

I want to learn more about the past, and how our ancestors were. The earth in the past may have looked like a completely different planet, so it would interesting to see what it looked like. We watched a video series called "My Inner Fish," and it showed the similarities between a fish and a human (My Inner Fish Reflection).

The presentation I made was very time consuming to make, and I could have started doing it earlier. I could have rehearsed my presentation more before I presented, so my presentation would have flowed better.

My Inner Fish Reflection

The video series was about how evolution in past species has led up to humans. We've learned about evolution, and this series shows proof of evolution.
 The human skeleton and the fish's skeleton are actually related, having similar muscles and bone structure. The human skeleton had come from the fish's skeleton. Many species had common ancestors, like a chicken and a human. Fish gill slits are still on human and chicken embryos.
Mass extinctions are important because they give other species a chance to flourish. When dinosaurs were around, mammals had to hunt during the night and sleep during the day. Because the dinosaurs all went extinct, mammals had a chance to thrive. Extinctions give other species a second chance.

The Best method for waking up?

In the past two weeks, I've learned more about ways to easily wake up. I've learned that using an alarm clock, or a vibrating watch could help you wake up in  the mornings. But the best method to wake up is by waking up naturally. I've learned about myself that I depend on my alarm clocks to wake up, so I don't wake up naturally. A setback I've had is that I need an accurate way to test the time it takes me to wake up. My next steps are finding an accurate way for me to measure how long it takes me to wake up and to look for better ways to wake up. I can apply this knowledge by sharing it with my peers and giving them an easier time in the mornings.

Sponges

Sponges live at the bottom of the ocean, where they trap bacteria inside of their pores and eat them. Sponges depend on the flow of water to eat. Their phylum is Porifera, meaning they have many pores. The skeleton of the sponge is made out of spicules and spongin. The vodcast talked about many types of invertebrate, and a sponge is one of them. The kingdom of a sponge is animal, and the domain is eukaryote. Sponges have been around for a very long time, because of their ability to adapt the its environment. Sponges are neither female or male, and they can play both roles in reproduction. Sponges can be colorful, or just a plain color. Sponges can either be encrusted, living on something solid, or free standing, which can grow big enough to fit a person inside of it.





http://www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/sponges.html

How different sounds effect how you wake up - Update 2

While doing research on methods to help wake me up, I found a good method that worked for others. It is an app for your phone which makes it vibrate until you walk. I think this is a good way to wake you up because it wouldn't wake you up suddenly and uncomfortably, but it will wake you up peacefully. It also wouldn't stop until you walked around, which would really wake you up. It is called the MoveUp Alarm clock. What I learned about myself was that I have different options to wake up to.

A setback I have had is how to download the app, since it is for android only, and I have an apple phone. To solve this, I might borrow an android device to test this app out. My next steps are to use the app, and see if there are any other similar apps like this one.

I can apply this knowledge to my school day mornings, by being able to start off my days earlier and more relaxed. I could also spread my findings with my community, to help them in the mornings.  

Unit 8 reflection

Unit 8 was about how the human species evolved, the difference between natural change and evolution, how evolution is actually the change in alleles, how species evolve, what is evidence of evolution, and what the origin of life is. Evolution is gradual change in a species, which is the same as the change in alleles. Species can evolve through natural selection, where the weak die off, so only the stronger genes are passed on. Speciation can occur because of behavioral, geographic, or temporal isolation. The two patters of speciation are gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Evidence of evolution come from fossils, homologous structures, and analogous structures. Earth's history goes very far back, the main eras being the Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and Precambrian. The Hunger Games Lab was a good lab to teach how natural selection occurred. The Geological Timeline was a good way to see the scale of how old the earth was.
I want to learn more about the past, and how different it was. Would the Earth look like a different planet from now? I wonder what would happen if dinosaurs never went extinct.
I have tried to improve my assertive skills , but I still need to work on improving them.

Geologic Timeline Individual Reflection

One major event of earth's history was during the Holocene era. This is the time period where humans evolved and populated the earth. The Holocene era goes from 11700 years ago to now. Humans have changed the earth a lot, with pollution, global warming, destroying habitats, and making species extinct. Another major event of earth's history was the extinction of dinosaurs, which happened near the end of the Cretaceous era. This changed the planet because without the extinction of dinosaurs, humans might not exist today. Before, dinosaurs were the dominant race, but now humans are. Another major event of earth's history is the Cambrian period. It is when animal phyla in increased in diversity suddenly. This is also the time when different groups of animals started to appear on the fossil record.
What was surprising about the scale of earth's history is the fact that humans were around for such a short time. Dinosaurs were around longer than humans, and they went extinct. Humans have a chance of being extinct, along with all the other species that live on earth.
In the short time humans have been on earth, we've done a lot. We have made a hole in the ozone layer, which effects the earths atmosphere, which will effect life on earth later. We have also made things that are hard to dispose, like glass and plastic. But with earth's history being on such a large scale, they will decompose.
How long will humans live on the planet before it runs out of resources, or we become extinct?

Hunger Games Final Analysis

1. In this lab, we used different methods of picking up corks to simulate evolution and natural selection. The ones that picked up enough food got to reproduce and another person would go back in. The ones that didn't get enough food would die.
2. The pinchers were the best at picking up food, because they could grab two at once quickly.
3. The population did evolve, because the species that were better could pick two at once dominated over the slow stumpys, who died off. In the first round, there were eight stumpys. In the second round, more than half died, leaving three stumpys. In the third round, they completely died off.
4. In this lab, the placement of corks was random, because sometimes they were in a small area, and other times they were all spread out. If people didn't run for the food, they might not have gotten much, since everyone swarmed it. What wasn't random was the number of birds that started out, being about the same. This could have given birds more of a chance to pass off their alleles to make their certain type of bird.
5. If the food was smaller, the stumpys might not have even made it to the second round, the knucklers would have had a harder time getting food, and the pinchers would be about the same. If the food was larger, then the stumpys might have had a better chance, the knuckers would have would have had a harder time getting food if it was larger than their knucles, and the pinchers would have had the same amount of food. In nature, if their prey became different, they could effect how much each bird would eat.
6. Without incomplete dominance, there would only be stumpys and pinchers. Pinchers would slowely become the entire population. The stumpys wouldn't be able to reproduce, and pinchers would eat all the food.
7. Evolution is the change in allele frequency, which changes the organism's traits. Natural selection is when the organisms with bad traits are unable to reproduce, making the majority of the population have good traits. Natural selection makes evolution happen.
8. The same species tried to reproduce with the same species.This would make more of the same species, so the ones that could reproduce would grow in population.This could effect the allele frequency by making more of the similar allele from the same species.
9. In evolution, the population evolves. Evolution doesn't happen to only one organism, because evolution works over a long time, or else natural selection wouldn't work. Natural selection acts on the phenotype.
If we had more stumpys in the beginning would they survive longer?

8.
9. In evolution, the population evolves.

How different sounds effect how you wake up-Update 1

I have been researching about what helps a person wake up better, and I found out that vibrations could work to wake a person up. I found that some sounds would be more pleasant to wake up to, but may not be as effective. I've learned that waking up to different sounds each morning brings an interesting start to each morning. I setback I've had was how to record how much time it actually takes me to wake up, because each day could be different. I plan to solve this setback in the future, by researching apps that would do something similar. I could apply this by sharing my final results with others, so they have an easier time waking up in the mornings.

Bird Beak Lab

In this lab we asked the question of "If natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?". My hypothesis for Darwin's first conclusion was that  if individuals who inherited better traits will produce more offspring, then the tweezers beak will be able to easily get food, and get the most chicks. My hypothesis for Darwin's second conclusion was that if populations begin to look more like the winners, then the tweezers bird will have the most chicks. Both hypothesis were correct because the tweezers bird ate the most, because of its ability to be able to grab a lot of food in a short period of time. After the change, my hypothesis was that the other birds wouldn't get as much, because the tweezers bird would eat a lot of the food before other birds could. It wasn't correct, because the binder clip still the same amount of chicks it did before the change. The tweezers bird had eight less chicks (23 before, 15 after), and the scissors bird has four less chicks (13 before, 9 after). The binder clip remained at thirteen. This result was likely caused because the binder clip bird only fed off of rubber bands, so it made the same amount of chicks both times. 

Our data was unexpected because the binder clip bird should have had less chicks in the second round. This probably happened because the binder clip bird mainly fed off of rubber bands, which were easy for the binder clip. Before the change, the binder clip bird had 63 foods total, and 60 of them were rubber bands. After the change, the binder clip bird had 60 foods total, and 58 of them were rubber bands. This made our binder clip bird get the same amount of food in both rounds. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend to make sure rubber bands were evenly spread throughout the pile of food, and cutting the rubber bands into smaller pieces so that the binder clip bird wouldn't be able to grab it as easily. 

This lab was done to demonstrate how evolution works. From this lab I learned how different beaks effect what birds can eat, and how much time it takes, which helps me understand the concept of evolution. The birds with better beaks which were easier to eat with produced a lot more chicks, and so more of the dominant birds became most of the population. Based on my experience from this lab, I can see if other animals will survive in their environment based on their traits.  

What sounds are most effective to wake you up?

20 time is a project where students do a project which is related to a hobby of theirs, for 20 percent of their class time. In my project, I will be figuring out what sounds wake you up the most efficiently. I have chosen this 20 time project because I have trouble waking waking up in the morning, and I want to see what would help me wake up. For  my project, I will be setting a different sound to my phone to wake up to, and it will record how long it takes me to wake up. Then, I will make a table, listing the times and sounds, and decide which is the best. My goal is to find out which sound is the best, and also tell others, to help their mornings. I will measure my progress by using my phone to time the time it takes me to get up. I will also be doing blog posts on my progress. My plan moving forward is to start recording data.

Unit 7 Reflection

Unit 7 was about food webs and ecosystems. It talked about how plants and animals depend on each other to live. Plants take energy from the sun ,which animals eat, and other animals eat the smaller animals, transfering the energy from the sun. It talked about how ecosystems have a carrying capacity and what factors help and hurt ecosystems. I want to learn more about methods we can take care of our planet, so we won't hit our carrying capacity or run out of natural resources as fast. I'm still curious about how we could reduce our trash.

The conversation biology project (Conversation Biology Project) was fun and let me learn a lot about the ecosystem we studied, the coral triangle. Researching about the coral triangle went well, while finding out about the animals that lived there was a bit more difficult. The collaboration in our group was good.

Unit 6 Reflection

This unit was about bioethics, biotech, and technologies of biotechnology. Biotechnology is the study and manipulation of living things in order to benefit mankind. Biology benefits mankind in many ways, including food, fermentation, and gene therapy.Morals and values make us decide what is the right thing to do. Recombinant DNA is inserting DNA into another DNA by cutting one strand. We also figured out the length of DNA from gel electrophoresis.
Recombinant DNA was interesting and I understood it.Technologies of biotechnology was a bit confusing at first, but I started understanding more over time. I liked the candy electrophoresis lab because there were many interesting things in it, like gel (Candy Electrophoresis Lab). We also did a Electrophoresis Virtual  lab (Electrophoresis Virtual Lab), pGLO lab (pGLO Lab), and Recombinant DNA Lab (Recombinant DNA Lab).  I want to learn more about how we can use biotech to help grow back body parts, or to create body parts.
My new years resolution was to not procrastinate as much, and write neater (New Years Resolution). I have slightly procrastinated less, and I wrote neater for a few vodcasts.

pGLO Lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below.

Plate	Number of Colonies	Color of Colonies under Room Light	Color of Colonies under UV Light	Comments
- pGLO LB	carpet	cloudy cream	cloudy cream	looks a bit like sand
- pGLO LB/amp	-	-	-	Looks the same as before
+ pGLO LB/amp	264	Cream	Cream	A lot of small colonies
+ pGLO LB/amp/ara	50	Cream	Green	Bigger than +pGLO LB/amp

What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?

The +pGLO LB/amp/ara would glow under UV light, and you could see the center of the colony more clearly.

Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.

Thousands of bacteria, because many more colonies formed from that.

What is the role of arabinose in the plates?

The arabinose helped the bacteria glow under UV light.

List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.

GFP works with arabinose to make the bacteria glow under UV light, so you can see the cell.

GFP help biosensors work, which allow SOS-inducing activity of genotoxic compounds.

GFP is being used for gene cloning and construction.

Give an example of another application of genetic engineering.

Genetic engineering can help tomatoes grow faster, making more tomatoes.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1. Our  reference dyes were slightly bigger than our experimental dyes, and we had two yellow bands. Our experimental dyes also contained a brown color, which the reference dye didn't have,which was from a brown m&m.
2. The citrus red 2 would have migrated similarly to our yellow dye, because that one traveled the most, being the shortest. The citrus red 2 is composed of the least molecules. The Betanin would have traveled similar to our orange dye, which traveled the least because it was the longest.
3. Adding food coloring to dog food would make it look more nutritious and better for the dog. Dog owners wouldn't want to choose a colorless food that doesn't look good for their dog.
4. FD&C Dye: Red 40; Color: Red; Natural Alternative:  Boiled cranberries; Source of Natural Dye: Cranberries. 
Artificial food color might look more vibrant and fresher than natural food colors. 
5. The size of the band controlled the distance in how much the solution migrated. The longer the molecules were, the less it migrated. 
6. The electricity helps move the dyes through the gel. Also, the gel itself has holes and pores for the solution to move through. 
7. When electricity pushes the solution down the gel, bigger molecules take longer to move through the pores and holes, and smaller molecules move through them faster. The further down the gel the band is, the shorter the band is. 
8. 5000 daltons will be closest to the starting point. 2000 daltons will be second closest from the starting point, but maybe twice as far as 5000 daltons is. 1000 daltons would be even further away, and 600 daltons would be furthest away. 

Electrophoresis Virtual Lab

Gel Electrophoresis Virtual Lab Worksheet                                                         Name: Brandon Yuen

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

Make a prediction:

1. How do you think you could figure out the lengths of the strands in the tube of DNA?

Measure a small piece of it, and then multiply it by about the amount of DNA in the tube.

Go through the simulation:

2. What is the process called in which we measure the DNA microscopically?

Gel Electrophoresis

3. What is the “gel”?

Filter that sorts DNA strands. Like a sponge of Jello with many holes.

4. Write down the step of gel electrophoreses
1.  put DNA sample into holes on one end of gel

2.   add electrical current to make DNA move

3.  short strands move further away from starting point, long strands not as far

4. stain the groups of DNA so human eye can see it

5. What does the current do the DNA samples?

Makes the DNA move

6. What kinds of strand move quickly and further down the gel?

shorter strands

7. What kinds of strand move slower and lag behind?

longer stands

8. What about the strand that are the same length?

They would move together. 

9. What helps us see the DNA strand in the gel?

staining it

10. What are the ingredients to make a gel? Make your Gel!

powdered agarose, buffer, flask, microwave, gel  mold, gel comb

11. Load the Gel with the DNA!
12. After you load the DNA sample into the tray, what is the next step? turn on electricity and run the gel

13. How do you know current is running through the gel?

tiny air bubbles will appear

14. After the gel is done, what must you do to it before you can analyze your results?

stain the DNA with DNA staining solution

15. How long does this process take?

about half an hour

16. What type of light do you use to view the gel? Is it safe and what precautions would you might need to use?

ultraviolet light

protective glasses

                                                                                                                               

17. Take a screenshot of your gel and paste below.

If you do not know how to take a screen shot go to http://www.take-a-screenshot.org

18. Write your size estimates below:

1. Strand 1: 6000

2. Strand 2: 3500

3. Strand 3: 1500

                                       

                                                 

19. Could you list one reason why we would run a Gel electrophoresis on someone and explain your answer.

If someone wanted to find out the genes. Because gel electrophoresis lets scientists separate DNA fragments so they can study the strand and get the distance of the strands.

Relate and Review

Write at least 5 sentences summarizing the process of electrophoresis and relating to what you’ve learned before. 

Electrophoresis is the process in which people measure DNA. First, the gel is made, similar to a jello with many holes. Then, DNA samples are put into one end of the gel, and then electrical current is run through the gel to make the DNA molecules move. The longer strands will move slower, and be closer the the starting place. The shorter strands will move faster, and be further away from the starting place. To see the DNA, DNA staining solution is put on it, and then it can be viewed by normal eye with a ultraviolet light. Before, we learned about DNA, and how it's genes make who we are. Now, we know how to find the length of our DNA.