#9-3 ADVICE TO OTHERS

The only thing I can say is do not procrastinate.....there is alot of work and you need to stay on top of it.

I found that each week when the new assignments were posted I would print them and keep it in a binder and mark off each item as I completed it. In the beginning the class materials were very overwhelming to me, it seemed like sooooo much work that I panicked and ended up falling behind. Do not let this happen to you, its not that bad I have come to realize if I do what I am supposed to each week.

Best of LUCK =)

#9-2 EXPECTATIONS?

Yes, this class did meet my expectations, it actually surpassed them. I thought we would be learning stuff that I would never use or apply in my everyday life. This was not the case at all. Almost everything we learned I can actually relate to and I cant believe the different way I look at things in the world now.

#9-1 CLASS IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

I found some of the wording to the questions to be a little overwhelming, there were so many parts to some of the questions and in the beginning it was very confusing to find everything. I liked the blogs better then the discussion board and I would encourage people to make them a little more personal and interesting so that everyone would want to read everyone elses. (Kinda like a myspace....let the personalities show a little more)

#8-4 GRADE US!!!

Well, I have mixed feelings on how I would rate the human population. I think we are the most advanced organisms on the planet but not the smartest. If we continue to invent new things and tear up our environment pretty soon we are going to have nothing and possibly cause us to become extinct. People in general have become very greedy and its all about making money and who has the most belongings and they are not looking at what they are destroying in the process. So, considering what the human race is doing to our planet I would have to give them an F. I hope we can raise that grade in the near future.

#8-3 HUMAN IMPACTS

I spent this last weekend out on the river and the destruction that humans are having on the environment is unbelievable. There was garbage everywhere, on the shore, in the water and hanging from trees. People are dumping their sewers into the river even though it is not allowed. There is so much new construction going on around the levies and they have cut down trees and that is taking away from the natural environment that animals need to live. People were fishing and instead of throwing back the fish that were to small they would toss them into the rocks on the bank. Do they not realize that those are the fish they will be catching next year??? There are signs of human impact everywhere down there and I have spent alot of time on the river over the years and never thought of it like this however since this class it has made me so much more aware and it is devastating to me.

#8-2 VISUALIZING TIME (STRAIN THE BRAIN)

Well, when you think about it and picture it in your head it is very amazing. Life on earth started as bacteria and it has evolved into what we are today. Little by little everything has been evolving around us and sometimes you have to take a minute and think back even 30 years to what things were like and then imagine 100 years ago and so on. It is hard to visualize 3.5 billion years ago what it would have looked like but at the rate things change I can only imagine.

#8-1 GAIA-REALITY OR FICTION?

I think that we as humans want to direct our future not letting the other Earth's inhabitants do it for us. Everyone talks about their expectations in the future but they are not doing anything to preserve the opportunity for their to be an earth to do this. I do think that global Ecology plays a natural role in the Gaia Theory however humans can change the natural process by not taking global warming seriously. Look at the weather patterns in the past few years, its been warm during Christmas, the hurricanes are coming with greater force, the snow levels have raised and therefore we do not have as much water in the lakes and rivers and the rainfall has been minimal. Do people not realize that this is due to global warming and it needs to be fixed so that global ecology can do what is natural and not impacted by the human race.

#7-3 WE SEE YOU NOW!

I think being able to identify bacteria by DNA is important because it can help us to find cures for diseases faster and help identify when things are toxic and how to stop it. DNA with humans has proven to be so beneficial in linking the correct person to the crime that I can only imagine what we will be able to do with the DNA for bacteria. Maybe stop the negative impacts of it all together? We will have to wait and see.

#7-2 DNA TECHNOLOGY AND ITS USE

This question is a difficult one. I think what we have discovered with DNA can be beneficial as well as detrimental to the human population. I believe there is a god for a reason and by altering genetics we are taking his job away. However, if it was benefiting a loved one of mine, my mind may look at it differently. I believe it can be scary to think what they may uncover or develop next. There is no right or wrong answer to these questions and people are very emotional about these issues. I think for the most part we should leave reproducing and altering genetics to the pro that has been doing it all along!!

#7-1 "FLOWERS HOLD THE WORLD'S SECRETS"

When I look at the traits that our family has in common the first thing I notice is the broad shoulders and the shape of our eyes. My grandfather, father, myself and my daughter all inherited these features. I never understood before how I had blonde hair and very fair skin and my dad has dark hair and darker toned skin. Everywhere my daughter and I go people comment how we look exactly alike. I have gone in places that know her and have never met me and they know who my daughter is before I say anything. I think sometimes it is hard for you to see the similarities yourself but others see them right away.

HW #5- JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE CELL

Well here we go.....I look at the cell like a working factory so I thought I would be a factory worker and take you on a tour. So first we arrive at the gates to the property that houses the factory and I have to show them my badge in order to proceed. They are very selective about who comes and goes through these gates; it functions like the cell membrane. After we park our car, we walk to the front of the factory and the walls are tall and there are doors to enter and exit it works like the cell wall, keeping the structure yet allows things in and out of the cell. Once inside I see the restrooms and I need to use it so I enter it and realize that it functions like the central vacuole in a cell, it houses the waste that may be harmful to the cell. On the way through I see the solar panels that capture the energy and supply it to the factory much like the chloroplast in the cell. There are maintenance workers all around cleaning and getting rid of old things that the factory no longer needs, this is like the lysosomes in the cell. As we look around the ceilings are high and the outer walls are strong they function like the cytoskeleton of the cell. We are getting a little gooey as we walk around it is the cytoplasm that is like the factory floor, it is where most of the activity takes place. Next we see mitochondria it is like the boilers or the main powerhouse of the factory. It transforms one form of energy into another. There are the forklifts, I will give you a ride on one later, and the vesicles are the forklifts in the factory. They move items to different departments within the factory. There are also conveyer belts every, the Golgi apparatus is like the finishing/packaging department in the factory. It moves the products that have been built to other locations for use or export. This is the assembly line in the factory. This is where the workers do their work. In the cell it would be called rough endoplasmic reticulum. There are even more conveyer belts, the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is the conveyer belt in a factory. It transports through a network to the different areas of processing in the factory. Before we go any farther we need to stop by the personnel department. There are chromosomes everywhere. They are like the personnel files that the CEO keeps. Chromosomes keep the important information safe and organized. Before we can talk to the CEO we need to get through the extra security measures the factory takes to protect what is inside. This functions like the nuclear envelope. Hurry up we need to take the elevator to the next level to meet the CEO. The nuclear pore is like an elevator it lets things pass between floors but if you are not in before the door closes then you don’t get to pass. This has been a tiring day but we made it, you get to meet the CEO of my factory, the nucleus is like the CEO of the factory. He is the one in charge of running the factory. Now you can tell him how bad you want to become a worker in his factory and hopefully he will let you become ribosome.

#6-3 CELLS AND MORE CELLS!

The way cells reproduce is important to me because cells make up all living things and without them we would not exist. Genetics is also studied from cells reproducing. Cell reproduction is also the way the body heals itself. So overall cell reproduction is the main reason we are here today!

#6-2 CELL RACE-WHO WON?

I believe that eukaryotic cells are the more advanced cells. I believe this is true because eukaryotic cells are larger and are more complex then prokaryotic cells. The eukaryotic cells have a nucleus that is held on by a double membrane and the prokaryotic cells do not have a nucleus. I also think that the eukaryotic cell is more advanced because prokaryotic cells multiply by simple cell division.

#6-1 MY MEMBRANE!

"Life is defined by the cell membrane." -jlw

What is meant by this statement is that the cell membrane is a selective layer around the cell that can let certain things in that the cell needs. It basically regulates what enters and exits the cell. So it helps with the transporting of materials needed for survival.

EXTRA CREDIT UNIT 6

Video on Mitosis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsgOl04PESI&feature=related

Inside plant cells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7TJqPIzxSw&feature=related

Voyage inside the Cell: Membrane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW0lqf4Fqpg&feature=related

Inner Structure of an Eukaryotic Cell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMfGxWqW-Cc&feature=related

#5-3 AM I A "FOSSIL"?

There are many different ways a fossil can be formed. No matter what it has to do a lot with luck, one way is from the time of death until the discovery the body stays frozen. This is the best way to preserve it. Most things when they die are decomposed and recycled. The most common way is minerals fill the cellular spaces and crystallize. The shape of the original living organism is preserved in rock form.

I found the fossil of a Sinornithos from a 130-million year old forest that existed in what is now Liaoning Province, China.

This is a type of chineese bird lizard and it lived during the middle Jurassic period. It had feathers and is the closest dinosaur to a bird.


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/52783517.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3D17A4AD9FDB9CF1939847EC77F5F8D1CEFE7252A5A71B8C0AA40A659CEC4C8CB6&imgrefurl=http://www.jamd.com/image/g/52783517&h=594&w=396&sz=57&hl=en&start=30&sig2=x6XVJWu9hiDdz55SAn_VQA&um=1&tbnid=6UMbwhlY4_oJMM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=90&ei=XuZiSOz4KJLApgTL7tW4DQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfossil%2Bof%2Bpast%2Blife%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

#5-2 "SWIMMING" IN THE POOL

Darwin's theory of fitness comes into play here. Only the strongest will survive. Things change over time but their fitness is how healthy their gene pool is. If their genes are not strong and healthy they will not reproduce healthy offspring and eventually their species could die off. They are saying that human activities are the bottom line cases for endangering animals. I didnt understand exactly what they meant until I read about domestic animals transmitting diseases to wild animals and the domestic animals are vaccinated against it so they are only carriers. One disease could wipe out an entire population and that is a concern.

#5-1 PERFECT?

Absolutely not!! Natural selection will not ever make the perfect organism. Everything changes over time and therefore it would be impossible. Evolution may give them features that help them adapt but will not give them everything they need to be perfect.

#4-3 HUMAN POPULATION

I think that the bottom line message is that there are too many people on earth. We are using all of the Earth's resources and we are going to run out of resources. We need to find a solution soon or our children's children are not going to be able to survive. It scares me to think of the possibilities of having population restrictions like Chins does. We need to be making better choices now so that it doesn't come to that in the future.

#4-2 ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY

I think that ecological diversity is when several ecosystems co-habitat in the same area.
There needs to be this diversity in order for organisms to thrive. The ocean will have completely different organisms then the forest would contain. However, we need all of these ecological environments to keep the food chain alive.

#4-1 EXTREME ECOSYSTEM TRAVEL

I would visit the aquatic ecosystem, the marine environment. The problem is I would want to visit it present day and then 500 years ago. Humans have had such a negative impact on this ecosystem and it is such a beautiful sight that I couldn't imagine what it would have been like 500 years ago. Back then I think some of the sea animals would have been more pre-historic looking and there would have been much brighter and an abundance of sea life and plants. In today's time the water is not as clear and the sea life is in less numbers. Many of the animals are endangered and under protection. However, it is still a beautiful sight and so peaceful.

#3-2 ENZYME SEARCH

The enzyme I found is:
coagulase - It is an enzyme that induces coagulation. Coagulase reacts with prothrombin in the blood. This results in what is called staphylothrombin, which causes blood to clot by converting fibrinogen to fibrin. Coagulase is tightly bound to the surface of the bacteria S. aureus and can coat its surface with fibrin upon contact with blood. It has been proposed that fibrin-coated staphylococci resist phagocytosis making the bacteria more virulent.

#3-1 Kitchen Chemistry/Biology

Since I own a preschool and everyone talks about how baby formula is as natural as breast milk, I decided to see what chemicals I could find in the formula. I found this information by reading the ingredients and then researching them on the internet.

Nutramigen Lipil Hypoallergenic Formula

Choline chloride- organic compound
Zinc sulfate-water-soluble chemical compound
Taurine-organic acid

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-LIFE CHALLENGE #2-2

1. A common object or material that seems to reproduce but is not living:
garbage
2. A common object or material that seems to show growth but is not living:
The dirty clothes pile in my house always grows and I hope it is not alive.
3. A common object or material that seems to have metabolism but is not living:
Cars and boats; The gas they use seems to metabolize and disappear
4. A common object or material that seems to respond to stimuli but is not living:
A can of soda, when u shake it and then open it, it will explode
5. Name a common object or material that seems to "mutate", but is not living.
homemade ice cream, it starts out in liquid form and becomes a solid form

CONNECTION #2-1

My major is psychology. There are similarities between the two. Biology is the study of life and psychology is science that studies the human mind and behavior. In biology we learn about the study of life, but there is more to biology than studying life. Biology classifies and describes organisms, how species came into existence, their functions and how they interact with the environment. Likewise, in the study of psychology, we are learning more about ourselves, others and animals, somewhat in the same way. We learn the cause and effect of things we do in life.

VARK QUESTIONNAIRE #1-2

The VARK Questionnaire Results

Your scores were: Visual: 6 Aural: 3 Read/Write: 14 Kinesthetic: 11

You have a multimodal (RK) learning preference.

I AGREE WITH THE RESULTS OF MY QUESTIONNAIRE.

It says I am the strongest at the read/write score, so it suggests I make lists of items I am trying to learn and then read or write them over and over again. It also suggests I re-write the subject in different words.

MY BIO #1-1

Hi! My name is Debbie, I have three children and have been married for 18 years. I am taking this class to complete my general ed. requirements. I have slowly been working on my degree and really would like to complete it soon. Biology has always scared me because I think of it as being a difficult class, so that is probably why I have left it for the end. So far it has been interesting and I already have learned some new things. This is my first on-line class so we will see how it goes!