If you were asked: Can a piece of a mesh produce bag prevent water in a right-side-up glass bottle from pouring out? Would your answer be yes or no? To find out if your answer was or wasn't correct, watch the video below that two of my AP Biology classmates and I created! What you find out may surprise you as much as it did me!
Are you surprised? A piece of a mesh produce bag can prevent water in a right-side-up glass bottle from pouring out, which means the experiment that two of my AP Biology classmates and I performed was a success! Communication and teamwork are the main reasons why the experiment we performed was a success because we only had a 75-minute class period to perform the experiment while taking videos and photos, which we would then combine into one video with voice-overs about the performance and experiment before the class ended. The day before the class, we communicated with each other about the materials that we would be able to bring from our houses for the experiment, which is how we found out that none of us would be able to bring a piece of a mesh produce bag. After we found out, we contacted our teacher and asked her if she would be able to bring us a piece of a mesh produce bag, which she was kindly able to do.
In the class, as we gathered the materials for the experiment, we communicated with each other about the videos and photos we would take, who would take them, and who would be in them. With a plan set in place, we were able to finish taking videos and photos quickly, especially since we were able to perform the experiment successfully on our first try. After we finished taking videos and photos, we communicated with each other about who was going to combine the videos and photos into one video, who would edit the video if there was time, and who was going to do the voice-overs by reading off the script with information each of us had researched the day before the class. With another plan set in place, we were able to finish the video you just saw on time!
The materials that we gathered for the experiment were a piece of a mesh produce bag, a rubber band, water, an empty glass bottle, and a toothpick. First, the empty glass bottle was filled with water, and then, the piece of the mesh produce bag was placed on the top of the glass bottle, which the rubber band was tied around to ensure that it stayed in place. Finally, the glass bottle was turned right-side-up and the toothpick was put inside it. Remember the surface tension that prevented the water from pouring out of the right-side-up glass bottle was due to cohesion, which is the attraction between similar molecules. That being said, the attraction between water molecules combined with the attraction between water and mesh molecules caused the water to defy gravity. Adhesion is the attraction between different molecules, such as water and mesh molecules. Still doubtful? Well, now that you know the exact materials and steps of the experiment, maybe you can try to perform it and observe the mystery of water suspension!
Works Cited
“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://youtu.be/IxXDaQV7we8. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://files.mtstatic.com/site_4334/315145/0/webview?Expires=1661884778&Signature=Ufxd0vOrO6xbJHt5WK2k5FSkWc3HmffYc60fciaPfw5ncPyvR3D~dchUJyLsQhlRluV92Kthbsy6piVs79FSn-wvmhIxCc2akz~hybXpy51EP9pNUFVCcxSmndCeg9Mfp1JfS2CIArkHhXlVPZg5MtNpSV2MRqn3nMeYh5tE73w_&. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/b0/0b/42b00b727f56cebadde0773a6b10c0d5.jpg. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/27-272465_planet-earth-clipart-transparent-happy-earth-png.png. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“Properties of Water.” YouTube, 26 July 2016, https://youtu.be/3jwAGWky98c. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards | Deep Look.” YouTube, 1 August 2017, https://youtu.be/E2unnSK7WTE. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards | Deep Look.” YouTube, 1 August 2017, https://youtu.be/E2unnSK7WTE. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“3.1 - Water Structure and Hydrogen Bonding.” YouTube, 11 February 2011, https://youtu.be/wZ9CCj4X28Q. Accessed 30 August 2022.
“Cohesion and Adhesion of Water (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/chemistry-of-life/structure-of-water-and-hydrogen-bonding/a/cohesion-and-adhesion-in-water#:~:text=Cohesion%20of%20water&text=Cohesion%20refers%20to%20the%20attraction,hydrogen%20bonds%20with%20one%20another.
Each apple seed carries a variety of traits. An apple's appearance and taste are rarely passed from seeds. If an apple is planted by seed, the apples grown are often bitter tasting and used to make hard cider. Graphing is a form of planting apples that creates an exact copy of the apple. These apples will be sweeter and appeal to mammals leading to the spread of the apple's genes.
Humans have the ability to express certain traits through the way an apple tree is planted. There are infinite types of apples and each tree has many different types. No two apples are the same and genetic modification can be used to make precise improvements to apples. Crossbreeding is used to purposefully make a specific kind of apple. Apples have the ability to manipulate humans through their sweetness. Different sweetnesses of apples determine how humans use the apples and if a similar apple tree is planted.
Curious Questions:
How many varieties of apples are grown in the US?
Over 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the US. The top varieties are Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, and Fuji.
What season do apples grow the most?
Most apples ripen between late summer and late fall. Apples grow best in mild climates where the temperature does not increase above 90 degrees. Apples can grow in warmer and colder climates, but if the temperature is too extreme the fruit can be damaged. This would lead to a smaller crop.
Tulip:
Bees and humans both regard flowers as beautiful. There is a preference for tulips and individuals like certain patterns and scents. Tulips originated in Southeast Asia and made their way to Turkey and then spread throughout the rest of the world. The tulip has become a big part of the dutch culture because, in the 17th century, the tulip was a major trading product in Holland. 77% of all flower buds come out of the Netherlands. A tulip bulb once sold for $10 to $15 million.
Humans can manipulate tulips through the way they are planted. Planting a bulb is the only way a matching tulip will go. Humans can make tulips disease resistant and plant different colors of tulips. The tulip's beauty captivates humans and has swept many cultures into a frenzy. There are performances to celebrate tulips and the tulip has grown to represent success. Visitors travel to see tulips such as Keukenhof in Holland, which is the largest tulip garden in the world.
Curious Questions:
Can one replant tulips that have already bloomed?
Do not transplant bulbs that have bloomed, because the bulb could die or fail to produce flowers the next year.
What is the rarest tulip?
The rarest tulip is the black tulip. These tulips are very expensive and are often given to congratulate someone on an achievement.
Cannabis:
Many cultures tolerate cannabis and many think poorly of the plant. Cannabis has the ability to alter one's consciousness. THC is the molecule in the drug that makes people high. THC activates an unknown receptor in the brain which communicates with body chemicals. A connection has been found between THC and memory loss and there are hopes that this research will lead to treatments for trauma. The question of whether cannabis is a demon or savior is an ongoing debate.
Humans have the technology to transform cannabis into many forms. Marijuana can be made into food form or smoked. Most cannabis comes from Mexico and is transported all over the world through human manipulation. Cannabis has the power to manipulate humans through the plant's ability to alter the human mind. The drug manipulates a human's mind and allows an individual to experience an altered consciousness. Pain relief is a common reason many use cannabis. The plant has had such an impact on many groups including the jazz world which is soaked in cannabis.
Curious Questions:
Is Marijuana an addictive drug?
Marijuana use can lead to Marijuana use disorder which means one is unable to stop the use of the drug even if the continuation affects a user's life and relationships. Marijuana is also considered a gateway drug meaning the use of marijuana can lead a person to use more dangerous drugs.
What percent of cannabis users are medical?
17% of individuals who used cannabis in the past year used cannabis medically.
Potatoes:
The potato has made a major impact and the potato changed the course of European history. The Irish planted one kind of potato which was a staple diet. The potato did well in the North and the poor soils of Ireland. This singular crop caused a famine forcing millions to leave their homeland as refugees.
Insects and fungi have the power to kill potatoes in large quantities. Humans manipulate potatoes by spraying chemical pesticides on potatoes which protects the potatoes. Many crops including the potato are genetically modified. The BT gene is added to potatoes which creates a protein that kills the harmful potato beetles. Potatoes have contributed to the human diet for thousands of years. The potato has been processed into many forms for humans, including french fries. Fast food restaurants often make delicious french fries which manipulate a human's diet.
Curious Questions:
What stopped the potato famine in Ireland?
The potato famine ended in 1849 when the British troops stopped removing the food. The famine disappeared with time and when the farmers stopped planting the infected potato.
What percent of potatoes are contaminated with pesticides?
83% of potatoes sampled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture were contaminated with pesticides.
Apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes and juggernauts in their own ways. However, all four plants share a common feature; they are constantly surrounding human culture. Recently I watched a documentary called Botany of Desire that talked and educated me on how intertwined humans and these four plants are. So today, I want to share my takeaways with you!
I would probably have scurvy as a child if not for apples (maybe I'm being a little dramatic). Apples were my fruit, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was said to me once, and I was determined to never see the doctor again. After watching the segment on apples, I realized how conditioned I was to view apples as something safe, healthy, and homey. Humans market apples as healthy as well as relying on the need for sugar that is wired in our brains. The marketing works! But with the large popularity of apples, issues of monoculture have come about. Sweet apple trees can only be guaranteed to pass down the sweet fruit if a cutting of the old tree is used. Meaning that very few apples have new DNA recombination. Most are similar if not the same DNA; having low genetic diversity leads to pests and viruses being able to attack many apple trees quickly. Apples are at risk of pests to the extent that over half a million dollars are spent on pesticides a year! If we want apples to stay in our lives, trying outside the normal types of apples could protect all apples and our love for them for years to come.
(Image Credit: gettyimages)
Tulips were the NFTs of 1630's Holland. The rich used their tulips as a show of wealth and luxury, again not unlike the NFTs of today's world. But my favorite thing about tulips and NFTs is how utterly useless both things are, yet they have managed to seem important. Tulips in Holland were able to manipulate humans into believing the flower was valuable by adapting to produce over 2000 varieties with the goal of intriguing the human eye. Tulips accomplished their goal of staying in the spotlight, and in doing so tulips were given plenty of land and space to reproduce and expand the tulip population. While the tulip manipulated humans into becoming pollinators for the species, humans also manipulated the tulip to create new colors and patterns. The most famous and expensive tulips were multicolored that came about due to a mutation caused by a virus. But the flower suffered from human manipulation; the plant was weak and often would grow shorter and stunt more over time. By humans trying to replicate the splashes of color in other tulips, they allowed a virus to pass through and destroy tulip lines.
(Image Credit: The Biking Gardener)
Cannabis is a taboo issue in U.S. society. But regardless of people's standings on the social implications of cannabis, the science behind keeping the plants alive and well is nothing short of amazing. Cannabis, when forced inside due to the war on drugs movement of the 1970s, was completely reinvented by humans. The plant was selectively bred to be smaller in order to survive inside. A colony of all-female plants is tended to and given a variety of nutrients to keep them healthy, and lights are put on the plants to mimic the outside world. Female cannabis has more psychoactive elements due to the stickers they produce to collect male pollen, so humans manipulated the plants to have female offspring and keep male plants nearby to induce more stickers to be created. THC is how cannabis manipulates people, the substance that creates the high that alters our state of consciousness. Humans' innate drive to change states of consciousness makes people want to keep the plant alive and well. Cannabis uses this want of humans to increase the number and locations cannabis is found.
(Image Credit: Jan Fries/ Getty Image)
When I think of history and the potato, the first event to come to mind is the Irish Potato famine. Based on the abundance of potatoes the Irish farmed, I thought that potatoes originated from the island; but the potato started life in Peru, so how did the potato get to Ireland? The potato entices the Europeans into bringing back the plant with them to Europe. The potato is hardy, heavy and full of starch. All these qualities made the potato look like an answer to everyone's prayers. The potato was an answer to famine; just one-half acre of potatoes could feed a family for a year! The starch added sugars to people's diets, and the plant could survive just about anywhere, even the previously desolated Ireland. The potato created the opportunity of a lifetime for the species; now, the plant was living on two separate continents and being spread throughout the world. But like with the tulip, humans also want a chance to control the plants as much as the plants control them. The potatoes became a monoculture, with only the lumper being chosen by the Irish as the superior potato. Soon many fields carried lumpers alone, killing the plant's biodiversity. But human attempts to control the potato led to disaster. With only one type of potato present and one small set of protective genes, a virus swept through the plants. Killing the potatoes and one of every eight people in Ireland.
(Image credit: Massimo Ravera via Getty Images)
Works Cited
Professional gardener. “Beauty or Beast?” The Biking Gardener, 31 May 2016, thebikinggardener.com/2016/06/01/beauty-or-beast/.
Greenberg, Andy. “Weed Sales on the Dark Web Surged Early in the Pandemic.” Wired, Conde Nast, 5 June 2020, www.wired.com/story/dark-web-cannabis-sales-surged-pandemic/.
“How Climate Change Could Kill the Red Apple.” BBC Future, BBC, www.bbc.com/future/article/20191119-how-climate-change-could-kill-the-red-apple.Szalay, Jessie. “Potato Nutrition Facts & Health Benefits.” LiveScience, Purch, 16 Feb. 2022, www.livescience.com/45838-potato-nutrition.html.
I’m sure that you probably have a lot of preconceptions about how the church views science. To be honest, for a very, very long time, I’ve had many of my own. I went to a Catholic middle school and we were taught that the church used to believe that all life revolved around God’s Creation and that the Earth was the center of the universe.
As I grew in my Catholic faith and learned more about this topic, I realized that this is not the case anymore. The church does believe in the science of evolution and climate change despite what the Bible says. Now, there are many Catholic leaders who are scientists and preach about where science and the beliefs of the Church align. Did you know that a Catholic priest invented the Big Bang Theory? (The actual theory, not the TV show haha)
My team and I did more research on the topic of how the church views climate change and here’s a slide deck we made:
This presentation was a lot of fun to research and create. This topic also sparked some really insightful discussions between me and my partner – particularly on the second slide. I’d say that overall, we went as in-depth as we possibly could in terms of content during our actual presentation, but since this is just the slide deck, I’ll explain a few elements.
First, the Catholic Social Teaching is a social doctrine that the Church traditionally follows which guides followers toward a morally just society using ethical principles. The four teachings listed above specifically address the issues of environmental degradation and climate change.
The first teaching explains that humans were made in the image of God to fulfill His work towards the common good and to take care of his creation. We must all work together towards this common goal of addressing the issues of climate change. The next two teachings call attention to the poor. “The poor and vulnerable often do not have the economic and technological resources to either adapt to or ward off the expected impacts of climate change” (“Why the Church Cares”). In helping these people, we promote human development and fulfill our goal of living out our Catholic faith. Lastly, the Virtue of Prudence states that humans must not only be able to identify the harmful effects of climate change on our society and environment, but also must have the prudence to take action and address these issues.
I also want to briefly explain that Laudato Si is a movement created by Pope Francis as a call for everyone to take care of the Earth and God’s Creation. In his encyclical, he addresses climate change and global degradation. He also draws attention to the irresponsibility of humans in terms of polluting the Earth as well as how our actions impact the environment.
As for our presentation, we did pretty well and also had some very fun discussions with Team AP Bio. I’d say that the only part we could have improved was choosing a template to make the slide deck look a little more interesting instead of sticking with the default. Other than that, I think it turned out great and I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic too!
Biotechnology is something there are many debates on, but I feel that protecting the environment with useful, ethical technology is something that can be agreed upon. Ellie Pope and I worked together on our applications of biotechnology project to learn and teach our other teammates about Environmental Cleanup. This project has sparked so much interest in me that I am also writing a research paper on our example and breakthrough posts!
Environmental cleanup is a biotechnology category in which certain microorganisms will have the ability to transform dangerous chemicals in our environments into recoverable materials. As well as using genes from genetically engineered microbes with valuable metabolic capabilities to clean, eat, or transform toxic wastes. Applications we focused on were Bacteria, Composting, Recycling, and Landfill, and others like Pest Control and Biopesticides. Bacteria can be genetically modified to to eat toxic chemicals in the environment like oil and concretes. Composting, Recycling, and Landfill, though simple, are products of biotechnology that are used to benefit the environment when used correctly, if used at all. Pest controls and biopesticides can also be genetically modified with other organisms, but instead of hurting the environment like regular pesticides, biopesticides are easily broken down and recycled back into the ecosystems. Then we focused in even more to Bio enzymes. Bio enzymes can carry out total transformations of the structure of a contaminant and cause a complete conversion of a substance into an inorganic end product. As combinations, bio enzymes work to break down complex waste particles into smaller pieces that bacteria can more easily consume-like plastics. PET plastics or Polyethylene Terephthalate is a cheap and easily manufactured plastic that causes so much the pollution in our world. PET plastics are first made into tiny balls of plastic, then remanufactured into strings of plastic for clothes, water bottles, and most other plastic-containing containers. Scientists from the University of Portsmouth engineered a super enzyme that has the ability to break down plastic. Using an enzyme called PETase, which was discovered by Japanese scientists in 2016; The enzyme hails from the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis and breaks down PET plastics. PETase allows bacteria to eat the plastic, by breaking down polyethylene into edible materials, while the bacteria do this, they produce an enzyme called MHETase. MHETase continues to break down the plastic reducing microplastics. The DNA combination of PETase and MHETase is what creates the “super enzyme”. Ideonella sakaiensis is not the only living thing that works to break down plastics. Worms like Mealworms and Waxworms have powerful stomach enzymes that break down plastics, this is not a solution though because the worms remove the waste and break down plastic back into the environment but are not a part of the food chain. Last, we came up with an ethical question: Should this “fix” be introduced to the environment more progressively even if the problem is not addressed at the source?
For more information on this study check out the website!
This project was so much fun and was able to dive deeply into my own topic, I really enjoyed learning about everyone else topics! Ellie and I work very well together, so per usual, we did not have any problems with splitting up the work and getting it done. The only problem that we faced was trying to come up with an ethical question, because environmental cleanup technology is generally good, without clear examples of the “what if”, ideas did not flow for questions. Even after looking up “ethical debates of environmental cleanup” – nothing. The worst thing I found is that soil could become less dense and therefore less strong as a base with the biopesticides or bio-bacterias in the water. If I had to do this project again, I would give myself more time for research on plastic-eating bio enzymes instead of rushing through during a class period; I am also super excited to do more research on this for my paper in English! I love how all of my classes are connecting, I feel like the things I learn in AP bio are real-life things, instead of learning of something I might never think about again. I LOVE BIOLOGY!!!
This morning, the first day of February, in my AP Bio class we watched a live presentation by a Genetic Counselor, Brooke Nightingale. This topic may sound familiar, and this is because is connected to last week's blog post (if you haven't already, CHECK IT OUT!).
Brooke is an ex-student of NDB High School and she was in AP Biology too. After High School, she had no idea of what she wanted to do in her future, but she had always been interested in Biology. Brooke went to Cal Poly where she majored in Biology, and then she graduated from Ohio State College, where she found out about Genetic Counseling. Now Brooke is working at Stanford Hospital and is constantly helping people and families to find out whether or not they have a genetic disease and what to do if the answer is positive.
Brooke gave a very deep explanation of what Genetic Counselors do, and she did this by telling us what she normally does in a week. Brooke has "Clinics" three times per week, during which she does prep for clinic and post clinic work. Then she supervises genetic counseling students and teaches in the GC program.
Brooke said that Genetic Counseling is a growing field; in fact, the employment of genetic counselors is projected to grow 26 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. Genetic Counseling is an important job, and as Brooke said, being a Genetic Counselor means being the "Sherlock Holmes of medicine", since they usually work with people that don't have a diagnosis yet. This job is also very versatile, as Genetic Counselors can work in different settings, such as hospitals, laboratories, non-profits, universities, and the government.
Finally, Brooke discussed with us three of the patients she took care of. Listening to her was very interesting and made me realize how important is to study genetics and to understand what could happen if there is an abnormal gene sequence or an error. I can't wait to know more about specific syndromes or diseases!
“Genetic Counselors : Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Sept. 2021, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/genetic-counselors.htm#:~:text=8%25-,Employment%20of%20genetic%20counselors%20is%20projected%20to%20grow%2026%20percent,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade. Accessed 1 February 2022.
These are diseases that can be genetically inherited and passed down. Unfortunately, in most cases, they are incurable. What if there was a way to detect these diseases before they develop? What if you could take preventative measures before it’s too late? Would you even want to know, or would you want to live in ignorant bliss not knowing the truth of the inevitable?
With the development of gene sequencing technology, it is possible to take a sample of your own DNA to a lab where your DNA can be extracted from your blood and have all 6 billion+ nucleotides read and analyzed. In doing so, your likelihood of developing diseases such as the ones mentioned above will be calculated based on the sequences of nucleotides present in your DNA. These sequences are compared to the sequences of the DNA of other healthy individuals. The more your sequences differ from the other DNA sequences, you probably have a genetic mutation which means that you are more likely you are to develop certain diseases.
I’m really sorry if I scared you! I’ll be honest, when I learned about the topic of genetic disorders I got a little nervous because I myself do not know what I could be at risk for. Frankly, I don’t even want to know. If the diseases I could be at risk for are unavoidable, I would not want to know because that knowledge would probably prevent me from living my life to the fullest. However, I do not discourage any of you from finding out which diseases you are at risk for. There is a saying that goes, “Early detection = early action.”
Check out this trailer forCracking the Genetic Codeif you want to dive a little deeper into the world of genetic sequencing:
Cracking Your Genetic Code – Nova Productions – February 9, 2012
This documentary explores the lives of different people with different diseases who have been treated at the genetic level. Each person has had their DNA sequenced and analyzed for mutations. Once these mutations have been found, scientists were then able to develop a drug to fight the disease. Do any of you remember CRISPR? Scientists can now combine genetic sequencing with CRISPR technology to snip out the incorrect code and replace this code with the correct one. That’s some crazy life-saving technology!
The topic of genes is fascinating and my team and I have been learning about them all month. If you would like to learn more about genes yourself, check out this super cool website that takes you through so many games and simulations to explain every topic related to genetics.
If you would like to discover more about other medical breakthroughs regarding genetic diseases, here’s a trailer for a documentary about a scientist who developed a cure for cancer!
Breakthrough – Jim Allison – April 1, 2019
Works Cited:
“Cracking Your Genetic Code Trailer.” YouTube, 9 Feb. 2012, youtu.be/UPzid88oSFc.
Today in my AP Biology class, we watched a documentary on genome sequencing or reading the genetic code of a genome. Last semester and this unit, we learned about DNA replication and the possibility of mutation through an error in replication, transcription, or translation of DNA or RNA. Even the smallest mutation of a single nucleotide can be fatal in an offspring, but sometimes the mutation can be silent and change nothing. Genetic sequencing enables individuals with an undiagnosable, medical issue to locate the mutated gene in their DNA to then properly diagnose, and hopefully find a cure for, their disease. Although a long and expensive process, Doctors believe, especially for these never-seen-before mutations, that it is better to look through the DNA of a genome and not find anything than to have missed an opportunity to fix the problem. But with more technological advancements related to reading DNA, there is an ethical concern on when altering DNA will be taken too far and whether our genetic code will become the new social security number.
An up-close example of the technology and how genome sequencing looks. The highlighted G could be an example of a mutation (Spencer and Sesay).
New companies, such as 23andMe or Ancestry, provide kits to analyze a patient’s DNA to make assumptions on whether they are prone to or have the gene for any genetic diseases. Although, this form of analyzing genetics is not fully reliable because instead of reading the entire DNA sequence, 23andMe only reads one million letters, which is about 1%. This process of genotyping means that 23andMe takes your sample of DNA, reads about 1% of your genetic information, and assumes what genetic diseases you are most likely to develop, based on unfinished information and barely analyzed genetic code. In contrast, many people have bettered their lives by learning these assumptions of their genetic code because it has allowed them to detect diseases early on in development, preventing further growth.
This same reading of genetic code can even be done in the cells of newly conceived embryos to remove any mutations and inheritable diseases before the baby is further developed and born. This advanced scientific technology sparked the ethical debate of “designer” babies, genetically modified babies with preferred traits. Thankfully, the documentary reassures us that some phenotypes are too complicated to be altered and we seem to be a long way out from choosing our child’s gender, eye color, or height.
A few examples of how people fear we will be able to genetically modify babies in the future to become designer babies (“Editing Humanity”).
Some fear that as reading genetic code becomes even more common, our DNA might replace the use of a social security number, I.D., or fingerprint. In the future, when reading DNA becomes more accessible, we could create even more problems of possibly being judged or discriminated against based on your DNA. For example, your insurance could see in your DNA that you are likely to develop a fatal genetic disease at a young age and can deny you life insurance. Although genome sequencing can be taken out of hand or unethically used, the basis of the technology will beneficially impact many lives by giving hope to undiagnosed patients that research can be done to find the genetic mutation causing their problem to then work towards a solution.
Spencer, Philip, and Abdul Karim Sesay. “Expanding the Capacity of Governments for Genome Sequencing in West Africa.” Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 24 Sept. 2020, institute.global/advisory/expanding-capacity-governments-genome-sequencing-west-africa. Accessed 24 May 2022.
In class on September 27th, our class attended a live video chat with Joe Grabowski and Imogen Napper about the dangers of micro-plastics and how they affect our enjoyment, especially the oceans. We learned everything from who Imogen is and her works!
Brent Durand/Getty Images
Imogen Napper is a marine scientist who grew up in Bristol, England where she developed her love for the ocean. Her passion turned into her career and she started her journey as a plastic detective. Plastic is made out of a compound of hydrogen and carbon. Many things are made out of plastic because of durability and easy production, and this is where the problem is introduced, overproduction. Plastic is being used when not needed, like single-use plastics in our face washes and clothes, called micro-beads. Society today lives in what Imogen called a "throwaway living" style, where humans waste and reuse single plastics.
She then went into her four areas of study, facial scrubs, clothes, biodegradable and compostable products, and ropes. Facial scrubs contained micro-plastics to help exfoliate and cleanse the skin, after explaining this she told us about her research. In the lab, she extracted the plastics from the scrubs to see the amounts that would be going into the environment. About three billion beads are in one bottle of facial scrub and ten thousand beads in one squirt. Imogen's discoveries lead to the ban of microbes in many products. Three years after the ban, she went back into the lab and tested the same scrubs again, to find nothing. Her second research was on washing clothes and the amount of plastic that comes out of the fabric each time. Her lab found that in every 6 kilograms of clothes, 700,000 micro-beads are released into the sewage and end up in the ocean. Her solution to this was to wash clothes less and get more wear out of them before carelessly throwing them in the hamper. Her third lab was with products that claim to be biodegradable, she took biodegradable grocery bags and ran different tests with each. One in direct sunlight, one planted in soil, and the other in the ocean. After 3 years, she found that all of the bags were still in bag shape/form, she was even able to carry a week's worth of her own groceries in one. The bag in the sunlight degraded the most, sunlight breaker up plastic into smaller pieces by targeting the chemical bonds. Her last main experiment was with ropes, and how as they get older, the more micro-plastics they are released. About 700 micro-plastics per meter for an old rope, and 20 per meter for a new. Her suggestion for this was to keep ropes out of the sun and replace them when they start to fray. As well as all of these experiments, she was able to partner up with National Geographic and study snow from Mount Everest. Within every letter of snow from just below the peak, there are 17 micro-plastics, proving that even in the most remote natural places, human-made problems are viewed. One of the last things she told us was that she and her team found that 3 billion micro-plastics enter the ocean every day, and how the smallest changes in everyday life make huge differences in the long run.
I enjoyed this video chat maybe the most so far. Single-use plastics are something I am very passionate about and have been doing my part to reduce. I did a presentation last year on the Earth Day Committee about easy eco-friendly swaps to do in your home and now I am turning ocean pollution into my passion project and teaching younger students how to protect Mother Earth. I learned so much I didn't already know and more about things I did. My favorite new knowledge is really what plastic is made out of and the interactions between the environment and vice versa, like the sun and how the rays can break up plastic. I also really liked how we were able to test what we had just learned in a Kahoot! I wanted to ask a couple of questions: What is Imogen doing, beyond what she had already told us, to reduce her amount of waste and micro-plastics? Also when a large plastic is broken down by the sun does the plastic eventually become micro-plastic/can only biodegradable plastics be broken down by the sun?
Durand, Brent. We May Have Missed Half the Microplastics in the Ocean Https://Www.newscientist.com/Article/2243731-We-May-Have-Missed-Half-the-Microplastics-in-the-Ocean/#ixzz77gofaUbs, Getty Images, 15 May 2020, www.newscientist.com/article/2243731-we-may-have-missed-half-the-microplastics-in-the-ocean/.
Today I was a part of a virtual meeting on nature as medicine with Dr. Lem. Dr. Lem showed concrete data to support findings that nature helped improve human quality of life.
This claim was based on two theories as to why nature improves human life. 1) Humans have evolved to understand that nature keeps them alive, 2) nature is vastly different from the problem solving urban world today, making nature a form of escape. Both these claims have value as research shows that people who spend 20-30 minutes in nature had a significant cortisol drop. And those who are in nature tend to have higher self-esteem, overall happier moods, reduce depression and anxiety, and improve satisfaction with life.
Orcas Island 2021
My favorite topic covered was unconventional nature. When Dr. Lem was going through the health benefits of conventional nature, like stress decrease and reduction of depression and anxiety, I found myself reflecting on how my horse Quest brought me those same benefits. Yet when I think of conventional nature, I picture a big forest with fungi and foggy air, not a horse in its pen surrounded by dead California grass.
But when Dr. Lem talked about how you can experience nature through yourself, posters of nature, sounds of nature, and animals. I realized that Quest is just as much a part of nature as the woods are. Quest is made of natural molecules; Quest eats, drinks, and breathes using what our world has to offer, just like other natural organisms do. Quest brings me emotional peace; he and other forms of nature both don’t have a schedule or agenda for the day. Quest slows me down; I become in the moment for the beautiful four-legged natural organism standing next to me presence alone let's all the human inorganic mess to fall away.
My Curious Questions
I have questions specifically catering to people like my parents who work typical office jobs
How do the fluorescent lights business people are under all day affect their health?
How can businesses make more natural working conditions for those stuck in cubicles all day?
Water is an important resource in the world because all life needs water to exist. Many use water for agriculture, households, and recreation, but water is often taken for granted. In the documentary FLOW, the importance and uses of water are shown around different parts of the world. The filmmaker's goal is to stress the importance of water and the issues about water.
One of the documentary main topics was the water right. We spend over $30 billion on safe drinking water for the entire planet, yet many places don’t have access to clean water. Water privatization is another major issue, an example being Nestle which produces water bottles, goes into Michigan, and pumps 450 gallons of water per minute. They take in Michigan’s water for free and sell this water for profit. Their water bottles have gone under fire for using large amounts of plastic and mislabeling water saying their water is safer than tap water.
What surprises me from this film is the number of places that don’t have access to clean water. The lack of clean water leads to death through dehydration and waterborne diseases. Learning how waterborne diseases can affect a population shocked me, such as in Bolivia where one in ten children die before the age of five. The concept of clean water is overlooked in society and this concept must be talked about more because everyone has the right to clean water to survive. A new insight I got from this film is over the concept of bottled water. I have always been under the assumption that bottled water is safer to drink than tap water. Watching this film and learning that no one actually knows what’s in bottled water, makes me realize that bottled water is a hoax.
In the past 13 years since the documentary, large bottled water companies have made positive changes and given back to their community. Nestle has made changes to put their Michigan community first by donating water to Central Michigan to first responders and residents in need and Nestle has made steps to care for the environment by working to reduce trash and making their bottles 100% recyclable. In Flint, Michigan, infrastructure upgrades have been made to ensure safe water and the Clean Water Trust Fund has repaired infrastructures in areas where there is limited water, along with improving sanitation facilities in America. Rainwater harvesting systems are being used to collect and store rainwater and drip irrigation systems are being used for agriculture and other plants which helps to conserve water. There are still billions living without sanitary water or basic drinking water services, so we must use our voice to make a change because water is a right for all living things.
After learning about viruses in Season Two in my biology class, each of my team members had to brainstorm a curious driving question to create a video project, discussing our findings. With a lot of talk about whether or not people want to get the COVID vaccine, I realized that I could research the history of old epidemics, in the United States, and use that research to persuade why vaccination is so beneficial to fighting a virus. I mostly researched polio, a little about measles, but found that vaccination was the reason why cases of polio were reducing and why continents were being deemed polio-free. Thanks to herd immunity, all members of our community can be protected from a viral outbreak, helping eradicate a virus.
Want to know about herd immunity and how the history of the polio epidemic proves how vaccination is successful in eradicating a virus? Watch my video!
Overall, I am very happy with the result of the video and I loved learning about the polio epidemic. It happened before my time so I never really understood how feared the virus was or how serious the epidemic was in the United States; after COVID-19, I had always assumed the polio epidemic was similar. During the process of making the video, I definitely wanted to write ten minutes more of information than I ended up including, but it was trimmed down enough to where you get the main picture with a lot of information, but it is not too distracting with how much information there is. That leads me to my first improvement: talking slower. Since I wanted to include a ton of information, I was about 2 seconds under the 5-minute limit, so I was speaking extremely fast to make the video under that amount. I realize that I did not really breathe while talking, so for next time I can space out my wording and talk slower. I also saw a lot of my teammates were suggesting I should add some background music and I also think that would be a great idea. I originally did not add music because I thought my voice was already loud enough, and I worried it would be a little distracting. Lastly, I loved this project! I rarely get to fuel my own interests into my learning, and what I think made this project so fun was that I chose to learn about it, and obviously I got a little excited and carried away with the research aspect but I enjoyed learning! Most of all, though, I am very proud of the end result, and I hope you like it too, and that it encourages you to get vaccinated!
Blume, Staurt, and Ingrid Geesink. “A Brief History of Polio Vaccines.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 June 2000, http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.288.5471.1593. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
“The World Health Organization Declares Africa Polio-Free.” Time Magazine, Time USA, 25 Aug. 2020, time.com/5883233/africa-declared-polio-free/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20200826&et_rid=31820120. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
“Measles Cases and Outbreaks.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 13 Sept. 2021, http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
“Our Progress against Polio.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.cdc.gov/polio/progress/index.htm. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
“Whatever Happened to Polio?” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, amhistory.si.edu/polio/americanepi/communities.htm. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.”What Is Polio?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/index.htm. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
Tobacco Mosaic Virus was the first virus discovered and cause a production loss of tobacco of up to two percent.
Tobacco mosaic virus is usually spread from plant to plant via ‘mechanical’ wounds caused by contaminated hands, clothing, or tools such as pruning shears and hoes. This is because TMV occurs in very high concentrations in most plant cells. When plants are handled, the tiny leaf hairs and some outer cells are inevitably damaged and leak sap onto hands, tools, and clothing. Seeds from infected plants can also carry the virus on their seed coats.
Once inside the plant, the virus releases its genetic code (RNA). The plant mistakes this for its own RNA and starts to produce viral proteins.
The virus then spreads to neighboring cells through microscopic channels in the cell walls (plasmodesmata), and eventually enters the translocation system of the plant (xylem and phloem). From here, it spreads to the entire plant.
Improvements
Before receiving feedback from my classmates, the infographic was a bit different. What didn't work was the organization of the space, because the number of words was perfect but there were too many pictures on the top and none in the other parts of the slide. For this reason, it was not balanced, and what my teammate and I did was add visuals connected to the topic of each paragraph; for example in the paragraph about the origins of the TMV, we put a map that shows in what part of the world the virus started spreading. We also edited the scripts' colors and we changed the Infection visual. Now I believe that our graphic is much more organized and interesting!
