Hunger Games Final analysis

1. In this lab we studied the effects of natural selection in a classroom environment where we were all birds fighting for survival.

2. The phenotype that was the best at collecting food was the pinchers because it was easier to pick up corks by pinching them. In comparison to the stumpies which had to pick corks up with their wrists, the pinchers were more efficient and better at collecting the corks.

3. The population did evolve as the little "a" surpassed the big "A" allele. It started off as a 50, 5O difference but after the second generation it became 33% little "a" and 67% big "A". The population evolved from an equal amount of stumpies, pinchers, and knucklers, to just knucklers and pinchers, with the stumpies on having 1, or 2 repersentatives. The knucklers were the dominant race having a "Aa" allele combination, but in the end, the pinchers still ended up collecting the most food. 

4. The variables in this lab that were random was the placement of the food, and the placement of the birds. If you were closer to the food and had less people around you, you got more food. This is an example of genetic drift. What was also random was the amount of corks needed for offspring which varied from 5 to 12. What was not random was how the offspring was created. We used coins to determine what children we concieved but you could choose any partner you wanted whether it was a stumpy and you were a pincher or vice versa. 

5. If the food was bigger or smaller the results would be the same because our results were based on allele frequency. No matter what the foods size was the knucklers had the best allele combination and therefore would have been the dominant variation no matter what. However, a variable would be how easy it would be to collect food. For the stumpys it would be easier if the food was bigger but if it was smaller, it would be more difficult. Like the galappogas finches, the populations would have to evolve to fit the food size. 

6. If there was no incomplete dominance, there would be no knuckles at all, and therefore, the variation that was the majority of the population would disappear. Incomplete dominance proved to be crucial to the lab because they had a higher chance of being made, and therefore dominated the population.

7. Evolution occurs because natural selection helps weed out the weak genetics and only allow those with the genetics needed to survive reproduce. By only allowing the ones with the genetics to survive to reproduce, the population becomes the variation that has the best genetics and therefore a species evolves.

8. Some strategies people evolved to survive better was to stay away from people and choose the corks that were not in the huge clumps, or to grab multiple corks at a time. In nature, animals do anything they can to survive and reproduce. On an emphasis on ANYTHING, it made sense in the lab if people went overboard. People were tackled and dove to the floor in order to secure the most food. People pushed people out of the way in order to ensure they got the amount of food needed to survive.

9. In this lab, what evolved was the beaks. Since the beaks are a phenotype or physical trait, I can state natural selection acts on the phenotype.

10. If there were no stumpys, and only had "aa" as pinchers and "AA" as knucklers and no incomplete dominance who would make up the most of the population, or would it be equal?

This is the graph of allele frequency. 

Unit 8 Reflection

Unit 8 was all about the constant change in our environment. Constant change refers to the change in organisms to fit their surroundings or evolution. Evolution is key because without evolution species go extinct. Species rely on genetic variation either in the form of a recessive gene, or a mutation to evolve. The species with the superior genetics necessary to survive get to pass down their genes to the next generations. Over a long period in time the species with the better genes become the population and therefore evolution occurs. Darwin documented these changes in his observations of natural selection. The galapagos finches were an example of evolution because they were all the same type of finch before they ended up in different islands. These finches evolved to suit their new environment and soon became so different they could not mate again with the finches on the other islands.

The thing with animals is if they can not support themselves, they do not get to reproduce and their inferior genetics does not get passed on, however in humans, even if you can not support yourself or your children, you often are able to reproduce. Is it fair to the children you are creating to be raised in poverty and not have a chance to change their social standing? The example I'm coming back to is in India, the walk to the beach is often littered with children begging for money, they come back home to an alcoholic father that beats them and a mother that is pregnant not by her wish or consent. Is it fair to the children to be born and not cared for? Shouldn't they have the opportunity to go to school and be someone instead of begging on the streets? Not just in India, though that is where my example is from, is the idea that people that can not care for their children give birth to them and are not able or do not wish to raise them and is it fair to the child to be raised in neglect?

If that does not involve evolution or natural selection, what about the Nazis idea of an Aryan complex? Having blond hair and blue eyes does not mean genetically you have a higher chance of survival, but it meant you were better, or superior. In another example, apartheid in Africa shows the stigma of looks being the judgement of superiority. Native Africans were completely segregated from the Caucasians in apartheid run Africa and they were not allowed to reproduce with each other for the fear of having mixed blood. If you had blue eyes and blond hair and gave birth to a child with brown eyes and brown hair, your child was not as good as someone with blond hair and blue eyes. In 2017, we look at this in disgust. We say, how on Earth did we think this is a good idea? But we still do it, not with humans but with our animal companions. Who are we as humans to manipulate other species to our benefit? Is it morally accepted to manipulate chickens and animals to eat, and then say judging humans by their appearance is wrong? It is interesting to see peoples point of view change when they enter animals in the question. Are animals not living breathing organisms?

This unit raises a lot of questions on morality, just like the previous unit on Ecology (http://vedabioblog.blogspot.com/2017/03/unit-7-reflection.html). But it also is not just about understanding the idea of evolution, its understanding we are the objects of evolution just as the food we eat is a object of evolution. Evolution is all around us and we can track it by looking at fossil remains and more. We are evolution, your dog is evolution, everything is an example of evolution. If you look back far enough, we all evolved from nothing.

http://www.angelfire.com/cellophanetales/evolution.html : An example of the importance of understanding evolution.

https://www.papermasters.com/origins-of-man.html

Above is an example of evolution in humans and below is an example of natural selection and how organisms that are suited to their changing environment survive and become the population. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121935927@N06/13578828153

Unit 7 Reflection

Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment. What is ecology really mean however? Based on what I learned this unit I can relate that ecology is the understanding of our ecosystems and the balance necessary amongst all the ecosystems on the world. The transfer of energy occurs when the producers of energy get consumed by the consumer class. But to ensure that the consumers have enough energy to survive, the levels between the consumer and producers must remain in balance. Everything recycles itself in the end and if left undisturbed our enviorment should be able to go back to the state it was in before human interventions.

The minimum we humans can do is focus on the conservation of all our ecosystems either by recycling, help clean areas that are polluted or covered in trash, campaign against overexplotation of natural nonrenewable resources or recommended by the documentary Bag It, control the amount of plastic we use and dispose of and be aware of the fact that our trash ends up somewhere and make sure we realizes trash does not disappear.

 In our conservation project I learned that a whole bunch of trash ends up in the ocean because the currents of the water pulls the trash dumped in beaches or piers and collects and distributes them to the sea animals. I wonder if people will ever understand that pretending something doesn't exist doesn't help it cease to exist. I am referring to global warming, and climate change due to green house gases, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels. Maybe it is just a period of dry spell but we can not afford to wake up one day and realize it is far too late to reverse the effects of our existence on Earth. We have to wake up and get educated on how we can help before its too late. Instead of regretting past mistakes we have to actually learn from them and even though it is harder to change bad habits than it is to gain them, it is what is necessary for us to live in equilibrium with nature.

"Scientific and Public Perspectives on Climate Change." Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. 

"Plastic Pollution in the Ocean." BioMass Packaging. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

Biotechnology Unit Review

The purpose of biotechnology is to make life easier for us, by manipulating living things. There are four types of biotech: Industrial and Environmental, Agricultural, Medical and Pharmaceutical, and Diagnostic Research. This unit also covered polymerase chain reactions which is the duplication of DNA with added information or primers, as well as gel electrophoresis and bio-ethics. The labs were definitely confusing but the whole idea of bioethics was incredibly interesting because it was more about people and values. I really have to crack down and study on PCR and all our labs before the test because I definitely need a better understanding of the process and objective itself.

I learned more about genetically modified food and since people are always talking about GMOs it was cool to finally learn what eating genetically modified food meant. I also learned about PGLO and that it has many properties and can grow only in specific mixtures. I still need to work on understanding the PGLO lab but at least I know what PGLO means and that is an improvement from not knowing anything.

Here is our Gel electrophoresis lab: 

This is our PGLO lab under normal room light:

PGLO Lab Analysis

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

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 - pGLO LB none none none + pGLO LB/amp 37 grayish yellow white + pGLO LB/amp/ara 28 Greyish yellow Fluorescent yellow/ green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	They clump together in colonies and they have a fuzzy border around them and some have more lots of clear colonies but some have a mushy colony.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.
	It would be impossible to count exactly how much bacteria there is because live bacteria is constantly growing and expanding but if we moved one colony then I approximate that there was 100 plus live bacteria samples transferred.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	I believe the arabinose acts as a culture for the bacteria to help improve growth and promote the increase in bacteria sample.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.
	GFP can be used in military science as a glow in the dark mechanism for underwater exploration. It can be used to make glow sticks and those collars for dogs and people to keep them safe in the dark. It’s a hard question because GFP by itself is just a protein sample from a jellyfish, but maybe it can be used to insert in animals or people to make them glow in the dark.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes and an example of that would be genetically modified food. Food that has had been altered and manipulated for maximum harvest counts as genetic engineering and is a common form of biotechnology.

Gel Electrophoresis Lab

When we analyzed the gel, there were  only a little difference from our reference dye and candy extracted dye. It was mainly color wise, but even so, it was by a couple of shades. The dyes stayed together for the most part, however the yellow managed to spread and cross the red dye. I think the dye that resembles the dyes we used would be the Fast Green FCF since the dyes we had migrated up and down and seemed to spread out from the side.

The main enticement for the sale of food items is how they look. If a hunk of meat looks rotten or grey, people simply wont buy it. In the sale of dog food, it doesn't matter to the dog how it looks; they are color blind, however, for people, the look of the food in their house or their dogs diet is incredibly important and so dog food companies invest in making the food more appetizing not for the dog, but for the human instead. Even the food that human eat, if mac and cheese is defined by the orange/ yellow cheese even if it is chemically based. 

The two things that control the migration of DNA is the electricity and the buffers acting on the gel. The electricity is the thing that acts on the DNA and causes it to move up the gel floor. The DNA groups by size of the dye and groups by their size automatically after adding electricity. I believe DNA with molecular weights in Daltons move and separate by size and weight. The 600s stay with the 600s and the 1000s with the 1000s and so forth.

New Year Goals

This semester I will plan on world domination. Just joking, in biology I want to like the class. I don't understand biology in a whole, therefore i am unable to appreciate the class, but by taking the time to go back and mentally tell myself, this is interesting, I hope I can like the class more.

Another goal is to get better at basketball and field hockey. I will be able to shoot anywhere on the court and make it as well as handle the ball like I can do it in my sleep. I will be able to dominate on defense and get strong enough to fight for rebounds and steals. In field hockey, I will be able to control the ball better and maneuver around defenders, which I can not do currently. I can work on both sports by practicing and not giving up even when it would be so easy to do so.