algae microscope

play dough bacteria model

Blood shooting lizard

Why do Horned Lizards shoot blood out of their eyes?

The ominous squirting blood emanates from ducts in the corners of their eyes and can travel a distance of up to three feet (one meter). It’s meant to confuse would-be predators, but also contains a chemical that is noxious to dogs, wolves, and coyotes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEl6TXrkZnk

Second bacteria plate

For my second bacteria plate I used bacteria from a lock from a locker, and I covered the whole plate with it. Except in the first quadrant the bacteria is controlled, nothing was done to affect it, but in the second quadrant I added a piece of paper towel soaked in vinegar. In the third quadrant I added a piece of paper towel soaked in bleach, and in the fourth quadrant I added a piece of paper towel soaked in soap. The purpose of this is to see what kind of liquids stop bacteria from growing. As you can see from the picture of my plate, the controlled bacteria obviously grew and in the second, third, and fourth quadrant, no bacteria grew. So, the vinegar, bleach, and soap works. These liquids kill bacteria. I think this experiment can be done with viruses too.

Bacterial Growth

Not that much happened on my bacteria plate. The third quadrant has the most bacteria in it, which is still not that much. The first quadrant had bacteria from the classroom light switch, second quadrant had bacteria from the yellow railing of the stairs, the third quadrant had bacteria from a lock from a locker, and the fourth quadrant had bacteria from the classroom's door knob. The lock from a locker had the most bacteria on it.

Reflection

I am proud of many things I have completed in Bio 11 so far. If I had to choose 3 they would probably be:

1) Classification Project
2) Evolution Video
3) Classification Quiz

I chose these 3 things because I had fun doing them, I learned a lot while doing them and I believe I did a good job on them.

If I were to look at my binder all of my work would be organized with dividers because I cant work with a messy binder. It is very hard to find things and I often lose things so I decide to keep my binder as neat as possible. All my work is now completed and I am fully caught up. I was a bit behind before because of the classes I had missed due to soccer but I worked hard to catch up.

My favorite blog post is the virus blog because I found the research very interesting and learned many new things that I didn't know about measles and other viruses before. I found this blog post very helpful because by reading other peoples virus blog posts I also learned many new things about the virus they had researched.

I think that being engaged in class means listening carefully, following instructions and asking questions if you have any. I think I am usually engaged in learning but could work on getting involved more and asking and answering more questions the teacher or class has.

My goal for the rest of the semester is to be more engaging and finish assignments and projects before they are due so that I do not fall behind. Even if I have a soccer game and miss the class I should read the blog and get caught up on anything I have missed.

Viruses Part two

MEASLES-

• When that person sneezes or coughs, droplets spray into the air. The droplets can get into other people’s noses or throats when they breathe or put their fingers in their mouth or nose after touching an infected surface. The virus can live on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours and spreads so easily that people who are not immune will probably get it when they come close to someone who is infected.

Symptoms of Measles:

• Fever
• Dry cough
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Inflamed eyes (conjunctivitis)
• Sensitivity to light
• Tiny white spots with bluish-white centers found inside the mouth on the inner lining of the cheek, called Koplik's spots
• A skin rash made up of large, flat blotches that often flow into one another

• Before measles vaccine, each year in the United States about 450-500 people died because of measles, 48,000 were hospitalized, 7,000 had seizures, and about 1,000 suffered permanent brain damage or deafness. Today there are only about 60 cases a year reported in the United States, and most of these originate outside the country.

• Measles were first discovered in the 1930s at Boston.

• The circumstances that created measles were another epidemic called smallpox.

Viruses

Part one-
 1) The general structure of viruses are very small, they are approximately 15 - 25 nanometers in diameter. They are called nucleic acids and are in a protein shell or coat.

2) The genetic material that makes up the virus can be the following; Double stranded DNA, Double stranded RNA, single stranded DNA and Single stranded RNA. This genetic material is dependent on the type of virus and its nature it is also covered by a protein shell.

3)

 



4) Plant-  Polymyxa graminis is a species of plasmodiophorid protist. It is an obligate parasite of plant roots and though itself in non-pathogenic, it is responsible for the transmission of several very important plant viruses, including barley yellow mosaic virus and soil-borne wheat mosaic virus .

 

Animal- Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals.The disease is zoonotic, meaning it can be transmitted to humans from another species (such as dogs), commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if postexposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death.

 

5) I think viruses are very much alive. They spread for organism to organism and create diseases. These viruses can be killed with medicine and cures but when they are spreading and active I believe that they are alive.

 

6) Yes, there are viruses that kill bacteria and can be beneficial there are also bacteria (strains of E. coli) that live in our intestinal flora and metabolize Vitamin K₂ for us.

Viruses

Part one-
 1) The general structure of viruses are very small, they are approximately 15 - 25 nanometers in diameter. They are called nucleic acids and are in a protein shell or coat.

2) The genetic material that makes up the virus can be the following; Double stranded DNA, Double stranded RNA, single stranded DNA and Single stranded RNA. This genetic material is dependent on the type of virus and its nature it is also covered by a protein shell.

3)

 



4) Plant-  Polymyxa graminis is a species of plasmodiophorid protist. It is an obligate parasite of plant roots and though itself in non-pathogenic, it is responsible for the transmission of several very important plant viruses, including barley yellow mosaic virus and soil-borne wheat mosaic virus .

 

Animal- Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals.The disease is zoonotic, meaning it can be transmitted to humans from another species (such as dogs), commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if postexposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death.

 

5) I think viruses are very much alive. They spread for organism to organism and create diseases. These viruses can be killed with medicine and cures but when they are spreading and active I believe that they are alive.

 

6) Yes, there are viruses that kill bacteria and can be beneficial there are also bacteria (strains of E. coli) that live in our intestinal flora and metabolize Vitamin K₂ for us.



 
 

Evolution and Natural Selection

My question is: Why are elephants so big?
I think this is because elephants were once very small and couldn't survive in its environment and to survive it had to become larger. So over time elephants started becoming larger and larger so they could survive.