20 Time Final Blog Post

Overall, 20 time was somewhat of a failure. I could have done so many more things in the time that I had, but I had decided to throw away a few mondays. I never realized how much I could have done with my project until i walked up to the podium to give my ted talk. I saw all the potential that i had in my project and sort of hoped that i could continue this over the summer. I have other things i plan to do over the summer and this is one that i wish to add to my list.

There is a small chance that I may be able to finish a brochure by the end of summer, but there's a part of me that wishes to start a different project. Going back on this semester and 20 time, I really liked my topic, and I do feel that I completed a decent amount of research with Eveliina. The main problem with the Ted talk was that our information wasn’t consolidated well. I wasn’t able to put the information into a meaningful ted talk, resulting in a low grade.

If I am given another chance to make something like this, then I plan on wasting less time and to create a final product in time. I want to make a change for students, but the problems started with my time management.

20 time individual reflection

20 time was a project that i was very interested in from the start. When my biology teacher, Mr. Orre first announced this assignment in class, my mind immediately began to wonder about all of the possibilities that this project offered. I was engrossed in all of the ideas that my mind came up with, and at the end, I settled with the car engine.

More than just a car engine, i wanted to delve into the ways that gas circulated in an engine, and my final product was going to be a presentation about how to maintain a car and how it works. I found out what i needed to research. I needed to understand how gas circulates, what different types of fuel injection existed, and how a car engine runs on gasoline. There were many more subtopics i needed to have extensive knowledge on, but that would take a lot of research and dedication to the project, something i wasn’t sure i could do.

A fellow classmate, Eveliina Niva, found interest in my project and wanted to join in, as she had not come up with her own idea yet. I saw a window of opportunity in this, knowing that i needed some extra help and also that i could give help to another classmate. I accepted her into my project, and over the weeks that we had time to research and gain knowledge for our presentation, i saw her hard work slowly adding up, as she researched many crucial articles towards the project that we now shared.

We decided that we wanted to make our presentation about helping others with their cars. A car is something that requires a lot of maintenance. It also requires safety to manage and drive properly. We wanted to make sure that by informing people of what their car needs and what it is capable of, we could save a driver some money, time, and keep them safe while and before they start driving.

Your Inner Fish

The movie “Your Inner Fish” featuring Neil Shubin gave many visual examples as to how humans evolved from fish.  Fish are aquatic creatures that swim in the ocean using fins, and breathe with a very complicated mechanism called gills. Shubin talked about a connection between these creatures and human beings. Its called Tiktaalik. Tiktaalik was the stepping fish between ancient aquatic life and humans. It could breathe in land and water, had a flexible neck, and could also… do a push up?

How is Shubin sure it can do a push up? Fossil records and fossils found by Shubin indicate that Tiktaalik had a skeletal structure capable of exiting the water, and also had strong wrists containing many digits, similar to our wrists. Their wrists were strong enough to support its own weight, and because of that it was technically able to do a push up.

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 was a unit on species and evolution. Species are classified by taxonomy, or large groups made of smaller groups. Larger groups include Kingdom, which covers many species, Phylum, which covers less, Class, Order, Family, then Genus which all classify a smaller group of species. Our class did a whole variety of presentations, linking them back to their taxonomical groups. Here’s mine about HIV.

One huge factor of evolution on Earth is environment. Species from the kingdom Plantae change constantly over time, and as a result have created different types of food and differing amounts and types of atmospheric gases that change what can live in these environments.

There are three domains this unit talked about. Plantae, Animalia, and Protista. Plantae include all the plants. This extends towards mosses, such as bryophytes. Mosses are nonvascular, so they don’t extend straight up, but they are the most common seedless nonvascular plants.

Animalia include invertebrates. These are animals without a backbone. They are separated into categories based upon their body plan symmetry, tissue layers, and developmental patterns. There are two different types of body plan symmetry, starting with bilateral symmetry where the body divides equally along one plane, and the radial symmetry, where the body is arranged in a circle around an axis. An example of bilateral symmetry would be a crab but a sea urchin would have radial symmetry.

There are also vertebrates, and they are classified into seven classes. Agnatha, chondrichthyes, osteichthyes, amphibia, aves, and mammalia. These are separated into “chronological” order, meaning that one appeared before the other. Agnatha is jawless fish, meaning they had little chewing or biting power, resulting in less potential for food gain than the osteichthyes, which were bony fish with jaws. These fish were able to capture more prey than the agnatha, but they came later.

Overall, this unit was a lot about improvement on current knowledge. It is common that we evolved from… something, but what was it? Where did it come from? What made it evolve? These were all questions that were answered in this unit. We seemingly evolved from a fish capable of doing a push up, according to Dr. Neil Shubin. It was able to breathe in and out of water, had a strong skeletal body, and had many digits in its wrists, allowing it to support a large amount of weight. We are able to know what came before us, and its characteristics.

Engine Knocking and Fuel Octane

Engine Knocking and Fuel Octane

We made some progress on the topic of octane, or fuel type. There are named and numbers assigned with octane, and they are regular, plus, and premium. What are the main differences of these names? Octane is the ability for the fuel types to resist premature detonation. This results in premium gasoline being able to detonate later than regular gasoline. As a result, putting regular gasoline into an engine that requires(see previous post about tips for car owners) premium gasoline can result in the gasoline burning too soon, causing metallic clicking sounds in the engine. This sound is not only annoying and noticeable, but it is also bad for the engine. If you, as a car owner, experience this in your car, you may have purchased the wrong octane of oil or a bad load. If you suspect that this is the cause of your engine creating these clicking sounds, then wait until the next refill or get a checkup to see what the problem is because it may be more serious than just the wrong octane of oil.

Pseudobiceros Hancockanus

Flatworms are interesting, especially this species. Not only because they’re pretty much flat, but the Pseudobiceros Hancockanus has a very interesting mating process. That’s not the only thing that is interesting about them though. They move very efficiently and rather long distances through oscillations in the sides of their body.

How do these flatworms reproduce? They have a mating ritual called penis fencing in which the two worms essentially fight with their penises, lasting up to an hour. When one finally wins, the winner becomes the father and the loser becomes the mother. They actually reproduce sexually, by injecting sperm either into the other worm or by releasing it onto the skin of the other worm, resulting in the possibility of it entering through open pores in the receiving worms body.

20 Time - Tips for Car Owners

Tips for Car Owners

We decided to devote our research in the past few weeks into creating tips for car owners. Car owners may not always be smart or know what they’re doing, but the tips that we found can be very useful to them.

Petrol is something that is very important to a gasoline-powered car; it’s what makes it work! Of course, people would love to save money on this. There is a label on your fuel tank that says either regular, plus, or premium. This can mean one of two things; it is required or it is recommended. In order to know which one it means, you can ask your car dealer and they can tell you. By knowing if it’s required or recommended, you can change fuel type. For example, if it says it “recommends” plus, then you can most likely put regular gas and the car will run just as well.

You will be saving yourself a few cents per gallon, and over time, that will equate to a large amount of saving. We will do more research in the upcoming weeks and find more useful tips that can save money or can help your car.

Hunger Games Final Analysis

1. In this lab we did a simulation of natural selection.

2. The phenotype that was the best at catching food were the knucklers.

3. The population evolved because some genotypes were not able to collect food as well as others. As a result, there were less of those after time and more of the ones that were surviving and reproducing more. There was a significant lowering in the population of species with the “A” allele, because it was not as well suited to collecting food as the “a” allele.

4. 
   The random parts of this lab was the dispersion of food because it was scattered unevenly and caused somewhat of an unfair feeding ground. This affected the population because the amount of offspring may have changed due to the random scattering of food.

5. If the food was larger it would be easier to pick up by the Stumpy’s. This can be related to nature because in nature, size of plants and their fruit or food may change as well. If this was to happen, there will for sure be changes in population.

6. If there was not incomplete dominance, then knucklers wouldn’t exist. Knucklers happen to the best most effective way of obtaining food, so there would be a sequence of evolutions that would result in knucklers existing.

7. Natural selection and evolution go hand in hand. This is because evolution wouldn’t occur if natural selection didn’t pick the best traits. Over time, the phenotype of species affected by natural selection would appear and evolution would be visible.

8. Knucklers mated with pinchers to increase the amount of offspring that were created. This affects the allele frequency of the population because the “a” was seen more often while the “A” was seen less often. This is related to what happens in nature because in nature the trait that is more effective will have more mates. This happens because of sexual selection.

9. In evolution, the ability to survive better than others in an environment evolves. If a green colored butterfly is more susceptible to being caught and eaten because it is easier to see, then the butterflies that are brown will live because they are harder to spot and therefore harder to catch and eat. Natural selection affects the phenotype and genotype. For phenotype, the above example with colors can explain why phenotype changes. With genotype, there can be a resistance a certain species develops to protect itself against a certain disease or bacteria.

10. If natural selection adapts species to their environment, then why aren’t more predators gaining traits that would help them sight prey better?

Gasoline Progress

Gasoline Progress

So far in 20 Time, we have researched some articles on different types of gasoline, such as regular, plus, and premium. The main difference between each of these gases is price, at least in the mind of a robust businessman or woman while filling up their Mercedes. In the mind of a person that is trying to make sure that their cars receive the proper gasoline it is a much different story.

The contemporary average price of premium gasoline per gallon in 2015 was 2.8 dollars, costing a 20 gallon refill to be around 56 dollars. We researched the actual differences between different gas types, and encountered an interesting fact. The difference between regular and premium is not only price but its ability to resist knocking, or high frequency oscillations in a cylinder that makes a sharp metallic noise.

We will continue to do more research and end up with a reason as to why you should put a certain type of gasoline in a car, backed up with a few reliable articles.

Bird Beak Lab Conclusion

Bird Beak Lab Conclusion

The feeding rounds of part two yielded much less offspring but most still survived. The spoon didn’t have enough time to collect five pieces of food so it died out, but the tweezer, binder clip, and scissor were able to collect at least five in ten seconds and survive. There were 13 total chicks in the first wave but in the second, with the modification, there was only seven.

My hypothesis was not supported because the spoon had the least chicks in the first part which doesn’t agree with my hypothesis about the spoon being the most potent beak. The second part disagreed with my hypothesis as well because the spoon did not survive.  

If this situation was to continue for a few more decades I can see a decrease in all species except the tweezers because the tweezers were by far the most effective beak for food. The spoon will be wiped out because it cannot pick up enough food in time to survive each wave.

CER

In this lab we asked the question: “If natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species.” We found that the tweezers were the best beak because it was able to collect the most amount of food and create the most amount of offspring. This data does not support our claim because we thought the spoon was going to be the most effective way of collecting food and producing offspring.

PE

Our data contradicts our expected results because instead of the spoon being the best way of collecting food the tweezers were. There could have been errors because we might have not evenly distributed the food around the table. Another problem may be distance away from the food. Some beaks may have had a lesser distance to cover to collect the food, costing precious time. A way we could have gotten past these faults is by taking more time in distributing the food and also being more careful in being the same distance from the feeding grounds.

PA

This lab was done to demonstrate how a certain trait that improves survivability increases in popularity in a population but a weaker trait that isn’t as potent will show up less often. From this lab I learned more about natural selection and how it is able to select the best traits in a population. Based on my experience in this lab, I can understand why certain birds have certain beaks in a specific area, but in another area with different types of food, there are also different types of beaks.

New Addition to 20 time project

My classmate, Eveliina Niva, has joined my 20 time research project. From now on, our 20 time posts will be on this blog and will include both of us. Welcome Eveliina to my blog!

20 Time

20 time, new section of blog, and goals

20 time is a project that we as a class will be working on every monday. We have a goal in mind while researching, testing, and blogging our weekly results and progresses. My 20 time will be on combustion engines and the effect of different types of gasoline on it.

My goal for this project is to understand car engines better, but the primary goal will be to explain to drivers how to maintain their car better on their own. Each type of gas that I finish research on(i.e regular, plus, premium) will have its own blog post.

I will not be doing any real experiments with gasoline as that will be too expensive and I do not want to run the risk of injury. I may interview a person who specializes in gasoline production or has a large amount of knowledge on the topic.

Unit 6 Reflection

Genetic Engineering Reflection

Chapter 13 is extremely useful especially since the concept of genetic engineering is contemporary. Genetic variation was something that is important in our everyday lives, because without it we would not be able to look different, have disabilities, or have different sizes. Selective breeding allows us to pick traits that we want, and keep them throughout generations. For example, if a dog had a resistance to fleas, then that dog would be “selectively bred”, so its genes would be put into another dog, which would also have that flea resistance.

Inbreeding results in unique characteristics being preserved, while the two organisms will create somewhat of a hybrid. Breeders purposely induce mutations to increase the genetic variation in a community, whether it be a good mutation or a bad one.

We conducted a gel electrophoresis lab in class, which demonstrated how scientists separate DNA bases on size. We put the same amount of food color into each socket, and when we ran the current through the gel, whichever color moved the fastest through the gel would be the smallest, and whichever one moved the slowest and the least distance would be the bigger one. It can be used to identify a particular gene in an entire genome.

http://wliubiology.blogspot.com/2016/01/candy-electrophoresis-lab-questions.html

Recombinant DNA is when a gene is taken from one organism and attaching it to the DNA of another organism. First, the DNA is “cut” open in one place, then the gene is inserted. After that, the DNA is spliced back together. We conducted a lab on recombinant DNA where we used two rings, one of them being the DNA, and the other one being the gene.

http://wliubiology.blogspot.com/2016/01/recombinant-dna-lab.html

Cell transformation started with bacteria. When dead bacteria cells were mixed with live ones, the live ones accepted the DNA from the killed ones and it becomes a component of the cell’s DNA. If a plasmid that has the DNA from the dead bacteria enters a bacterial cell, the sequence will replicate the DNA. After the cell duplicates many times, the entire culture is given some antibiotics, which results in only the transformed cells surviving since they have the resistance gene that the other ones did not. Scientists can locate these specific, transformed cells with genetic markers.

Genetic engineering can be used in many ways. It can make fish glow green, make grapes very large, and tobacco plants glow in the dark. It has increased the usage of biotechnology, which we have had a vodcast on. It increased the amount of plants being grown, which results in more food production faster. Cloning has also been introduced. If there is a sheep with a resistance to bacterial illnesses, then it can be cloned to make an identical sheep that also has this resistance. Cloning has resulted in many controversial problems, as well has mutations and other defects or problems. We had a lab on genetic engineering called the pGLO lab, where we inserted the gene for glowing green into bacteria. After a few days, when a UV light was shone upon the bacteria, it indeed, was glowing green. We inserted the DNA into the same container as the bacteria, and after heat shocking the container, the pores of the bacteria opened up and accepted the bacteria. This resulted in the pGLO being duplicated until it made many colonies of glowing green bacteria.

https://lgsuhsd.instructure.com/courses/2529/assignments/12439?module_item_id=46093

pGLO Observations

1.

Plate	Number of Colonies	Color of Colonies under room light	Color of colonies under UV light
-pGLO LB	carpet	dark yellow	slightly purple/ dark yellow
-pGLO LB/amp	none	-	-
+pGLO LB/amp	150-200	dark yellow	slightly purple/ dark yellow
+pGLo LB/amp/ara	47	dark yellow	glowing green

2. One glows under the presence of UV light. One multiplied in colony size greatly, and one didn’t have any colonies at all.

3. There were 47 colonies for the plate with arabinose(counted), and the one with no plasmid but LB had an uncountable amount of colonies, resulting in “carpet”. The plate with no plasmid but had LB and ampicillin had no colonies at all, while the plate with the plasmid, LB, and ampicillin had 150-200 colonies of bacteria.

4. Arabinose is the sugar that essentially turns on and makes GFP glow green and is also an alternative carbon source for E.coli.

5. To test and see if inserting genes into organisms will work.

GFP shows us when proteins are made.

Researching why GFP developed in the Aequorea victoria jellyfish.

6. A) Engineering chickens to be fatter and bigger in order to sell more chicken.
B) Genetically altered grapes that are larger.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab Questions

1.
A ) no
B) no
C) yes
D) no
2. Betanin (beetroot red)- because it most closely represents a dye used for the gel.
3. Dye is added to animal food because it makes the literal food piece look more appetizing. Rather than a bland rough ball its more textured, meaty looking, and looks healthier, which will increase the chance someone will purchase it.
4. The strength of the positive and negative side, and also the structures of the dyes, whichever one is heavier moves less and whichever one moves more is lighter.
6. The current running through the gel pulls the dyes towards the anode.
7. The current running through the gel will attract the dyes, and whichever one can maneuver and pass through the structure of the gel the fastest are the smaller dyes, while the ones that move the slowest are the bigger dyes.

PC: Kimi Uenaka

PC: Kimi Uenaka

8. I expect the 600 to move far, towards the end of the gel, and the 1000 to move a little less, 2000 to move even less, and 5000 to move the least. 

Recombinant DNA Lab

Recombinant DNA Analysis

The process of producing recombinant DNA starts with cutting the Plasmid. After cutting it, we taped it into a ring using any order, creating our ring of DNA. Next, we cut the cell DNA out, and taped each strip together. We then used our restriction enzymes to find parts in our rings that matched. When we were done testing the 8 enzymes, whichever one was used in the DNA rings were to get cut. The insulin gene and the plasmid were then “spliced” together. We then tested to see if the plasmid was taken into the host bacteria cells. An example would be ampicillin, as it is an antibiotic that is usually able to kills bacterial cells.

1. Tetracycline, kanamycin, and ampicillin. I would use these three because these usually kill the host bacteria.
2. The restriction enzyme cuts open the plasmid at one site. This is because the DNA will be inserted there. We used Eco R1 and Hin dIII because they were on both of the human genes twice.
3. The DNA won’t be able to be inserted into the plasmid.
4. This process is important in everyday life because this prevents us from contracting illnesses and diseases that would harm us.
5. This process could be used to increase the amount of eggs a chicken produces. This way, we can breed less chickens, kill less chickens, and still get the same amount of eggs. Either that, or we could keep less chickens penned up and only have a few produce a large amount of eggs.

New Years Goals

New Years Goals

My new years goal for biology is concise. Continue doing what I have been doing in class, except be more in the class. What I mean by “in the class” is to pay attention, not only to what Mr. Orre is saying, but also pay attention to my surroundings. Are my classmates paying attention? What part of the book is he talking about right now? Does this part deserve attention or do I already know this thoroughly? If I can improve on these few things, then I will be able to achieve better understanding and a higher grade in this class.

My new years goal for golf is much different than biology. Paying attention to surroundings can matter, but most of the time I will try to zone out, paying attention to mostly my game and my game only. Other’s game I will give no attention towards, and if I stray from my goal I will try to redirect my course to where I want to be. Getting to the top 8, or being a traveler should be a stepping stone. My goal is to place in the top 4, where I feel I can be if i devote enough time and work to short game and my irons. Accuracy is key on Saratoga Country Club, and if I continue to scramble successfully and hit the greens, I can secure a spot in the top 4 for myself.