Day 15: What goes on in the dark forest when no one's watching?

WARNING! THIS POST CONTAINS EXPLICIT BEHAVIOR OF TWO DIFFERENT COLORED BEADS PRETENDING TO BE BENGAL TIGERS IN A DARK FOREST!! YOU MUST BE MATURE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THE CONTENTS OF THIS BLOG POST TO CONTINUE READING.

Just kidding....sort of. I don't know what happened because I was told not to look.

So today was our first day back from October Break (yay...) and of course, our Honors Biology class was as boring, slow, and uneventful as ever. (I'm being sarcastic, of course. Mr. Quick, please don't make our lives any more difficult. Class is great!)

We did a lab in class that tested evolution and gene frequencies, which we called "The Tiger Lab". We had 25 red beads, which represented the recessive allele for no fur in a Bengal Tiger. We had 25 green beads that represented the dominant allele for fur. And our deep dark Indian jungle was played by a brown paper bag.

It's like you can hear the mating calls. 

In our lab, we were to put all the beads in the bag, shake it up, and pick out two beads at a time. If the bead colors were either green, green or green, red, then the tiger had the dominant allele. If the bead colors were red, red, then the tiger had the recessive allele and died.

The red beads slowly disappeared from the gene pool. In the end, the tigers all had the dominant fur allele.

And was our introduction to gene frequencies. More to come in the next post.

Until next time.

Day 13/14: I Can't See It!/The Parents are Here

So today's blog post is going to be a combination of day 13 and day 14 because day 14 was Parent's Day and we only had half an hour of class.

Day 13: I Can't See It!!

Here we have an artistic shot taken by my me with my iPhone. 

So Day 13, we discussed evolution and the different branches of a species and how the evolutionary process may have occurred. We looked at different sea shells that once belonged to sea snails. And some of these shells were tiny. So we had our handy cheap plastic magnifying glasses.

After we took a look at the majority of the shells, I drew a diagram with the different branches of shells.

In evolutionary terms, we have the common "ancestor" the shell, that relates all these types of shells to each other.

Then that group is split into cone shaped shells and flat shaped shells, which are then split into groups based on size: big, medium, or small.

We could have kept going, splitting the shells into colors, or patterns, but thankfully we didn't.

In blue is the thought map that my teacher wrote up on the board explaining the different variations of species. See, variations are caused by DNA mutations, which cause different species to evolve. These variations can be different, shapes, patterns, colors, and/or sizes. The DNA mutations that cause this are either positive, negative, or neutral mutations and they are there so the species can adapt the their surroundings in order to survive. The survivors, then reproduce to pass on their genetically superior genes to their offspring. Those offspring will then pass on their genes and so forth until there is a species with that same variation.

Now, onto the lab!

We were to look at how a species has adapted to different environments. And what better way to do that than to use a species that you can't really see?

Brine shrimp are these tiny shrimp things that honestly just look like dots. I swear, you need to have some freaky super human eyes if you actually want to see them. So here are pictures I found off the Internet of brine shrimp up close because 1) a picture of grey dots wouldn't be interesting and 2) I forgot to take pictures...

  fully grown brine shrimp

those boring grey eggs (up close!)

We had five different salt solutions in which we were to put at least 20 brine shrimp eggs in to see the different environments the shrimp can live in: 0% salt solution, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%. The interesting thing about brine shrimp is that they have this unique adaptation that keeps them in a dormant state until their surroundings are ideal for life. Of course, the eggs would have to be in a dry, oxygen-free environment and they can stay in this dormant state for many years.

So our test was to see how many brine shrimp can hatch in a specific environment. We put in about 20 eggs (although some of them were over calculated and we ended up putting in forty...oops) into 30mg of different salt solutions. And then we waited.

We had results!!

As predicted, we found that the greater salt solution had more hatchlings. (That's not a real word. I made it up. Deal with it.)

Day 14: The Parents are Here

So at our school, we have this thing called Parent's Day where our parents get to come back to high school and see what it is we do in class. And for most of the day, it's pretty awkward. And our Bio teacher saw the awkwardness and seized an opportunity to make it even worse.

But we'll get back to that in a bit.

As for the brine shrimp, our hypothesis stayed true. The solutions with more salt, had more hatchlings.

Data!!!

So after we scooped up the living brine fish and put them in a beaker full of other living brine fish, we gave the dead ones a traditional viking funeral and watched the water drain them down the sink. (sniffle)

Now, here's the awkward part...

For homework the night before, we were told to read up on three aspects of human evolution: averageness, masculinity, and symmetry. All three of these were ways humans instinctively judge some one's attractiveness. 

You guessed it. We had to judge someone's physical attractiveness with our parents. 

It wasn't too bad, that is until we had to explain the scientific reasoning behind why we thought one person was more attractive than the other. And talking to your dad about attractiveness was not on my To Do List that day, or any other day.

But I survived!! And now I have a short break before school begins. 5 day weekend!!!!

Until next time.

Day 12: You want me to do what!?!

Today, I was given an almost impossible quest. I have to research a theoretical fossil and create a theoretical fossil of the human ancestor.

But before I found that out, we took a quiz, which I passed so yay!

Then, we talked about evolution and how species adapt to their environment by adding extra protection. And what better way to learn about that than to rewrite Miley Cyrus' song "Wrecking Ball" to talk about fava beans.

See, fava beans release free radicals and screw up your red blood cells when someone has a deficiency of the G6PD enzyme, giving the person eating fava beans anemia. Now, fava beans are found in areas that are also high in malaria epidemics. But anemic blood isn't ideal of the malaria parasite. So fava beans can reduce the chances of someone catching malaria!

And if you wanted that in musical form, here are my lyrics to "Fava Beans"

Your myths, your shape, your genes, your name
Were all signs that said no
You gave us gas, some people died
But that was before, we knew

That you can save us all
You can fight it off
You can stop this disease
Your favism affect might just stop
The malaria from killing me

You came in like a fava bean
You threw away my G6PD
The radicals released chemicals
But the malaria was gone
And you saved me

Yep...this is why you shouldn't let me write songs. I can sing 'em. Can't write 'em.

So after that, we were told of the impossible quest, and of course Michelle and I said "Let's pick the most interesting but possibly the hardest species to research and then make a legit looking fake website about a fake fossil that we found and how we did it."

So yeah, we chose the theoretical fossil of pan prior, which is the hypothesized fossil of the common ancestor of humans.

Odds are we won't find much, but I've got a couple books in mind for researching and Michelle's good with websites so we should get something good, hopefully. But that's it for now.

Until next time.

P.S. sorry for the lack of cool/pretty pictures

Quiz: Evidence for Evolution

Go put your best thinking cap on because it's quiz time! Remember, no cheating (yes, Google is a form of cheating.)

1. Explain the following picture in terms evidence for evolution. (It's a picture of a species evolving into other species)

This evolution is of a land mammal slowly evolving into a water mammal, probably an early form of a whale. The land mammal, the mesonychid, slowly adapts to the water environment by growing webbed  feet. The arms are shorter and not dog-like anymore and the fur of the mesonychid is receding. This is the transitional species ambulocetus. This mammal continues to evolve, its hind legs disappearing, its front legs changing into fins until it begins to look more like a whale than a dog.

2. Which of the following continents did marsupials begin from?

1. Europe
2. Africa
3. Australia
4. South America
5. North America

Answer: b, Africa

3. Comparing a dragonfly, bird, bats - explain the type of evolution that these organisms show.

Dragonflies, birds, and bats all have the ability of flight. However, they are not related. These species all obtained their ability to fly through different circumstances. Their structures are therefore analogous structures because the structure of their wings are similar, but unrelated.

4. Explain how the Common Descent Lab shows DNA evidence and ancestry as evidence for evolution. Include examples of Primates.

The Common Descent Lab (the one with the beads) shows that DNA can track how closely related two species are to each other. For example, our human DNA was much more similar to our chimpanzee DNA than it was to the gorilla DNA. That data proves that humans are more closely related to chimpanzees than they are gorillas. 

5. Explain homology using some examples from your reading.

So we're reading Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Homology as similar physical structures between related species. So these species with the same structures have evolved from a common ancestor. In the book, Shubin uses the Tiktaalik as an example for the earliest wrist, which is similar to human wrists. Other examples include the one bone, two bone, blob structure of the limbs that we went over in class. 

So, these are my answers. Anyone learn something new? I hope so. If not then you're just a smarty pants. 

New blog post coming on Saturday. You might get to hear me sing. 

Until next time. 

Day 11: Beads!!

To be quite honest, I don't remember much of what happened in class today. All I remember thinking is, "We're making DNA friendship bracelets in class!"

Well, I was right about half of it. There were beads. There were pipe cleaners. But there were no friendship bracelets. 

Instead, there were DNA beads! (I know, not as exciting.)

I was once again joined by my fabulous lab parter Michelle as we built DNA strands of humans, chimpanzees, gorilla, and a mysterious common ancestor. As seen in the picture below, the strands are human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and common ancestor.  

We found that the gorilla was more closely related to the common ancestor than it did to the chimpanzee or the human, while the chimpanzee and the human were more closely related to each other than they were to the gorilla or the common ancestor. 

Michelle and I came to the conclusion that the order of evolution was such: common ancestor, gorilla, chimpanzee, human. 

Thus, by using hemoglobin structures (which is what DNA is), you can figure out the ancestry of species. 

Except we didn't use hemoglobin. We used beads....but it still worked!

Tomorrow I'll be posting a quiz because I was told to do that. And no you're not doing the quiz, I am. So don't freak out that you didn't study. That's my job.

So until next time.

Day 10: One Bone, Two Bones, Blob

Today's class was like the beginning of the post-apocolyptic era. It's when the movie starts and you first see the wreckage of whatever thing that almost wiped humanity completely off the planet and the characters have to figure out how to live.

 Our class was pretty much like that today. We got our tests back.

I don't even want to talk about my grade. Let's just leave it at "I screwed up and will spend more time preparing for it next time around."

Well, it wasn't too bad. But it was bad.

At least we went over everything during class (thank you Mr. Quick!!)

We then proceeded to dive into our next unit: evolution. For homework, we were to read chapters from a book called Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, which was about Shubin's discovery of a transition species between fish and amphibians. The book also went in depth to talk about the evolution of land animals and how some of the earliest land animals had homogenous (similar) bone structure to us humans.

We took a short field trip about a good 500 or so feet to the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology to see a model of a Tiktaalic.

Pictures!!

This species was the first animal to "walk" on land. Notice the quotes around walk, because although the Titaalik had limbs like ours, it sort of dragged itself around. This animal was capable of living both on land and in the water. It has both characteristics of fish and amphibians.

Fish

• gills
• webbed fins
• tail
• scales
• conical head
• eyes on side of head

Amphibians

• limbs
• lungs
• flat head
• eyes on top of head
• neck
• wrist

Tiktaalik

• gills
• webbed fins
• limbs
• wrist
• neck
• flat head
• tail
•  eyes on top of head
• scales

The Tiktaalik was proof that animals evolved from water to land and bridged the gap between fish and amphibians. It also brought to light the evolution of limbs. 

Now, I'm quoting my biology teacher when I describe limbs so it's the most accurate scientific description of an arm. "One bone, two bones, blob."

That'll need some explaining though. As animals our limb structure consists of one bone (the humerus) two bones, (radius and ulna) and the blob (your wrist aka carpals and your fingers aka digits). To get to the one bone two bone blob thing, the species had to evolve from water creatures to land creatures like this. And the Tiktaalik was the bridge between the two.

This shows the evolution from water to land and the evolution from fin to wrist. 

And that was basically our class today. Still recovering from that test, but onto evolution, which makes slightly more sense than chemistry!

Until next time.

Now, onto deep philosophical thoughts of transcendentalism with Ralph Waldo Emerson (save me). 

Day 9: The End (sort of, but not really)

SPOILER ALERT: This blog post contains information about the test that may lull you into a sense of procrastination and a lack of effort to study. If you have not taken the test yet, DO NOT READ THIS POST.

So this test actually wasn't too difficult. There were some things that I could have brushed up on a bit more. And it would have been helpful if I could remember the specifics about a few labs. And it would have also been nice if I realized that zero of something doesn't always mean nothing is happening (gosh Rena, you could have figured that out before you finished the test).

Overall, it was okay. I feel like I overstudied on some parts and understudied on others. Next time, I'll probably start reviewing earlier than two days before the test.

So yeah, lesson for today: If you're freaking out about a test, you should start studying the material the moment you get it.

But if we're being realistic, that probably won't happen because I am a procrastinating teenage girl. But maybe a week in advance would be a good idea.

That's it for today. Short blog post. Until next time

P.S. If you're using highlighter on a test to graph a line, make sure you use either the erasable highlighters (yes that's a thing. Go get it!) or have white out with you.