Ask a Geneticist- Science

I learned a lot when I visited these sites. First, I learned that genetic diversity is very important for survival and that is one of the reasons we don't have just one long strand of a chromosome. like if a deadly plague hit the people with the right set of genes would live. I also learned that apes have 48 chromosomes close to our 46.

However, most importantly i discovered that different chromosomes contain different genes and that chromosomes vary differently.The largest chromosome is chromosome 1. Scientists fluorescent dyes to help make them distinct. Then the chromosomes can be photographed and arranged on a chart called a karyotype . It can help doctors diagnose diseases. For example, people with autism have to many chromosomes. I also learned that chromosomes can break off and fuse together over years and they are changing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/resources/whats_a_genome/Chp1_2_1.shtml

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=184

Wooden Bowls- lit

This story is all about how you shuld treat the elderly with care because you will get old someday and you don't want your children to treat you that way. It is about empathy. Imagine yourself in granpa's shoes. It's not his fault he is old, it's life. However, the parents failed to see that and the boy finally knocked them into their senses when he was trying to make a woden bowl for his parents to eat out of when he got older.Just like his parents were treating grandpa. This taught me to be kind and empahtetic to people. Also, treat your parents right when they grow old.

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=147

Heredity $ Traits- Genetics

I found some really interesting things about traits and heredity when visited the University of Utah's learning center. I learned a lot about traits however before I start saying what I learned I should actually say what a trait is! A trait is something a behavioral thing, physical thing or medical condition condition passed on to you from your parents Ex. your hair color or eye color or sickle cell disease . Our traits are determined by the set of genetic information we get from our parents allele. If you get two of the same allele you have the same trait as the two allele. If the allele's you get are different the more dominant one is the trait you get.Not all traits are inherited this simply and can't be tracked this easily. Incomplete dominance is when alleles work together and one allele for a trait is not completely dominant over the other allele. Such as crossing the red and white carnation can cause a pink carnation. Something really surprising that I learned is that all humans share 99.9 percent identical DNA!!!!!

Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to children. It is how siblings look like each other and parents look like their children . I look more like my dad and everyone always says I look like my sister but I don't see any resemblance. Parents have two sets of chromosomes . Each parent gives one set to their child. Which passes the parents genes to their children and from the children to grandchildren. That is how some traits get passed on from generation to generation!

Click here to try the tour.Search site you never know if you'll learn something new!!!

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/tour/

Are you a "Morning person" or a "Night Owl"?- science current events

Are you a morning person or a " Night Owl"? I have always been a night owl. I hate to wake up in the morning. Neuroscientist in the faculty of physical education and Recreation looked at two types of people the people who get up and are most productive in the morning and people who are most productive at night.They tested the two types of people by first giving them a questionnaire about their habits. Then, they used a magnetic brain simulation that tested thier muscle torque and excitability of pathways through the spinal cord and brains. people where the complete opposite. They where most active during 9 pm. This is the complete description of me. They also found evening people became stronger during the day and morning people's strenght remained the same throughout the day.
Wow! I think the information they found from the research is true. I feel much more productive at night than in the morning. Also, This really describes me. I do feel much more awake and strong during the day and I hate to sleep early. I wonder why we either turn out to be a night owl or Morning person? I'll just have to wait.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623150621.htm

The mysterious Wonder of Owl Pellets

You never know what you can find in an Owl pellet. A small shrew to even a large bird! Since owl don't have teeth they swallow their prey hole. The prey is broken apart by chemicals in thier two stomachs. Then the stomachs separates the bone and fur from the other parts of the prey. I bet your wondering ,what happens to the fur and bones? Well it gets packed together and instead of going down, the owl pellet goes up right through the mouth. Which forms what we call an Owl Pellet!! When we started doing the Owl pellet Lab in class I really didn't like it. However, by the end I was really into it.( Even if it is a bit gross.) It was really hands on and enjoyable. We got to classify the bones in the owl pellet and find out what excactly was in our Owl pellet. My group had a rodent. Three in fact!! There was a lot of bones. I have learned lot's of information about owl pellet and now I actually know what an Owl pellet is!!
I found some intresting things about owl pellets in these sites!

http://www.cairngormwildlife.co.uk/bogwig/surveys/owl_pellet_survey.htm

I never knew they actually surveyed owl pellets in an area!THey use it to find how many of each species live in area.

http://www.nilesbio.com/cat452.html

This is an in depth article that talks about Owl pellets and what you might find in one. Like a bird band!

Japan eyes solar station in space- current events Science

Global warming and energy shortage may soon be solved!!!This might sound crazy but by 2030 we might be collecting solar power from space. Japans space agency wants to collect power from space and zap it down to earth using eaither microwaves or lasers. This might reduce the cost of electricity in Japan to eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, 6 times the current cost in Japan.This will sure help lower the electricity bill in my house. One of the project participants at Mitsubishi heavy industries wrote in a report "Since solar power is a clean inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming." So not only does the price of electricity decrease this may solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming. I sure hope this works out. So that maybe in the future, cars and other stuff could be powered by this source of energy. I am kind of alarmed at the words 'laser' and 'microwave' along with 1,000 people questioned. However, this will be a huge leap in science and will affect everyone. The challenges are numerous but eventually I really think this could come true.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091108/sc_afp/japanspaceenergysolartechnology;_ylt=AkHIKZ69xttZl3wfxDkAGDRpl88F;

Summer Reading Question- Literature

I imagine the author of my summer reading book Death Be Not Proud, to be a very serious person who is highly intelligent. Also, I imagine the author to be hardworking and a bit of a workaholic. Lastly, since he wrote the book Death Be Not proud, which was based on his sons fight with cancer , I think he was a loving father who really grieved his sons unfortunate death and never gives up.