Unit 6 Reflection

    This unit was about biotechnology. Biotechnology was about how people could manipulate biology to improve mankind. It is like technology in biology. But not all the new technology necessarily was ethically good. The new technology may lead to genetic segregation, such as the case of GATTACA. We learned about how to perform the process of gel electrophoresis. In this process, DNA are sorted by their lengths. We also learned about recombinant DNA, which was when DNA was borrowed from one organism to put in another organism. Bioethics is where people decide if something is correct to do, in the context of biology.

    The unit went by fairly well. The "20 Time" was a big change, as it took up a lot of the class time. I got along with my new group well, as there were not much disagreements. This unit was a new topic to me. I had no experience of biotechnology before, so it was more interesting than the other units.

    This unit, we did two labs, the Candy Electrophoresis Lab and the pGLO Lab. In the Candy Electrophoresis Lab, I learned how food coloring was used in foods, such as candies. I also learned how to "run a gel." In the pGLO Lab, I learned how different things can affect the growth of bacteria. I also learned about how plasmids could be used in organisms.

    I'd like to learn more about the different things that biotechnology has impacted, such as cloning animals or artificial photosynthesis. The process of "20 Time" is kind of confusing. The ethics part is also kind of confusing, since it is sometimes very hard to decide whether something is good  or not.

    (See here for goals) For the goal related to biology, I have studied most of the days for the week or two after I made the goal, but I have slacked off recently. I should study more next semester to improve on the goal. For the non-biology related goal, I have transferred sports from track/ field to swimming. Therefore, I will try to make most of the swimming practices from now on.

pGLO Lab

Click the following link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U7Ne5JZkzpNc8uzY68a3UDGtsZyh5K6Pl4n7YZa-CHw/edit?usp=sharing

Bioethics Reading

Original Topic: Bionic Lens (#6)
Biotech has inspired the creation of bionic lens, which can give you superhuman sight (such as Superman). It will give you sight that is 3 times better than 20/20 sight (you can see at 20ft what normal people can see at 20ft). It is mainly used to restore/improve vision for blind people or age-related sight degeneration (or other similar problems). The process of surgery is said to only take 8 minutes and also to be painless. It also is said that vision will be corrected within 10 seconds. The contact lens includes a magnifying ring as well as small aluminum mirrors. The mirrors bounces the the image around the ring before reaching the retina.

Extra Credit Topic: CRISPR Mammoth (#29 Futurism Infographic)
The idea of the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth is taking place in the biotech world. It is made possible by a gene-editing technique called CRISPR to insert mammoth genes, such as small ears and hair length, into the cells of elephants. Harvard geneticist George Church, who is leading this discovery, says that woolly mammoths will not be around for a while, as the gene-splicing is only one part of the whole process. His team is working on trying to bring back other extinct animals, too. Some benefits of the restoration of the woolly mammoth are that it can help improve some ecosystems, the discovery can result in some more modern discoveries, and that it will assist in large mammal conservation. We do not know what the mammoths will do once they come into existence, which may be a risk to society. Overall, I think it is good to restore this ancient animal and to give a try to something new.

Works Cited
Lewis, Tanya. "Woolly Mammoth DNA Inserted into Elephant Cells." LiveScience. Purch, 26 Mar. 2015.         Web. 25 Jan. 2017. <http://www.livescience.com/50275-bringing-back-woolly-mammoth-dna.html>.
"Woolly Mammoth Revival – Revive & Restore." Revive & Restore. N.p., 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 Jan.             2017. <http://reviverestore.org/projects/woolly-mammoth/>.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

    The blue and brown dyes that were longer than the four reference dyes. Some of the dyes were had slightly different colors than the reference dyes. The brown dye separated into two different dyes. None of the dyes were going in the wrong direction. This might happen if the dyes were not exactly the same as the reference dyes, or were made up of more than one dye. It also may have happened because of the difference in the charges of the dye.

    The "Fast green FCF" would migrate similarly to the "Blue 1," and the "Citrus red 2" would migrate similarly to the "Red 40," since the two pairs are similar to each other in structure.

    Dog food manufacturers would put artificial food colors in the food because the dog or the owner would probably gravitate towards getting brightly colored stuff.

    The size of the molecules and the electrical charge of the molecules controls the distance the colored dye solutions migrate. The small molecules move faster than the big ones, and the charge of the dye determines the direction in which the dye moves.

    Electricity helps the dyes move through the gel. The negatively charged molecules will move toward the positive electrode and the positively charged molecules will move toward the negative electrode.

    The gel has many tiny pores, so it acts like a strainer. This allows the electrophoresis system to cause the molecules to separate by size.

    I would imagine that the lighter molecules would move faster through the gel while the heavier ones go slower. This is because the heavier molecules would probably be bigger than the lighter ones.

New Year Goals

    One of my new year goals is to listen more carefully to the vodcasts and actually learn the material instead of doing the stuff just for the test and my grades. I will not procrastinate until the last day to study. I will plan out my studying schedule and stay on that track.

    Another one of my new years goals is to actually participate in track and field. I will not ditch practice for half of the days and make an effort for the coach to like me better. I will also practice on the weekends