Unit 7 Reflection

    This unit was about ecology basics. Some of the big ideas were interdependence in nature, and matter and energy. The first chapter in this unit is the biosphere. In this chapter we talked about the different types of interactions between species, as well as interdependence. We learned about how energy decreases on every trophic level, and how food webs help sustain populations. We learned about different types of cycles, such as the water cycle, and how it impacted people and other organisms. The next chapter is about ecosystems and communities. In this chapter, we talked about different ways that temperature can be changed, as well as biotic and abiotic factors, which are classified mainly by whether they are living or nonliving. There are several interactions between species, including predetation and symbiosis. Symbiosis also includes three subcategories, including mutualism, commesalism, and parasitism. Different types of succession are categorized based on whether the process started with or without soil. The species that start the primary successions are called pioneer species. Biomes are classified by their soil and climate, as well as the plants and animals found in it. Some of the major biomes are the tropical rain forest, desert, temperate grassland, tundra, and northwestern coniferous forest. The next chapter is about populations. We first talked about population growth. In the beginning, species usually go through an exponential growth. Later, when the population starts reaching the carrying capacity of the region, it goes through a more logistic growth curve. Limiting factors cause the population to decrease. Density-dependent factors are factors that are dependent on density, and density-independent factors are factors that are independent on density. These concepts are demonstrated pretty well in the human population growth patterns, also called demography. The next chapter is about humans in the biosphere. In this chapter, it talks about how humans affect the environment. People started to hunt and gather a long time ago. But some time after that, they learned how to grow their own stuff, agriculture. Then came industrial growth and urban development, which brings us to where we are today. There are many different types of resources, and we can classify them into groups such as renewable, nonrenewable, land, forest, fishery, air, and freshwater.

    I'd like to learn more about the different types of biomes, and what types of things are included in them. I wonder about how people are taking over the world, and are approaching carrying capacity. The Conservational Biology Project went decently well. We all worked well together, although we had trouble getting together to record the video. I learned a lot about many different ways of how Madagascar was being threatened, which is also the part that I researched. In this unit, we also worked on 20 Time. We made our first blog posts, which can be found here. After taking the self assessment, I noticed that the numbers in all four categories were the same. Therefore, I do not have a dominant conflict style.

20 Time Project with Java Post 1

    20% Time is one-fifth of your class time dedicated to following your passions and doing what you want to do. I allows students to explore themselves and make a project to demonstrate their skills. The essential question that I have asked is, "How can you use Java to make complex programs?" I chose my 20 Time project to be on learning some Java each session, and making a project using all that I learned.I chose this because I do not think I learned much in the AP CS class I took last year, and I would like to broaden my coding skills. My project will answer the essential question by creating some type of complex program. My goals are to learn more Java and be able to use those concepts in making something. I will measure myself on this project by seeing how much of the stuff I can remember. I will also test myself by making a project at the end. My plan moving forward is to learn something, practice something, and/or review something during each 20 Time session.

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