December 2014 Blog - AP Biology

This month we begin our in depth look at DNA!  We examine the research that has lead to its understanding, its structure, how it is transcribed, and how it is translated.  But as our understanding of DNA increases and out technological abilities to manipulate DNA improve, it opens a number of bioethical issues.  Below is a link to an article about genetic testing.  Please read and leave a comment about how you think your genetic information should be handled.




http://nymag.com/news/features/23andme-2014-4/

November Blog Post AP Biology 14-15

This week in AP Biology we began to look at the processes of cell division, namely the cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis.  Understanding of these processes is essential and a hot topic in medical research.  Many human diseases can be traced to problems associated with the regulation of the cell cycle.  To that end, in this week’s blog I would like you to read the linked article and then pose one question that is generated having read the article on cell cycle regulation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131011101148.htm

October Blog Post - AP Biology 14-15

Great job on last month's blog post!  This week we will be learning about enzymes and conducting several inquiry based labs about enzymes to learn how they work.  Turns out enzymes are "wicked" important in biology and everywhere we turn we will see examples of their use.


What I would like you to do this week is to follow the link below and choose one article about enzymes to read and summarize for the class.  Please include the title of the article you chose to summarize.  Please do not choose an article that has already been summarized.  Finally toward the end of the week, go back and read the summaries of the other articles.  Enzymes are amazing!


http://www.livescience.com/search.html?cx=partner-pub-1894578950532504%3Aqaei7k190hq&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&sa=&q=enzyme


Best,


Mr. Clark

1st Post: September 11, 2014

AP Biology students 2014-15,

Here is our first opportunity to Blog about the wonderful world of biology!  Every  other Wednesday I will post a blog promt to get us talking about biology.  Your contribution to the blog is due one week after the initial posting.  Essentially it is a participation grade, so if you respond to my posts and / or respond to other peoples posts you will have met the requirements for this assignment.

So do not stress over this .... let's have fun blogging about biology.

Task find an interesting biology news article on line and provide the link.  Next, write a brief statement about why this article is interesting.  (No repeating other students articles.)

Science News, November 5, 2013 "Clay may have been birthplace of Life on Earth"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131105132027.htm


This article suggests a mechanism for how complex organic molecules like DNA or RNA could have been organized with the use of clay particles.  This suggests how these molecules necessary for life could have been synthasized before the evolution of the first cell membranes.

Ok, now read and comment on this article (or one your peers posted) or post your own article and comment on it.

3rd Quarter Thursday 4/3/14 "Final Post"

As the 3rd quarter comes to an end and with the AP Biology exam around the corner, (5/12/14) we will suspend our Thursday Blog posts.  In this way, you can spend more time leading up to the exam in your review.

Seniors have just a couple weeks after the exam until they begin their graduation preparations, so after the exam we will devote our remaining time toward the final project and your room paintings.

Thank you for your contributions to the blog, I have enjoyed reading your thoughtful posts this year.  I intend to continue the blog next year with my students, and I you would  welcome you to follow the blog and contribute if you are interested.

Best,

Mr. Clark

3rd Quarter Thursday 3/27/14 "Cool Stuff in Biology"

Thank your for your attention to last week's post and your ideas for "animal for a day" activity.  This week I would like you to explore the wonderful world in biology by reading a recent news article concerning biology, make a one or two sentence summary, and then posting a link to a different article you have found.

So the to start us off, here is a link to a recent article in the news.  The first person, to respond to this post should read, offer a 1-2 sentence summary, and then post the link to a different article.  The next, person should respond to that link and so forth. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery/slowly-evolving-elephant-shark-offers-clues-about-why-some-fishes-have-no-bones/

Be good and do good,

Mr. Clark

3rd quarter post Thursday 3/20/14 "Oxygen Dissociation Curve"

Nice job on your comments on last weeks blog on diabetes.  This week in AP Biology we have been talking about homeostasis in the respiratory / circulatory system.  As I said in class the CollegeBoard likes this topic on the Bohr affect and oxygen dissociation curves.  Below is a link to a short summary of the concept.  Please read the summary.  As this is a "read only" assignment, to get credit for  this weeks blog post answer this unrelated question. What animal would you like to be for a day and why?

Here is mine:  I would like to be a humming bird, because I am sick of winter and would like to flick from flower to flower and drink up the spring.


http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/1999/Dickens/Oxygendissociation.htm

3rd Quarter Post Thursday 3/13/14 "Diabetes"

This week we have been studying negative feedback and ways in which homeostasis is achieved in human systems.  One example, we have looked at in class is glucose regulation and problems with its regulation. Read the article in the link below and make a brief comment.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/scientists-closer-stem-cell-cure-type-1-diabetes

3rd Quarter Post Thursday 3/6/14 "FDA & 3 parent embryos"

Welcome back from vacation!  The post for this Thursday looks at a bioethical issue in the news this week concerning whether the FDA should approve a technique to enable researchers to produce human embryos from the cellular components of three parents.  Read the article and let us know what you think about what the FDA should do and why?


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/24/fda-three-person-embryo-fertilization/5777869/

Best,

Mr. Clark

3rd qtr. 3rd Post - "Stem Cells"

Read the recent article about a new technique for obtaining stem cells.  Very exciting stuff.  Maybe a litte stress can be usefull from time to time.  Read and comment on the article. 

http://www.nature.com/news/acid-bath-offers-easy-path-to-stem-cells-1.14600

This is the last blog post before February Break!

Mr. C.

3rd qtr. 2nd post "Evolution / Creationism debate"

Great job on your posts last week.  I will be entering your participation grade every Friday in powerschool.

The last couple of weeks we have been discussing topics within our unit on evolution.  Tim U. sent me this link yesterday and I have made it the focus for this post.

Go to the link below and watch some of the recent debate of Bill Nye and Ken Ham on evolution vs. creationism.  It is quite long so feel free to dip in anywhere and view a segment.  What I would like you to do in the blog post is to identify one argument presented by either man that you find intriguing, agree with, disagree with, or you simply had not heard before.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/04/271648691/watch-the-creationism-vs-evolution-debate-bill-nye-and-ken-ham

3rd qtr. - 1st post - Thursday 1/30/14 "Evolution video & TB article"

This week we watched the PBS video "The Evolutionary Arms Race" in which it outlined the probems associated with the evolution of TB.  Reflecting on the video and / or the linked article below, comment on the evolution of TB.  What do you think? What should society do? What steps should be taken?

http://www.crick.ac.uk/news/science-news/2013/09/01/70,000-years-of-tb-infection-and-evolution/


Comment on the video, the article, or the comments of one of your peers.  Remember you have until Thursday Feb. 6th to make this post.  All posts after 2/6/14 will not be graded.

5th post - Thursday 1/9/14 "GMO Salmon" (final post of 2nd qtr.)

Read the article on GMO salomon and comment on what you think about how the issue should be handled.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-new-method-against-genetically-modified-salmon-get-retailers-to-refuse-to-sell-it/2013/10/18/6aee28bc-3101-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html

This is the last post of the 2nd quarter.  Each of the 5 posts is worth 5 points.  (If you would like these points for your 2nd quarter grade you need to complete all posts by 1/24/14.)