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.
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.
It is indeed cool and very interesting to discover such a possibility, but I think this article made it seem a little more real than we know it is. It says the probability of the right chemicals combining in the oceans is slim because there is too much sifting around. But I would argue the opposite for clay. I would think being in clay would be too recessed for such chemicals to collect in the first place. The evidence doesn't directly support what the theory, and it seems a bit far fetched. However, it's early yet in their study...who knows.
ReplyDeleteSide note: Don't hit preview..it erases your comment and makes you restart the process...extremely frustrating.
I would like to see an experiment simulating the actual possibility of the correct chemicals finding each other in clay; however if there was a high enough chemical concentration I can see why clay would be an ideal place to start cells, it has many nutrients and provides protection from natural disturbances.
ReplyDeleteHere is my article about the evolutionary overlap between modern humans and neanderthals because humans and neanderthals coexisted for thousands of years until humans survived an ice age while neanderthals did not.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13621.html
I think this is a very interesting article because there is very little human understanding of this topic. We know how the earth and its elements were created and we know how they function in living things today but we don't know how we got from point a to point b. It is fascinating to think that some random orientation of matter led to all of life on our planet. This clay theory seems reasonable to me because clay pockets closely resemble the environment of the inside of a cell. Oliver mentioned that there wouldn't be a lot of sifting of chemicals inside clay, but I think that's the exact reason that makes clay such a good environment for these building blocks of life to form. If all the chemicals were merely floating around in the ocean, it would not be easy for them to react because they could be ripped apart by ocean currents at any time. In the shelter of a clay pocket, chemicals could react and create DNA and other important proteins. This process make take a long time due to the lack of sifting, however, the article mentions that it took millions of years. When there are endless chemical combinations happening all over the planet, there is bound to be one pocket with the perfect ingredients for these proteins. I hope to see more research into the origin of life so that we may fill in our understanding.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Oliver. In theory, it’s nice to think that chemicals could have combined in clay in the ocean to form biomolecules. But in reality, I believe that it would be difficult for the right chemicals to find the right conditions in the clay to create the first biomolecules.
ReplyDeleteAlso, once the proteins created in the clay left the insulated clay, they would be thrust into a different environment. There would be a totally different temperature and a different pressure, which would start to denature the protein, as we have learned in class. If these proteins were denatured, there wouldn’t be any proteins today, or any DNA (since that is made of proteins), which means no cells and ultimately, no living organisms. And I’m pretty sure that’s not how things turned out.
Unless there is something that I’m missing or not taking into account, I don’t think that the evidence supports the researchers’ theory. There may need to be more research conducted in order to get more accurate facts, because as of now, I’m not convinced that this is the origin of biomolecules.
I found this article very interesting because it connects with the epics I have been reading in Honors Lit. So far we have read The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atrahasis and in both of these texts men are made out of clay. I’m surprised that they are only just now doing studies on if clay is the birthplace of life earth, given that many ancient texts clearly say that clay is.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916112240.htm
This article explains how evolutionary pressure makes faces distinct so that different people can be identified without difficulty. Because we are such social beings, “Human social structure has driven the evolution of how we look.” The study shows that there is more variety in facial traits than in other traits such as hand or leg length.
Nice connection to your other studies.
DeleteI just clicked publish and my post still got deleted.. not sure why but maybe copy what you've typed before submitting.
ReplyDeleteLizzy's article is very interesting. It's cool how our brains have a region specified to identifying people and that we can distinguish people easily.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/2014/09/16/rare-white-possum-ghost/
This article explains a population of white possums that was thought to be extinct many years ago. The possums were wiped out by a massive heat wave that exceeded the temperature that possums could withstand. It's weird that the possums aren't able to adapt to an increase in temperature (obviously the heat wave was excessive); that being said, they've probably never had the chance to adapt to temperature increases.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140917141423.htm
ReplyDeleteWell, I had to retype this whole entire thing, so lets get started. The reason I chose this article was because it had somewhat of a positive message. It talked about how climate change could actually help us cultivate more food in the future. It said because of climate change some landscapes that have been deemed too high, or rocky as possible an agricultural area in the 21st century. considering by 2050 our food demand is predicted to double, this is good news. However, there is some bad. Areas like the Mediterranean and northern Africa could have a decrease in productivity while countries like Canada and Russia will have more. The overall range of agriculture will grow, but it is interesting to think what will happen with northern Africa, which is fairly poor and has little water to its name already. Nevertheless, the article was overall positive showing that climate change comes with its good and bads.
I read Niti's article above. I chose it because I have also found it interesting that scientists can now isolate genes that cause disease, hair color, and traits like intelligence. Now the article claims they made genius mice but it is revealed they actually didn't. They heightened how quickly they make association, a gene that helps with humans and language. But this could still be helpful in children with diseases that have trouble talking.
http://charlotte.twcnews.com/content/news/triad/711961/north-carolina-s-bird-species-threatened-by-global-warming/
ReplyDeleteI was just scrolling through Google and this article caught my eye. It is exactly what we talked about in our ecology unit. Many species are in danger of extinction due to human interactions and global warming. The Golden-winged Warbler, the Brown-headed Nuthatch, and the American Oystercatcher are a few endangered species in area. They are losing their homes because of humans taking the land for their own use. Also because the shrubs are changing due to global warming so these birds no longer have all of the natural resources that they need. Global warming is making it a little warmer and creating less rainfall in this coastal area which is affecting the plant life. However, the birds cannot just move to another place with the nutrients they need because of the competition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/health/mining-for-antibiotics-right-under-our-noses.html?_r=0
ReplyDeleteThis is an article I found in the New York Times about new possibilities for antibiotics and medicinal drugs. It gives some background on the microorganisms that some antibiotics and other drugs come from, discussing how scientists are searching all over the globe for new microorganisms to use in medicine, and then delves into the really interesting part. Scientists decided to analyze the bacteria that live in the human body. After sorting their data into gene clusters and tossing out the ones that were not common in most of the human population, the scientists were left with 3,118 gene clusters. They now have so many new microbes and gene clusters to work with, which was very unexpected for the scientists. They think that they will be able to create some very potent antibiotics and medicinal drugs after more research and experimentation.
I thought this article was interesting because of where they found the new material for medicines. It makes so much sense to look inside the human body for cures for afflictions that affect the human body, and yet, it was never done until now. The theory that since the microbes inside our body have been adapted to live inside it for millions of years, scientists will not face the challenges of newly developed medicines being dangerous or ineffective makes a lot of sense, and it will be interesting to see how this new discovery plays out.
I find the many different theories on where life was first made pretty interesting. However, I find them all equally hard to believe. As Oliver said, the ocean has the right nutrients but they might not be able to combine correctly. On the other hand, the clay is stationary and doesn't have the same capability to mix together. Each setting is extremely circumstantial, and unlikely. However, the Earth has been around for a long time, and all options are possibilities. While this is interesting, and kind of daunting, it raises the question if we should even bother looking for the first signs of life. The only applications I can think of would be to assist finding other life on distant planets, which are light years away. So is it really worth all the attention?
ReplyDeleteA hundred years ago it was unthinkable that man could land on the moon ....
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916162448.htm
ReplyDeleteFound an interesting article about viruses that inhabit the body without necessarily causing symptoms. It's well known that the human body is home to quite a few different species of bacteria. Viruses, too, apparently call the human body home, using it as a breeding ground to spread themselves throughout the population. More troubling, even when you feel healthy, you're still infected. Comforting thought.
Not quite Futurama-level cryogenic freezing, but definitely still interesting. Surgeons are working on a process of suspended animation to work on gunshot victims while minimizing trauma.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.popsci.com/article/science/how-it-works-putting-humans-suspended-animation?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=7&con=how-it-works-putting-humans-in-suspended-animation
There are a lot of interesting biology articles under "Science" then "Health" on PopSci, and you should check all of them out. But this new method is similar to packing patients with ice to slow their body functions to allow for surgeons to work on them, especially when they have to stop the heart but can't afford to use dialysis. In this case, all of the blood is removed and replaced with a chilled saline solution. According to the article, this doesn't damage the body with the lack of oxygen since the temperature is cool enough to pause cellular function.
Everyone's articles are incredibly interesting, but I'm particularly fascinated by medical breakthroughs. Recently, the WHO has been endorsing blood transfusions, and here's an article about that:
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/who-endorses-blood-transfusions-combat-ebola?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=10&con=who-endorses-blood-transfusions-to-combat-ebola
Health and biological issues are getting pretty intense right now, so there's plenty of news about it. Definitely check this out.
We will be looking at the immune system late in the class...hopefully the ebola virus infection rate will be under control soon.
DeleteMr. Clark's original article instantly sparked my interest, in perhaps a different sense than others have blogged about; the article was so intriguing to me because, according to early literature, mankind's inception dawned from clay, as the article discussed. According to the Epic of Creation, humans were created from a mixture of clay and the blood of a god; I simply could not believe that I had stumbled upon an article that proposed roughly the same theory. I was initially quite skeptical about the clay theory when I first read the epic, however, this article completely proved me wrong by providing the science behind the idea. What I found most mind-boggling about this connection was how the Epic of Creation (recovered from millennia old fragmented clay pieces) proposed that humankind is a product of clay, and now modern science has proposed the same idea; the fact that myth's from ancient literature have proved to be even slightly accurate amazes me. While I did not respond to the article in in the same way that the majority of people did here, I simply found this connection to be far too interesting to keep to myself.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to Mr.Clark's post, I too noticed this odd connection between this newly founded theory of clay being the "Birthplace of Life" and our current unit of old myths and religion in honors lit. Just as Michael said this is very intriguing that such similarities between these two subjects are are showing up. It is actually for some odd reason, quite pleasing to me that this new discovery was made. It makes me wonder about if this was solely just a coincidence or did ancient humans know of things that we didn't. As Michael stated before in the "Epic of Creation" it is mentioned that humans were created from clay and blood of a god. This is almost scary now that scientists have shown that DNA (the base and key to all life) can be formed from only clay. This new discovery shocks me and I do indeed hope that perhaps historians and scientists will be able to team up and research if this was just a coincidence or is there a missing link to be found in this new mystery? This discovery could have just sparked a lot of new investigations and questions, it certainly did in my mind.
ReplyDeleteLike Michael and Sam said, I too find it fascinating that the theory of clay being the birthplace of life has substantial scientific evidence to back it up. As Lizzy mentioned earlier, it also is worth questioning why a theory of clay being the original foundation of life was thought up, to put it quite bluntly, when several ancient texts touch upon the idea of the resurrection of life from clay and blood. Some will argue that the two have no correlation, being that of the newly founded theory and the idea of the creation of life proposed in ancient texts. It seems as though science and ancient literature have taken their own roads; however, maybe this will provide a link between the two. It's interesting to think about how an idea from ancient literature could possibly be true; coincidentally or not, this theory gives insight to an idea that society just brushed off as "mythological".
Deletehttp://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9101/20140918/tropical-rabbitfish-threaten-mediterranean-ecosystem.htm
ReplyDeleteI found this article in nature world news and found it to be very interesting because it directly pertains to what we have been learning about threats to biodiversity. This article explains a situation of how an invasive species, the tropical rabbitfish, is threatening algae growth, and therefore other organisms’ lives in the Mediterranean. The article discusses how studies have been done to see why the fish is doing so much damage in an ecosystem that is not that much different from its own. It turns out that the slightly warmer temperatures of the Mediterranean caused a slight change in the rabbitfish that allowed them to eat both young and old algae, thus making it easier for them to completely destroy algae forests.
After reading this article, I fully agree with Tess. I've always seemed to be interested in invasive species as well as endangered species. An invasive species can singlehandedly wipe out an entire species with no problems. The fact that we could be looking at certain species for the last time makes me appreciate their existence a lot more. It's interesting to me that a type of fish is able to take over an entire species of algae, because most fish do have predators. Even though some do not, algae is a very abundant organism on this earth and would be difficult to completely decimate. I'm looking forward to seeing how the algae will hold up in their environment.
DeleteI definitely agree with Michael on this one. It is weird tobe reading about how man was created from clay and the blood of a god and see this type of breakthrough happen. I think it puts a bit of validity behind those stories, and makes you think about how in the times that they were written, no one had the tools or even prior knowledge that we do. So what did they have to go off of? Definitely an interesting thought. It is ironic that those stories were written on clay tablets too. I agree with Sam that historians and scientists should team up, if they aren't already, to try and see what this means about everything the people from thousands of years ago knew… I also think that it is cool to see that something so incredible, life, can come from something that can sometimes seem so lifeless. I definitley agree with Nate's idea that it makes sense though. In the ocean there are so many variables that make it next to impossible to reproduce at a rate that would allow something to survive. But the clay makes perfect sense, it's harder on the outside acting as a shell, but able to be moist and nurtient rich on the inside. I think that this is, as Nate said, definitley one steop closer in figuring out what happened between point a and point b.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Claire on Mr. Clark’s post, I would like to see an experiment proving this process. While I do have some doubts, I can see why clay could be the perfect place for life to start. Not only is clay fairly common, but it offers the nutrients and protection from the outside world. I know many people have posted already saying that it is extremely unlikely that different chemicals could end up in the right place at the right time and while that is true, it only takes one miracle to change the world. The earth did have millions of years to create life.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140918141444.htm
I was searching for an article on Science Daily and this more ecology based article caught my eye. It is both fascinating and scary to think that the coastal upwellings which bring areas of the coast of California nutrients are not performing as well as they once did. Without the constant circulation of nutrients in these areas many marine animals have began to suffer. This is especially troubling because many people rely on these areas to fish. These changes in the coastal upwelling could cripple local economies along California’s cost. With dwindling rates in marine life especially phytoplankton, species in this area could be lost, changing the landscape of this ecosystem.
http://www.iflscience.com/brain/brain-stimulation-may-treat-severe-depression-better-meds
ReplyDeleteDepression is a very serious topic and 1 in 10 adults say that they experience depression. The success rate for the primary mode of dealing with depression is not good because 40% of those who take pills are not helped by them and don’t feel better. The new method is expensive at the moment and doesn’t guarantee success, but it definitely has a higher rate of success than pills or other methods. Although, if you’re paying $1000 every month for treatment, it better work well. The treatment seems like an MRI to the person who is receiving it, but stimulates the prefrontal lobe of the brain and encourages blood flow in that area, which is responsible for mood and feelings. It is still in the testing phase and is receiving some scrutiny, but it seems like a step in the right direction. Also, this is a very cool website with a ton of articles about science, so if you feel like spending your time with that you can go to it, or you can like the Facebook page and it’ll give you updates on cool stories!
Glad to hear you think digestive parasites are "cool". As a vet you will be dealing with a lot of these critters.
ReplyDelete