Unit 10 Reflection

In this unit we mainly focused on learning about the different organs and organ systems in humans along with their functions and importance to the body. We learned about the jobs of the different systems and we saw how they all work together to create a body that walks, talks, and is healthy. We also saw how the body wouldn't be able to function correctly if it was even missing one of its smallest organs, which meant that er got to understand the importance of the different organ systems.and we really got to see the importance of the different organ systems.

We first started the unit off by learning about homeostasis and the circulatory and respiratory systems. We learned that homeostasis is when an organism maintains its internal temperature. We also learned that positive feedback is when it goes one way quickly while negative feedback is when it dances around a set point. In addition, we saw that negative feedback is a lot more common than positive feedback. After learning about homeostasis, we learned about the circulatory and respiratory systems. We saw that the circulatory and respiratory systems work closely together in order to maintain homeostasis. We learned that the circulatory system transports blood, gases, and nutrients, collects and carries away waste materials, and separates oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood. We then learned that the respiratory system delivers oxygen from inhaled air to the blood and expels carbon dioxide and water.

 After learning about homeostasis and the circulatory and respiratory systems, we covered the nervous, endocrine, and digestive system. We learned that the there are two parts to the nervous system: the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System. The CNS includes the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord while the PNS includes cranial nerves, spinal nerves, sensory neurons, and motor neurons. We also learned that the the CNS processes information and the spinal cord controls reflexes. After the nervous system, we learned about the endocrine system. The endocrine system is a system made up of glands that release hormones. The nervous system and the endocrine system work together and coordinate communication in the body. The nervous system uses high speed electrical signals to control other cells while the endocrine system has slower but longer lasting control of bodily functions such as reproduction, growth, and metabolism. There are six endocrine system glands: hypothalamus, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, adrenal gland, and pancreas. After discussing the endocrine system, we moved on to the digestive system. We learned that the six types of nutrients are water, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins and that the two types of digestion are mechanical and chemical. The absorption of nutrients mostly occurs in the small intestine and the folded lining, villi, and microvilli really helps it retain the nutrients.
Nearing the end of the unit, we learned about the immune system and the lymphatic system. We learned about innate immunity (all animals) and adaptive immunity (vertebrates only). We saw how the immune system responds to pathogens and other infections. The lymphatic system is a system of tubes and sacs throughout the body that collect waste and blood from tissues (lymph). We learned that lymph nodes helps fight infection and that white blood cells engulf pathogens.
I want to learn more about the lymphatic system because I think that it is really interesting to learn about how we fight pathogens and infections. An unanswered question I have is why is the small intestine so large compared to all other organs. I wonder more about the nervous system and I want to learn a lot more about because I think it is super interesting to see how it controls basically our whole body.
I think that I have grown a lot since my first post back in the beginning of the year. I think that I have especially gotten better at my unit reflections and relate and reviews. At first I kind of just rattled off the things that we learned about in the unit but now I feel that I thoroughly discuss each of the topics we learned about. I have definitely accomplished a lot throughout the way. I am very proud of my blog and I am for sure going to keep it so I can look back at it when I'm older. I am very proud of my second semester reflections because they started getting better and better for example my Unit 8 Reflection.

20 Time Final Post

              In this 20 Time Project, I had to make a presentation to my class about what I accomplished and my whole process for this project. I had to dig up lots of research and lots of statistics to make some graphs - that was my proof that I had a physical product. However, keep in mind that I did not finish researching my experiment just yet, so it was hard to expand on many graphs.

This is my data from my 20 time project - the graph on the left shows the total green houses gases from different groups and the graph on the right shows how much the carbon dioxide level increases each year worldwide.

       Presenting for my 20 time project I found was way easier than making the presentation. For a lot of my project I felt really lost because of the amount of research that I did and so when I made my presentation I found it really hard because there weren't any tests that I made and so then I couldn't mention them. For example, like maybe mentioning what went well or what didn't. However, not everything went badly. Somethings that I think that I did well was that I did not have any text on my slide, so I was the driving force for my presentation. After looking at the video, which is attached below, I think that I would have given myself a 68 or 69/75 because in my presentation I didn't really talk about my experience with 20 time enough. Doing this was a problem because it did not fill all the criteria for the presentation. Also, this presentation allowed me to understand how important it is for the speaker to be the driving force in the presentation and not your visual aid. The knowledge that I gained from this presentation is something that I can use in the future with projects like these. 

           Listening to all my peers 20 time presentations was a really great experience. Every presentation that was presented I learned something new whether that was the information packed into the TED talks or the style in which the presenter presented.  Every presentation was different, so that really helped keep the viewers attention because there is always something new that you can learn.

Pig Dissection Relate and Review

In this lab we were asked to dissect a pig, identify the different part, know there functions and then create a video going over all the different parts and showcasing our knowledge. Doing this lab really helped to understand better the different parts of the body, there uses, and how they all work together. It gave us a better look into the size and shape of bodies. Doing this dissection also helped to relate what we have learned in class, as we are now able to really visualize the looks of everything looks where they reside. My favorite part of the dissection was probably when we opened up the mouth and Mr. Orre explained to us the purpose of the hard and soft palate because I've been wondering why the top of you mouth is bumpy and then goes soft for a long time. Overall, I think the dissection was really fun but also a very valuable experience as it gave a kinesthetic of learning something new which rarely is brought up and that is how I learn best, kinesthetically. 

20 time reflection

I challenged myself to pick a project that not only interests me, but is really content heavy and important to the well being of the world, thats why I decided to have global warming and climate change the subject of my 20 time. My goal is to better inform myself and my peers on how bad our global condition is in. Then put together some graphs with numbers I have gathered to use as a visual for showing people.

I found that I am just getting started on learning about the world and its wounds. I first started researching at haven't found an end, during 20 time on the recent mondays I still find myself researching something that I could have researched on the first class period on 20 time. I could absolutely say that the topic I picked was really big.

If I were to do this project again I would probably want to hone in on a specific piece of global warming and climate change as it is a very broad subject to research.   When I get up in front of the class and give my TED talk, I wish to share my information to all my peers so that they can understand the severity and big global signs the world is going through right as we speak.

My Inner Fish

In class we watched two episodes out of a series of three, "My Inner Fish", this gave more insight into the evolution of how we came to be and how our ancestors evolved. In the first video they taught us how fish evolved onto land and transitioned from fish into amphibian-like reptiles. One question from our video stuck out to me and that was,  "What did Tiktaalik use its neck for in the water?". They then went on to explain that since the animal had a neck when it was in the water it was able to see it's predators and food, this gave it an advantage. This goes to show that even small evolutionary steps like that affect everyone and everything so greatly. Another question that was asked during the second video was, "Why are mass extinctions important?" Mass extinctions prove to be important in general to almost every species, but certainly to us. They give way for other species to rise and take control of the Earth. The mass extinction was essential the mammals survival, growth, and success. Again this extinction was crucial to humans being and it's importance is undermined. This video has given me a new outlook on evolution and how we actually came from animals that seem so far away from us.

Rising Water Part 4

I have researched more on my topic, but I have also booked a time were I am going to visit a lab that looks deeper on the issue I am investigating. When I go their I will be looking at ways this company helps to keep a green world. I can then take those ideas and spread them and talk about them in my TED talk. My next steps would be to go there and document what I see, and add that into my presentation.

The Flamingo Tongue

The photo that sits to the right of the page is called a flamingo tongue - it's known as a mollusk. Its classification is a phylum. Its scientific name is Cyphoma Gibbosum. This is a snail about one-inch long and he is a "gastropod" meaning he eats with his feet. Common on many Caribbean and Atlantic coral reefs, the flamingo tongue snail feeds on toxic sea fans and not only suffers no harm, it incorporates the fans venom and becomes toxic itself. Shell collectors are often attracted to the colorful snails, but in fact the shell itself is white—it’s only the living animal inside that produces the striking color pattern.

(https://thescubalady.wordpress.com/)

Its diet consists of sea plumes, sea rods, and sea whips. Flamingo tongues usually live a life span of 2 years. The bright orange patterns that you see a on top are due to the live mantle covering it, and they disappear when the snail dies. It has tentacles and a head with two pairs of sensory organs that look like horns. These 'horns' have eyes at their ends. Do you think that if I were to eat this snail it would be poisonous and affect me?
(Denise McNair)

Rising Water Part 3

        I am continuing research on my project. While reading a couple reports by environmentalists I have found out how I would be able to spread awareness, but thing is, they have done it on a big scale. For example, giving presentations around the world. So maybe when I give my 'TED' talk to the class I can give a presentation like these people who are touring the world giving their own. My next steps would be to take all the research I have gathered so far and to use it to start creating a presentation. I will look at making some of my own graphs to so I can give a visual on how serious this problem is. The graphs will most likely show how much this problem is increasing, and give some pointers to people on how they can make a change.

Unit 8 Reflection

In this unit we learned about evolution and how it is affected and affects life. I think one really key understanding in this unit is natural selection. In natural selection, an environment that has genetic diversity changes over time to shift the population towards the organisms with the best traits that help them to survive and reproduce. The way this happens is that the organisms that are able to survive can reproduce. Which means that organism had good traits because they were able to survive, so then they give their offspring the best traits to help them survive. At the same time natural selection punishes those who have the bad traits by killing them off. Natural selection is natures way of saying survival of the fittest. Another key to this unit was how long and eventful earth's history. Us humans have only been through a micro fragment of earth's history. What put us on this earth was a mass extinction called the 'Cretaceous explosion'. If there was no mass extinction then us humans wouldn't be here today.

In my last reflection, unit 7, I discussed the process of being more assertive in my group work. Although I may have not been able to implement this in biology because no projects had arisen, I was able to but this quality into use for my English MAP class. In this class there is always some project that is in the working, so this time I got thrown the hurdle of working with a group on a group essay. My group couldn't find a lot of time to do their part of the essay. So I stepped up and took the opportunity to help better manage our time in class, and finish our essay knowing we did our best.

Geologic Timeline

There are lots of significant events in history but I find that there are three major one that I'm going to point out to you. First off I'd like to talk about the Periman era this was when the large extinction happened. This time was when most off the work was covered in many different marine communities. However the mass extinction at the end of this era was the largest ever recorded, which was extremely important because it created many niches is which the could dinosaurs could take over. If that extinction had never occurred we not be here as the world could still be ruled by many marine communities and good animals. Secondly, the Cambrian era which was a series of important sub events rather than one big one. Over the years of this era helped to give birth to many different species which led to the ones we have today. During this era there was a big explosion called the "Cambrian Explosion" where a huge amount of life changed over a short period of time. Finally, the huge and famous mass extinction happened at the end of the Cretaceous which wiped out most of the dinosaurs and led to us humans. This event was definitely the most important because this explosion and era led to us humans. It's also important because if this didn't happened then the world right now would be ruled by dinosaurs and we wouldn't have dominated the food chain - then once wagon would not existed.

Hunger Games Analysis 

1. In this lab, we as a class became a population of organisms trying to survive by collecting food (corks) and making offspring (flipping coins with specific alleles). This simulated natural selection and the change it has on species over time.
2. The best phenotype in my opinion for capturing food was the "aa" alleles (the pinchers). The pinchers has to pick up food between their thumb and index finger. I know this because when I was a pincher vs. a knuckler I found it easier to pick up more corks with my index finger and thumb then with my knuckles. Even though I wasn't a stumpy I still know it would be hard to collect food because the populations of stumpys went down significantly over time because they found it hard to gather food.
3. The population definitely evolved, since the allele frequency saw a dramatic shift towards the small "a" allele. In the beginning, there was a 64% to 35% relationship between the big "A" and the little "a" allele, but after 6 rounds, the small "a" allele controlled 83% while the big "A" had only 17%. Every round, the stumpies were contained to a population size of 1 or 2, while the others had numbers between 10 and 20. The population definitely evolved, since the allele frequency saw a dramatic shift towards the small "a" allele. In the beginning, there was a 64% to 35% relationship between the big "A" and the little "a" allele, but after 6 rounds, the small "a" allele controlled 83% while the big "A" had only 17%. Every round, the stumpies were 
4. There were some factors that affected our procedure, the biggest one probably being the way the food was laid out. Some years all the food would dumped into little piles, and other years it would be placed in a wavy line. However, there were many non-random factors as well. Like for example, the fact that everybody every year had to stand around the same circle and were not allowed to look at where the corks were scattered. Although there were many non-random factors they did not have much of an effect on the eventual outcome of the population. It still molded to look like the "winners", knucklers.
5. If the food was a different size, I think that the results would be different because then the different species advantages would change. For example, if we has used softballs instead of corks then the Knucklers would be at a disadvantage and the stumpy would have an advantage. This is because one of regular size can't pick up a softball with just their knuckles. 
6. If there was no incomplete dominance in the community, then the knucklers would not exist, and the pinchers and maybe even the knucklers would have become the dominant trait across the species, since there would be no mixing of genes to produce the knucklers. 
7. Natural selection is what causes change in the population, which relates to evolution. When the better traits are selected, the organisms that have those traits survive while the others die out, and so over time the population begins to only look like the organisms with the better traits. This is natures way of rewarding the best and killing of the worst. Its like survival of the fittest.
8. Some of the strategies that people used were that they would turn out their sweatshirts over at the bottom to make a pocket/bowl. There were also cheater that would while no one was looking, scoop up the corks with their arms in order survive. Those that had enough food to survive applied and adapted different strategies in order to pass on their traits and survive. 
9. In evolution everything evolves not just one specific species or trait, the whole population evolves. Natural selection acts upon both phenotype and the genotype. The new generation's genotype consists of the dominant allele and the majority of phenotypes is the dominante phenotype. In this case, it would be the pinchers.

Rising Water: part 2

2 week progress report

           Over these couple weeks I have been doing a lot of research, reading articles, looking at graphs, and watching videos made by Nasa. I've learn that our sea levels are eventually going to rise rapidly, faster than we think. Around 2030 San Francisco may be flooded. There is a couple ways to stop this from happening. This is for people to start using less things that create pollution and in affect make green house gases. The other way to prevent this from happening is to build a levy or a super dam in the bay to stop the water from flowing  in the city. We actually have plans for the levy and super dams but that is more of a last resort plan. My next steps is to see if I can find someone in this field or area to give me some more information and give me some advice on what I should do to help this cause. I'm also planning to go out and complete some community service in order to set an example to my peers and spread awareness. Hopefully I can also get some of my friends to join in on the community service.

A video on the Arctic melting:

Bird Beak Lab

In this lab we were asked the question, "How do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?" We found that through natural selection, and through different beaks, that the population changed to have significantly more spoon billed birds. Our data clearly showed that the spoon beaked bird had the most offspring. The spoon beaked bird had 26 offspring, the binder clip beak had 20 offspring, the tweezer beaked bird had 12 offspring, and the scissored beaked bird had 14 offspring.  The spoon billed beak made up 36% of the total offspring and the binder clip beak made up 27%, but non-the-less the spoon billed bird still had the most offspring. This data supports our claim because the trait of the spoon birds had extended through the population in such a short amount of time and the population had begun to look like them, or the "winners".

Some potential errors that we could have had would definitely be the variation in the amount of food. Obviously, some of the beaks were better suited to picking up different types of food. Some group had many rubber band seeds, and some had many macaroni seeds etc. For example, I found that picking up rubber band seeds and the macaroni seeds were most easy as I played the spoon billed bird. Our group in particular had many many rubber bands and that is partly why the spoon billed bird excelled in the kind of environment. Another potential error that we could have had could have been the amount of offspring produced per food. We had one offspring for every 5 pieces  of food that were collected, and the second time for every 10. This is not a real example of what would happen is the real ecosystem. 10 pieces of food does definitely not guarantee one a healthy offspring. There could have been a lot of variation, like the bird not being able to find a mate, or maybe the ecosystem was out of balance and there were to many predators.

This lab was done to demonstrate how natural selection and changes in the environment can affect the evolution and traits of a population. I learned from this lab that there are many different variables that help contribute to making just one offspring. Also, just one trait of a species chooses how successful they are in surviving. Based on my experience from this lab, I now know that evolution is really not such a complicated process. It is really just natural selection, and the kind of ecosystem.

Graph #1

                    Graph #2

Different kind of bird beaks

Rising Water

20 Time is a project made for students to take 20% of their class time and to spend it learning about something that interests them. Students have a chance explore what they are passionate about and love what they are learning about. The essential question that I asked was what can I do to make people more aware of global sea level rises. I, a student in Mr. Orre's, till the end of the school year, will work on raising awareness and learning about about sea level rises and global warming. I chose this idea to be the topic of my project because I find that this problem is growing and not much by authorities is being done to try and solve it. I'm not sure that many people know how serious this problem is, so my job is to point out facts and things that will happen if sea levels do rise, educate them on this rising problem. My goals are still being set, but it will try to go out and educate people locally. How? I'm still not sure, this also means that i'm not quite sure how I will measure my success. I'm going to move forward by deciding if i'm going to run a test and record my data that way. I'm also working on spotting a mentor to help me brainstorm ideas and out them to use.

Unit 7 Reflection

The main topic about this unit was ecology, which is defined as the study of interactions between organisms and their environments. We learnt about the factors that take a big part in a certain ecosystem. The different levels and what would happen if one of them went out of balance. The way things were affected was by there different abiotic factors. Abiotic factors affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. We looked the difference between a habitat and a niche. A habitat is where an organism lives, while a niche includes everything an organism needs to survive, such as food and water. One of the big ideas from this unit was interdependence. In other words interdependence means that all living things depend on each other, this is how balance is kept. This topic was presented when we delve into the topic of food webs and food chains, and how the size of different levels can affect each other.

In the conservation project each table group picked a ecosystem and set out to research about it. My group chose to do our project on the Arctic ecosystem. In this collaboration I felt frustrated most of the time because I had to keep pushing people to do work and carried an unevenly distributed amount of work. I felt this was unfair as I had taken on a bigger work load than my whole group. I ask my group to write 1/3 of the script we were going to use each. I wrote 1/3 of the script as well, but when editing the movie we made I found that my groups script did not fit the criteria that was asked. I was frustrated because I had to keeping pushing them to do their work. Since I agreed to taking on a bigger workload I expected them to complete there task given to them in a thorough fashion. Although I felt a strength of ours as a group being productive when shooting our video in class. At the end of this project/unit as a class we studied the kind of person we are. The best way you could behave would by being an assertive person. We took a test and I found myself to be an aggressive assertive person. In the future this information will help me to manage myself and my group better.

This is our conservation project on the Arctic:

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

None of our dyes had moved  in the wrong direction or mixed colors. The differences that had occurred between the reference dyes and the ones that we were testing there were that our red and orange were darker than the reference dyes, but for blue and yellow reference was darker than ours. However, I think this can be attributed to the amount of dye we extracted from the candy. 


I think that citrus blue 1 will move similar to red 2. Red 40 goes as fast as carminic acid. Yellow 6 goes as far as FCF. I think that yellow 5 should go as far as betanin. I chose this to be my hypothesis because although they may not be the same color and be the same size. The order of the dyes were random but stilled corresponded to betanin and the other reference dyes. Although the chemicals won't go as far as the dyes, they would order up.


Things like colored goldfish would probably contain food coloring to entice small kids into eating it. Most crackers does not contain food coloring and flavors. The company uses flavoring and colors so the kids eat it up.

I found all of those dyes in some cereal and sauces (tomato ketchup). I was surprised to find those dyes in my food and even found those done in the lab. I also found some natural color dyes annato extract color, and turmeric extract color. I learned that there are 7 dyes permitted in the US and I found most of them in my pantry at home.

There are  2 main factors that control the distance the dye travels is the dye's size, and how long you leave the gel in the electrophoresis box. I also think that the overall charge of the dye must also play a part in the direction it travels. I think this is by chance and can't be replicated exatly.

The force that moves the dye through the gel is the electromagnetic force. It sends a current through the gel and that is caused by the voltage .

The smaller dyes  traveled faster because of the holes that were in the gel. Smaller molecules move faster throughout the gel as they can fit through the holes easier.

I think that the gel should have been running so it would have been easier to see the difference in the lengths. Then we could see the DNA molecules of this size are so much larger than the dyes, I expect them not to travel as far. 

Extra Credit Bioethics Reading/Discussion 

           The technology that I researched is a jacket that North Face and a Japanese  named Spiber has created which is supposed to be made out of biotech spider silk. The jacket has been named the “moon parka’’ - a coat woven out of synthetic spider silk. This jacket seems really smart and cool but there can be a down side to a synthetic spider silk jacket. The biggest problem would be the fact that producing spider silk on an industrial level is not very efficient. You cannot build a factory that will produce spider silk.  Then there are the upsides - the spider silk the stretchiest and strongest natural material - great for sports. To make a second point, most sports wear is made out of polymer or some synthetic material. These are made in factories that require petroleum and pollute the earth. Whereas spider silk is produced in greenhouses where the spiders would be stored. Long story short this moon parka is environmentally friendly. But like I mentioned before the jacket would take a long time to make unless you has thousands upon thousands of greenhouses filled with spiders, so North Face and Spiber have come up with a solution to this problem. The spider protein which is called fibroin is generated by microbes. Spiber and North Face have isolated the gene responsible for making the protein and introduced it to bioengineered bacteria, meaning they churned it out as they grow. The protein collected is then made into to artificial silk. I like this idea and I think it could benefit many people and the earth. They have also found the solution to a problem and will soon start to produce and sell these jackets. I believe that the jacket would be great item to own, but a downside could be the fact the the selling price could be high and therefore not many people will be able to afford it.

Extra Website Citing’s:

Rhodes, Margaret. "The North Face’s ‘Moon Parka’ Is Spun From Faux Spider Silk." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2016. <http://www.wired.com/2015/12/the-north-faces-moon-parka-is-spun-from-faux-spider-silk/>.

Fischer, David. "The North Face's Moon Parka Is Made With Synthetic Spider Silk |       Highsnobiety." Highsnobiety. N.p., 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016. <http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/11/23/the-north-faces-moon-parka-is-made-with-synthetic-spider-silk/>.

Unit 6 Reflection

This unit was based of biotechnology. Biotech can be a big subject as it is two subjects combined. As a class we delve deep into the different categories of biotech and what they are used for. Biotech really makes a big foundation for life. For example, the industrial and environmental category of biotech focus on manmade foods. We also looked at biotech on a more molecular level. Looking at things like recombinant DNA and how we can grow bacteria that uses a protein called GFP to glow. In this unit we conducted 2 different labs. The first lab that we completed was called the electrophoresis lab this was when we extracted dyes from different types of candy and compared them to reference dyes. We put the dyes in to wells of some gel and sent an electromagnetic current through the gel. We did this to see which candies would match up to the reference dyes. The second ab that was conducted was called the pGLO lab. In this lab our objective was to grow bacteria so that it would glow just like jellyfish glow. My strengths in this unit were when we were talking about biotech as a whole and how it effects things. I also feel like I was good at understanding what the technologies and ethics of bio was. I found that when we talked about recombinant DNA, it was a big weakness for me and I fell out of the subject a little more. I want to learn more about bioethics and bio technologies. I took great interest in that and that is partly why I excelled in that area. Taking a look back at my SMART goals, I feel like I have improved on making a good habit for a study routine, but i'm not sure if this will benefit me. My problem is that I know what has been taught and I have practiced teaching it to others, but when applying my knowledge to tests I find it hard.

pGLO Lab







Two new traits in the bacteria consist of glowing green colonies and ampicillan.

The amount of bacteria that would be in -pGLO LB would be none. The amount for bacteria that would appear in -pGLO LB/Amp is none. The last to are different though as +pGLO LB/Amp would produce around 448 colonies and +pGLO LB/Amp/ara would produce 640 colonies.

The role that the arabinose played was that it attaches to the promoter and then triggers the glowing.

GFP is used in mice. They tried it in mice to test if they can get the florescent look they get in jellyfish an found that the mice glowed everywhere but its hair. They also tried it in plants to test if they were freezer resistant, if the plant glows you know that the plant is freezer resistant. They have even made fish with GFP in it. These fish glow and are actually sold to people. The fact that the fish glows will appeal more to a certain demographic, kids.

An example of another application of genetic engineering would be to figure out if people are related. So for example you can take their genetics and compare them to each other.

Thinking Like a Biotechnician 

Today we conducted a lab that showed the imitation and the process of inserting plasmid into a bacteria plasmid. Our plasmid had a resistance to ampicllin. As part of this lab we were told to find a restriction enzyme then cut a segment out of the DNA and cut the plasmid open. The enzyme used was closest to an insulin gene. We used an enzyme that was closest to the insulin gene. My group then combined the DNA and plasmid with Ligase. We used tape to represent the Ligase. If we had used kanamycin or tetracycline as our resistance it would have kill our bacteria, so in order to test if bacteria took our plasmid, we used ampicllin because our plasmid has a natural resistance to it and if the bacteria survived then the insertion would be successful. The enzyme restriction that we used to cut the DNA segment was called Hin III. We used Hin III because it cut the the human gene in two places and cut the plasmid in only one 1 place. The reason for this criteria is because if the restriction enzyme cut the bacteria in more than one place, then the lyase would not know where to attach the insulin gene to. This is important in every day life, because it is used to create many known antibiotics and show, so that we can test and use these products. This technology can also be used today to create longer lasting foods or help kill viruses.

SMART Goals

In this new semester of Biology I would like to make a SMART goal that can better improve my performance in the class. I am motivated to come up with better study skills and routines. I will work towards practicing how to study and then put the skills into action. My action plan will be to practice study skills for 10-15 mins every time I complete a vodcast. I will study the content of the vodcast I just completed using the given study tips by Mr. Orre last semester.

I would also to present another SMART goal which is not biology related. This goal has to do with reaching out to friends. I find that sometimes my friends feel frustrated with me because I do not reach out to them outside of school. I will when time isn't of the essence, call or text a friend and ask them if they would like to hang outside of school.