Smartpen

For people who are blind it is a real struggle to grasp the concepts of many subjects such as biology or calculus, because of the constant use of diagrams and charts. But a new invention is going to change all that. The new Smartpen lets the person feel what has been written on the paper, "A new world of possibilities has opened for the rapid creation of portable, ow-cost, high-quality accessible graphics enhanced with audio. For example, a visually impaired psychology student could learn neuroanatomy by exploring a diagram of the brain, with each lobe, gyrus and sulcus's name spoken as the smartpen touches it."This Smartpen can also record and connect all the information onto a computer. In most ways the technology is very similar to that of a laptop. This new gadget is not only limited to the blind, but is also recommended for the average college student, " It will allow them to spend more time listening in class while taking more of an outline form of notes. Later, when they are reviewing their handwritten notes, they can tap within them to hear what the professor was saying when they wrote a particular note, giving them the opportunity to annotate them for accuracy and additional detail."This advancement in technology and many others to come are sure to aid us in the future.

New Genome Map Found

This second generation Genome map is three times more efficient then the first original Genome map and should further uncover the mysteries of the human genome. Along with these new discoveries of life, diseases caused by altered genes will be found much more easily. And speaking of diseases the 2nd Genome map just might show more about the mutations causing the disease, find the mutation-more information about the disease-find the cure. The new Genome map might also uncover more about the intriguing evolution of the human race."If the Human Genome Project aimed to identify the proportion of genetic variation that all humans have in common - now estimated at around 99.5 per cent - then the HapMap(2nd Genome map) consortium may be thought of as a project to understand how the remaining 0.5 per cent makes all humans different from each other". To create the new Genome map they took, sampled, and evaluated the DNA of over 270 people from around the world. It was very important to get as many samples from as many places as they could."...comprising Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria, Japanese in Tokyo, Han Chinese in Beijing and Utah residents of European descent. The group already have plans to add further DNA samples from people of Kenyan, Tuscan, Indian, Chinese, Mexican and African descent."The new findings will be sure to contribute to the fact that we are all very different and unique individuals.

http://www.bionews.org.uk/new.lasso?storyid=3619

Snail Lab

In this lab we observed and read about snails. We learned that snails are really slow, moving at only 3 mph.We also saw it eat. The snail grinds up its food with small sharp rows of teeth called radula. One thing we were told not to do was to pick up the snail by its shell. A snail's shell is pretty fragile, sometimes as thin as paper. In our groups we swabbed some vinegar in front of the snail, instead of running into it turned away. Snails have a keen sense of smell; they know when to avoid acidic substances such as vinegar. However, we have yet to find out what gender our snail is.