As the world notices global warming, we start making better decisions and try to change what we do for the better. Early vehicles were shown to have run on peanut oil and the like, but people found petroleum was much easier to gather and find. But now the prices for petroleum gas are rising and more and more people are turning back to biofuel. I think that biofuels and natural, environmental friendly ways of powering our cars and other machines would be accepted and purchased by all. Biofuels have to be at least eighty percent renewable, this will contribute greatly to the earth and its atmosphere, because there won't be as much waste in the air, "Using straight vegetable oil for fuel can lower greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 100 percent, greatly reducing air pollution". Biofuels can me made from many plants, including: corn, peanuts, coconuts, and sugar cane. Biofuel is the best option because it does not create toxic waste. It also produces carbon dioxide for the plants to grow and it becomes a cycle where everything is reused and no new toxins have to be made. There are many benefits to using biofuels, but it takes a lot of time and effort to make this kind of fuel. So for this kind of power to be manufactured, people have to put their own comfort aside and help extend the life span of the earth.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Biofuels
As the world notices global warming, we start making better decisions and try to change what we do for the better. Early vehicles were shown to have run on peanut oil and the like, but people found petroleum was much easier to gather and find. But now the prices for petroleum gas are rising and more and more people are turning back to biofuel. I think that biofuels and natural, environmental friendly ways of powering our cars and other machines would be accepted and purchased by all. Biofuels have to be at least eighty percent renewable, this will contribute greatly to the earth and its atmosphere, because there won't be as much waste in the air, "Using straight vegetable oil for fuel can lower greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 100 percent, greatly reducing air pollution". Biofuels can me made from many plants, including: corn, peanuts, coconuts, and sugar cane. Biofuel is the best option because it does not create toxic waste. It also produces carbon dioxide for the plants to grow and it becomes a cycle where everything is reused and no new toxins have to be made. There are many benefits to using biofuels, but it takes a lot of time and effort to make this kind of fuel. So for this kind of power to be manufactured, people have to put their own comfort aside and help extend the life span of the earth.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Looking at Proteins
Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Rice University have figured out how to look at and identify the protein structure. This breakthrough will help future scientists locate the active sites being used in cancer and other diseases. The information has been put online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It uses math algorithms and X-ray crystallography. The math part of it defines all the positions the protein can flex or bend. X-ray crystallography "a technique in which protein crystals are bombarded with X-rays, producing a diffraction pattern that reveals the precise three-dimensional arrangement of every atom in the protein". The head researcher Jianpeng Ma expects this technique to help with a better understanding of supramolecular (more complex then a molecule) complexes that have limited information. William Lipscomb of Harvard University, one of the inventors of X-ray crystallography said the new successes involving this X-ray are phenomenal and that this technique of mapping out proteins has been the largest advancement in X-rays in two decades.
Since proteins are made out of strings of amino acids they tend to move a lot. But the part of the protein that moves the most is the part that plays the biggest role in the protein, for example, the place where an enzyme catalyzes a reaction. This is problem because the protein usually keeps moving and if you take an X-ray of a moving object it comes out fuzzy, so it is still a diffuculty to map out the vital part of the protein.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Genentech
About 30 years ago, Robert Swanson and Dr. Herbert Boyer were advancing on the new field of recombinant DNA technology. Both saw that this could be a way to help many people and started their own biotechnology company, Genentech. This corporation is thought to be the beginning of businesses that help others through biology. Their main way of creating products is by splicing genes and inserting them into fast-breeding bacteria. Genentech has also produced the first human protein through the bacteria E. Coli and successfully cloned human insulin. Along with this, they have created products that help anybody that has any sort of deficiency. Today, Genentech is still one of the top biotech companies that market to everybody.
This company has also won its fair share of awards, such as: MedAdNews' World's Most Admired Biotech Company Companies List, Barron's List of "World's Most Respected Companies", The Annual Helix Award at the BIO 2006 International Conference, BusinessWeek's "100 Most Innovative Companies" List, and a bunch more. Genentech's standards for itself are very high and they are interested in helping anyone who has an unmet medical need. One of their main goals is to become an entrepreneur in helping and improving the treatment of patients with cancer, immunological diseases, and angiogenic disorders. They are always looking for a better way to help the medicine world, right now they have over 100 projects in experiement. Although this company has only been functioning for about 30 years, I think in that short period of time they have managed to complete way more than they thought was possible. Genentech's wise sense of what people need helps them provide to the community in the best way they possibily can.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Eye
During class on Thursday we had a guest lecturer come talk about the eye, and who better to talk about the eye then an optometrist. Her name was Dr. Pamela Fong. She had a lot to talk about considering the eye is a very complex organ. First she showed us a model of an eye and all the main parts of the eye, such as the: iris, lens, optic nerve, retina, pupil, and cornea. The iris is the colored part of someone’s eye and also identifies the person, because everyone’s iris is slightly different. The cornea is the very front of the eye, if the cornea is too strong you’re near-sighted or myopic and if it’s too weak you’re far-sighted and hyperopic. If someone has astigmatism their cornea is aspheric or warped. The lens flattens and rounds to focus what you see. The optic nerve connects your eyes to the brain; this is also where your blind spot is located. The retina lines the inside of the eye and contains rods and cones. These rods and cones are light-sensitive and help you see in dim light or the dark. In the retina is a black spot, called the macula that contains cones, it helps your depth perception.
After this, she showed us pictures she had taken of the back of people’s eyes. It turns out you can learn a lot about the person just by looking at those pictures. The macula was located on opposite sides for the right and left eye. This would show which one you were looking at. If there is a sheen around the macula it means you are looking at a young eye. In the eye there are arteries and veins, by the width or size of the veins you can tell if someone was sick or had a problem with their body. People with light eyes usually have light-colored hair and vice versa, and depending on what the shade of the eye is you can tell what their hair color is. So by looking at the back of an eye you can tell all that, that’s pretty impressive.
One thing that Dr. Fong said that interested me was the fact that everyone sees things differently because our brains think differently.
Sheep Eye Dissection
Few minutes later we had a sheep eye dissection. I thought it’d be interesting to dissect an eye, but I also thought it’d be gross. When we cut open the eye all this clear goo spilled out, that was the vitreous humor, it helped the eye keep its shape. The lens was a hard clear object shaped like an actual lens. The sclera, covering of the eye, was grayish, attached to the end of the eye was the optic nerve. The inside of the eye was a metallic blue and the retina lining it was yellowish white. I learned a lot about the anatomy of the eye from this dissection.
After this, she showed us pictures she had taken of the back of people’s eyes. It turns out you can learn a lot about the person just by looking at those pictures. The macula was located on opposite sides for the right and left eye. This would show which one you were looking at. If there is a sheen around the macula it means you are looking at a young eye. In the eye there are arteries and veins, by the width or size of the veins you can tell if someone was sick or had a problem with their body. People with light eyes usually have light-colored hair and vice versa, and depending on what the shade of the eye is you can tell what their hair color is. So by looking at the back of an eye you can tell all that, that’s pretty impressive.
One thing that Dr. Fong said that interested me was the fact that everyone sees things differently because our brains think differently.
Sheep Eye Dissection
Few minutes later we had a sheep eye dissection. I thought it’d be interesting to dissect an eye, but I also thought it’d be gross. When we cut open the eye all this clear goo spilled out, that was the vitreous humor, it helped the eye keep its shape. The lens was a hard clear object shaped like an actual lens. The sclera, covering of the eye, was grayish, attached to the end of the eye was the optic nerve. The inside of the eye was a metallic blue and the retina lining it was yellowish white. I learned a lot about the anatomy of the eye from this dissection.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Hebeloma crustuliniforme, Poison Pie
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Hebeloma crustuliniforme is a kind of fungi; Its common name is Poison Pie. It is usually found in groups in the shape of rings or arcs. Poison Pie is found greatly in North America, near or under Oak or Coniferous trees, likely Monterey Pine. They also spring after rains ranging from late fall to winter, they can also be seen in very damp areas in the summer. This organism gets its nutrients and energy either from neighboring trees or the ground itself.
Domain: Eukaryota
Kindom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Basidiomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Bolbitiaceae
Genus: Hebeloma
Species: Crustuliniforme
Hebeloma crustuliniforme has a cap that grows as big as 4-9 cm. The cap will turn upward as it gets older. The surface of the cap is very fleshy, white to beige in color,and is very smooth. However it does get sticky in humid weather or when wet. The gills of the mushroom are also white and grown very close together. The gills have rough edges and produce liquid when young. The stalk can grow to 4-7 cm. high and .7-14 cm wide. It is covered with a white poweder and is not hollow. The spores are greatly diminutive in size, ranging only from 9-12 x 6-7 µm. The spores are circular in shape and has bumps along the suface. This mushroom is bitter and inedible. This fungi has nearly no predators because it is not fit to eat. The Poison Pie, as you can tell from the name, is very toxic; If eaten it can cause drastic problems to your stomach and intestines. If you are trying to identify this particular mushroom, give it a sniff, it smells like radishes.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Evolution Presentation
On January 24 our class had a guest speaker for Evolution. The guest was Louise Mead; she had been studying evolution for about 10 years. She introduced Charles Darwin and his role in evolution. Her presentation included cladograms that showed the evidence of evolution. There was also evolution-related vocabulary, such as: Natural Selection, Genetic Drift, Phylogenetic, Biogeography, Comparative Anatomy, Molecular Biology, and Fossil Record. There was also some interesting evidence for evolution. One where salamanders that were closely related were found in different parts of the world. Another where there were visible patterns of evolution in two species of butterflies. There was also the great experiment when mouse genes were inserted into a fruit fly, the amazing thing was that the fruit fly accepted the genes. These are just a few examples of evolution, there are plenty more all around us. Altogether, the presentation was very interesting and educational.
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