Connor Barrett

10/17/16

Current Event

Hoffman, Jan. "Learning From Dogs as They Sniff Out Their World." The New York Times. N.p., 10 Oct. 2016. Web.

This article describes reasearch done at Barnard College and elsewhere in the sensory systems of dogs and how they influence their behavior. It turns out that most of a dog’s familiar behavior, like licking, sneezing, and tail wagging, are tied to their olfactory senses. Where humans have about 6 million olfactory receptors, dogs have 300 million, and where humans sniff about once per second, dogs sniff five to ten times. Not only this but the physical way that they exhale out the sides of their noses draws in air through the front, creating a continuous view of the world through smell. Licking is also related to smell in that dogs have a very sensitive vomeronasal organ (VNO) in the roof of their mouth that can pick up the smell of molecules that physically touch it. This means that when dogs lick something they are actually smelling it. In addition, there seems to be no noxious scent for dogs and when they find a very potent smell it signals the motor cortex and makes them lean into the smell. The result is that dogs love rolling around in things that smell bad to humans. Since dogs are so good at smelling it is another way for them to interact with each other. Dogs release scents that give other dogs insight to their mood through anal glands and they wag their tail in order to spread them. While it is healthy for dogs to act this way they are often discouraged from doing so by their owners and come to rely more on visual cues than olfactory ones. Humans can also strengthen their olfactory capabilities by doing what dogs do and taking deliberate sniffs of the world around them.

While the topic of this article will not have a profound affect on the human race, it still is interesting to dog owners and lovers and gives insight into the behaviour of another species, while also teaching us about humans. By understanding why dogs do what they do the connection between dog and owner can be strengthened and enhanced. This information could also help improve the smelling abilities of working dogs.

This article was fun and interesting to read and gave me insight into why my own dog behaves the way he does. The article has several strong points, it relays interesting information in a fun and easy to understand way. A weakness of it, however, could be its lack of more scientific information regarding the findings of the studies and how the studies were conducted. Because of this I would suggest an added paragraph about how the studies were conducted.

Connor Barrett

9/12/13

AP Bio

Current Event

Miles of Algae and a Multitude of Hazards

Neuhaus, Les. "Miles of Algae and a Multitude of Hazards." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 July 2016. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

This article explains that apparent rising issue of algal blooms in North America, their effects on organisms and human life, and the ways in which they are prevented and dealt with. Algal blooms have been occurring for centuries - Native Americans learned not to go into bioluminescent waters because of their toxicity - but now they are starting to increase in frequency and size causing issues for many forms of life. The main impacts that humans have on algal blooms are still being quantified, but what seems to be clear is that they are heavily related to runoff from farms, feedlots, and municipal sewage systems. Algal bloom itself is cause by an over enrichment of lake water, which essentially means the algae is given so much nutrients it grows past a healthy amount. The effects of climate change, like warmer waters and more light penetration, are also to blame for the increase in the growth of algae. The reason these blooms cause so many issues is they contaminate the water they occur in. Specific types of algae produce toxins and, when consumed, can harm species in an ecosystem. Due to biomagnification this especially affects species near the top of the food chain. Not to mention it can turn a source of water for humans into one that has to be avoided. In order to stop the algal blooms effort has to be directed at both sides of the problem. We need to stop providing the algae with excess nutrients and we also need to develop systems to direct the algae into waterways that can safely handle and remove the large amount of algae. The first issue can be handled by producers and consumers - detergent companies removed phosphorus from their laundry detergents because it is a nutrient for algae. The second has to be tackled by government, which, when it comes to environmental protection, can be slow at best, but it essential to the livelihood of thousands of humans. The smell of decaying algae from algal blooms forced business in some areas of Florida to close during their busiest season and crab and clam fisheries were closed due to toxicity for more than four months on the West Coast, both of these issues causing serious trouble to people who rely on these businesses for income. While the exact cause and the exact solution to the algal blooms is not readily available, we still understand the basics of what we have to do in order to further prevent them, the only issue is organizing ourselves to do so.

Algal blooming has created severe issues for many people by limiting the waterways that they can use for various activities. A 33-square-mile algal bloom that originated in Lake Okeechobee, Florida crept down into the everglades eventually forcing waterside businesses to close due to the scent of decaying algae. More tropical climates are not the only ones affected either, a bloom of blue-green algae covered a 636 mile stretch of the Ohio river last year. Algal bloom even forced 400,000 residents of Toledo, Ohio to stop drinking tap water due to toxic algae. Algal bloom has serious costs to the areas it affects including damage to industries that rely on water in some way. In order to stop algal bloom we may have to start using different products that won’t contribute as much of the nutrients that algae feed off of, but it is a small price to pay in comparison to the issues caused by algal bloom.

The article was written very well, it presented facts directly, but also had examples of the damage algal bloom has caused. It also gave the scientific reason behind the increase in algal bloom and ways in which it can be prevented. The one area I wish the article did better in was explaining the specific processes involved with removing algae and preventing it instead of just naming the process and giving a brief description. Overall it was a well written article that thoroughly informed me about a topic I previously had not heard about.

Editing the Human Genome - Geiling

Abby Geiling              April 19, 2015

Biology 10H              Current Event

Wade, Nicholas. "Scientists Seek Ban on Method of Editing the Human Genome." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/science/biologists-call-for-halt-to-gene-editing-technique-in-humans.html?ref=science&_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Science&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article>.

In the article I read called “Scientist Seek Ban on Method of Editing the Human Genome” by Nicholas Rade, they talked about the new discovery which allows scientist to modify human DNA. This process works when “Researchers simply prime the defence system with a guide sequence of their choice and it will destroy the DNA sequence in any genome presented to it.” There is controversy of whether this should be allowed at all or what limits they should put in order to prevent this discovery from getting out of of control. Biologist are worried that people will rush into modifying genomes because the procedure is very simple. This discovery is known as the genome editing approach it was invented by Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier. Although this process allows us to enhance intelligence, beauty, and possible end genetic disorders many scientist are against it. Dr. Baltimore states, “We worry about people making changes without the knowledge of what those changes mean in terms of overall genome, I personally think we are just not smart enough - and won’t be for a very long time - to feel comfortable about the consequences of changing heredity, even in a single individual. Many scientist agree with Dr. Baltimore and think we should wait until regulations of what you can do and cannot do with genome editing are put in place.

Modifying DNA will greatly affect the society. Once limits are put in place with what can be done, people will think the idea of creating “a perfect child” is very interesting and will pay too have genome editing done are their children. The idea of being able to make a person smarter or more beautiful will draw people in and everyone will want to do it. Another huge way the genome editing will affect society is by possibly ending genetic diseases. Although the idea of creating a “perfect world” sounds entertaining it could potentially cause great damage on the human race which over time would be unstoppable once everyone is genetically modified. I agree with the scientist who want to set limits on what can be done with genome editing in order to ensure that the human race will not be ending by trying to cancel out any imperfections in a human being.

I found this article to be extremely interesting. It was very well written and the author organized his words very well. He made this discovery easy to understand for people who are not scientist and just want to learn about genome editing. I would of wanted him to talk about some of the test that had been done on the animals and for him to go into a little more detail on that topic. I felt that he said the same thing over again a few times in a different wording but other than that I did not see anything wrong with the article.

A Project to Turn Corpses into Compost

Georgia Lazaroni

Current Event 1

A Project to Turn Corpses into Compost

With urban cemeteries filling up, and cremation costly to the environment due to its release of greenhouse gases, Katrina Spade has proposed a new method of dealing with dead bodies; human composting. She, and other scientists, firmly believe it is possible to make new life out of human bodies, and has already worked in the case of animal remains. With our body already rich with nutrients, it would only take heat (about 140 degrees or higher), some moisture and a little bit of nitrogen, and wood chips to completely compost the body. There would be no smell, and it would only cost $2,500 per body; much less than normal burial procedures. The process would take place in what Ms. Spade calls an Urban Death facility, centered around a three story vault called ‘the core’. Her idea is after the body is composted, loved ones can take the remains and plant a garden or a tree. In this way, the method would not only be environmentally rewarding, but spiritually as well. Spade sees it helping those in the grieving process as connecting death to the cycle of nature; or a life after death. Although this process it certainly more natural than the American popularized cremation, it still faces of a lot of critique form prohibition by state law, to the ‘sickening’ nature of it. As for now, it is just an experiment, with much consideration needed from the medical and health community before human composting can be a reality.

This article is interesting in that it highlights a more environmentally sound method to the norm; burial and cremation. It addresses the issue of urban cemeteries filling up and the downfalls of cremation, which many of us may not have been aware of. In this day and age, it is important to explore new options for common place procedures and how we can improve them for the future. Everybody dies, so if we could ‘recycle’ the body, it would certainly benefit the Earth in the long run.

Overall, I felt this article did an excellent job contrasting the pros and cons of human decomposition. I didn’t feel it was bias in anyway, and expressed why or why not this process will become popular. One thing I did not find clear was the point where they described the process of decomposition, but later said the practice bodies were a cool 50 degrees, and nothing had changed in the bodies. The way the process was described was it would require at least 140 degrees for the bodies to decompose. Besides this one connection I missed, I felt the article was thoroughly interesting and descriptive.

Einhorn, Catrin. "A Project to Turn Corpses Into Compost." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Natural Selection May Help Account for Dutch Height Advantage

Katie Canty

Bio Current Events

4/11/15

Natural Selection May Help Account for Dutch Height Advantage

Dr. Gert Stulp is a Dutch scientist who stands at 6’7” and studies why his fellow Dutch are so tall. The average Dutch stood at 5’5” in 1860, present day the Dutch are the tallest people in the world with the average man over 6’. Dr. Stulp is studying to find out why humans are taller than in the past and why the Dutch have grown so quickly. He thinks he may have found an answer in evolution. Dr. Stulp and his colleagues conducted a study to learn more about height and genes. What him and his colleagues found was that on average been above the average height had more children and women around the average height had more children then below or above average height women. Scientists don't feel like they have enough information to say evolution is the cause for this but they believe that evolution can explain this.

This article is relevant to biology today because it deals with evolution and DNA. In this article the author, Carl Zimmer, talks about how because of the speed the Dutch have grown in the past years, evolution can be proved. He also mentioned that being taller may be a dominant gene. This is important because it explains why the human race is getting taller. This study is very impressive because it could be a current example of evolution.

I think that this article gave a lot of interesting information and told the reader everything that they would want to know about the study. The article also connected this research to other areas, such as Massachusetts. I think the only thing I would want to know more about is if the group of scientists planned on doing another study to learn more about this topic but besides that I thought that the article was very thorough.

Zimmer, Carl. "Natural Selection May Help Account for Dutch Height Advantage." The New York Times. The New York Times, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.  

Grace Stephens

4/10/15

In our cells, we all have something called mitochondrial DNA. In humans, mitochondrial DNA can be assessed as the smallest chromosome coding for 37 genes and containing approximately 16,600 base pairs. But researchers are starting to discover that we might contain the same mitochondrial DNA that chimpanzees do. If human nuclear variability has increased relative to that of the chimpanzee (which is the case), human mitochondrial variability should have increased (relative to the chimpanzee) at least as much, if not more. The actual observation, however, is that chimpanzees have “three to ten times” the mitochondrial variability of humans. If a female chimpanzee mated with a male that was not a chimpanzee, the hybrid offspring would have exactly the same mtDNA as the mother chimpanzee, but different, hybrid nuclear DNA derived from the father’s side of the family.

I decided to write my article about this current event because currently in bio we are studying DNA and cells. In the cell, mitochondria are responsible for taking nutrients and breaking it down into energy. It also contains DNA. I found this article really interesting to think that we have the same make up as chimpanzees.

"MtDNA: Human-chimpanzee Implications." MtDNA: Human-chimpanzee Implications. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. http://www.macroevolution.net/mtdna-human-chimpanzee.html#.VSvlYfnF_To

Gene-Altered Apples and Potatoes Are Safe, F.D.A. Says

Current Event (3^rd Quarter)                                                                            3/21/15

Biology/ Mrs. McClellan (C Odd)                                                                 Natascha Puri

Pollack, Andrew. "Gene-Altered Apples and Potatoes Are Safe, F.D.A.

            Says."The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 21

            Mar. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/business/gene-altered-

            apples-and-potatoes-are-safe-fda-says.html?ref=science>.

 On Friday March 19^th 2015, the Food and Drug Administration claimed that genetically modified apples and potatoes were as nutritious as their “conventional counterparts,” provided that they weren’t bruised or brown. The ‘Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ have developed the ‘Artic Apples’ that do not become bruised so easily when cut, which allows the wastage of fruits to decrease and the fruit will become more appealing to people. The ‘J. R. Simplot Company’ has developed the ‘Innate Potatoes’ which don’t become bruised, leading to less chemical alterations and decreasing the risk of cancer causing chemicals which are made when frying potatoes. The reason why the FDA has paid attention to potatoes and apples is because these foods are mostly spoken about amongst people and chefs. The FDA’s usually don’t make reviews and realizations about genetically modified crops mostly because many health scientists tend to criticize the reports, however, the FDA claims that their evaluations were extremely thorough. The FDA is now considering whether or not to clearly label to the customers that these crops have been genetically modified.

This article is definitely very important to society because genetically modified crops are becoming a very dangerous and important issue. Many people are moving to organic foods because of the different health issues genetically modified crops are causing to humans. This article is extremely interesting because it is very rare to hear that two genetically modified foods are actually safe and nutritious.

The author did a very good job in describing this new discovery, however, I did think that the author should have provided some more statistics to enforce the idea of the two foods are safe to eat. Some sort of scientific experiment should’ve been included. Also, the author should have added some comments from food scientists to get their opinion and their ideas about this discovery, which would give the reader other information about this discovery. Overall, I think that this article was very interesting and informative.