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Cell Song

Despite the obvious humor intended by this video, it contains many factual and scientific references. The song is primarily about the cell theory. In the first verse, the singer refers to cells  being the basic building block of life. He also makes a reference to Hooke, who was the first person to discover cells by looking at cork. In the second verse of the song the singer starts to rap about animal cells in particular, he states that the nucleus controls the cell and is protected by the nuclear membrane. He also mentions that the entire cell is protected by the cell membrane, that can also be used to let particles in and out in ways such as active transport, passive transport, and osmosis. The third verse of the song explains that the cell is filled with cytoplasm everywhere except in the nucleus. He also talks about the ribosomes that make proteins, and the endoplasmic reticulum that passes particles out of the cell.  In the final verse, the singer mentions the vacuole being the “stomach” of the cell, and he describes how the mitochondria break down sugars to produce energy.

Even though this rap may have a humorous intention it is very informative and correct about many basic aspects of the cell, it is quite original and a very clever learning device.

Evolution is a very essential part of biology, and plays a major role in the world. Evolution is defined as the process of changing in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Evolution is the underlying process that causes the stronger organisms to survive and the weaker ones to die off. A major contributor to evolution is the process of natural selection.

Natural selection is the process favorable heritable traits are passed on from on generation of an organism to another. Natural selection essentially means that organisms with specific favorable phenotypes survive and reproduce, in turn causing that favorable phenotype to passed on from one generation to another. Natural selection connects to evolution because the traits that are favored by natural selection are the ones that are passed on through generations. A simple example of natural selection are insects, beetles for instance are often green or brown. The green beetles are more commonly killed and eaten by birds because their color sticks out in their environment. On the other hand, the brown beetles survive, since their trait is better suited to their environment, and they will continue on to reproduce. These scenarios are quite common all over the world, and those organisms with the favorable traits end up surviving to reproduce.

Without natural selection, the concept of evolution would not make logical sense. Natural selection is the basis for understanding evolution, without its concept there would be no way to explain why certain traits are favored and passed down, while other die off. In conclusion natural selection plays a huge role in the process of evolution.

Sources:

1. Internet: http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_…

2. Internet: http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/global…

3. Internet: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary…

Started in the 1990s, the Human Genome Project has, and will continue to revolutionize many feilds of science and biology.  Started by the United States, the genome project was a 13 year effort. The goals of this project were to mainly identify all the genes in the human genome, and to identify the three billion chemical pairs that make up DNA. Once finished, the Human Genome Project revolutionized modern science, creating many new areas of study and diagnosis. These areas of study include gene alteration, cures to new diseases, treatment for those with genetic disorders, and further understanding of human and nonhuman biology due to study of DNA.

Despite all the obvious good this project did acomplished many criticized the project, arguing that it would cause many ethical issues. Though the idea of genetic alteration may strike some questions about ethics, there is nothing that the Human Genome Project did that crossed any lines they simply mapped the human genome.  The human genome was mapped only for the further study of science and medicine, in an attempt to make human life eaiser and healthier which is perfectly ethical.

With the human genome now mapped and the project completed many areas of study have opened. It will be many years till we have fully understood the genome, but without a dbout the Human Genome Project played a major role in its study. Scientists can expect to see many new advances in biology and the study of genes thanks to the Human Genome Porject.

Source:The Human Genome Project website http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/project/about.shtml

The image shown is a common Willow tree, which shows the biological process know as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants take in energy from the sun, and use it to convert carbon dixoide and water into oxygen and sugar. Photosynthesis is one of the most important biological processes that happens on a daily basis. This is true becasue nearly all forms of life on Earth depend on this process for energy either directly or indirectly. Also, photosynthesis produces oxygen as a product of the reaction, which is nessecary for survival.

6 CO_2(g) + 6 H₂O_(l) + sunlight= C₆H₁₂O_6(aq) + 6 O_2(g)

The above equation is the photosynthesis equation. Carbon dixoide is combined with water and light energy, and as a result you end up with gluecose(sugar) and oxygen.

This highly common process happens everyday in nearly all plant life and a few other organisms. Photosynthesis is extremely vital to survival for many species on this planet, which makes it one of, if the most important biological process happening today.

Source: Arizona State University Center for Bioenergy & Photosynthesis website: http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/…

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthe…

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