My Scientist Research

      For a project assigned by my Biology teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, everyone in the class must choose one scientist to write a letter to.  I have chosen Stefan Ursu.  Dr. Ursu currently resides in Sacramento, California.  I grew up with a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Only recently have I begun to be comfortable talking about it.  I used to be ashamed to be part of the 2.3 % of the world's population diagnosed with OCD.  But upon overcoming and learning how to deal with the disorder I've begun to seriously consider dedicating my life to the subject.  This is what drew me to Dr. Ursu.
 
     In 1987 a man by the name of Pitman "proposed that a dysfunctional action-monitoring system in OCD might explain the patients' constant feeling that the outcomes of action are in conflict with the internal representation of those actions and their goals."  It was then decided that this led to "feelings of incomplete performance."  This would pose the need for correction of a component of the OCD in a patient.  In 2000 more information was discovered to back up this hypothesis.  This evidence is linked with the evidence suggesting the ACC's relevance to OCD.  Using this information, Dr. Ursu and his team hypothesized that OCD patients' often show inability to complete tasks led to error in the ACC, but also provides "an explanation for the patients' constant doubting and need for repetitive action despite correct performance."  In order to test this Ursu and his team compared the ACC's activity with fMRI in a group of OCD patients currently taking medication.
    In the letter I will be writing to Dr. Ursu I plan to ask what inspired him to study OCD.  I will also ask if he plans on doing anymore experiments in the near future concerning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

The History of a Carbon Atom

    There are so many things that I don't know about myself.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to dance, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get through a screening of The Titanic without crying, and until a fe weeks ago I had no idea of how much a carbon atom does.
    After learning about carbon atoms in my Honors Biology class I became curious.  So that night I decided to try to talk to a carbon atom.  After saying hello a few times one currently residing in my hand finally spoke up.  I had no idea of what I was about to learn.
   Little Carbon Junior had been in my hand for a few days now, and compared to his other adventures my hand was probably pretty boring.   C.J. told me of his experience in working with ATP and NADPH during the process of photosynthesis.  ATP and NADPH are notoriously rude molecules, so when C.J. found himself in a sunflower in August of 1939 he was pleasantly surprised at NADPH and ATP's welcoming and positive attitudes.  Together, the three of them produced glucose for the sunflower.
   C.J. then told me about how neglected he often felt.  After being used in photosynthesis poor little Carbon Junior was simply tossed aside as a waste product.  After this happens he often just floats around the world.  Once when he was in London he found himself inside the body of the queen of England!  Queenie never even thanked him for participating in her cellular respiration.  She obviously didn't know how important carbon atoms become when produced in the Krebs Cycle.
     After hearing about all of the mitochondria and stromas little C.J. had lived in I became curious.  So of course I asked him how he wound up inside of me?  C.J. just laughed and said that I should really be more careful about what I eat.  Apparently I picked up my new friend while eating grass outside of Kehaya.  I made C.J. promise not to tell anyone else about that story.
    I had assumed that C.J. would keep his promise, but then a signed copy of his biography appeared on my front porch.  I wouldn't want to spoil such a good read for you, so I'll just tell you one thing.  Queen Elizabeth is probably much more angry than I am...

      The BioBunnies had our second plot visit on November 8, 2012.  It was a rainy and frigid day.  Despite the rain, there were no mushrooms.  We did however, discover two new types of moss!  The Arborist, Ana and I took measurements of all of the trees.  Two trees have become dead since our last visit, but most of them have had some growth.  Mrs. Lawrence, our teacher, showed us where many acorns were open and all around our plot.  I wonder if maybe there is a squirrel living on our plot.  I hope that next visit we will discover more information about life on our plot.

Cell's R Us Blog Post

    In our Honors Biology class we were each assigned an organelle of a cell to create a blown up replica of it for a giant cell created by our teacher, Mrs. Lawrence.  Sitting inside the giant cell that used to be our classroom we provided descriptions of the organelles we all recreated.  I created a 180 by 260 centimeter Central Vacuole.  It stores water and other materials the cell needs.
   Since the Central Vacuole is only found in plant cells I am assuming that the cell Mrs. Lawrence made was a plant cell.
   My organelle, the Central Vacuole was by far the largest, while the ribosomes were the smallest.
   If you were to look at a cell under a microscope you probably wouldn't have any trouble seeing the Central Vacuole!
I was very surprised by how small the other vacuoles were compared to the Central Vacuole!  Being relatively similar to each other, I had assumed that the other vacuoles would be almost as big as the Central Vacuole.




Here is a picture of a Central Vacuole:

Enzyme Lab Reflection

In our Honors Biology class we were divided into groups of three and given a question we had to use an experiment created by our group to answer. My group consisted of me, Thomas, and Simi. Our question was, "Can enzymes be reused?" Knowing that pouring hydrogen peroxide on a potato would cause a chemical reaction we devised a plan. We put three of the same size cubed potato in two different test tubes. We then proceeded to pour a constant amount of 10 ml's into each tube. After sixty seconds had gone by we recorded our results by measuring the amount of foam in each tube. After doing this we emptied the tubes of all hydrogen peroxide, leaving the potato in the tubes. We then repeated the experiment three times and recorded the amount of foam for each test tube. The first time through the amount of foam in both tubes was around two centimeters. The second time the amount of foam greatly decreased to about 0.5 centimeters. The third and final time through the amount of foam was around 0.2 centimeters. Judging by our results, our group made the conclusion that while enzymes can be reused, they do not work as efficiently in producing a chemical reaction.

Plot Reflection

Our Biology class was recently given the task of recording data of a plot of land in the woods over the next school year. There are three other members in my group, the Biobunnies. Ana De las Cruz is our Arborist, she records the length and circumference of all trees on our plot. Our naturalist, Thomas Watts records all non tree related objects in our plot, such as mushrooms, flowers, acorns, etc. Our leader, Ali Fazal does a great job of delegating duties and making sure that everyone is getting their job done! I am the photographer, I help give our readers, classmates, and professor an idea of the growth happening in our plot through pictures I take each month. Our plot is located off the trail right infront of a small pond. So far, we've only had one plot visit day. On this day I spent most of my time taking pictures in different angles and helping Ana record the data of our trees. Most of our trees were under five feet. I saw many similarities regarding height, circumference, and leaf type. We have a lot of brown, dry, dead leaves covering the ground of our plot. I can't wait to see how our plot will develop and change over the course of the next few months! If you would like to watch our plot through pictures and other member's blogs click on this link to our wikispaces page!

Mushroom Blog Posts

A couple of days ago I went on a mushroom foray. I was able to collect two polypore mushrooms. I consider fungi to be one of the most interesting organisms because not only are they some of the world's best decomposers, but they're also extremely diverse in where they live. The three most known types of fungi are molds, mushrooms, and yeast. An interesting fact that holds true for all fungi is how they obtain their food, they absorb it form their surroundings. Because mushrooms are fruiting bodies when picked they do not die. Mushrooms are commonly found after it rains on the ground, in trees, and on trails. When going on a mushroom foray make sure to be aware of your surroundings. When collecting mushrooms it's important to look for spores and the shape of the cap. Also be sure to record where the mushroom was growing, it's location can give a lot of information. It's also good to make comparisons. For example, one of my mushrooms resembled a potato and we determined that it was an Inonotus rheades. Spore prints show the color of the mushroom's spores. Collecting a spore print is a fairly easy process and I've posted a link to a youtube video explaining this. The biggest problem our group had when identifying mushrooms were their similarities. For example, we picked up a small brown mushroom and could not identify it because it didn't have any distinguishing characteristics. When identifying a mushroom it's important to note the location, the color, size, cap and stem type, and it;s spore color. All of these characteristics play important roles in the identification process. This experience has taught me that when collecting organisms to identify the bigger the better. I found that it is much easier to identify a giant orange mushroom than a tiny brown one. Something I found interesting is that when searching for mushrooms you must venture off of the beaten path. You're much more likely to find an interesting mushroom in the woods than you are on a well worn trail. Spore Print Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fNHTmNy5to