Author Archive

16
Oct
2018

Nerve Cells- Edublog Post

categories: Grade 12, Psychology 12

 

The nerve cells in our body take on 3 different forms: sensory, motor and inter-neurons

The function of a neuron is to carry electrical messages around your body. They are composed of  the cell body, the dendrites, and the axon. The dendrites are what conduct messages towards the cell body, the axon does the opposite, and conducts messages away from the cell towards the next cell. Motor neurons have short dendrites and long axons, where as sensory neurons and inter-neurons have longer dendrites and shorter axons.

Action potential is a process that occurs in the neuron. A neuron has negative potassium ions outside the membrane and positive sodium ions inside. The action potential travels down the axon and while this is happening, there is a change in the membrane in polarity. This happens by the axon moving the sodium ions outside the cell and the potassium ions inside the cell.

The action potential reaches the axon terminal (the synapse) and causes the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap. There are two membranes in the synapse, the pre-synaptic membrane of the axon and the post synaptic membrane of the dendrite. The space between these two membranes causes the synaptic gap. When the receptor receives the neurotransmitter, the neurotransmitter can either be received as excitatory or inhibitory. When receiving a neuron, Excitatory stimulates Action potential, whereas as inhibitory represses the action potential. If the excitatory charge is greater than the inhibitory charge, action potential is produced.

12
May
2018

Media Messages- FS 11

categories: FS 11

 

This Pepsi ad shows the famous actor, Sofia Vergara, dressed in blue drinking from a Pepsi can. The blue color of this ad is eye-catching, and cooling. They are using a-well known actress, a trick that is used widely throughout advertisement to further gain attention. On the left, the attention is directed to the skinniness of the can which is reflected in how un-naturally skinny her arm is. Her body is very dewy and has a natural-looking glow to it, however it is not very realistic. She is wearing a lot of highlighter and the glow is also most likely edited or enhanced. On the right, Sofia Vergara is wearing a slightly darker shade so that the viewer’s attention is directed to her low-cut dress, where the Pepsi can is strategically placed in the center of her chest. Again, her features like her collarbone and shoulders, are very prominent. Her hat is covering her face in both pictures in a very seductive manner, and her red lipstick pops out against the blue so that it matches the red of the Pepsi logo. The tagline of this ad “the new skinny can”, is quite disturbing. The media is, once again, presenting the idea of “skinny” as better, and an improvement. They are using a skinny woman in this ad as a sort of subtle reference to how skinny the can is, I don’t think that they would use someone with a wider figure, which is very upsetting. The unrealistic ideals that this ad is promoting in regards to shape and figure is used throughout many ads and is so subtle that one could hardly recognize it.  This very skinny, prominent, and glowing women is what is often portrayed as beautiful, and even a drink ad can have a negative, unconscious, influence on young boys and girls that see this.

04
Apr
2018

Now and Then

categories: FS 11

open picture

1980’s- Strict but simple, everyone had a role to do.

Now- Teens have hope, dreams, and a lot of ambition.

 

I noticed a lot of similarities and differences between these two eras. Pop culture, like fashion and music is constantly changing so that was quite a large difference. However the biggest difference I discovered was in the “every-day-way-of-life.” Schools were stricter and had more rules, and a lot of that was due to where my family grew up, but their chores and responsibilities were a lot more serious than mine are. I feel like a lot more was expected of them then there is for me. On the other hand, their society was very straight-forward: get married, have kids, clean, and cook, today there is so much more that you can do and those views are outdated. In today’s decade, a lot of people are able to express themselves the way that they feel best represents them. There’s a lot more acceptance and open-mindedness and I have the privilege of allowing to dress and identify as how I feel. While it would be cool and interesting to experience adolescence in the 80’s, I would rather grow up now. Looking back, with all the things we know now, I could see how people would want to live in the 80’s and rock the hair and the denim, but I like how much more creative freedom and ambition there is around today and I wouldn’t trade that.

06
Mar
2018

What Darwin Never Knew

categories: Bio 11

How did the discovery of DNA prove that Darwin’s theory of evolution was correct and how does it change the way we view evolution today and into the future?

The theory that Darwin stated was an absurd one that everyone was skeptical about, at first. All of the living things on Earth shared a common ancestor, a prehistoric animal, the fish. Fish then evolved into all the creatures we have today. They did this through adaptation and mutation, new species blossomed as they evolved to survive the environments they were put in. Therefore, all species are related to each other because we share that common ancestor.

Once DNA was discovered, it proved that Darwin’s crazy theory, wasn’t so crazy. Darwin stated that we humans evolved from apes, and when the DNA was studied, an almost-perfect match was found between human DNA and ape DNA. We are in fact, very similar, genetically, to apes, so we must have had some state of our evolution through them. Furthermore, he was also correct about how all species were evolved from fish. When scientists discovered the Tiktaalik, a prehistoric fish, the species showed it was an underwater fish with four-legs. Therefore, we can conclude that the Tiktaalik was the transitional phase between other species and fish, and that it further explains how fish were able to get up on land, and evolve into what we are today. 

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