My Environmental Interactions

January 24, 2017

Automobile travel

My parents usually drive me when I go places. This is terrible for the environment, but since I’m to young to drive its usually carpooling me and my family go together places. So we are always able to use the HOV lane. There is usually 3-4 of us in the car. This has negative effects in the biosphere and the atmosphere, because of pollution from the gas. As well as the oil coming out of car. Also roads are made out of the destruction of trees, and this will disrupt the wildlife that depends on the trees. During the winter break when going downtown my family decided to start taking the skytrain. Taking the skytrain has many benefits, its better for the environment, there is less chance of accident due to the mental state of the driver/distracted driving, it saves land as whatever is under it get be used for something else. Its also less noisy for the people living around the sky train then roads. This is also better because sky trains can hold way more people then cars can. It also cuts down the travel time.

On Saturday I took the skytrain from port moody to coquitlam, (my dance studio) to coquitlam (the mall). It was great because it was only a 2 minute walk from the studio to the sky train and it was a nice day so it was nice to be outside, the skytrain took maybe 7 minutes whereas driving would’ve taken 15.

Printer Ink

Yesterday I printed out many sheets of paper for my math mind term review. Our printer doesn’t print double sided so I used the back instead of printing out one of the packages thats answers weren’t fully worded but just a,b,c so that instead of printing out the package and circling the answers I would just write out the letters. This saved trees from the biosphere and the species that depend on the tree’s habitat as well as ink from the printer. Printing out paper is something I avoid usually I only print sheets out for math as I don’t have a touch screen device which would save paper when it comes to math.

http://edgytech.ca/gadgets/inkjet-vs-laser-printer-ink-debate/

Using plastic bags

Plastic bags are something that we have tried to eliminate as much use as possible around the house we bought a bunch of “ziplock” containers which is basically a reusable set of thin containers that we sue for everything. Plastic bags are very bad for the environment when it goes into the landfill, and into the ocean and animals eat it they can choke and die. Its also a waste of resources because you are just throwing it away after you use it. I suggest either re-using a plastic bag if you have to buy them but if not containers are the way to go because in the long term they are cheeper. I have a smilier set to the one below and its useful because they can fit anything in it.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/small_storage/15937/

Being a Vegetarian

I have been a vegetarian for almost a full month now, and one of the reasons for me being a vegetarian is the environment. When we eat we meet we overheat the planet, by using energy to cook it. according to theguardian.com humans eat 230m tonnes of animals a year. You consume to much water if you eat meat be cause you are eating an animal that has drank water to survive. I don’t eat pork but pigs are the thirstiest animals alive and drink the most water out of any animals. Pesticides used in meet ruin the air and cause pollution which is terrible for our environment. When you eat meet you are more likely to get diseases such as salmonella because of the animals antibiotics and there waste. Meat is also very expensive.

https://lavieselonmel.wordpress.com/tag/vegetarien/

Getting your foods organic

We try to buy as much of our food organic as possible, especially fruit though this can become expensive. Non-organic foods contain pesticides which again are bad for the air. Non-organic foods are grown un-naturally, and also contains herbicides, fertilizers. As well as Genetically modified organisms, antibiotics/growth hormones and Irradiation. Though, organic foods can contain natural pesticides as well. They aren’t sure if non-organic foods contain more pesticide residue and if they are less healthy. But the Organic foods must be approved by the Canadian Organics Standard in order to be classified as “Organic.”

https://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Farming-Food-production/Organic-Foods-and-Growing-Methods-FAQ.aspx

Leaving appliances, lights and water on when not in use.

These are things all of us do once it a while and it is very important that we try to be conscious of when we really need the tap running, for example this past week especially I have tried my best to turn off the tap while brushing my teeth, or while you’re taking a bath. Taking shorter showers is a good way to preserve the water as well. Leaving lights on can be a habit when you leave the room but I am always reminded before I leave the house to make sure all of the lights and lamps are off. It’s also important that you don’t leave irons plugged in for more then just the environment because if left on they can cause a fire and if someone is unsure if it is on or not and they touch it they can get burned. Another hating is unplugging your chargers once your phone is at 100% because you don’t need you’re phone charged to more because it doesn’t work that way.

http://grist.org/green-living-tips/ask-umbra-is-it-bad-to-leave-chargers-plugged-in/

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/08/08/this-switches-the-lights-on-how-discovering-the-shape-of-three-proteins-could-lead-to-new-cancer-drugs/

http://grist.org/green-living-tips/ask-umbra-is-it-bad-to-leave-chargers-plugged-in/

All in all it’s the little things we do that are killing our environment like not recycling that time because the bin was too far, we’ve all done it and if there are 7 billion people on the planet doing that at least once then its not going to take to long for land fills to become way to full. OR the pollution killing out more species braking down the biodiversity and the food chain so that one day we won’t be able to get oxygen from the tree’s or the sun will be to hot. Its important that we take into consideration everything to matter how big or small in order to reduce the amount of waste we have inflicted on our planet so that we can leave it behind better then we go it.

Engineering Brightness Artifacts of Learning

January 19, 2017

Connection Based Learning

Our Science 9 class this year had the opportunity to work on REAL SCIENCE. Not the kind of science where you take tests once every two weeks and learn information that even though it is useful you probably won’t remember afterwards. We had the opportunity to experience science hands on. And not only that but we were able to find our new passions even if they weren’t directly science, through these science projects. This year my science 9 class worked on Engineering Brightness. Engineering brightness is an organizer which basically lets science students build lights and ship them out to places that are in light poverty. Our class got the dominican republic.

My group decided that we wanted to support another group thats goal was to make shakable lights using magnets we set out to raise some money and more that that awareness on our cause. I made a video that was played in RAP classes all around the school, and we put on a photo booth fundraiser. To be critical I wish that we got more publicity and that the location of the photo was better. Because it was in the corner of the library it was harder for people to know where to go. However we did raise some money and were able to take some cool photos.

I am very proud of my group and how we were able to put together a fundraiser, we were the only group in the class that was able to put on a fundraiser at our own school and I thought that that was exciting to be part of the group that raised some money. On short notice and 2 days time we were able to book the library, make a video, put it in the announcements and get the word out to a few people.

RAP video was our main goal and we accomplished it right away with this video that was played all throughout the school:

My experience of how I helped address this issue is basically that through my class we got introduced to Mr. Fogarty’s class in New Brunswick and he talked to us about the different things we could do to succeed. As I mentioned before my group fundraised, so here is a photo of me introducing my self as I am about to ask what fundraising tips worked for him and what didn’t. I thought it was so cool to be able to connect with a class all the way in New Brunswick.

Dedicating three lunch hours to fundraise for this cause made me feel really good about helping them. I was glad that even though my impact was small I tried my best and even if we didn’t raise as much money as we had hoped we were able to spread awareness. Before they saw the video we played I wonder how many kids knew about light poverty in the dominican republic. I didn’t know about it at all and when we learned about it from Eladio and Dennis I was incredibly sad to here about it. It was a real eye opener to know that kids our age aren’t having the same life as us. Obviously I’ve known about poverty but it was very touching when we skype called with a school that was so close to the poverty. It made it real. Another group in my class actually did a powerpoint to raise awareness and they challenged “How long can you go without electricity.” I really don’t know how long I could last and to know that there are thousands of people going through light poverty was hard to here.

This project definitely improved my organizing skills, having a plan and executing it in two days. I also learned a few tips about video editing, fading the music better, keeping the slides longer for more people to be able to read the information better. I definitely feel that I met my learning goals, we spread awareness, held a photo booth, connected with other people and was able to put it all out in a blog post. For connecting with others I spoke with Mr. Fogarty, Eladio and Dennis, who are planning to send me some interviews of there students so that I can make a new video to play at there bake sale fundraiser. One of the students that came to watch us skype chat asked me about my videos and I thought it was cool to have someone I didn’t know come and ask me about the programming I had used. I wasn’t even into videography before this project and I’m glad I was able to find out about it through this. I also received a comment on my plan blog post from a lady in the Dominican Republic who was interested in what we were doing and said that it was awesome how we were working on this. I received around 6 comments on my proposal post.My group also created tow social media accounts to spread awareness about our fundraiser and the my class needs page. We even got featured on the school’s Instagram page a few times.

I have been working on a video for Eladio and Dennis to play at there fundraiser. Once it’s fully done I’m planning on tweeting it out, putting it on my blog and also on our Instagram page. The plan is for them to send me some videos for me to include and have them share it with there school. I think out of all the things I’ve done with this project this will feel the most fulfilling, if my video could get played in a different country? How amazing would that be!

Examining our experience, the collaboration went awesome, I think if we had maybe had more communication with Eladio and Dennis maybe we could have received some videos sooner so that the second video could have them in it sooner, but overall I just think it was amazing how to different classes could get together and even think about creating something bigger than ourselves. I am so glad to be a part of this project. It was great to be able to collaborate with a school in New Brunswick and a school in the Dominican Republic.

How do cells multiply?

January 17, 2017

HOW DO CELLS GROW?

https://www.reference.com/science/many-body-cells-human-f5d4a4795b41361e

Reproduction:

Asexual Reproduction:

I drew this example of asexual reproduction inspired by http://www.slideshare.net/eLearningJa/sexual-and-asexual-reproduction-48345243

• Asexual reproduction is the when a single organism produces offspring. The offspring gets genes from only that one parent. Fusions of gametes are not needed and chromosomes numbers typically stay the same.

•Asexual reproduction is typically how clones are formed. These clones can be used in agriculture and planting. As well as in research in order to develop injured organisms, tissues and genes if needed.

5 types of Asexual reproduction and examples: In class we discussed five different types of asexual reproduction and different examples of each type.

Binary Fission: Binary fission is when a single celled organism splits into identical copies. Example of this is Bacteria reproducing.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/mitosis/a/bacterial-binary-fission

Budding: Budding is repeated mitosis over and over again to form more and more copies. In budding the buds formed can break off to form separate organisms. Example of this would be Yeast.

http://byjus.com/biology/budding/

Fragmentation: Fragmentation is when for example a starfish breaks of an arm and then the arm grows a whole new starfish. Fragmentation is not when a lizard regenerates a tail because in order for it to be considered as fragmentation the lizard tail must grow a whole new lizard. More examples of fragmentation are annelid worms or mitochondrial eukaryotic.

http://keywordteam.net/479294-starfish-fragmentation.html

Vegetative Reproduction: Vegetative reproduction happens with cells in plants that are meant to develop into new structures that form identical plants. Examples of Vegetative Reproduction include plants and crops such as corn, apples, mangoes and avocados.

https://infogr.am/scoutstevens_1414437668

Spore Formation: Spores are single cells that can grow into a whole new organism, for example plants, algae and fungi.

http://getcapenotes.blogspot.ca/2015/07/biology-module-3-1-asexual-reproduction.html

Advantages of Asexual Reproduction:

No energy required to find a mate. Large amount of offsprings reproduced, when conditions are favourable. Large colonies are produced that can out-compete other organisms for nutrients and water. If a species is endanger Asexual Reproduction can help the species to survive.

Disadvantages of Asexual Reproduction:

Since they are all copies if there is a mutation the whole offspring will be susceptible to the same disease. As well as if there are unfavourable conditions, like extreme temperature it can kill the whole offspring. If they are produced to close together they will have to compete with each other for space, nutrients.

Sexual Reproduction:

•Sexual reproduction is the fusing off reproductive cels (gametes) fusing together. For this too happen it must involve a females ovum (egg) and a males sperm.

•Mating is when the gametes arrive in the same place at the same time.

•Gametes contain 23 chromosomes which is half the amount of chromosomes a regular cell contains.

Internal Fertilization:

http://study.com/academy/lesson/internal-external-fertilization-in-the-animal-kingdom.html

When a males sperm cell goes into the female body and fertilizes the an egg cell. The sperm penetrates the egg and a fetus begins to develop. After the fertilization the embryo continues to develop and become nourished in the female/mothers body.

Advantages: of Internal fertilization protects the fertilized egg from dehydration once it comes out. Since it is inside the female it protects the embryo from predation. Enhances the fertilization of eggs for the male.

Disadvantages: of Internal Fertilization only produces a limited amount of offspring. Generally 1 fetus or twins rare cases produce up to 8 but that is it. Internal Fertilization risks the chance of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Organism Growth

•Fetal Development: Internal Fertilization leads to Embryonic Development which leads to Fetal Development. In fetal development there are three different stages (trimesters) Trimester one lasts till eight weeks. The fetus is developing organ systems; brain, spinal, ears, kidneys, livers,muscles and you can almost tell the sex of the baby. In the second trimester which lasts from week 12-16 of the pregnancy; the fetal movement is felt which means that the mom can feel the kicking of the baby, and the eyelids start to open. The baby if needed to be removed at this stage has a chance at survival. At third trimester the baby continues to develop and grow, gaining weight. Until 9 months when it is completely healthy to be removed.

https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/pregnancy-center/fetal-development.html

External Fertilization: External Fertilization happens through spawning which is when, for example a male fish releases sperm when a female fish releases an egg, when they meet fertilization begins. This is common underwater and when it happens underwater it protects the eggs from drying out. Broadcast spawning leads to a more mix of genes and a diverse range of species. Which means that some of them will survive higher extreme cases. The Disadvantage is the fact that it is external and the Mother is not protecting the egg in her uterus like in internal fertilization.

https://www.tes.com/lessons/fjR_d7QeOggLrw/budding-internal-fertilization-external-fertilization

Conditions needed for mating: There has to be enough nutrients for the embryo, the temperature must be warm and there must be sufficient moisture so that the embryo does not dry out. The embryo just be safe from predators and from other extreme conditions such as radiation, or extreme temperature.

Pollination: Pollination is the transfer of Pollen (a powdery yellow substance) to a plant for fertilization (fertilizations is the fusion of male and female gametes. The pollen is transferred by Bees, Butterflies, Moths, Flies, Hummingbirds and The wind. It can also be manufactural done by people. The embryo develops in the female part of the plant. Advantages: Pollination maintains race and species, that specific plant won’t need to produce as much pollen grains because there is now a new plant. Pollination eliminates bad recessive characteristics. Disadvantages of Pollination; makes the plan less immune to disease, and makes the health and physical strength decrease and makes the plant less adaptable to its surroundings and conditions.

Drawing done by Alyah Gingras and labeled by Ashiana, parts of the flower.

Mitosis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitosis

Mitosis is how the process of cell division. There are 4 “official” stages in Mitosis. I remember them as PMAT. Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telophase. However in order for the full cell cycle to take place we stat with Interphase.

Interphase: is when there are 46 chromosomes that duplicate to form identical pairs of chromosomes. The copies attach on to each other to form X-shaped chromosomes.

Prophase: Now going into Mitosis Prophase is when the spindle fibres begin to form with centrioles in the cell and the nucleolus disappears. The X-shaped chromosomes stay attached and the centromere forms at the center. However in plant cells there are no centrioles and the spindle fibres form without them.

Metaphase: Metaphase is the phase where all of the X-Chromosones begin to move into a straight sign along the equator of the cell.

Anaphase: Anaphase means “Away phase” Which is what it is. The X chromosomes are split apart pulled away by the spindle fibres. The chromosomes are now single chromosomes and are on opposite sides of the cell.

Telophase: Telophase is when new nucleolus forms around the two separate sides of the cell creating two cells. New nuclei are formed in each cell and the spindle fibres disappear.

Cytokinesis: Isn’t officially part of PMAT but is when cleavage happens and the two cells are split up making them officially two separate cells. (Known as daughter cells) These new cells contain each 46 cells.

Meiosis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiosis

Meiosis has double the amount of steps as Mitosis, and the result is twice as many as mitosis each cell however has 23 chromosomes which is half of the parent cell.

Interphase: Meiosis starts off where the DNA is copied which leads to two full identical sets of chromosomes.

Prophase I: The chromosomes become X-shaped chromosomes by bonding together with their copies and pairing up. They share DNA (recombination) Again the Nucleus disappears and the spindle fibres form.

Metaphase I: The chromosomes line up at the equator and the spindle fibres attach to each one of the chromosomes.

Anaphase I: The spindle fibres pull the chromosomes away from each other so now they have a mixture of genes on each side. But the pairs stay together unlike in mitosis.

Telophase I and cytokinesis: When cleavage happens and two daughter cells are formed.

The next steps happen to the two daughter cells.

Prophase II: Each daughter cell has 23 pairs of chromatid, they bond together into visible X-shaped structures. The nucleus membrane disappears. The centrioles duplicate and spindle fibres form again.

Metaphase II: They line up along the equator of both cells. The spindle fibres attach on to them.

Anaphase II: The spindle fibres pull them away to opposite poles of the cell.

Telophase II and cytokinesis: Both cells have two new cells form within. The chromosomes gathering together and a new membrane forming around each set. In Cytokinesis cleavage happens and there are now 4 new cells. In males all four cells are sperm cells. In females one is the egg and the other three are polar bodies. Polar bodies don’t develop into eggs.

First Peoples Principles of Learning

January 4, 2017

First peoples principles of learning and how they relate to our SSEP project and EB project.

•Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the and the ancestors.

I believe that the projects we have done in science has really supported the well being of myself, as I have become more confident in many areas, such as writing emails to people, blogging, spreading awareness for causes and ultimately just being more confident about my work. This all because of the SSEP project where my group came in the top 30. I believe that it also supported the well being of my family because they were proud and happy for me as our school community was proud to have three different entries make it in. Learning supports everyone in different ways by giving students something to be excited about when they finally figure out how something works. Learning in the long-term has many benefits because with a good education you will have a great life and be on the road to success. Projects like the Engineering Brightness one really support the well being of a lot of people all over because if we are able to send lights then we have helped there well being tremendously as well as ours because we would then have new knowledge and the feeling that we did something that counted.

•Learning is Holistic, Reflexive, Reflective, Experiential and Relational (focus on connectedness, on reciprocal relations, and a sense of place)

All of the learning we’ve done with both projects has had something to do with Science which makes it Holistic as it has given us comprehension of the parts of a whole. It also has taught me in other whole aspects such as fundraising and writing proposal, which are things that I will use later in life. The learning has been reflexive as we have learned to take in account all of the variables in say the SSEP project for example how our project needs to be done in a micro-gravity setting so we have to make sure the experiment is flexible for that. It has also taught us that helping someone goes both ways because when we help a group of people they have helped us to learn something new. Both projects in science have really helped me to reflect upon my work as I have taken part in many debriefs and have really learned to think out my whole process. It has really been experiential because I was able to try so many things I wouldn’t have otherwise. For example going to a science workshop for the SSEP project. I learned so many things that were new and I got test how much I liked science. We also had to chose something we wanted to get out of the Engineering Brightness and in order to get that we had to experiment with different things. For example, with our Photo Booth we had to try making props in a few different ways. Setting the background up in a few different ways and spreading awareness in a few different ways such as through social media, the announcements and in RAP. More than anything the Engineering Brightness project provided us with a sense of connection as we were able to connect with so many different people from different parts of the world.

•Learning involves recognizing the consequences of ones actions

In science there are always consequences. A consequence is a result or effect of an action or condition, in science actions and conditions are always happening. With the Engineering Brightness we came to understand that depending on our actions “how much we advertised our photo booth and how much effort we put in, the more we would get out of it.” I don’t necessarily mean money I mean the fact that we put in a lot of effort made us feel good about which was a consequence. If we hadn’t tried then we would’ve felt poorly which would have also been a consequence. Knowing that their would be that consequence pushed us to work extra hard.

screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-7-06-55-pm

•Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities

projects included taking responsibility for our own roles. In the Engineering Brightness project we had to specific roles for everyone in the group. There was a communicator, a organizer, someone for research and finding media and finally my role writing out all of our information. We were very successful in keeping our roles, which helped us to stay on task because we knew what we were doing the whole time, no on ever had nothing to do. This is principle that for me has evolved overtime as I am getting older I have learned to delegate better in groups. The main thing that has changed throughout my groups is making sure everyone has an assigned role. Because then no one ends up doing more work then others.

images-1

•Learning involves patients and time

For me when I submit a project it always has to include my best effort. Especially for SSEP, I worked countless hours on writing the proposal draft. It took a lot off patients delegating this project because we did it all in one day, since I had to get a hold of all of the members of my team I had to learn to be patient if they didn’t answer or while I was waiting for them to send me there part, because my role in that group included putting it together. Our whole team was patient and waited until the results were announces for this project. Engineering Brightness required a lot of patience and time as well, as we are still waiting on an email from our partners in dominican republic. We also had to put a ton of time in our photo booth, 3 lunch hours and time after school to create the props, shop for them and plan.

In conclusion these are the principles from the list that best fit the work that I’ve been doing in science class. The projects have been very innovative and have really showed me what real science is compared to instead of working in a lab or on paper. Our class has been learning real science, and learning about stuff that is for sure going to help us as we get older, move towards post-secondary education and eventually in our adult lives.

Citations:

http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/thinking-light-bulb-clip-art

http://clipartix.com/rocket-clipart-image-11852/

https://www.clipartsgram.com/learning-brain-clipart-29290

http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/happy-family-clipart

http://weknowyourdreams.com/world.html

https://www.talent-101.com/blog/why-your-businesss-relationships-hinge-on-corporate-social-responsibility

trianglemarketingclub.com

Storyboards creating using storyboardthat.com

Mutation Story

December 12, 2016

Part 1-Mutation Story:

I am the APP gene found in my host, Mary’s Body. I give instructions to the body on how to make Amyloid precursor protein. I don’t know why but it’s what I’m built to do. I build the protein using amino acid isoleucine. Fragments of the protein are then sent to her brain. I don’t know why or how this happens. But I do it because it’s the only thing I can do.

“Sorry, I forgot to pick him up.” Mary, my host says to the babysitter. Embarrassed that she left her son with the babysitter for the third time. She headed to her car George laughing. “It’s okay Mommy it happens” Mary knew it wasn’t going to be okay. “Mrs. Smith.” The babysitter calls to my host. Mary turns around. “You also forgot your car keys.” Mary confused takes the car keys and heads to her car. “Mommy I need to be buckled up.” George says as Mary is about to start the car. She sighs, “I’m sorry George I’m just not having a good day.” George laughs. “It’s okay mommy.

screen-shot-2016-12-11-at-5-28-07-pm

The week continued on the same pattern. Mary was trying her best to be cautious on what she said. She knew what was coming and so did Brian her husband. The moment it got too much was when Mary was sick in her bed watching TV. “Who are you” Mary asked her son. George, only 4 years old, confused replied with a laugh “Mommy, I’m George your

son.” “I’ve never met a George.” Mary isn’t joking I can feel it. She is forgetting her son just as her Mom forgot her. “Daddy” George calls. “Mommy forgot who I am” Brian rushes in taking George from the room. He knows what they dreaded is here. Brian calls an ambulance to take Mary to the hospital, she was resistant the whole way there and Brian is hiding his tears as he leaves George with a babysitter.

The doctors run some tests on Mary, even though they know from her last checkup that it’s here. I feel when they poke the needle into her and take blood. It tickles. A few hours later the doctors come back with the results for Brian. He sits next to Mary’s bed. Mary groggily sits up. “Where am I?” She asks. “Who are you” She asks Brian. A tear rolls down Brian’s cheek. The doctor starts to talk to Brian. I listen attentively. “There is a problem with the APP gene.” Thats me. “The APP’s role as a gene is too provide a way for the body to make Amyloid precursor protein which scientists research say help bond cells together.” What does this have to do with me? “It is rare, but this gene has a mutation.” I’m mutated? “In Maggie’s body, the APP gene has changed a building block for this protein and interfered with enzymes in the protein leading to the replacement from amino acid valine to amino acid isoleucine. It has a protein position of 717. Because of this mutation, one of the genetic code letters has been altered.” What I’m doing isn’t normal? “With the alteration and mutation, fragments of this rare protein begin to clump in her brain forming hallmark plaques, which is how early onset Alzheimers is formed.

screen-shot-2016-12-11-at-12-34-13-pm

“This gene has formed in your wife’s brain because of hereditary reasons, the early onset version of Alzheimers Disease is hereditary. It comes from her mom as she had the same disease. Families with this disease have flaws on chromosomes 1 and 14 and are passed down genetically.” It’s all my fault. I come from her mom so it’s my fault. Brian nods. He knew it was coming. When Mary’s mom died she had refused testing. She said it was hereditary and she would get it too.

For the rest of Mary’s life I live in her body. The instructions I give to her body are “mutated” as the doctors put it. But there is nothing I can do. I was unaware of it but now i realize parts of me are being sent to her brain to clump up and kill her memory completely. 8 years have gone by and as Mary lays in bed with Brian and 12 year old George. “Who are you?” Mary asks George. “I’m George.” He replies for the millionth time, “Who’s George?” she asks.

Alzheimers patients don’t die from the actual disease but what the disease affects. For example malnutrition because the patient neglects to eat or believes that he or she has already ate. They can also die from infections such as pneumonia. The Alzheimers risk gene is more common in females then males. There are two types, the type that Mary had was Familial the other type is a risk gene that usually occurs later in life, towards ages 60 and 80. Familial occurs between ages 30 and 40. Alzheimers is the leading cause to Dementia.

Part 2-The making of the mutation story:

To investigate this topic I first started by typing in questions that I found really related to the topic would help to write a story about my life as a gene of an Alzheimers patient. I asked What mutations are found in Alzheimers?, What is a common age for early onset Alzheimers?, How do people die from Alzheimers?, Brain damage on Alzheimers patients?, What genes are mutated when Alzheimers occurs? How do people receive this genes? I really had to read into these websites to find out the behaviour of an Alzheimers patient and the role of the gene so that I could be the gene and talk about the roles that I had. I used citation machine, a site I learned about when working on my SSEP project in science, in order to cite my work and verify the dates so that the information wasn’t too far out dated. I also used storyboardthat.com a familiar digital tool that I learnt about in socials class in order to create characters to move along the story. Pinterest was another website I used to find images that would help me and my readers understand the disease. The process of completing the challenge went really well, I was able to learn about the disease and how it affects the lives of people and what gene causes them. I feel like the only thing that could have gone better would have been to have chosen a disease that already had more information because the APP gene still doesn’t have a full explanation as scientists have not figured it out. I would have liked to have more information to work with.

Citations:

Alzheimer’s Disease: Genetics and Risk Factors. (2015, April 25). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-genetic?page=2

Grimaldi, D. M., S., I., & 5. (2008). Why Do People Die from Alzheimer’s Disease? Retrieved December 11, 2016, from https://www.agingcare.com/articles/if-alzheimer-s-is-a-disease-of-the-memory-how-do-people-die-from-it-133297.htm

Miller, G. (2012, July 12). Gene Mutation Protects Against Alzheimer’s. Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/07/gene-mutation-protects-against-alzheimers

Photo citations

Cartoons created by Ashiana using storyboard that

U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2016, December 6). Alzheimer disease – Genetics Home Reference. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/alzheimer-disease

Imagerie Médicale. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from https://www.pinterest.com/explore/imagerie-médicale-919860055351/

Any Genetic Counselors or professionals involved in … (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from https://www.bing.com/cr?IG=C4ABEDD3B1944DAEB6E41E5215738405&CID=14EA1187E3A56C0C00E6186EE2946DD7&rd=1&h=47r6bRYbgOhZ6xqOcgRZbPaV17lCuhM1qxcaVMObybw&v=1&r=https://www.reddit.com/r/genetics/comments/244ki2/any_genetic_counselors_or_professionals_involved/&p=DevEx,5041.1

(n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=APP

Do the Anti-Alzheimer’s Effects of Grape Seed Extract (GSE) Start in the Gut? Your Gut Bugs Could Save Your Brain. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://suppversity.blogspot.ca/2015/02/do-anti-alzheimers-effects-of-grape.html

Edible DNA Model

December 8, 2016

Here is a snack made DNA model with the strand TAC GTA TGA. We used four different coloured marshmallows to represent T,A,C and G. We made the bonds ATG CAT ACT. We held the DNA model together using two liquorice sticks and 9 toothpicks.

DNA is self-replicating material that contains genetic information, which is passed on from the biological parents to their kid. You receive 23 chromosomes from your mom and 23 chromosomes from your dad which is equal to 64 chromosomes total. DNA contains the information for our body to know how to reproduce, develop and survive.

Engineering Brightness Proposal – Eliminating darkness one light at a time

December 6, 2016

Intro: Engineering Brightness is a program that my science 9 class is participating in. Our goal is to create lights for a place in our world that is suffering in light poverty. We have skype chatted with two different places, in order to gather as much information about the place we are helping and the place where it all began.

The skype chat with the dominican republic was a real eye opener. It was very sad to learn about how it was hard for kids my own age to participate in an extra curricular activity because they had to work or because it was too dark to do. It was hard to learn that many of them were enduring paid slavery, because slavery is such a serious issue and to see that people are being forced to work in order to survive is unimaginable and there are people as close as the dominican republic suffering from this issue. During the skype chat we learnt that in the city there are private school where the kids that are fortunate enough to live in the city get to attend. These private schools are equivalent to the kind of school that we are attending. But out in the communities is where light is scarce. Our skype call with Dennis and Eladio inspired our group to start some fundraising projects. Our potential fundraisers include bake sales and photo booths. More than anything we want to spread the word about light poverty as it is something that I didn’t know about before this project.

•So far we have formed two connections with the world outside of our school. The first connection has been with Eladio and Dennis, we asked them if they could together a short clip of video footage and photos so that we can put together a fundraiser video.

•Our second connection was actually creating two different social media platforms to start to spread the word and promote our upcoming fundraisers.

https://www.instagram.com/engineeringbrightness/

https://twitter.com/EBSaveTheLights

•We would definitely like to form some kind of a connection with a business or receive some money from a sponsor which was the advice we received during our skype chat with New Brunswick.

Video of me asking a question during the skype chat:

Our skype chat with Mr. Fogarty was very helpful and insightful, my favourite part was definitely when one of his students came in to talk about her experience she was talking about a light that she created and how it was a successful creation that she was able to send over. It was definitely very inspiring to see how the project can succeed.

The group we are planning to collaborate with had Alhan ask a question about using shakable lights, which is the type of light we are planning to put our money fundraised towards. Alhan explained how we could make lights with electromagnets where you would shake the lights and it would conduct a charge, with which would be a kinetic generator and Mr. Fogarty even gave an idea where we could attach the lights to a goat so that they could be producing the energy during the day so that the citizens can use them at night. Or we could even get them to walk around with the light tied to there foot so that it would work at night when they needed the light. This concept really interested me and I am very excited to get started on fundraising so that we can raise enough money.

Our general ideas so far have include various fundraisers, PhotoBooth, Bake sales, Hot chocolate sales, ect. We are also like mentioned above going to work with Alhans group to hopefully be able to create shakable lights to send over to the Dominican Republic. I also would like to set up another skype chat with Dennis and Eladio in hopes to teach them how to make the lights that we will be creating so that with funding help from our fundraisers they can begin to make the lights themselves which will help to become self sufficient. We will definitely need help from Mr. Robinson, Others around our school to contribute, Alhan’s group with the lights and Dennis and Eladio with the video footage.

We will be having a Christmas themed photo booth on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week to raise money for the cause. Please come support to help us with this cause.

A special thank you to Mr. Robinson, Mr. Fogarty, Dennis and Eladio for bringing this project to our class. This experience has made me feel very fortunate to live in a place like Canada and I am looking forward to begin to create a similar environment in the dominican republic where the communities no longer have to live in the dark.

Donate here:

Static electricity – PocoOpolis 500

November 12, 2016

Down below is the written out experiment:

Static Electricity:

Purpose: The point of this experiment is which materials when rubbed together ten times will create enough static charge to attach small pieces of paper to it.

We have conducted three parts of this experiment; one with wool, one with silk and one with fur. We will commence with the wool.

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are wool and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

Our hypothesis was that when we rub the materials against each other, glass will have the most friction with wool.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used wool, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with wool by rubbing the two objects together. We then put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but only lucite was slightly affected, with a small flinch in the materials. On a scale of 1-10 it was about a 0.5.

Results: From this experiment, we found that wool was very unreactive and did not hold a lot of static charge.

The most important finding is that only Lucite did anything and it was barely a flinch. Another important finding was that that none of the others were reactive. We also when rubbing it with copper, we didn’t manage to rub it the full 10 times so that might have had an affect on it.

Materials	Amount of charge
Wool + Ebonite	0
Wool + Copper	0
Wool + Aluminum	0
Wool + Plastic	0
Wool + Wood	0
Wool + Glass	0
Wool + Lucite	0.5
Wool + Acetate	0

For our conclusion, wool and Lucite when rubbed together create the most static charge. We found that wool didn’t create a lot of a static charge.

Our hypothesis was incorrect, as glass and wool when rubbed together did not create any static charge.

Further question:

If a carpet creates static electricity when we walk on it with our socks, how come it didn’t react with any other materials.

Silk:

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are the silk and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

Our hypothesis was that Silk and Aluminum when rubbed together would create the most static charge.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used silk, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with silk by rubbing the two objects together. We then put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but none of the materials created any static charge. The paper had no reactions with any of the rods.

Results: Silk is very non reactive and did not create any static charge when rubbed together with another material.

The important findings are that nothing created a static charge.

Materials	Amount of charge
Silk + Ebonite	0
Silk + Copper	0
Silk + Aluminum	0
Silk + Plastic	0
Silk + Wood	0
Silk + Glass	0
Silk + Lucite	0
Silk + Acetate	0

For our conclusion, none of the materials rubbed together with silk were reactive. Our hypothesis was incorrect, as Silk and Aluminum when rubbed together had no static charge, and was not the most reactive. I want to know why there was no charge whatsoever, was it something we did or something to do with silk?

Fur

Our hypothesis is that when fur and Lucite are rubbed together it will create the most static charge.

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are the fur and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used fur, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with wool by rubbing the two objects together. Next, we put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but only lucite and fur was affected. It had a much bigger reaction that previous times, and picked a fair amount of small pieces of paper. On a scale of 1-10 it was about an 8.

Results: When fur and Lucite are rubbed together they create a static charge.

Important findings: Only Lucite and Fur created static charge, and no other materials when rubbed with fur were reactive.

Materials	Amount of charge
Fur + Ebonite	0
Fur + Copper	0
Fur + Aluminum	0
Fur + Plastic	0
Fur + Wood	0
Fur + Glass	0
Fur + Lucite	8
Fur + Acetate	0

In conclusion Fur + Lucite were the most reactive out of everything we tried, this was why we used it in our race. I am curious to know why fur reacted so well with Lucite but not with anything else.

Currents from the Kitchen

November 10, 2016

Hypothesis: When we test out the fruits; grapes, kiwi, strawberry and apple the most acidic fruit will produce the most voltage because acids make ions/charged particles, these charged particles are the same as the ones that are produced in an electric current therefore I believe that the Kiwi will produce the most volage because a kiwi is sour therefore it is acidic and makes ions. There is also a chance that the strawberries can produce the most voltage because they are acidic as well.

Experiment

Results

Strawberries: -1 (v)

Kiwi: +o.5 (v)

Apple: +0.25 (v)

Grape: + 0.25 (v)

Most Important Findings: Strawberries were the only negative number on the dial and made the most movement. Kiwi had the highest positive movement with +0.5. The negative and positives have to do with the alligator clips. If you switch them they will be opposite.

Questions

Our group did the experiment with 4 different types of fruits, kiwi, strawberry, apple and grapes. I brought in the kiwis and the strawberries. None of these fruits were able to make the bulb light up, this is because fruits don’t produce enough voltage to light up a bulb. We were able to tell how much energy it was producing through the amount of movement the arrow on the voltage meter was producing. One way to improve this experiment so that the results could be more accurate would be to use the same size of piece of fruit for each type because maybe if we had a bigger sized kiwi it would have been able to light up the bulb, but the apple was way bigger than the grape and maybe that’s why the apple did better. We could also be more accurate with the angle we put the nail into the fruit.

Electricity is produced by a chain of electrons moving from point a to b to create a current. In this experiment electricity was produced from the acid in the fruits. The type of reaction that occurs in fruits so that they are able to create electricity is oxidation-reduction. There are two types of cells that can facilitate this type of reaction, galvanic cells and electrolyte cells. Galvanic cells are spontaneous cells that act as the battery and are able to create a charge by themselves. Electrolyte cells require electricity in order for them to have a charge. This is experiment used a closed circuit because it consisted of a series of wires connecting to one another and the fruit allowing electricity to flow through.

We can use this information in our everyday lives to help us realize that electricity can come from the most commonly used things in our life.

Extra observations:

Grapes and Apples were the exact same
We had to play around with the way we clipped the wire onto the nail so that it could power the dial
We didn’t have time to try the lemon ourselves but it seemed that the lemon worked the best.
We were able to do this experiment by creating a circuit
If we had put two nails into the fruit it wouldn’t have worked because they are the same materials and would repel.

My SSEP experience

November 4, 2016

1. Define

screen-shot-2016-11-05-at-9-02-16-pm

We need an experiment that can be done in micro gravity that is going to really catch the reader and be beneficial to todays world.

Micro Gravity is where there is asserting of next to no gravity or very weak gravity such as in a orbiting spacecraft, or when something is moving very quickly from up to down in the air, there is micro gravity then too.

The control groups in this area are how much of each substance we are going to use and the amount of time we are going to keep the substances together for observation. The experimental group is the setting because when we do the experiment on earth the setting will be with gravity however on the ISS it will have no gravity.

The way that are experiment well win out is by writing out our proposal with all the benefits that science will get by doing our experiment so we have to find an experiment that is going to benefit science. We also need a why because when there is a why it makes the proposal more powerful.

2. Dream

Starting out my group and I brainstormed so many different ideas: Plants and their growth time, electricity and being able to power places from space, things with liquid nitrogen, gas reaction, cooked food, cooking food, if substances could develop in space, perishable foods, electronics, boiling water, lighting a match, tying your hair, static electricity, can your phone work, tv with antennas, water balloons, bacteria and stem cells, all in micro-gravity settings.

One of the subjects that stood out very boldly for me was substances developing. My group wanted to go towards the substances bacteria or stem cells. In the end we researched two big ideas, if we could develop stem cells in space and if we could infect bacteria with harmless viruses could infect bacteria. With the stem cell research the question we wanted to propose had already been done a couple of months ago so we looked into bacteria, pili, auto-agglutination and how viruses could help to kill of bacteria.

Here is a ton of research done on stem cells ad bacteria.

3. Document

The steps of this project went as follows:

•Introduction to the program: We were introduced by our teacher Mr. Robinson

•Attending the SSEP Workshop: at the workshop we got lectures by SFU students talking about what happens to the human body in space, bacteria in space and the look of earth from above. We also learned about what happens when you light a match in space which was something I had been interested in so it was so cool to see, then we learned about living organisms in space and what happens to them in micro gravity. I took lots of notes for later so that I could take them back to by group.

•Putting the proposal together: We wanted to include viruses in our proposal, so reaching out to SFU student Miguel we were inspired to do the question can a harmless virus infect bacteria in a micro gravity setting. This question was going to take a ton of research in finding out the right information so we got straight to work and with a lot of effort we came to deliver our proposal.
screen-shot-2016-11-05-at-9-32-18-pm

4. Design and Deliver

Like I said before I learned about this opportunity through my science class from my teacher Mr. Robinson. With a few of my classes I attended a SSEP camp on a pro-d day to learn about a few of the experiments that had been tried in space from SFU profs and students. We learned about the kind of projects that they are interested in.

With a few of my classmates we did a research project on dividing root cells in micro-gravity. Which was a SSEP project won by a grade 7 class in flagstaff Arizona in 2014. Their objectif was to see if onion root cells would divide with zero gravity and if the experiment was a success, they wanted to see if there are any mutations during the replication of DNA when on the International Space Station. I reached out to the teacher of the class Susan Brown from Northland preparatory academy, she was very helpful and answered our questions in a few emails back and forth. This was a very amazing experience for me being able to talk to someone about research that they had done someone that lives in a whole other country.

We have chosen to research and propose to the SSEP competition is too see the effects of a harmless viruses infecting Vibrio Choleria which is a Bacteria, in a micro gravity section. This is because we think that it can be a very good medical breakthrough helping preventing many bad bacteria from infecting our bodies. We believe It could start a new topic in scientific and medical research which is very important.

We reached out to Miguel a student at SFU a contact given to us by Mr. Robinson, Miguel helped us with some of our re search explaining many of the components of what the bacteria has to produce so that the virus can infect it. He also generously offered to provide us with the substances we needed.

We then wrote an experiment, I wrote the paragraph on our coverage about the begging of our proposal, the page and a bit about the question we are addressing and some of the experiment design. Writing the proposal took a lot of research and work but it was really beneficial to have everything written out so that we could read through our whole plan which was finally coming together.

We have now shared our experiment with the school bored who edited it and a few more staff at our school, my whole group contributed to adding corrections to this document and it is now fully together which is a really accomplishment for my group and I.

5. Debrief

I have enjoyed this project a lot because it has given me many opportunities, being able to learn how to put together a 10 page proposal, how to research independently with no text books to guide you only the internet and a million different search options as well as how viruses are able to infect bacteria which was super advanced considering this research is currently being done by students at SFU and I am only in grade 9. The process went fairly well we had a good time coming up with ideas for this project and amazing responses from our contact at SFU. In my opinion the dividing of the work could have been more fair however in the end we all had a part in it. Everyone did have something to contribute to our group. What went well was really our drive as a team because we were really into making this project the best we possibly could and are looking forward to seeing results come out of this. I also think it was excellent being able to email Miguel because again learning from an SFU student is pretty cool! This has been something so new to me so I am very proud of our teams successful completion of this proposal. We ended up making it to the top 30 out of 280 proposals. Which is an awesome accomplishment for only grade 9’s.

Here is a PDF version of our proposal if you are interested in reading it.

ssep-final-proposal

screen-shot-2016-11-05-at-9-40-37-pm All of the comics were created by Ashiana Sunderji using storyboardthat.com .

Browsing category archives: Science 9