The Man Who Fed the World Chapter 2

Well I liked this chapter a lot better then the first one. Since I got accepted to the University of Minnesota it was interesting to see how the college worked back then. Norman Borlaug made a huge impact on the University through wrestling and his future. Also Norman and Margaret's love story is really cute. Meeting in the University coffee shop and then knowing 2 years later that they would be married is just amazing. It seems like love at first sight for both of them. A more modern day fairy-tale. Once they did get married they didn't have a honeymoon; not that it really mattered since they loved each other so much. Norman's side jobs are rather fascinating at well. Working out in the forest and surveying everything. It's very interesting how he talks about that he became 'in balance with nature' like many poets I've learned about in English talk about from the Transcendentalists to the Romantics. This chapter embodies universal themes of love, perseverance, and nature. A reminder that love , nature, and all that are involved in more than art and literature they can also be involved in science. :)

Thoughts on The Man Who Fed The World

I found it really interesting that Norman Borlaug didn't believe that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize and then went back to work. His high school education may have been "worse" by today's standard but , for him, he made use of it to solve a global issue. Norman was a family person and did everything for them. Also thanks to him and his family there is still a market for farming in the U.S. since they preserved through the depression. I'm really excited to see how his past effect him later on and helps him fed the world.

Solar Power From Space

National Geographic reported that it may be possible to collect solar power from space (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/12/111205-solar-power-from-space/?source=hp_dl3_news_solar20111208 ). Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans on launching demo satellites "scheduled to be up by the end of the next decade". According to National Geographic "The most frequently cited barrier to deploying—or even testing—many of the existing space-based solar platforms is the cost of launching the necessary equipment into orbit.". This Technology could be a great solution for the energy crisis. Since the power would be collected in space there would not be problems, such as cloud cover. Also no solar energy would be lost to the atmosphere , since space acts like a vacuum. One downside of this is how to get the power to earth. Stephen Sweeney's team belives a narrow beam would be the best solution. However he also stated "which means you have a particular point on Earth where you can target energy delivery." which may be hard to do for such a distance. Some people believe it wll be great for disasters. The energy could be "rolled up" and sent to disaster sites a lot faster then generators and other equipment. The same could be done for the energy , which would most likely become cheaper in the long run.

While many flaws still exist with this technology the future for it looks very bright. Solar power from space may be costly to start but I believe the benefits would be worth it. Fossil fuels will not be around forever and this is a very plausible and efficient alternative. There is so much that can be done with this technology that would help save our environment.

Transpiration Lab Essay

I would predict that group 2 would have less transpiration. This is because water travels from areas of high water potential to low water potential. If it was humid the air would have a high water potential than the leaf so very little water would leave. The same idea applies to group 3 but reversed. If there was more air movement within the room the water would be constantly moving away from the leaf. The air would have a lower water potential causing the water to leave the leaf. In group four the plant would release more water because of photosynthesis  Stomata must be open during photosynthesis to allow oxygen to leave and CO2 to be let in. Since the stomata is open the water inside the cell can freely leave into , what is most likely, an area of lower water potential.

Angiosperm Adaptation (1990 prompt)

With the planet always changing angiosperms, or flowering plants,  have had to adapt from aquatic environments to terrestrial ones. Flowering plants have had to adapt in many way including reproduction, support, and dehydration.
  The most important adaptation angiosperms is reproduction. If i plant could not reproduce it would die out. Flowering plants have many ways the pollinate. With many angiosperms they create flowers to attract pollinators such as bees or other insects. This allows the pollen to get spread out very far and gives more diversity in the gene pool of the plant. A few angiosperms can self pollinate , so that if need be they can reproduce, but it does not allow much diversity. Plants now rely on pollinators and themselves for reproduction instead of water as the would have to in an aquatic environment.
 The structural adaptations go hand in hand with the adaptations for water intake and loss. Plants gained xylems to help support the plants. The also gained lignin.

Movement of Water During Transpiration

Imagine a lonely little water molecule in the soil when , suddenly, it feels the pull of root pressure. It is then sucked up into the xylem of the plant and begins its travel. A water molecule up above is calling to the new molecules and attracts it to travel up, know as the process of cohesion. Another attraction befalls the water molecule and now its stuck to the wall of the plant, called adhesion. After travelling up the shoot by these methods that little water molecule will enter a leaf. It will travel in the leaf veins and eventually leave through a stomata back into the air.

New Type of Stem Cell ?

Scientific American recently reported that there may be a new type of stem cell called parthenogenetic stem cells (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=you-say-embryo-i-say-parthenote). Parthenogenetic stem cells are similar to embryonic stem cells but come from an unfertilized egg. This stem cell is created by tacking a unfertilized egg and adding certain hormones to it. The hormones creates the effect of a fertilized egg but since there is no genetic dna transferred the egg cannot become a fetus. However while these cells will become any kind of cell it is still tricky to control. Also research for this type of cell is hard to come by. The U.S. government is currently defining parthenotes as embryos so the government is not allowed to fund any of the research. Many research facilities rely on federal funding so only very few private researching firms can work on it.

This is just another are in genetics that needs researchers and funding. This could be a remarkable step forward. Now parent that are unable to have children could donate eggs and help save someone's life. Also all the "old" eggs in facilities could be used for research or to help save a life instead of wasting away or being thrown away. Also by using these type of cells we might be able to mix adult cells and parhenogenetic stem cells to create healthier and longer lasting muscles,tissues,organs, etc...

The Opening and Closing of the Stomata In Plants

The stomata is a structure in a plant cell that allows water or gases to be let into the plant. The stomata is made up of two components , the guards cell and the stoma, which have varying functions. The guard cells in the stomata open or close, causing the stoma to open or close, depending on the environment. The stoma is the actually opening which allows water to escape the plant and gases, especially carbon dioxide, to come in. The guard cells tend to open when the cell becomes turgid, or filled with to much water. By opening up, the guard cells allow the stoma to open and release the water. The stoma must also be open during photosynthesis to bring in carbon dioxide and allow oxygen to leave. Different factors can cause the stomata to open or close.

Normally the stomata is closed at night and open during the day because of photosynthesis. The plant cannot perform photosynthesis at night, because there is no sunlight, so the stomata closes to prevent loss of water and gases. It then opens up again during the day so that the plant can release oxygen during photosynthesis and regain CO2. However some environmental factors could cause the stomata to act abnormally. For example if there were many rainstorms, causing flooding, the plant cell may become turgid from absorbing to much water. The guard cells would open allowing the stoma to release the excess water to escape even at night. Another environmental factor that could cause the stomata to behave abnormally is a drought. When the plant can't receive enough water the stomata has to close to prevent the plant from becoming flaccid. The stomata may close, or mostly close, during the day to keep as much water in the cell as possible to stop the plant from wilting. This would stop the process of photosynthesis which would stop the plant from making it's food and surviving. The plant would have to rely on it's sugar sink until water was more readily available , or the plant died.

The stomata play a very important role in the function of a plant. The plant would not be able to gauge how much water needs to be lost or kept inside without the guard cells of a stomata. Without the stoma no photosynthesis or transpiration could occur because there would be no opening to release water and oxygen nor to gain CO2.

The Plague Can Still Kill

According to a National Geographic article (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111012-plague-black-death-yersinia-pestis-genetics-nature-health/ ) the Black Death still exist. The DNA of the plague has not changed much in 600 years. The gene Yersinia pestis aka y. pestis still is causing epidemics in the world today. The disease is most common in U.S., Madagascar, China, India, and South America. It travels much the same way as it did in the 1300's, by fleas and rodents . In today's modern science the disease is easily treated and many are cured. However The slow change in the y.pestis gene is helpfully to us because we could create a vaccine that may help prevent the plague from happening at all. Unlike the flu which genome is constantly changing a vaccine against the plague could be easily made and unchanged. Also since the change has been slow we have been able to create very good antibiotics and treatments which may be deveolped futher with the help of cracking the genome. 

Vaccines May Not Be For Diseases Anymore.

According to a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/health/04vaccine.html?_r=3&ref=health) a vaccine against addictions may soon be a real thing. The idea of such a vaccine would bring hopes to millions. These vaccines would work like a regular vaccine. The vaccine would cause the immune system to create antibodies against the addicting substance. However this vaccine doesn't stop addictions and can only be administered after someone has had an addiction.While many test have been proven successful in animals but the results are inconsistent in humans. The FDA has not approved any of these vaccines because of the inconclusive results in humans. Also these vaccines are hardly perfect. A vaccine has not been created for every addiction. So far alcohol and marijuana vaccines have failed.  This could be because the molecules within alcohol and marijuana are very small and can hide very easily in the body. Another major problem would be just because you got one vaccine for an addiction doesn't mean that you won't suffer another, potentially worse addiction.
       
While this type of vaccine has not been perfected yet it gives me a lot of hope for the future. My dad had a very serious addiction with alcohol which ended up costing him his life. The fact that people are working on a creating a vaccine to stop these addictions from happening lets me believe that other children in the future won't have to suffer the pain of losing a parent because of an addiction. This type of vaccine could also help crime rates. If a criminal was found to have an addiction to an illegal substance he could be treated for and then have the chance to lead a better life without needing to get high.

Why Are Human Bodies Creating Morphine?

An article by National Geographic tells of how the human body has been found to create morphine http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100426-natural-morphine-drugs-humans-mice/ . While scientist found how the body makes morphine little is know about why. One theory suggests that poppies make morphine as a defense mechanisms against predators. However while this theory works for poppies and other animals such as mice, for me it does not work very well for humans , for very rarely are we hunted. While creating morphine may help us block out pain during an attack why would the body constantly make it? The mystery of why our bodies create morphine may never be answered. Since it has been shown that our bodies are constantly creating morphine it must essentially to our lives in some way that we do not yet understand.