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.