Stem Cells

Stem cells are small amount of cells that creates other cells through mitosis, stem cells are unspecialized cells that can specialize themselves into specific functions. It is used in medicine to repair damaged cells in our bodies that our bodies can't repair by themselves, some damage in our bodies can't be repaired because we can't produce the right cell to repair it, and so stem cells with their specific functions can be the right cell to repair it. In the e-textbook it's said that it was able to reverse the effects of brain injury on mice, so if this method of implanting stem cells as a treatment works for human then the future of the medical world will be very good because these injuries that used to be untreatable can now be treatable by the use of stem cells. Stem cell treatments uses stem cells to replace the damage cells, but in wikipedia it's also said that it could have a side effect, but very minimal. So I think it's good to support this new treatment because brain injuries are very serious and so anything being able to treat it should always be supported.

Bill Bryson's Imagery

"It's all just random frantic action, a sequence of endless encounters directed by nothing more than elemental rules of attraction and repulsion...It just happen, smoothly and repeatedly." This quote made me think of an image of a very hectic and chaotic factory where bunch of workers bump into each other trying to get stuff to where they're suppose to be at, but even so it all works out to be a sweet harmony and makes us what we are and how we function. It changed my perspective of cells because I didn't know nor was I ever interested in how cells work, I felt like I had full control over my body but it's actually these cells control me, and they control me without any thinking process behind it, they just work it out and it works, that's what was really interesting about this quote for me.


http://capitalogix.typepad.com/.a/6a00e5502e47b288330147e21b59ce970b-800wi

Ecology Project Blog 2

Everything is now done, the research took a really long while to finish because the information was hard to find, my topic was pretty vague and big and so I have to look for information that could relate to my topic in the end I found some data but I wasn't that satisfied with it because it's only some species not all. The website is pretty much done as well, it was a bit hard because this is new to me and so I'm learning new things everyday about how to make a website, the most annoying problem for me is about pasting pictures because I find it so hard to move it around freely and it keeps messing up the words. In the end it was a pretty fun project and we got to build some teamwork by working on the website as a whole class.

Ecology Project Blog 1

This week I've been introduced to Ecology after reading a bit about it on the e-textbook. So Ecology is about living organisms and their interactions with other things, living or non living. Some interactions include interaction with the climate/temperature, water, or humidity. It could also be living things like ants interacting with another ant. We also learn about the Ecosystem, there are two factors in the ecosystem, biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors are living factors in the ecosystem and abiotic is the opposite, non living factors. We applied that idea to the flood that recently occurred in Thailand, and from linking around we see the ecological effects the flood has done to Thailand. Lastly we started a web page as a class and the first thing I learned how to do was create a page.

Should antibiotics be restricted?

I think antibiotics should be restricted, it was once a powerful medicinal weapon but as it was overused bacteria "got used to it" and started to adapt to it making it weaker and weaker. By using it a lot bacteria have to live in that environment and with natural selection the traits of being resistant to antibiotics became stronger and through generations evolved and gained resistance to antibiotics. 
According to Wikipedia,  If a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called multidrug resistant (MDR) or, informally, a superbug or super bacterium, so because of the overuse of antibiotics more and more bacteria starts to get these resistance genes as natural selection chooses to keep them. 
It is also dangerous as well. According to shirleys-wellness-cafe.com, if the use of antibiotic treatment fails it causes longer illness which causes more treatment fees and extended stays in the hospital. Some resistant infections can cause deaths as well, the antibiotic resistant bacteria can spread to other people as well.
So I think the use of antibiotics should be restricted because of overusing them bacteria developed the ability to survive in the exposure of antibiotics which makes the medicine less powerful and making the diseases much more powerful. 


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/antibiotics.htm

My Favorite Organism

My favorite kingdom is the Archaea kingdom, a specie that I like from the Archaea kingdom is the Methanococcus jannaschii, it lives in an extreme environment like how normal species from Archaea kingdom lives. It was found on the sea floor surface 2,600 meters deep "white smoker" chimney on the East Pacific rise. It grows at pressures of more than 200 atmospheres and at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius! I like how Archaebacterias can live in such extreme environments, for me Thailand's weather is already way too hot for my liking, I want to be able live in such an extreme environment like that as well, to be able to endure these hardcore environment with ease. It was the frist archaeal genome to be completely sequenced as well. I like other species as well as long as it is from the Archaea kingdom, I hope for a day when I can stand the weather of Thailand with ease. 

My Favorite Science Quote

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science."  ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

I like this quote because this quote makes science sound very fun and adventurous which I can agree because if we look at science in a way that it's just a subject in school, then there won't be any fun because it'll be just like every subject just listening and learning until the bell rings, but science is about discovering new things that we don't know yet and experimenting out and seeing the wonderful reactions of chemicals and such through experiments. I like how the author of this quote looks at science in a fun and adventurous perspective because yes, science is an adventure but people just don't see that because we don't go hiking or running around we're exploring the world in a science way by doing experiments and labs.