Evolution

    Evolution has been discussed and researched for many years.  There has been many disputes over weather or not it actually happened.  Many skeptics believe that it has not.  Over many discoveries it is now backed by evidence that evolution has taken place.  In this article I will explain these ideas.

    Evolution not only has one theory but two.  The first theory was explained by Charles Darwin.  This theory says that traits are decided by natural selection.  This means that the creatures will be changed by what the environment wants.  The trait that works the best will servive and more of the being with this trait will servive.  After a while this new trait will be the dominant one and all of the species will have it.  In the end evolution has occured so that its easier to servive.

     An example of this kind of evolution is in moths.  There is a story that there were bright white colored moths.  The way they servived is they were able to blend in with the aspen trees.  When a factory moved in close to the aspens the trees became brown.  The white moths had trouble living on these trees.  The predators were able to see the moths a lot easier making them a clear topic.  Then came along a moth that was brown.  It had a clear advantage over the others.  So when it reproduced it made more brown moths that lived well.  Now most of the moths in this area are brown and prosper.

     The next theory was proposed by Lamarck.  This theory says that traits are made by what the creature needs.  He said that when there is a need for a change the creature will do so.  When the animal or plant changes it will pass it on to the next generation.  After generations have passed the change will be complete and when it is suitable the change will stop.  Then you have your species that has gone through evolution.

     An example of this theory is in saw fish.  They started by there not being enough food it could catch with just its mouth.  So it needed a way to catch them.  They started to stick their jaws out farther and as the trait was passed down to the next generation it became longer and the teeth stuck out to catch fish.  When the transformation was finished it have a bone lined with teeth that it could swing and catch fish.  In the end it had a tool that made it easier to servive in the wild.

     There are two main levels of evolution that occurs. One of the levels is microevolution. In this form just a small group of a species is changed. The idea behind this is that a species will change in different ways. A groupe of the species in one location may change differently in one area than the other. This makes many different forms of the species. It makes for a diverse groupe of just one species.

     A way to explain this is in birds.  In a species of birds they all will have about the same body structure.  The birds in one area can change differently in one area than the other making them seem different.  But in reality they are the same bird.  The difference can be as simple as a change in color.  People have taken advantage of this form of evolution to get what we want out of animals.  Some examples of this are in pigions, dogs, and cats.  When people see a trait they like they breed for it and can make a whole new group in the species.  As you can see microevolution is on a small scale.
     On a much larger scale there is macroevolution.  This when a complete family changes over a long peroid of time and adapts drasticly.  It goes beyond what the creature needs and makes whole new forms.  This is what has formed the different families in the animal kingdom.  The shaping of how things are now has been made through macroevolution.  It is a long process so it can be hard to grasp.
     A way to think about this better is humans.  We have been formed from a long process that required a lot of change.  We have been thought to come from apes.  To me that is a long way for us to have come.  There has been a lot of changes to get to where we are now.  There is actually a good amount of evidence that proves this too.  In all many small changes add up to make what we call macroevolution.
     Evolution isn't just an idea it is the way some people look at life.  From this paper you have learned about the three main parts of evolution.  It has taken many years to gather this evidence but it as been worth it because now we have an understanding of evolution.  I could not even start to imagine how everything has changed through evolution.  In the end evolution is a well backed theory that can explain many things.

Gel Electrophoresis

In the Gel Electrophoresis lab we learned many new lab techniques in the process of it.  The goal was to put different colored dyes into the gel and then put electricity through it to see how the dyes are charged.  The first step was to make the gel plate.  We did this by making a mold that was square and had small holes in it to put the dye.  Then we poured in the hot gel liquid and let it cool.  After that we sat the hardened Gel in the gel rig.  We then learned how to use the micro pipets.  We first sucked up the dyes with the pipets and squirted the liquid into the slots made in the gel.  This part was tough because the slots were small and it was hard to be steady and squirt it all in the slot.  When using the pipets we had to get a new nozzle every time so that we did not contaminate the other dyes.  Once we had all of the dyes in place we started the electricity in the gel rig.  We let it sit for about fifteen minutes.  Then when we came back the dyes had moved.  The negative dyes moved to positive side like DNA would, but there was one positive dye that moved to the negative side.  They all had gone a different distance too, depending on how charged they were.  In all it gave me a good understanding of how Gel Electrophoresis is used to sequence DNA.

Gattaca

Questions about GATTACA!

1. The following terms were used in the movie. How do they relate to the words we use: degenerate and invalid?

         De-gene-erate= what a god child is called

         In-valid= the type of person that wasn’t made

         Borrowed Ladder= a person that you disguise yourself as

2. Why do you think Vincent left his family, tearing his picture out of the family photo, after winning the swimming race against his brother?

            I think he left the family so that he could start over and he wanted them to remember him as being just as good as his brother.

3. Describe the relationship between Vincent and Anton.

            Vincent and Anton had a competitive relationship because Anton was supposed to be better but Vincent was determined to prove people wrong.

4. When Jerome Morrow said to Vincent/Jerome, “They’re not looking for you. When they look at you, they only see me,” what did he mean? Can you find any parallels to this type of situation in real life?

            He meant that people aren’t going to accuse him of anything because he is recorded as someone else.  I can see the parallel when someone changes their identity, but are scared when something comes up about them.

5. Choose your favorite character from the film. Explain why you choose that person. Would you want to be that person? Why? Why not?

            My favorite character was Vincent be he is driven and knows what he wants to accomplish.  I would not want to be him though because he had to hide his identity and live as someone else.

6. At the end of the film, you are told that the Doctor knew about Vincent all along. Why did the Doctor go along with the fraud? What would you have done if you were the Doctor?

            The doctor went along the whole time because he wanted Vincent to succeed.  I would let him go because its good to see the underdog win.

7. The technology to do what was done in the movie is definitely possible within the next fifty years. Do you think that Vincent’s world could eventually happen in America? Why?

            I don’t think it could ever happen because we have rights living in America.

8. What do you think is wrong with the society portrayed in "GATTACA"? What is right?

              I think its wrong that people are ranked before they are even given a chance to prove themselves.

9. What were the screenwriters trying to tell us through the episode of the 12-fingered pianist? Is anything wrong with engineering children to have 12 fingers if, as a result, they will be able to make extraordinarily beautiful music?

            The screenwriters were trying to say that people would start making kids for certain things.  It’s wrong because the kids may not want to do what they are made to do.

10. You and your spouse are having a child and are at the Genetic Clinic pictured in the movie. What characteristics would you want for your child and what would you ask to be excluded? Why would you make those choices?

            I would have the child tall, and have athletic ability. I would want them to exclude my acne gene from the sequence.

11. Picture yourself as either Vincent, Jerome, or Anton. Would you have acted the same or done things differently if you were in the same world as them?

            I would have acted like Vincent.  If I was Jerome I would not have committed suicide.  If I was Anton I would not have tried to frame my brother.

12. How does the society in GATTACA resemble the type of society America was during the height of the eugenics movement?

            It is the same because people were judged by what kind of family you came from.

Sequencing Graph

In this experiment we learned how to sequence DNA using the Sanger method.  In this method you write the letters down in the order they come up in the sequence.  Then you set them up in groups of threes and select the protein that corresponds with the group.  The first patient Abby had a point mutation, which means just one letter is different.  The next patient Bob had one thing wrong, he had a trancation mutation.  This is when it stops and can't finish the sequence.  The next patient Carol had 18 letters wrong.  This was because she had a frameshift mutation.  This is when one sequence loses or gains a letter and then makes the rest of the sequence off.  That is how you read a sequence and the three things that can go wrong.

In Sickness and in health

In Sickness and in Health

          The picture above is a model of Greg and Olga's pedigree's.  The first problem was myotonic dystrophy.  This disease is autosomal dominant.  An autosomal dominant disease can not skip a generation so they don't have to worry about passing it on to  their children.  The next disease they approached was factor VIII deficiency.  This disease is sex linked.  In a sex linked disease it can only be carried by the male because these diseases are on the X chromosome.  This means that the disease will only affect a boy if it is passed down.  The las thing they talked about was cystic fibrosis.  This is an autosomal recessive disease.  This means that it can skip generations.  Some people can be carriers of a disease like this.  It is a slight chance that their child can get it though.  Some races have more people that carry it over others too.  Their baby ended up having a 1 in 16, 560.  In the end the kid has a very slim chance of getting any diseases even though there are diseases in the family.

Eugenics

Eugenics Post

Traits

     It is hard to figure out what a baby is going to look like because of how random it is.  This is called independent assortment, its when all options are possible.  It all starts out in the genes, the control what traits a person has.  The genes are then made up of alleles that are randomly selected.  The child gets what its traits are in a thing called genotypes.  Each genotype is made up of a select number of alleles.  To get the childs genotypes you combine the parents genotypes.  These can be both dominant and resesive.  A dominant allele will make sure that the child has the trait and a recessive allele can skip a generation.  Once all of The genotypes have been made you then have the genetic makeup for your child and what it wil look like.  So as you can see chance plays a big role in what a child looks like.