A Walk to Remember!

Last Thursday, I went with Leanne when she took her dog Luke on a walk. We focused on the world around us and you would not imagine what we found. First of all, all the interconnected relationships in the world (tick on luke- (Parasitism), bees pollinating flowers (mutualism), as well as lichen on the trees). Another example of parasitism is a wood pecker pecking a tree in leanne's front yard, causing it to slowly die.

- Magnolia Tree that was pollinated by bees as well as squirrels who ate the buds...

-The woodpecker's masterpiece...

We also examined the effects of excercise on our own bodies. As we walked for longer and longer, our muscles began to burn. Leanne explained to me that because we are doing a hard excercise regime, our bodies are lacking oxygen and therefore having to use lactic fermentation to make energy.

Overall, although I was sore :) , we had a wonderful walk that i hope to repeat again soon!

This week, I got to take a trip to Randolph's very own dance studio with Brooke Freundlich. Every single movement the dancers made involved energy and muscle movement. I enjoyed very much watching the class, however, I couldn't help but notice how all the dancers seemed very sore. Their sore muscles are connected with their breathing patterns while performing. Dancers unfortunately have a very bad habit of holding their breath while moving, which restricts the amount of oxygen in the body. Because there is not enough oxygen, anaerobic respiration takes place. All the steps of respiration start to back up because the NAD+ and FADH "boats" cannot empty their electrons. Therefore, the electrons cannot get onto the ETC. The cells must result to fermentation to empty the "boats." Without the oxygen, lactic acid will build up in the dancer's muscles and cause soreness. Who knew that biology could explain sore muscles?!

Atlantis

Over Spring Break 2010, I traveled with Derek and his family to Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. This trip was fun and exciting, although it was very expensive ($12 dollars for just a hamburger!). However, we had a fabulous time and saw science in the strangest places. Just to start off, the ocean tides are an example of gravity. Just like all matter, the moon has gravity. It pulls on the water and the water hits the shore and then it lessens its pull and the water returns to sea. As the moon revolves around the Earth, the water changes directions to follow it, resulting in high tides and low tides.

A major part of Atlantis is its water park. This water park is filled with famous rides, including the slide pictured here that goes through a shark tank. This slide, being very steep, is angles at about 60 degrees so that the rider does not fall off the slide

but yet ge

ts the thrill of feeling like he/she is

going straight down.

Pictured below is the path to the casino. I am not a fan of gambling, however, the statistics involved in gambling are truly astonishing. In the game with the red and black circle, a gambler bets that a marble with land in a red or black space on the checkered circle (a 50/50 shot). However, there are two green spaces--just enough to throw off the 50/50 odds. Now, the dealer will always win at the end of the night because they tip the odds and have a greater chance of landing on their spaces (now the odds are more like 56/44).

The green eel pictured here is one of life's greatest mystery creatures. Like a slithering snake, this eel glides through the ocean underneath rocks, devouring

prey. Over time, this eel acquired traits necessary for survival. Such traits include its sharp teeth and natural means

of defense: electricity. If you touched

one of the eels and it felt that it was in danger, the eel would release up to hundre

ds of volts of electricity. Eels use this defense in the open ocean as well against predators such as sharks and squids.

The second fish shown is called a deep sea tuna (although they are not tuna fish at all!). Derek and I watched this fish for about thirty minutes...and it did absolutely nothing. Known as the "lazy" fish, the deep sea tuna rests in a single spot for days with an open mouth waiting for small bacteria to enter. It can move quickly if extremely hunger, however, it prefers to stay still. To maintain the largest tank, filled with over 50 different species of fish, Atlantis imports specific foods from around the world so as the fish remain peaceful and well fed. Also, you might be able to see some ruins in the background of the tank. This is because Atlantis tried to design its aquarium after the imaginary underwater city of Atlantis and so they put ruins in to represent underwater buildings.

Back outside the hotel, there is a dock with several yachts, each of which probably cost over a few million dollars. Derek and I are seen standing in front of one of these immense ships. In the other pictures, we are seen in front of the main hotel building of Atlantis.

When you get the chance, you should come down to Atlantis--as

the old saying goes, "Life is better in the Bahamas!"

My golf trip in florida

The first thing I noticed when I saw the golf course was how beautiful it was. Then I looked closer and saw that the whole course was filled with vast areas of green grass, trees, shrubs and plants. In the picture to the left you see me surrounded by lush green grass and trees. I than thought to myself, this whole golf course is performing photosynthesis.


I asked Ollie how photosynthesis works and he told that photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy to chemical energy and storing it in the bonds of sugars. This process occurs in plants and they need light energy, CO2, and H2O to make sugar. Then he told me that it all starts in the Thylakoid membrane. Light hits the membrane and gets excited. The light then passes through various steps and NADP plus and H plus get added to form NADPH. While this is happening ATP is being made through ATP synthase. The ATP and the NADPH then get shipped off to the Calvin cycle. In the Calvin cycle 4 steps occur. Step 1 is when an inorganic carbon joins a RuBP. The molecule it makes is unstable and splits. In step 2 ATP gives carbons energy and the NADPH gives it a hydrogen and two electrons, changing it to G3P. In step 3 one molecule of G3P goes off to become sugar. This sugar is then used as energy in the human body. These sugars are the products of photosynthesis. Now, there are 5 G3P's left. In step 4 the 5 G3P's are converted into RuBP's with the help of ATP.

After hearing all that from Ollie, I had a pretty good understanding of Photosynthesis. I asked, why are the plants green ? Ollie stated that plants are green because of pigment. A pigment is a molecule that absorbs light. Chlorophyll, which is inside a leaf, is a pigment which absorbs all colors except green. When a pigment absorbs light, the human eye only sees what is reflected back to the eye. In the case of chlorophyll, it reflects green so the human eye sees the plants as being green. After hearing this I totally knew everything there was about photosynthesis and why the golf course was so green. The only thing left to do was to learn how to play golf !