Landfillharmonic! This is recycling!!!

This is absolutely amazing!!

What's in your eye? Is that a fibula?!?

Scientists have determined that a California women has bone fragments growing in her eye because her plastic surgeon used abdominal stem cells...

"Surgeons isolated mesenchymal stem cells from her abdominal fat—cells that can become bone, cartilage, and fat, among other types of tissue—before injecting them into the skin around her eyes."

Read the article and comment in several ways. Biology students can comment upon how this reflects differentiation as one of the characteristics of living things. AP Biology and anatomy students can reflect upon how the use of calcium hydroxylapatite might have affected the mesenchyme cells. Research and see if this causes an epigenetic change.

Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey

This has nothing to do with science, but it caught my attention the other day. I truly believe what he is saying, and love the passion with which he says it!

Sex ratios, hormones, and livestock farms

This Scientific American article reviews research conducted that identified  that streams near livestock confinement farms have varied sex ratios (not 50/50).

"Purdue University researchers raised fathead minnow embryos in water taken from two Indiana streams that are contaminated with natural and synthetic hormones from manure spread on fields. The embryos turned out 60 percent male; fish typically are born with roughly equal numbers of males and females."

What do you think about their research? What can be done about this? Does this affect your?

The area with the most biodiversity - How are we doing?

The following video clips shows footage from what scientists believe are the areas of the world with the most biodiversity. With our recent visit from Wayne Talbot, how do think we're doing with biodiversity around us? What can we do to improve?

How old are you?

Scientists have many ways of finding out how old organisms are. One of the most interesting is radiocarbon dating. This is shown in the following Instant Egghead video clip from Scientific American. After watching the video comment upon what you think about the dating method and whether it's reliable.

Cancer, chemotherapy, and mitosis

In biology we're learning about chromosomes, the cell cycle, and mitosis. This video ties them all in together and expands it to include the very serious topic of cancer. Give it a watch and comment on how cancer ties in with Ch 8.

Microchimera - a little bit of others in us!

Scientists have known for some time that there are human chimeras. Humans that contain DNA from other humans (undeveloped twins usually). The name chimera comes from a mythological creature seen above.

Now scientists have discovered several cases of microchimerism, a situation in which individual cells (genetic chimeras usually have entire tissues composed of different sourced DNA) from other sources are found in the body. The most common situation of microchimerism seems to occur between mother and child.

What does this say about epigenetics and our immune system? Identify what you think about the possible links between Alzheimers and these foreign cells.