Meagan Fullerton-Lee, February 24 2010, Blog #1, 3/3

Today in class we:

• Reviewed the questions from the articles "High-Tech Hazards?" and "The Woman Who Kept Falling Down"
• We wrote and marked our eye, ear and brain quiz
• We started in learning about the second part of our unit, The Endocrine System
• involves hormones
• we did take notes down in class, so ask a classmate if you missed them
• REMEMBER!!! Bio Exam is tomorrow NOT Friday!!!!

About the material:

The small discussion today that we did have about hormones and the endocrine system not only gave us a few laughs (the grade nine hallway's testosterone levels), but also an idea of how important hormones are in our body.  We can understand that they are necessary, but we really don't know how significant they are.  An interesting thing we learned was that adrenalin, a hormone released in our body for "fight or flight" moments is really a crossing between the nervous system's parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems and the endocrine system.  It is why it is the fastest acting hormone, because all other hormones take more time to have an effect.  I thought this was interesting. 
While I didn't have a question about today's material, I did think of a question about the eye while we were writing our quiz.  I wondered why, as we get older, our eyes sometimes change and we end up needing glasses, even if we didn't need glasses when we were young.

Above and beyond:

Info retrieved from: http://www.eyecarefun.com/content/when-will-my-eyes-stop-changing

The answer is a lot simpler than I thought.  I didn't realize it, but our eyes tend to change as we get older.  I thought we had the same size in eyeball all our lives.  As it turns out, we don't.  As we grow, our eyes are also growing, including in ways that may need prescriptions to resolve.  What is being noticed now is that with more technology like computer games, video games and anything where long amounts of time are spent looking at a screen are part of why an eye changes.  So that is one thing that I learned.

I feel that I got a 3/3 on this assignment.  I tried my best to describe what we did, and had input on what we learned today.  I also learned something new, which I think is an important part of the blog, so i think that a 3/3 is fair.

Kira Beukeboom, 1st Blog

What we did today...
              -we did a brain dissection or more of a brain observation, reviewing the different parts of a sheep
                brain  which is similar to a human one
              -worked on some questions relating to out brain observation that asked about the functions of each                     different part of the brain we observed (corpus callosum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, pons,             optic chiasma, ocipital lobes, olfactory bulbs, hypothalamus)
               -had a quiz about the different structures and functions of the brain

Thoughts about the material...
 I think the brain is very interesting because it's incredible how our brains can control everything from moving our arm to our heart beat to allowing us to reason and think logically or creatively and artistically. We can live without some parts of our body such as an arm but we would die without our brain. the ability for us to use thought and reasoning in out brain is what separates us from other animals on this planet. What animal has the most similar brain to a humans and why? what animal has the largest brain?

Above and beyond...
The average human brain is roughly 1300g, about two percent of a persons body weight. Sperm whales have one of the largest brains at about 7800g, about 0.06% of a persons body weight. The brain that is most similar to the human brain is the pig.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuXYXq8Lznw)

Micaiah Achtymichuk’s 1^st blog: Thursday; February 11^th, 2010. 3/3

What we did today: in today’s class we…

·      Did a quiz on synapses and nerve impulses.

·       We wrapped up our study of the brain (quiz on this material tomorrow, see key points booklet)

• - Recapped brain.
• -Did case study questions, on p- 430.
• We reviewed Jeff’s blog
• Ended class by watching video in which a female scientist described her internal experience during a stroke. (Video can be here: http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html)

Thoughts about the material:

I think that the distinction between the nature of the two different sides of the brain is very interesting, the idea of them have different “personalities” meaning that they seem to carry out their own and very different functions is intriguing. I wonder what side does what? 

Above and beyond:

Well after doing a bit of web perusing, I found the answers to at least some of my questions. The brains functions seem to be separated between the two sides. The left side dealing with such things as liner and mathematical processing and is ground within reality, Where as the right side seems to be associated with creativity, intuition and tends to be more grounded within fantasy.

(The information I used can be found here.)

http://www.funderstanding.com/content/right-brain-vs-left-brain

http://painting.about.com/od/rightleftbrain/a/Right_Brain.htm

I was curious as to which side was dominate with me, so I found some online tests and as expected I was more right brained then left brained, but was still fairly left brained.

(The test I took can be found here.)

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wacky/the-right-brain-vs-left-brain/story-e6frev20-1111114577583

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

Jeff Smith 1st blog. Wed. February 10th/2010 3/3

Class overview: Today in class we..
                        -Went over questions assigned yesterday
                        -recapped page 425, #5-7   
                                                 442 #13
                                                 435 #5a,3
                        -read case study (page#423-424) on the effects of drugs on the synapse and began to
                         answer questions.
                        -began an in depth look at the Central Nervous System (CNS) beginning with the brain.
                        -Free time at the end of block one and two to work on homework or "Ticket to the test."

Thoughts about the material: I thought the material today was very interesting. An exceptionally interesting part of the day was the case study assigned in block one to our class. You always hear about how a drug makes you "high", but seeing how and why you get a heightened sense is very interesting. Learning how a stimulant or depressant act as neurotransmitters and bond to receptors  to create a heightened or more delayed reaction is very valuable and informative.


Above and beyond: Today's material, and specifically the case study made me think about how often an average person must use to become addicted to the example drug (Cocaine), and the effects of this drug on human beings. After following this link: http://www.camh.net/About_Addiction_Mental_Health/Drug_and_Addiction_Information/cocaine_dyk.html I found the answer.

Mr. C - Thurs, Feb 4, 3/3

What we did today:

• quick quiz about NS and neuron
• performed simple activities related to reflex arcs (p.436)
• finished key points about resting potential (FITB handout)
• recapped key points about impulse transmission (FITB handout up to synapses)
• free time to begin work on "ticket to unit test"

Thoughts about Material
We've discussed the basics of the NS and neurons, but it's evident that we have only dipped our toes into the HUGE complexity of the NS.  Even by the end of the unit, you may remain a bit unsatisfied - but perhaps that will cause you to pursue further studies.  Some interesting questions arose:
- why would a puncture wound (e.g. stabbing) hurt more than a punch?
- how might diet improve/harm the nervous system?
- why do burns hurt long after the stimulus is removed?
Also, it was noted that pain tolerance (threshold levels) vary from person to person.  This shouldn't really be surprising, as almost every trait exhibits variation in most species.  This aids in adaptation.

Above and beyond
I followed a comment string at: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1684038, which had many people's suggestions as to why burns continue to hurt beyond the initial stimulus.  My thought was that the initial pain was due to the heat itself triggering surface pain receptors, but the continued pain was due to pain receptors responding to damaged cells. 
One comment reminded me that there are many parallel sensory receptors acting simultaneously at any given time.  Many simply fire due to a change in conditions (e.g. temp, pressure).  These will stop firing when the changing condition stops - enabling you to acclimatize (i.e. stop feeling your clothes, or ignore "white" noise).  Others respond to cell damage, and will continue to depolarize until the damage is repaired.

Welcome to Mr. C's "popular" Bio30 Blog

Hello Bio30,

This blog site will serve as a place to archive our progress in Bio30, to table concerns and/or questions, to offer additional thoughts or comments, or simply to "dump" on the course/content/teacher/classmates.

You will be expected to submit several postings during this course. Mr. C will provide a schedule of who is responsible each day.

Postings will be graded as an assignment.

• As a minimum (1st mark) you should provide a brief review of what we did in class that day (bullet points are OK).
• Additional credit (2nd mark) will be given for providing thoughts about the material (e.g. where the topic(s) apply to real life, questions that remain unanswered, extensions on topics discussed, connections to other topics or courses, etc... UNACCEPTABLE = "I thought the class was good"). Give thoughts about the MATERIAL, not the CLASS.
• Full credit (3rd mark) will be given for doing the first two requirements, AND going 'above and beyond' (e.g. providing additional information, links to other relevant sites, photos, etc...). The easiest approach is to show evidence of an attempt to answer a question raised in the "thoughts" section.

NOTES:

1. WRITE YOUR NAME AND THE DATE OF THE DAY BEING DISCUSSED IN THE TITLE LINE
2. CLEARLY indicate each requirement with headings. Example: Review of material covered...... Thoughts on material..... "Above and beyond"...
3. AT THE END OF YOUR POSTING, GIVE YOURSELF A MARK OUT OF THREE (see marking guide above). YOU WILL BE ASKED TO JUSTIFY YOUR MARK IF IT SEEMS UNWARRANTED.
4. ENTRIES MUST BE POSTED WITHIN 5 DAYS OF THE CLASS (including weekends) OR A GRADE OF ZERO WILL BE ASSIGNED.  1/2 mark will be deducted if format not followed as defined above.
5. Feel free to have some fun with this site, but rudeness will not be tolerated ;(

Have a great day!
Mr. C