Ilana+Zeitzer

**__Kind of Strange and Unexpected: week 3:__** So this week in school the main focus has been on our trip to Johnson-n-Johnson, and this week I was doing a little learning on my own between Cosmos and Wild Things and Google. In order to best link everything to this week each subtopic is individual. Below are some strange plants and animals that well, you'll see. **The Ant Spider: ** I learned of this spider on Wild Things this weekend. The saying goes mimicry is the highest form of flattery, maybe not the case here. The Ant spider or Kerengga ant-like jumping spider is a spider like any other with eight eyes and four pairs of legs, unlike the ant with 2 compound eyes (basically big eyes made of many mini eyes) and three pairs of legs with two antennas. In order to blend in with the Kerengga (weaver ants) it has two large spots of pigment that appear to be eyes, it uses its two front legs to appear like antennas, is similar in size and constricts its abdomen and cephalothorax making it appear to have the weaver ant's separate head, thorax and gaster. The females look the most similar to the weaver ants, while the male is longer and looks like an ant carrying another ant (which is not uncommon in ant colonies). Also, though they can jump they only do so when threatened. So why do all this? Like any other living thing the goal of like is to pass on their genetic information, appearing as a weaver ant allows these spiders to gain the protection of a colony. They do not eat the weaver ants, which have a painful bite. They also tend to stay away from the ants by living just neat the colony possibly on the underside of a nearby leaf. These guys are not the only spiders to mimic ants, there are over a hundred species that mimic ants for various reasons including hunting. So, how does this fit into the past week well... As stated earlier the goal of life is to survive and pass on genetic information in order to do this the spiders mimic the ant for protection. Humans have many times used mimicary in order to improve life, even today. At Johnson-n-Johnson we learned about the research that goes into making a treatment for various diseases. Often times humans will looking into other animals that appear to be immune or other people who do not have the disease and work from there. They try to mimic the functions in the healthy animal or molecules that are present in order to find a treatment for the problem. Mimicry has been important to life for so long, its how we learn and better our lives. So whose who? (hint there is only one ant)

a.b. c.

**Attack of the Jumping Cactus? ** Okay, so I have watched three tv shows that involve people searching for wildlife, and an interesting point to make is that two of the three people were attacked by plants, not by the snakes they play with of the tigers they pet, but the plants they stubble on by. So, on an episode of Wild Things Dominic Monaghan and his camera man get "ambushed" by a Jumping Cactus (jumping Cholla) and have a bit of trouble unsticking themselves. media type="custom" key="26167678" So, this cactus which looks really fuzzy, stay away. Pieces break off easily in order for it to spread. Just barily brushing against it could cause you to have a thorn in your side (or at least a bunch of spikes to go with a piece of cactus). This spreads out the population, even though this cactus produces flowers and fruits they are normally sterile making this the main source of new members of the population. So how does this fit into this week... Well, we learned some background on Lupus which was named because it was originally believed to be caused by wolf bites. People always assume wild animals are dangerous (which they definitely can be), but few people consider the dangers of the plant world (except for of course eating poisonous plants). Most people do not even look twice at the plants they are walking through or crushing as they go by, which is bad both for the plants and the people. I hate thorn bushes but somehow I think this cactus is more painful.

**Assassin Bug or Kissing bug, its all the same!: ** Here's another fun guy you do not want to meet. Though a wolf bite will not cause a person to get Lupus plenty of disease are transmitted by animal. The Assassin bug also known as the Kissing bug lives in Central and South America, though some do live in Texas which is close to the border. These bugs get the nickname kissing bugs because they tend to bite around the eyes and mouth. They are attracted to light and carbon dioxide which is normally how they find food. This bug is infamous for the transmission of Chagas disease. Unlike in Mosquitos the disease is not transmitted by the actual saliva that enters the wound but by the feces which is often near the wound. Chagas disease is caused by a parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi). This disease starts of with swelling, fever and headaches. After 8-12 weeks the symptoms disappear and 60-70% of those infected never again experience symptoms. The other 30-40% of those infected develop more symptoms again 10-30 years after the initial bite. These symptoms can be life threatening and lead to heart failure. So, luckily living in Pennsylvania we are unlikely to get bitten by these bugs but they do transmit an interesting disease, the lick of the draw I guess.



And one more because I was watching Wild Things again: Watch Out for that Bright Yellow Snake? <span style="background: black; color: yellow; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">So we all know one useful adaptation is the ability to camouflage oneself with its surrounding environment, like the white moth on the white tree or most snakes decorated like ground cover. So, why then in the middle of Costa Rica's rainforest (green surroundings) is there a bright yellow snake? The Eyelash Pit Viper as it is commonly known due to three scales above its eyes that looks like eyelashes. It can be yellow, green or pinkish depending on location. They live throughout Central and South America. The coloring actually helps it hunt. It will often sit in low lying branches and hunt at night. The coloring allows the snake to look like fruit and thus pounces as its unsuspecting prey approaches, thus it is sustainable because the gene allows this population of snake to continue living. Apparently this also means it has been sent around the world in banana shipments (I would not want to be the person opening that box). This snake, easy to spot, is very fast and poisonus, luckily it will rarely bite humans (too big to eat :P ) unless harassed. <span style="background: black; color: yellow; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Hint: One of these is not a snake. <span style="color: #14a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29.25px;">**__For the Love of Tree? Week 2__** <span style="color: #70ad41; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">So, this week we tried to measure the height of a tree from the ground. I happen to love trees so, how do you measure the world's tallest tree, or it smallest. What about the widest of oldest. <span style="color: #70ad41; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">The World's tallest tree lives in California in the Redwood National Park. As of 2011 the tallest tree's nickname is Hyperion standing 379 feet and 4 inches, Beating out Giant at just 369 feet (only about twice the size of the statue of liberty). Try measuring that from the ground! To measure trees of this height the most accurately someone will climb to the top and drop a tape measure down. Both trees named above live in California but besides from which park they are in their location remains a secret to keep them safe. Otherwise people will climb them, visit them, carve them and possibly try to take bits of them home. " Trees, says Steve Sillett (the leading scientist in the group who measured the tree) are not like people. They 'cannot run away from the paparazzi.'" <span style="color: #13a00a; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Meet Giant: <span style="color: #14a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Here is a link to a video of the scientists climbing Hyperion for a second time. Enjoy the view: media type="custom" key="26088460" align="center"

<span style="color: #14a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">So Hyperion and Giant are tall but in volume Del Norte Titan trumps them all with a mass equivalent to 15 adult blue whales! Every year this tree produces enough wood for a 90 foot tall tree with a 12 inch diameter. Del Norte Titan like Giant and Hyperion lives somewhere secret in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. <span style="color: #13a00a; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Meet Del Norte Titan:

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Okay, now from the biggest to the smallest. The title for the world's smallest type of tree is under debate. The Snowbed Willow (Salix herbacea) is claimed to be the world's smallest tree at 1-6 cm. The question for debate is whether or not it is too small to be a tree. The definition of a tree is "a woody plant with a single erect perennial trunk that reaches at least 3 inches in diameter at breast height (DBH} when mature.", so is this woody plant not actually a tree? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">So from the tallest to the thickest to the smallest now what about the oldest? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">Sorry USA but Sweden has the champion for this one. Originally the oldest trees were though to be in the USA, the pine trees around 4,000-5,000 years old well to the Spruce tree in Sweden they are simply seedlings as it is about 9,550 years old. I guess those pine trees are having their midlife crisis now. In Dalarna, Sweden there is a cluster of about twenty trees all over the age of 8,000. So how can these trees live so long? Well some adaptions help with that. Spruces as their trunk dies has the ability to grow a new trunk thus the tree escapes death in harsh condtitions. Also, unlike many other trees they can clone themselves through root penetrating branches, this allows them to reproduce and keep a presence in areas during harsh times when another spruce might not be nearby. These adaptions give Spruces the ability to live long and flurish in harsh conditions where other trees would die. <span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Meet the almost 10,000 year old tree: Imagine what it would be like it these trees could talk. If only Treebeard was here. :) If anyone is interested on more information on the Redwood trees here is a Ted talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_preston_on_the_giant_trees#t-233467 __**<span style="color: #14a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 150%;">Not So Science Fiction: week 1 **__ <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Various attributes given to species of aliens in science fiction shows such as Star Trek and Doctor Who in rare cases can occur in the Human Body. In Star Trek, Mr. Spock is a Vulcan, known for having green blood. This can occur in humans and is known as sulfhaemoglobinaemia. In Doctor Who, the Doctor is a Time Lord with two hearts, sometimes when humans have cardiomyopathy doctors will graft a second heart onto the original to share the work.

**<span style="color: #13a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 140%;">Sulfhaemoglobinaemia: **

<span style="color: #13a00a; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Sulfhaemoglobinaemia is caused by a sulfur atom incorporated into the hemoglobin molecule, this can be caused by medicine such as sulfonamides. The green color is caused by excess sulfhemoglobin which as mentioned above is hemoglobin with an extra sulfur atom. Sulfhemoglobin cannot carry oxygen and cannot be converted back into regular functional hemoglobin. Normally this condition is able to resolve itself as blood cells only live for about a hundred to a hundred twenty days. Though, in some extreme cases blood transfusions are required because not enough oxygen is being transported by the remaining functional hemoglobin. Little is known about this rare disease, medicine is only a possible cause but has not been supported nor rejected by experimentation. A Canadian patient was found to have green blood during an unrelated surgery on his leg. The coloring was believed to be caused by his medicine and a few weeks after he stopped taking his medicine no trace of sulfhaemoglobinaemia was found.

**<span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 140%;">Cardiomyopathy: ** <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> Hannah Clark <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> Cardiomyopathy is a heart disease where the muscle gets bigger or more rigid than normal, in rare cases the muscle tissue is replaced with scar tissue. Many people who have this disease are minimally effected and many do not realize they have this disease. Though in more serious cases this can cause heart failure, heart valve problems, cardiac arrest or an abnormal heart rhythm. <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> In many cases this disease does not need treatment and may suddenly come and go. In cases that lead to high blood pressure a diet and exercise change, along with other lifestyle changes. In other cases medicine can also be given to decrease blood pressure, lower heart rate, prevent blood clots, and more. In more severe cases or cases where medicines do not work surgery is preformed. There are various surgeries in which part of the heart can be removed, a peacemaker/left ventricle assist device/implantable cardioverter defibrillator can be inserted or a heart transplant can occur. The heart transplant normally involves the removal of the original heart so a heart from a donor can replace it. In some cases it is safer for the doctor to graft the donor heart onto the original heart. <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> In the case of Hannah Clark, she had a heart grafted onto hers at the age of 2 because her own heart was not strong enough. The second heart allowed her original heart to rest and strengthen still growing inside her while the donor heart pumped the blood. In order to prevent her body from rejecting the donor heart she had to take many types of medicine to lower her immune response. At the age of eleven she got cancer which later was removed and her donor heart was also removed allowing her to live a normal life without the medicines limiting her immune system. This grafting of the heart allowed her to live and to later be able to live with just her original heart which grew stronger inside her.

<span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">media type="custom" key="25978070" <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Basic explanation on the ability of humans to have two hearts like the Doctor and octopuses. <span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">media type="custom" key="26023944"

<span style="color: #c90e47; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">This video tells about Hannah as described above with an interve about her daily life such as her love for animals and shopping.

These two topics apply to the past two weeks because both have to do with making life sustainable. sulfhaemoglobinaemia is believed to be caused by medicinces known as sulfonamides which are used for various conditions one common use is their ability to inhibit growth and reproduction of bacteria and its aid in inflammatory bowl disease. So, the green coloring of the blood is a side affect of one item that is used to make our lives more sustainable and comfortable. Similar to Wall-E and the loss of bone structure it is a harmful side effect of attempts to improve life. Cardiomyopathy is a heart condition that effects many people to varying degrees and in extreme cases can be life threatening. In order to sustain life sometimes a new heart is required and sometimes the original heart cannot be safely taken out of the person which leaves the person with two hearts. In the case of Hannah clark a side effect of this was that her original heart was able to grow stronger allowing her to eventually live with just her original heart. Doctors are always working on new treatments and medicines to better our lives and make them more sustainable even when faced with life threatening conditions. These two examples just show how unforcence or even forcene effects of these treatments and medicines can effect lives for worse or better. Also it connects to the world clock we looked at which at this momment for the year has recorded 6,753,908 people who died of cardiovascular disease this year and almost 14,000,000 people who died of noncimmunicable disease this year. Hannah is just one example of someone who survived a life threatening condition. Medicine is continually advancing with steps both foward and back as we try to decrease the numbers under mortality. ( http://www.poodwaddle.com/Stats/)