James

Week 4 - Cloning

The majority of the class time was spent in the Lab area conducting an investigation on DNA, specifically PCR. PCR is a machine which uses precise temperature control and fluctuations to replicate, separate and anneal DNA, producing perfect copies of the original. Similar to this process is cloning or DNA replication of the macro scale. Contrary to popular belief, cloning does have applications in sustainability - its "other" applications are almost too well known due to the science fiction movies of the 21st century. For example, this article informs us that food coming from cloned animals is edible and safe (FDA). []

This is a huge milestone according to Stephen Sundloff, this is a huge milestone; before the FDA's decision, any cloned animals that had outlived their life simply went to the moratorium - a waste of the products of expensive research. However, one might ask why cloning an animal beats genetic diversity. Simply put, not all cows are the same - “When you buy a box of Cheerios in New York and one in Champaign, Illinois, you know they are going to be the same,” said Jon Fisher, president and owner of Prairie State Semen in Illinois. “By shortening the genetic pool using clones, you can do a similar thing.” Cloning allows one to recreate prime specimens (sometimes pulling them from the dead - see video) that yield the best products not to consume, (cloning is an expensive and resource-draining process) but to breed so that the offspring can be used for consumer purposes. The sustainability application comes into play when cloning is combined with a twist of genetic engineering. Imagine a cow that is extremely grain efficient, halving the amount of feed required to raise it. Now that would be nearly every Americans dream.

media type="youtube" key="gqpErbFnbiY" height="480" width="853" Week 3 - A Deck of Cards This past week, the class made trips to both Robbin's Park and the Cafeteria Courtyard at UD. Most noticed that the latter of the two was in more humid circumstances - feeling the heat of summer. Another phenomenon that most people fail to realize is that a deck of ordinary playing cards is also corresponding to the four seasons along with the days of the year and the 13 lunar cycles. For example, the four hands correspond to the seasons and each deck of cards has 365 dots, the same number of days in a year. media type="custom" key="23224750" You might wonder how playing cards can have links to biology other than the reference to the seasons. []

It turns out that magicians especially those that involve playing cards play upon the audience's brain with carefully utilized methods of deception and misdirection. " For example, in [|one study], a magician threw a ball into the air a few times. On the third throw, however, he only pretended to throw it. Two thirds of the participants reported seeing the ball vanish in mid-air, even though it never left his hand. The participants saw something amazing — something that never actually happened." Scientist Jay Olsen (also the author of the article above) postulates that magic plays upon human nature - the tendencies in how we perceive ourselves. These patterns are obviously dependent upon the neural links in the brain and often our incredulity and wonder are results of our failure to make certain connections.





Week 2 - Electroceuticals

New Wireless Electronics could heal wounds and then dissolve:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/remote-controlled-dissolvable-electronics/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wiredscience+%28Wired%3A+Blog+-+Wired+Science%29

Pharmaceuticals have been the one of the keystones in medical treatment for illnesses, injuries and other irregularities in the human system. However, they are severely limited, only effective if ingested orally or injected by the needle - even then it is nonspecific (disperses to the entire bloodstream). Recently, there have been studies on electronics that could perform the functions of traditional pills and then self-terminate harmlessly so as to not cause any damage to the body. Such roles could include stimulating nerve and bone growth, helping to heal wounds, delivering drugs, or acting as antibiotics.  These electronics, called "electroceuticals," are made of super thin magnesium silk and dissolve in deionized water within minutes. However, this short time frame should not be an issue as mechanical engineer John Rogers at the University of Illinois states, "In each case, the device needs to function only for a timeframe set by a healing process. As such, the ideal scenario is for the device to simply disappear afterward."

Future Possibilities
 One of the biggest limiting factors in biology is the creation, synthesis, analysis, and manipulation of things on the microscopic level. For example, scientists attempting to clone sheep will have to transplant the DNA from the donor organism to the egg of another female, thus increasing the possibilities for contamination, compatibility, etc. The human immune system and cell-specific receptors are a phenomenal feature, but they limit the extent of anything outside the body including elements that could provide aid. The new technology surpasses the body's automatic "firewalls" by synthesizing micro particles super specific to each and every organism. Some of this magic can already be seen in the Transfusion of Synthetic Blood: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">[]



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Where a synthetic known as HBOC201--a hemoglobin-based oxygen-carrying synthetic containing a molecule derived from cow plasma -- acted as a temporary replacement for organic blood.

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Week 1 - Bio-nanotechnology <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">For this first week, what first caught my eye was a recent article in a biology feed on bionanotechnology. Specifically, the DNA-guided assembly yielding novel ribbon nanostructures. The full article can be found here:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">I admit, all this can be confusing for students taking AP Bio - it took me quite a while to figure it out also. Therefore, I will summarize it for you so you can maximize the usage of your time. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of atomic or molecular particles. Bio-nanotechnology usually involves DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid and more DNA. This is primarily because DNA is the key to RNA, proteins, polypeptides and all else that is in the body. If biologists want to change the natural order of things, they can hope for a mutation (aka play the lottery) or try synthesizing DNA. The most accurate way to synthesize DNA has always been with nanotechnology since errors are common on the macro scale. Scientists have already figured out how to build synthetic DNA with adenine, guanine, etc, but there are countless horizons that are unexplored. Thus, this article explores one of the avenues of research stemming from the basics. At the moment, this discovery has no practical application as nanorods have the capability to bind without DNA (see below for explanation), but the future is full of possibilities.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">How it all goes down:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">So basically, IF you choose to go into a biology-related major in the specific field of nanotechnology (that's a big IF) then go ahead and read the entire article. However, as of right now I have no idea of who exactly is reading this so I'll just give you the basics - a team of researchers found out that you can use DNA as "glue." Yes, that's right. It's not a typo, now scientists can actually use synthetic or man-made DNA to link together nanorods. Pretty cool huh? Watch the next video to find out why this matters in today's world.



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Here's a guy lect <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">uring about DNA and nanotehnology. The meat of this video is the second half where he actually explains advanced biology and gives some practical applications of bionanotechnology in creating DNA. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">media type="youtube" key="qHWvjPmSsPw" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Ok, to be completely honest, this is not geared towards an VERY detailed informative purpose, but the guy does have some interesting humor and it was a fun animation that is a quick intro for the student who does not enjoy the standard lectures from a grumpy old professor.

media type="youtube" key="ITtGJUGXFKc" width="560" height="315" =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Something Extra: The Future =