Jean

=Week 4: Bringing Back Extinct Species= I was wondering how scientists were planning on bringing back extinct species like the speaker mentioned in the TED talk video we saw on Monday. It turns out that scientists think they can use frozen sperm from animals like the mammoth to recover the extinct species from 10,000 years ago. Scientists have already tested frozen sperm in mice, and the sperm is able to produce healthy offspring when joined with a mouse egg.

There are some downsides to this proposal though. Bringing back mammoths may not be such a good idea, since their DNA from so long ago may be broken up already. Also, they will no longer have the habitat they used to live in, and they could mess up existing food chains. In addition, the animal created may have a lot of health issues and be unable to survive. So far experiments for bringing back the mammoth have been unsuccessful.

Researchers are planning to join the frozen mammoth sperm with an egg from a closely related species, like an elephant. This, however, would create only an elephant-mammoth hybrid. After repeating the test many times, scientists hope to make a near-original mammoth.



Article here: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060814_extinct.htm

=Week 3: Biomimicry=

When we watched the TED talk about bright green cities, they mentioned biomimicry as a solution for saving energy! Biomimicry is the imitation of nature which can help solve some of our problems.

One example of biomimicry is the imitation of self-cooling African termite mounds. A building in Zimbabwe is now able to operate without a heating and cooling system because of the opening and closing of vents which regulates its temperature year round. It uses less than 10% of the energy of a conventional building its size. http://inhabitat.com/building-modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/ Another example of new design that is energy saving and eco-efficient is the biomimicry of shark skin. Scientists observed that sharks move with barely any drag, and the surface of their skin does not have ecto-parasites (like barnacles) attached to it. Shark skin as actually not smooth at all. The grooves on the scales help channel the water and helps the shark move faster through water. It also reduces the contact time and provides an unstable surface for the ecto-parasites. These observations are being used to redesign ships' hulls from smooth surfaces to ridged ones like the shark skin. http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/home-page-content/home-page-content/biomimicking-sharks.html The biomimicry of humpback whale flippers is now being used to improve fan blades. Humpback whale flippers have the unique characteristic of having bumps on the front side of their flippers, called tubercles, which improves aerodynamics. This goes against the common thought that smooth surfaces reduce drag. The company WhalePower Corporation produces these fan blades with tubercle inspired designs,and they move 25% more air than regular fans while using 20% less electricity. http://www.asknature.org/strategy/3f2fb504a0cd000eae85d5dcc4915dd4

Nature is really the best teacher. Even when our logic provides us with misconceptions about how to better the world, when we go back to nature and observe it closely, we can save energy and the environment just by following how nature operates.

=Week 2: Converting Trash Gas into Energy=

This week, our class taught preschoolers about pond life. We also incorporated the concept of conservation into our lessons to teach the children about the environment in their young age. One little girl, named Ryan, told me that she hated seeing trash left all around where she lived. She even told me that there was an easy solution to littering: change all of the trash into gas! I thought it was a really good idea, so I did some research on it.

It turns out that there is a lot of methane gas found in landfills given off by bacteria consuming the trash. As methane is both a greenhouse gas and a source of energy, the effect of the greenhouse gas can be reduced by taking advantage of the energy provided by methane. Wells collect the gas from the landfills. Then, the gas is used to generate electricity or directly burn in engines and boilers, heat greenhouses, and fuel vehicles. The impact of landfill gas is pretty great. Not only is it economically ideal, but also it is environmentally friendly. "In total, the projects produce the energy equivalent of electricity for 725,000 homes or heat for 1.2 million homes."

2006 article about methane gas in landfills: http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-25/tech/landfill.gas_1_lmop-landfill-gas-landfill-methane-outreach-program?_s=PM:TECH

Midland Landfill is one of the landfills that converts the methane gas from trash into electricity media type="youtube" key="UA8mohLD7Xg" height="349" width="425"

=Week 1: **Savant Syndrome**=

Savant syndrome is the condition in which people with a developmental disability have a special ability that normal people do not have. The common trait in most savants is a type of extraordinary memory. Savants are also found to be artistically or musically talented. Temple Grandin was an example of a savant. Although she was severely autistic, she had photographic memory. Temple had the ability to recall images from the past and connect her thoughts through her mind pictures.

Savant syndrome is said to be either genetic or acquired. In some cases, the savant skill can appear or disappear suddenly. Approximately half of savants are autistic, while the other half have some other developmental disability. In very rare cases, called prodigious savants, the person has a special skill without having any disorders. Seemingly, savant syndrome is like a trade-off of abilities - the savant is often impaired in some way but has a particular skill. However, the prodigious savants are like a counterexample to this theory.

No one is exactly sure about the cause for savant syndrome. One theory states that savants tap into less accessed parts of the brain that normal people can not access in their consciousness. Another theory states that savants, unable to function well socially, are forced to pay attention to and remember the details of human interaction, thus strengthening their analytical ability and memory.

Here is a link that has information on savant syndrome and autism. It also provides an interesting table of savant skills. http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/Savant%20Syndrome.htm