Pig Dissection

In this lab we dissected a fetal pig. The purpose of this lab was for us to understand the physiology of another organism and see how it their organs and organ systems relate to those of humans, as they are both mammals. I was able to learn a lot through this lab, and it really helped me compare the pig’s anatomy to a human’s anatomy, and relate the concepts learned through this labs to the vodcasts that we are currently doing in class.

The external anatomy of the pig contained its wrists, shoulders, digits, thoracic cavity, and abdominal cavities. THis is similar to our external anatomy, as our wrists and shoulders are used for the similar purposes and we have fingers like the pig’s digits. We also have thoracic and abdominal cavities. In regards to the digestive system, we have nearly all of the same organs as the fetal pig, included the esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, small and large intestine as well as the rectum. There are a few differences between the liver of humans and pigs - The human liver has 4 lobes, while the pig liver has 5. Interestingly, there is no food in the stomach of the pig, mainly because it is a fetus.

This is similar for the respiratory, circulatory and reproductive systems. All the primary organs of these systems, ie. the lungs, diaphragm, heart, coronary artery, kidneys ureters, bladder, etc. This is mainly how I relate to what we have learned in this unit, and the striking similarities between the pig and human anatomy, solidified my understanding of the material taught.

My favorite part of this lab was probably analyzing the pig and its organs. It was really interesting to see what was in some of the organs that the functions of each part. Inside the heart we were able to see the ventricles and atria. In my opinion this dissection is a very valuable learning experience for many students, because it really helped me connect the dots of everything that we have been learning throughout our unit vodcasts.  

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20 Time Project Individual Reflection

For the past two months, we have developed an experiment, for a “20 Time Project” in our science class. The goal of the 20 time project was first displayed through’s google’s pact to their employees. Google wanted their employees to spend 20 percent of their time, doing what they enjoyed, and what they wanted to bring to Google’s variety of products. Some products that came out of this new philosophy were Google News, GMail and even AdSense, google’s highest grossing products.

Our science teacher replicated this, for the classroom, in which we got to design an experiment in which we were learning something about science, more specifically biology, while also having fun, and doing something that we were interested in. That’s why we chose to do an experiment about music, and how it can affect your neural performance - in layman’s terms, Can music help you study and learn the material better, and if so what type of music and at what volume?

I chose this experiment because as a student I always was interested in study tips and what can make you a better overall learner. There are numerous studies, that take many different stances on this topic - Some suggest that music enables you to create a pace to your studying, and even relaxes your brain making it more susceptible to understanding information. On the other hand, experts say that music can distract you from learning information and can be detrimental to your overall understanding of concepts.

With many differing views, I wanted to devise an experiment that would be able to tell which of these views were right, and also give me an idea of what music to listen to, in order to study. This would be able to benefit many students who were interested in learning how to study better. To see the results of what genres of music paired with what volumes improved/deterred studying, wait for our 20-time Write Up, coming soon.

We tested the main 4 genres of music, hip-hop, pop, classical and country, against 6 different brain factors: speed of processing, memory, attention, flexibility, problem-solving, and reaction time. Speed of processing was divided into 3 subdivisions, information processing, spatial reasoning, and visualization. Flexibility was split into task switching, response inhibition, and verbal fluency. Memory was divided into working memory and recall. Attention was divided into divided attention, selective attention and field of view. Problem-solving was split into reasoning, planning, and numerical calculation.

We decided to test this experiment while also having a little fun along the way, to make our experiment more desirable to participate in. Rather than taking tests or answering questions to determine improvement of performance, we decided to play games and look at cumulative scores to see whether music helped or hurt the subject’s performance. We did this through a subscription brain games model, called Lumosity. In each game, lumosity tested a number of different factors, including the speed in which the game was completed, the accuracy and other factors for each specific game.

In order to achieve the desired results for our experiment, we had to create a plan that would not take into account the subject’s own intelligence as a factor into what improves performance. This is why we had each subject play the brain game without any music to get a baseline score. From then on, every time the subject played a game while listening to music, we recorded the difference either positive or negative from their baseline score to determine the effect that music had.

Throughout the experiment, we executed our plan nearly flawlessly, with one main difficulty. Certain subjects that were either smarter or that appreciate different kinds of music were scoring differently based on these factors. We didn’t want a subject’s personal characteristics to affect our experiment’s results, so we had to figure out a way to test the subject's without taking into account how smart they were or what music they liked. Thus, we randomized the subject pool and had different subjects play the games each time, thus there would be no bias in the experiment to people that appreciate certain kinds of music, or subjects that were just simply smarter.With different subjects testing different parts of the experiment, we got results that purely indicated what effect the music had, and not other outlying factors.

One of the things we did really well, was finish testing, quickly and effectively. With 4 genres of music at three volumes, testing 16 different subdivisions, we needed to perform nearly 200 different tests to get all the results we needed. This was not a really easy task to do, especially with the time crunch we had, along with the restraints on class time we sometimes had.

Nevertheless, we were able to test both in class and outside of class, and do not have to cut down an experiment at all. In some cases, all of the types of music improved performance, in other cases only some improved music, and music did not help in only very few of the categories. The fact is, music mostly helps improve performance, given that you listen to the right kinds of music while doing the certain activities.

During this experiment, I was able to learn multiple skills, primarily working to finish an experiment with a partner. I am generally a person who likes to get everything right, especially when doing a project and sometimes fear that others involved might screw it up. Because I wanted to get better at overall collaborative work, I decided to work with a partner for this project. This decision was quite a risk as I didn’t know what working with a partner on such a big assignment might entail.

However, Justin has been a very supportive partner, and what we both share in common is our ability to get things done in an effective and timely manner. Because we both understood the experiment very well and loved the concept behind our testing, we were always on top of our working, making sure to meet deadlines in order to finish all the testing we needed by the end of the semester. Because of this, I was able to take a backseat in some other testing and need not worry about everything getting done perfectly.

Another soft skill that I learned through this endeavor was meeting deadlines, as aforementioned. Because of the constant time crunch that we were on, and such a big experiment to complete, we needed to set deadlines for ourselves, and we needed to make sure that we met all of them despite any other circumstances. We did this for most of the project, however, sometimes we need to push our deadlines, which was manageable, mainly because of the small increments we did our testing in. Additionally, we helped each other out whenever needed, allowing us to focus on other activities as well, without being stressed out about finishing our testing.

If I had a chance to do this project again, there isn't much that I would change, mainly because our experiment went nearly flawlessly. I might want to dig a bit deeper into why the brain reacts to music in the way it does, and why certain types of music help certain areas of the brain function while others don't. For now, we were only able to use previous research and information about the brain to answer these questions at a surface level. However, to get a deeper understanding about this, we would need much more costly materials as well as much more time to analyze results better.

I learned a lot about myself while doing this project. I primarily noticed that when I am more relaxed while doing a long term project, it tends to yield more results. Further, our good organization and ability to divide the experiment and testing into small increments allowed us to both take our time while testing each part and test each part correctly and effectively. I learned the value and importance of collaboration and organization.

We have exhausted all we can do for this experiment without much more funding and knowledge. However, I am interested in doing similar projects that I find interesting and that relate to science.

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 was about what on earth evolved. The very first concept we learned was about classification and evolutionary relationships. Taxonomy is the study of naming and classifying organisms, with the purpose to avoid confusion with common names. Carolus Linnaeus a Swedish botanist who live in the early 1700s originally classified all life as plant or animal and create the 7 levels of organization including the scientific name, known as the binomial nomenclature. The binomial nomenclature is a two name system to name organisms made up of the genus and species names. There are certain rules to the name process; If you discover the ograms, you name it. It must the underlined or italicizes, the genus name is capitalized and the species name is lowercased. It is based on Latin. Phylogeny is the evolutionary history and relationships of species using taxonomy The phylogenetic tree shows shared ancestry. Node,s where th branches meet, present a common ancestor. There are 7 main taxonomic levels: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.

The second concept we learned about was Kingdoms and Domains. Taxonomic groups go from broad to narrow are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. There are three main domains, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. In the Eukarya domain, there are 4 main kingdoms - protista, fungi, plantae, and animalia. It is really fascinating to see that we are only 1 of the 800,000 species in the Animalia kingdom, and there are 799,999 other consumers and heterotrophs that are in the same kingdom The Archaea domain live near hydrothermal vents, hot springs, digestive tracts of animals, anoxic muds and marshes and petroleum deposits. . The protista are very diverse, while fungi are decomposers and heterotrophic, while plantae come in both vascular and nonvascular forms

Next, we learned about Bacteria and Viruses. Earth’s first organisms were likely prokaryotes, and most prokaryotes are unicellular. There are three common shapes of of bacteria, spheres (cocci), rods (bacilli) and spirals. Bacterial cell walls contain peptidoglycan, a network of sugar polymers cross linked by polypeptides. Scientists use the gram stain to classify bacteria by cell wall composition. Gram positive bacteria have simpler walls with large amount of peptidoglycan, and gram negative bacteria have less peptidoglycan and an outer membrane that can be toxic. Most mobile bacteria propel themselves by flagella scattered about the surface of concentrates at one of both engs. Chemoheterotrophs: Heterotrophic bacteria that take in organic molecules. Ex: Staphylococcus aureus in undercooked food Photoautotrophs: Use light to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbon compounds. Ex: cyanobacteria Chemoautotrophs: Use energy directly from chemical reactions involving ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrites, sulfur, or iron. Obligate aerobe: Must have oxygen to survive. Ex: Tuberculosis - Mycobacterium tuberculosis Obligate anaerobes: Can not have oxygen. Botulism from canned food. Ex: Clostridium botulinum Facultative anaerobes: Alternate between oxygen and fermentation depending on change in environment.

We also learned about viruses in the same lesson. Viruses are not cells, it is a very small infectious particle consisting of nucleic acid enclosed in a  protein coat and in some cases, a membranous envelope. Viral genomes may consist of either double or single stranded DNa or double or single stranded RNA. A capsized is the protein shell that encloses the viral genome. Some viruses have membranous envelopes that help them infect hosts called viral envelopes. They are derived from the host cell’s membrane and they contain a combination of viral and host cell molecules. Once a viral genome has entered a cell, the cell begins to manufacture viral proteins. The virus makes use of host enzymes, ribosomes, tRNAs, amino acids, ATP, and molecules. Viral nucleic acid molecules and capsomeres spontaneously self-assemble into new viruses. Lytic Infection: Virus enters a cell, makes copies of itself, and causes the cell to burst. Lysogenic Infection: A virus integrates its DNA into the DNA of the host cell, and the viral genetic information replicates along with the host cell’s DNA.

Next, we learned about fungi and plants. Plants and fungi have different traits. Fungal walls are made of chitin, while plants cell walls are made of cellulose. PLants have chlorophyll and photosynthesis while fungi absorb food through hyphae. There are three main types of fungi - sac fungi, bread molds and club fungi. Fungi Can also act as mutualists - lichens form between fungi and algae while mycorrhizae form between fungi and plants. They are useful in several ways, as food, antibiotics, and as model system for molecular biology. They can also cat as pathogens, preventing human diseases including ringworm and athlete's foot, and plant diseases including Dutch elm disease. Plants, first grew at the edges of water, and evolved through natural selection. Bryophytes are the mosses, and their relatives are the seedless nonvascular plants. Pterophyta are ferns and they are seedless vascular plants. Their vascular system allows them to get off the ground resulting in more photosynthesis. Roots allow absorption of water and nutrients, while the leaves allow for more photosynthesis. Gymnosperms are cone bearing plants which their seeds in cones. The cone is the reproductive structure of most gymnosperms. There are three major phyla -  Cycads, Ginkgos and Conifers. Angiosperms are flowering plants with seeds enclosed in the fruits. It is one phylum and it is the largest in the plant kingdom. There are two major types of angiosperms, monocots and dicots.

After plants, we learned about invertebrates which make up 97 percent of all animal species. Difference in their body plants result from different in expression of Hox genes, which tell embryonic cells which body part or\to become. Animals are grouped using a variety of criteria -body plan symmetry, tissue layers and developmental patterns. Major Invertebrate phyla include sponges, phylum Porifera, cnidarians, flatworms, and mollusks. Sponges are the most primitive species of Earth and share common characteristics - they are sessile ad have no symmetry. They reproduc eboth sexuall and asecxually and their cells work together to filter feed. Flatworms have a solid body and an incomplete or absent gut, many are parasitic. Mollusks are bilateral animals and have a  complete digestive tract. Annelids have segmented bodies and a coelom. Arthropods are the most diverse of all animals and their features are highly adapted. They have an exoskeleton made of chitin, jointed appendages and segmented body parts. Arthropods also have an open circulatory system. Insects are the dominant terrestrial arthropod, they have three pairs of legs and one pair of antennae. Their body has three parts - the head thorax and abdomen. Crustaceans are a diverse group of ancient arthropods, and they share several common features. They have two distinct body sections and one pair of appendages per segment. Echinoderms are on the same evolutionary branch as vertebrates - they have radial symmetry, they have an internal skeleton and a water vascular system.

Chordates are all vertebrates and some invertebrates. An endoskeleton allows vertebrates to grow to large sizes. There are seven main classes of vertebrate chordates. Agnatha, jawless fish, chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish with jaws, osteichthyes, bony fish with haws, amphibia, four limbed animals that can live on water and land, reptiles, lay eggs surrounded by membranes, aves, birds, and mammals, hairy animals. There are only two classes of Agnatha that still exist, lampreys and hagfish. Amphibians evolved from lobe finned fish and a number of adaptation allow them to live on land. They have large shoulders, mobile and muscular tongues, and they breathe through skin or with gills. The amniotic egg allowed vertebrates to reproduce on land. Reptiles are a diverse group of amniotes that share several characteristics - ectothermal, covered with scales, three chambered heart, and cloaca. Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs and they share several anatomical features - hollow bones, fused collarbones and rearranged hip muscles. Mammals are the dominant terrestrial arthropod.

There are a few unanswered questions that I have. Of the many phylums, which do scientists study the most and what organisms have the best medicinal uses. I really enjoyed learning about invertebrates and I would love to learn more about them

This is my presentation for what on earth evolved. I loved the presentation as I was able to learn more about the organism and practice speaking about a topic. I could have practiced a bit more and even changed my slides to include less information so I could have talked more about the species rather than reading off the slides. I hope to do more presentations like this one in the future especially in science topics as it really helped me.