BIOLOGY!

KABAM!

2008-05-15T13:58:00.001-07:00

The product that I have created is KABAM! It contains a highly-effective solution that has immediate effect on a broken bone, sprain, muscle strain, etc. I play softball. If I am injured, I want fast relief. I tried KABAM! on my broken leg and it was back to normal in less than 5 minutes! It was amazing! You need this product. It works!

If this product was real, I would predict a bright future. Many students play sports and they easily get injured or hurt. If their injury was serious, they would have to go to a doctor and get a cast. Casts are so troublesome. They prevent you from doing your daily activities, such as walking, if you hurt your leg. This product will enable you to use your legs and arms since you do not need a cast for it to work. It also increases recovery, meaning you can go back and play your sport faster!

Learn about broken bones here

Tylenol

2008-05-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

In 1955, Robert McNeil introduced Tylenol for children. This was important because it was assumed that aspirin caused Reye's syndrome. Reye's syndrome is a disorder that affects tPublish Posthe liver and brain that can cause death. Later, more Tylenol products were developed such as Tylenol PM, Infant's Tylenol, and Tylenol Allergy Sinus. In 1959, McNeil Laboratories was placed at the top of the pharmaceutical industry. The active ingredient in Tylenol is acetaminophen, used for headaches, fever, muscle and body pain, arthritis, and joint pain. Tylenol was popular back then and still is today.

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Elmer's Glue

2008-05-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

Elmer's Glue is used all over the world. About 47 million elementary school students use Elmer's Glue on a weekly basis. Elmer's Glue was once used to build a bridge out of pasta that supported 2,350 pounds! As you can see, Elmer's Glue is pretty strong stuff. I think Elmer's Glue will continue to sell a lot of glue and be very successful.

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AWESOME FUNGI!

2008-05-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

In Pripyat, inside the tomb of the Chernobyl reactor, scientists discovered large amounts of live fungi. What was so amazing about this discovery was the fact that it was highly radioactive in the tomb, and the scientists didn't expect to find anything living in it. The fungi was living off of gamma radiation. These fungi grew even faster when they were exposed to 500 times the normal background radiation level. The fungi use melanin, which, when struck by a gamma ray is chemically altered. This discovery also leads to the question of whether humans get some of their energy from radiation, since we have melanin molecules in our skin cells. It also implies that there could be organisms living in space where ionizing radiation is plentiful.

I thought this was very interesting, and the fact that I could be getting energy from radiation is just incredible. I would like to see this discovery further investigated, so I can learn more about it.

Link to the article

Guest Speaker

2008-04-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Pamela Fong came in to speak to Mr. Olson's class about the eye. She is an eye doctor, or optometrist. It was very fascinating, and I learned a lot of interesting things. I learned that everybody's iris is unique, and no two irises are the same. I also learned that you can tell how old somebody is by looking at their eyes. Younger people have more sheen than older people. I'm so glad I got to listen to Dr. Pamela Fong's lecture.

We also had a sheep dissection where we got to see the different parts of the eye hands-on. It was awesome!

SCORPION!

2008-02-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpionida
Family: Scorpionidae
Genus: Euscorpious
Species: Carpathicus

Habitat;
Euscorpious carpathicus lives above ground, but also occupies caves and intertidal zones.

Predators;
The main predators of scorpions are carnivorous marsupials, rodents, lizards, nocturnal birds, centipedes, and other scorpions.

Prey;
Scorpions prey mostly on arthropods such as beetles, cockroaches, spiders, slaters, centipedes, and millipedes.

Anatomy;
Scorpions have eight legs; each leg has tiny claws. Scorpions have a hard exoskeleton and not an internal skeleton. The stinger at the end of the tail injects a paralyzing poison into the prey. Unlike other arachnids, scorpions have large, pincer-like pedipalps, appendages used to grab and subdue prey. Most scorpions are from 0.5 to 8.5 inches long. They range in color from black to brown to tan to red. Tiny sensory hairs protrude from the exoskelton; they detect touch, temperature changes, and other information. Comb-like sensors on the bottom of the body also give the scorpion information about the environment.

Reflection on Lecture

2008-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Dr. Louise Mead from the National Center for Science Education came to Mr.Olson's sixth period class and told us about Evolution and Creationism. Evolution is the change in species over time. Creationism is the belief that God created the world and all living things. Personally, I do not believe in evolution, although it is very interesting. Evidence for evolution is found in biogeography, comparative anatomy, molecular biology, fossil record, and developmental biology. A fact that I found interesting was that humans have 46 chromosomes instead of 48 like monkeys and gorillas because some chromosomes fused together over time. This lecture was very riveting, and I gained a lot of knowledge.

Tadpoles Grow Extra Eye On Command

2007-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

Scientists at the University of Warwick in England have discovered a genetic switch that can cause tadpoles to grow an extra eye. Neuroscientist Nicholas Dale, biologist Elizabeth Jones, and some colleagues made this discovery while they were studying ectoenzyme molecules on the external surface of cells. They injected molecules into frog embryos, which contain eight cells. One of the ectoenzymes produced eye development. When it was added to the cells that would become the head, the tadpole grew three eyes instead of two. Injected into other developing body cells, the ectoenzyme also caused an eye to grow on that body part. This discovery is a major step toward growing eyeballs or eye parts.

I thought this was kind of gross,

but cool at the same time.

It could also be veryhelpful

if you're missing an eye.

See the article here.

Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms

2007-11-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

A team of French biologists discovered the effects hairworms had on grashoppers when they found grasshoppers trapped in a swimming pool in southern France. Although it was not clear how the hairworms got into the grasshoppers, a scientist called Biron says it might happen when the grasshoppers drink larvae-infested water. Once the hairworm is full-grown, it releases proteins that influence the grasshoppers' central nervous systems and causes it to commit suicide so the hairworm can reproduce. This finding may help the development of medical treatments for diseases such as rabies, sleeping sickness, and toxoplasmosis. These diseases manipulate their victim in similar ways that the hairworm does. I thought this article was very interesting and it amazed me the discoveries that scientists could make from discovering strange things.

Click here for a link to the article.

The Water Lab

2007-09-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today, we had a waterlab. We got to see the different properties of water such as cohesion, adhesion, capillary action, and surface tension. It was lots of FUN and I learned a lot of things I never knew before like how water has both positive and negative charges and how water acted in different situations. This lab was awesomepossum.