Unit 10 Reflection

In this unit I learned about homeostasis which is when the body maintains equilibrium in response to outside factors like temperature. I also learned about the circulatory and respiratory systems which work together to ensure every cell in your body can maintain homeostasis. Something else I learned about is the nervous system which has two parts: Central Nervous System that includes the brainstem, and spinal cord, and Peripheral Nervous System that includes cranial nerves, spinal nerves, sensory neurons and motor neurons. Another system I learned about was the endocrine system which is a system made up of glands that regulate hormones. In the pig dissection we saw the pancreas which releases insulin to decrease blood sugar levels and glucagon to increase it. The main theme of the unit was physiology and how the different systems work together to maintain homeostasis.

In this picture the body maintains homeostasis by sweating to cool down when it is hot and by shivering to heat up when it is cold.

Image credit: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/sites/default/files/resources/articles/singing_in_rain/temp_control.gif

I want to learn more about the lymphatic system because it was hard to understand. I also wonder about the connection between this system and the other systems in the body. One question I still have about the lymphatic system is how does it get rid of waste in the body?

When I looked back at my old blog posts I found my biology collage (http://pranayjalanbio.blogspot.com/2015/09/pranays-biology-collage.html) where I made a collage of characteristics of life. Back then I did not know much about biology. I did not really know much about homeostasis but now I understand it better. During the year, I learned that homeostasis is maintaining equilibrium in the body. I have grown a lot since August by taking a lot of vodcast notes and studying very well. In the process I have learned so much about biology and myself.  In August one of my goals was to become better at lab write ups and I think I accomplished my goal. I also believe that I became a better note-taker through this class. I am most proud of the sweetness lab (http://pranayjalanbio.blogspot.com/2015/09/sweetness-lab.html) because I had a lot of fun tasting the different types of carbohydrates. I wrote this blog post very well and understood the concepts of the lab.

20 time Individual Reflection

I challenged myself by trying to figure out how the electric motor works and the environmental benefits of electric cars. I chose to research electric cars because they are my interest and I like to sit inside them. My goal was to learn more about electric cars and their range and qualify for the TED Talk. I was focused on helping others because I wanted to help the environment.  My plan to achieve my goal was to research the different electric car-making companies. I collected a lot of information from the environmental groups about electric car and their impact on the environment. I also researched about electrical power plants because they pollute the environment which is a problem to be solved. My project went well because I was researching a lot and learned about electric cars. My project will be life long because we will have new electric cars in the future.  I want to learn more about how to reduce the price of electric cars and make them more environmentally friendly.  I learned that electric cars are very expensive and how they affect the environment.  Next time if I do this project again I would study diiferent interests like planes, or boats and their environmental impact. I would like to continue this challenge because electric cars are my interest and I want to learn more about them. 

Unit 9 Reflection

This unit I learned about phylogeny which is the evolutionary history and relationships of species using taxonomy. Also, I learned that birds are dinosaurs in terms of bone similarity and beaks. I want to learn more about how plants become fungi over time. A question I still have is why do we get AIDS?  I wonder what life would be like if we still had dinosaurs.

From my presentation I learned that fruit flies eye colors are sex-linked. I did very good because I prepared a lot and was interested in my topic. If I was to do it again I would memorize my presentation to make it more fun for the class. In my TED Talk I will use what I learned from this presentation to shorten the bullet point notes.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZBxfFIZlh6Pa_ZjjjCNWd2uNFQ0IYPfKhRFt-yjuTzA/edit#slide=id.p

My Inner Fish

In this movie, I learned about evolution because we connect with fish. We have the similar bones but fish has fins and we have hands. They found a fossil by the side of the highway. I found interesting that they were able to find the fossil and it was exactly that they were looking for. Tiktaalik had a neck and use this to look for food. They found a shoulder girdle was part of a tetrapod.  Birds, dogs, humans have one bone and two bones and digits we knew that we were connected to them. They went to Antartica and found a transition fish that was a Tiktaalik was strong enough to get itself out of the water. They found something that was not quite a fish because it can go onto land and it also had a moveable wrist and an elbow and a shoulder. The transition fish was a connection to us and through evolution.

Unit 8 Reflection

This unit was about evolution. I  learned about the constant change in species which are due to evolution and natural selection. I also learned about Artifical Selection and that people breed animals because they want them to have favorable genes. Also, in this unit, there was the bird beak lab and I had difficulty collecting food because I had a spoon-shaped like a beak. In the Hunger Games Lab, I lost every round because I was slow in collecting the corks. From this lab, I learned why natural selection favors organisms that are better adapted to their environment. I want to learn about the different types of selection more. I still want to know why the population is evolving so fast? I wonder about why is earth rapidly changing? I have not been any more assertive since watching the video. I still need to work on trying to be more assertive in my life.

http://pranayjalanbio.blogspot.com/2016/03/unit-8-reflection.html

Geologic Timeline Individual Reflection

The three major events in Earth's history are Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic. One of these three major events is Cretaceous. The cretaceous period is significant because it was the last and longest segment of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the "age of dinosaurs". The cretaceous period lasted for 79 million years. The second of these 3 major events is the Jurassic Period. The Jurassic Period is known for large plant- eating dinosaurs and smaller carnivores as well. We have discovered over 700 species of dinosaurs. The last of these 3 major events is the Triassic Period. The Triassic period followed the largest extinction event in the history of life and so was a time when the survivors of that event spread and recolonized the planet. The scale of Earth's history is categorized by era and major events. I was very surprised to learn how many millions of years have gone past. I feel sad because there has been so much destruction of species in a short period of time. I hope in the future we can find alternative ways of doing things so that the planet can try to recover. I really want to know more about the dinosaurs and how they came to live in the Mesozoic Era. 

Hunger Games Analysis

1. We collected food with different abilities. This simulates how different animals collect food with different abilities.


2. The pinchers were the best.


3.  Yes, the frequency of the A alleles has changed 52% in my 7th generation the big allele was 43%. The frequency of my trait was 48% after my 7th generation, my frequency was 57%.

4. The food placement was random. When you flip the coin it simulated reproduction and how random this trait will appear.  In this experiment, the knucklers were the phenotype that had the highest chance of survival.