Category: BIOL 125 Fall 2019, crn 70964

Madeline Warren

18 November 2019

Summary of More Food, Less Hype

On his talk show, Bill Nye Saves the World, Bill Nye discusses many scientific subjects affecting the modern world. In the fourth episode of the first season, Nye examines genetically modified organisms. At the beginning of the episode, he demonstrates an experiment for the viewers using strawberries. He mixes dish soap, water, and salt and places strawberries into a bag. He then smashes the strawberries and strains them. After he pours the mix into a glass dish with the strawberry pulp and adds rubbing alcohol. Lastly, he extracts some of the DNA from the strawberries. Although Nye has not always supported GMOs in the past (Washington Post), he explains in the show that after he watched a debate about them and after researching his own, he ultimately says “I believe the advantages of genetically modified crops outweigh the downsides. (Saves the World). He then talks to a correspondent who visited a farmers market to get the shoppers’ opinions on GMOs. He found that many people are still unsure about them. Nye talks to a panel of experts to discuss further. The panel includes the Executive Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto, a fifth-generation farmer from Iowa, and a Professor of Agricultural from North Carolina State University (Saves the World).

Explanation of How Biology is Integrated into the Show

A Genetically Modified Organism commonly known as GMOs is “an organism that has had its genetic material … altered in a laboratory” (Access Science). The biology of GMOs and whether or not they are ethical is discussed throughout the show. The organisms are modified by putting in or taking out “genetic sequences.” These changes made to the genetic material are man-made as opposed to letting them grow on their own (Access Science). The three panelists and Nye agree that there are more benefits to using GMOs than not. Benefits include an increase in crop growth and a decrease in pesticides needed to be used on crops. (Saves the World).

Critique of the Biology in the Show

Nye’s opinion changed on the topic of GMOs and it has earned him more than a few head turns. An adaptation to Nye’s book, Undeniable, includes revisions to his GMO chapter. In his original chapter, Nye said he believed it would be almost impossible to eliminate the risks of GMOs. After visiting scientists at Monsanto, and doing his own research, Nye changed his views. He said “I’m very excited about telling the world. When you’re in love, you want to tell the world” (Washington Post). Some scientists were unhappy with Nye’s findings. Many believe he got caught up in the corporate side of GMOs and that his connections with the company are controversial. Despite some people being skeptical, Nye reassured his fans and doubters that the company alone was not the reason for his change. And that it was in fact due to his is own scientific examination (Washington Post). A scientist from the University of Florida claimed Nye is a hypocrite, comparing his GMO findings to the findings of those who do not believe in climate change and evolution (Washington Post).

An Explanation for How the Biology Relates to the Topics Discussed in Class

GMOs were discussed during Unit 2 of our Biology class. After the lecture on DNA and Biotechnology, everyone in the class explained their previous knowledge and opinions on them and whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the use of them. Many people in the class reported having a neutral opinion or did not know much about them at all. A handful of people had prior experiences with them growing up and remembered hearing their parents discuss them. A few individuals went all the way to say they thought they were “unnatural.”

Figure 1

Fig. 1 Bill Nye poses on the promotional poster for his Netflix show. “#TvPoster Bill Nye Saves the World (2017) [1500 x 2222]” by junaidrao is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Works Cited

“More Food, Less Hype” Bill Nye Saves the World, season 1, episode 4, Netflix, 21 April 2017. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80117905?trackId=14277281&tctx=0%2C0%2Ce0d45a96-44d2-4974-80c7-3a6d5aeb4376-584323745%2C%2C. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

Kollipara, Puneet. “Proof He’s the Science Guy: Bill Nye Is Changing His Mind about GMOs.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/03/proof-hes-the-science-guy-bill-nye-is-changing-his-mind-about-gmos/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

AccessScience Editors. “Genetically Modified Organism (GMO).” AccessScience, McGraw-Hill Education, Sept. 2019. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

 

 

Written by Danny Rogers

Summary: Star Wars: episode 2 attack of the clones is a fantasy, action, and adventure movie. It was directed by George Lucas and was written by George Lucas and Jonathan Hales. The main actors of this film are Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), Natalie Portman (Padme) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan).

The plot: after a failed assassination attempt on Padme the Jedi Anakin and Obi-Wan are told by the Jedi council to keep her safe and to figure out who gave the orders for the assassination attempt. Anakin and Padme travel to Naboo where it is safe and where Anakin could keep his eyes are her during that time they fell in love with each other. Obi-Wan went on the search for the person that give the order for the assassination, while he was looking at the evidence, he found out that the dart that killed the assassin was made in the planet called Kamino. He travels to this remote planet and this is where he discovers a huge secret clone army that has been building for years model from the bounty hunter Jango Fett. Obi-Wan follows Jango Fett to the planet Geonosis where he finds out who is behind the separatist movements.

How does this relates to Biology: this relates to biology because this movie has clones which make up the clone army that fights off the separatist. Cloning is when an organism is produced asexually making them genetically identical to whatever they are based off. In the movie the clones are made from a cloning facility where they start out as a single cell and grow from there. The process begins when the genetic code is made into a exact copy from what they are based on. When they get to a cretin age they are trained to fight for the republic. The clones are all physically identical but are different at the same time all the clone troopers have different personality’s making them more unique.

In today’s world cloning does happen but on a much smaller scale. We can clone animals and possibly people, but it is still a very new thing so its not a 100% sure fact that it will succeed. One way to clone is Artificial Embryo Twinning this mimic the process that happens when twins are made in the womb.  They take the embryo at a very early stage and put it on a petri disk and separated it into individual cells and then they are put into a surrogate mother to raise the embryo in the same egg making them clones.  Another way to clone something is the Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer method. This method is where they get a somatic cell from an organism they want to clone and isolated it, they then extract the nucleus and all its DNA from an egg cell. After doing that they move the nucleus form the somatic cell into the egg cell and have the egg cell develop into an embryo which is then implanted into a surrogate mother to grow into a clone.

How does it relate to are class: this relates to our class because we learned about genetics, meiosis and mitosis.

 

 

 

Works cited

“What is Cloning.” University of Utah. https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whatiscloning/

Overmetal “Star Wars Canon Catch-Up: The History of Stormtroopers”. http://overmental.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Clonetroopers.jpg

Claudio Carvalho. “Storyline” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/plotsummary

 

Blog Post 2 by Mandi Peterson

“Ice” is the eighth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, which aired on the Fox network on November 5, 1993.  The plot of the episode starts with special Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigating the murder suicides of an Alaskan research team.  As the episode progresses and the bodies are examined, the FBI agents deduce that the cause of the violent behavior is because the researchers were driven mad by parasitic worms.  The worm enters the brain and moves through the body, influencing the behavior of the affected individual towards stress and violence.  These parasitic worms were found lying dormant in Alaskan ice caps which were affected by a long distant meteor collision.  Upon the harvesting of ice cores to conduct scientific testing, a worm burrowed into each of the two now dead hosts.  The worms which are collected and solitarily isolated appear to be aggressive towards one another, even trying to break the glass to attack the other.  A researcher is deemed infected when the FBI team sees a worm moving around inside of his body.  In order to cure the parasitic infestation another worm is administered into the infected host.  The worms attack each other inside the host’s body and he is cured as a result.  The episode ends with the government destroying the glacial area and ruining any chance at further investigation of the ancient parasitic worm phenomenon.

Biology related science is integrated into many episodes of The X-Files, but especially into this episode.  This episode highlights scientific practices that are presently used to collect and analyze ice core data.  Tests are being run on the ice cores collected from ancient glaciers to determine the sediments and gasses that they contain.  These sediments and gasses that are being discovered are the same that were prevalent on the Earth in primordial times.  In class, we discussed the importance of collecting this data and how from this data we can learn more about the environment of the ancient Earth.  Collecting and analyzing ancient ice cores is more prevalent in science practices today than in the past because of global warming, glacial melting, and advanced technology.  Scientists can now detect ancient meteor craters deep within glaciers, not unlike the impact in this episode of The X-Files.  In Greenland, two discoveries of instances like this are being researched, with the newest discover being in 2018.  Ice cores have been collected and tested from the meteor crater of one of these glaciers, named Hiawatha Glacier. “Sifting through the sand, Adam Garde, a geologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen, found glass grains forged at temperatures higher than a volcanic eruption can generate. More important, he discovered shocked crystals of quartz. The crystals contained a distinctive banded pattern that can be formed only in the intense pressures of extraterrestrial impacts or nuclear weapons” (Voosen).  Minerals and gasses are the only types of matter which have been gathered from these specific meteor-glacial specimens. As of yet there is no evidence to support the episode’s claim of living extraterrestrial organisms resulting from meteor impact origin.

Although no living or previously living specimens have been gathered from glacial meteor craters, many glaciers with no ancient meteor impact have been found to contain previously living organisms.  “Small amounts of permafrost (2 g of soil) have also been shown to contain DNA sequences from various mammals, including woolly mammoth, horse and steppe bison up to 30-kyr old and plant DNA as old as 300–400 kyr” (Eske).  Since glaciers and permafrost maintain such a low temperature they make a perfectly stable environment for the preservation of mammalian tissue.  Not only do these glaciers and permafrost create a perfect environment to preserve animal tissue, but they also house viable cold-resistant microorganisms such as bacteria, Archaea, and viruses (Rogers, Starmer, Castello).  Figure 1 shows images retained from a scanning electron microscope of microorganisms found in an ice core.  Some of these microorganisms cannot be identified.

As these extremophiles enter the population of modern day microorganisms, they will likely become favored by natural selection over the less-resistant bacteria, Archaea, and viruses (Rogers, Starmer, Castello).  This type of natural selection which favors the most extreme phenotypes is called directional selection. In this situation, the directional selection is being applied to the population of all microorganisms, with the resistant extremophiles gaining selective advantage.  This concept is directly related to the mechanisms of evolution that we discussed in class.  “Ice” specifically proposes an instance of a cold-resistant parasite being revealed to the public and infecting individuals as a result.  Although bacteria, viruses, and parasites operate differently, they cause illness in the host alike.  The likelihood of harmful parasites like those seen in “Ice” infecting unvaccinated individuals is hypothesized to increase in the future.

Lastly, the extraterrestrial cold-resistant worm parasites as seen in “Ice” are not exactly corroborated by scientific findings, but there are species of nematodes and parasitic worms that can infect the human body.  Most of these infections start with larvae introduction into the host, and once infected, further growth of the parasite takes place inside of the host’s body.  This method of infection differs from the method that we see in “Ice”, where an adult nematode infects a researcher via entry at the back of the neck.  It would seem that “Ice” was purely fictional in the suggestion that worms can move around inside the human body, but this is actually true for some species upon maturation.  One such parasitic species is Loa loa, also known as the African eye worm (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

In summary this episode is inspired by real-life events that actually happen such as the studying of ice cores, ancient microorganisms trapped in glaciers, and parasitic worm infections in humans.  The part about the adult extraterrestrial worms surviving extreme temperatures and infecting hosts through the back of the neck cannot be confirmed as true unfortunately.  Some of the events that the episode is based upon are hypothesized to become even more frequent than in the past, such as the uncovering of resistant microorganisms and the harvesting and analysis of ice cores. Overall, this plot makes for an interesting and believable story line as it blends surreal elements into reality.

Works Cited

1. Voosen, Paul. “Massive crater under Greenland’s ice points to climate-altering impact in the time of humans.” Science Mag, Science Mag, 14 Nov. 2018. Google Scholar, sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/massive-crater-under-greenland-s-ice-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans.
2. Eske Willerslev, Anders J. Hansen, Hendrik N. Poinar, Isolation of nucleic acids and cultures from fossil ice and permafrost, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 19, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 141-147, ISSN 0169-5347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2003.11.010.(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534703003574)
3. Scott O. Rogers, William T. Starmer, John D. Castello,Recycling of pathogenic microbes through survival in ice,Medical Hypotheses,Volume 63, Issue 5,2004,Pages 773-777,ISSN 0306-9877,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2004.04.004. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987704002543)
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Loiasis. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/loiasis/index.html
5. “Ice.” The X-Files, created by Chris Carter, written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, directed by David Nutter, 20^th Television, 1993.

Elizabeth Havey

Cystic Fibrosis is a respiratory disease that many suffer from which makes the article that I chose to focus in very important. Cystic fibrosis occurs because of a mutation in a gene (Elborn). According to an article by Elborn J. Stuart Cystic Fibrosis is an autosomal disorder that causes people to have lots of infection and inflammation in their airways. Making breathing really uncomfortable and an extremely tiring process. As of right now there is not an actual cure for people with Cystic Fibrosis. These people just have to live each day and manage their disease. Figure one is an example of two people’s airways. The first one is a person that does not have Cystic Fibrosis and their airway is clear making it so that they can breathe easily. The second is filled with mucus which is what happens when someone has Cystic Fibrosis making it very difficult to breathe.

Figure 1. “Cystic Fibrosis.” By Yourgenome is licensed under CC BY-NN-SA 2.0. www.search.creativecommons.org/photos/fa3e26b2-5db7-4a5e-8479-37485c3f359b

An article that I found from this October talks about how a group of scientists think that they can reverse these life-threatening effects of Cystic Fibrosis and other diseases. The article that I decided to focus on is called “Developing New Delivery Tools for Gene Editing.” A group of scientist lead by Paul McCray Jr. are trying to use gene editing tools to help people that suffer from diseases like Cystic Fibrosis (“Developing”). The scientist apart of this operation are very excited about the work what they are doing. McCray said, “There is a lot of excitement about the possibility of using gene editing in medicine.” MaCary’s idea is that they are going use simple peptides to deliver gene editing tools to the areas impacted by the disease (“Developing”). The peptides that they would like to use are sequences that they borrowed from nature, that are allowed to pass through the membrane. After they pass through the membrane into the infected area, they begin to remove the mutated DNA (“Developing”). In the study they successfully used the peptides on mice lungs and hope that they can use them in the future on people that suffer from diseases that need gene editing (“Developing”).

This article seems pretty reliable. The scientist that are participating in the experiment seem very credible because of their schooling. The scientists that are involved are Paul McCray Jr. who was a MD, David Guay who has a PhD, and Thomas Del’Guidice who also has a PhD (“Developing”). All of these men have extensive schooling and are very knowledgeable about this specific topic. The article was also released by the University of Iowa Health Care. This is a reliable source and I do not think that would release something with false information. The scientist background and reliability of the original source leads me to believe that this article is valid and something that could be seen in the future.

A scholarly article by Elborn J. Stuart called “Cystic Fibrosis” takes about the mutations that take place in people with Cystic Fibrosis. So, with the information presented in the article about gene editing it seems like something that could work and benefit people. The mutation would be removed and then these individuals would produce the correct proteins reversing the impacts of diseases like Cystic Fibrosis. I think that the information in this article is something that could happen in the future and what is being presented is scientifically possible.

Although we have not talked specifically about Cystic Fibrosis, we have talked about a few things related to this issue and the solution that has been presented. One thing that we have focused a lot in class are mutations. Mutations happen when a base pair sequence is changed within someone’s DNA. This can have no impact on someone or like in the case of someone with Cystic Fibrosis it can have a detrimental impact and cause daily life to be difficult. Another thing that we talked about in class was peptides. Peptides are made up of amino acids which we focused on while we were talking about proteins. In this instance the scientist’s mentioned in their article that they are trying to use peptides to change the mutation that have occurred in people. Overall this was a very interesting topic to study, and it was cool to see the overlap with this article and what I have learned in class.

Works Cited

“Developing New Delivery Tools for Gene Editing.” University of Iowa Health Care, Science News, 31 Oct. 2019. Science Daily, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191031174655.htm

Elborn, J. S. “Cystic Fibrosis.” The Lancet 388.10059 (2016): 2519-31. ProQuest. Web. 3 Nov. 2019. https://search-proquest-com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/docview/1846832288?pq-origsite=summon

 

 

 

 

“Vaping in The Vapes Warehouse” by Vapes.com

CC Search, https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/8e6d8746-b4d7-4b43-912c-194faf741e83.

Effects of Vaping on Human Health

Janae Voss

Vaping has become extremely popular among teenagers and young adults. In the article “9 alarming facts about the vaping illness epidemic,” by Steven John, the effect vapes have, on people and their health, is discussed. The article describes the crowd who has been impacted by vaping, vaping related illnesses, and vaping related deaths. Thousands of cases of lung injuries and illnesses have been reported to be caused by e-cigarettes and vapes. (John, par.3) Along with, numerous cases of deaths that were due to vaping related lung injuries. Many people were led to believe that vaping was a better alternative to smoking cigarettes.(John, par.2) However, this has been disproven. Similar to cigarettes, vapes have also been found to contain cancer causing chemicals. Steven John uses information from various health experts to describe the effects of vapes. He also explains how they have been linked to numerous health complications. The public needs to be aware of the effects of vaping on their health.

Many companies who manufacture vape products have tried to advertise vapes as being a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. However, health experts do not agree. The amount of young adults and teenagers who report using vapes, far surpasses those who smoke cigarettes. In fact, the amount of individuals who vape has increased, while the amount of young adults smoking cigarettes has decreased. John Steven wrote, in the article, “9 alarming facts about vaping,” that the US surgeon general reported “40% of young people who began using electronic cigarettes had never used traditional tobacco products before.” The increased use of vapes has been a huge problem. NPR has reported that a common issue associated with vapes is known as “thermal decomposition.” Thermal decomposition is a problem because it releases dangerous chemicals into the lungs, such as acrolein, nicotyrine, and formaldehyde, while vaping. Formaldehyde is a toxin that has been known to cause cancer.(John, par.20) Individuals are often unaware that harmful toxins are entering their body due to vaping. The government is cracking down on companies for advertising these harmful products without knowing the full risk. For example, the government is putting rules and regulations on the way companies, such as Juul, are marketing their products.(John, par. 23) People need to have knowledge of the products they are using before they are able to access them. The full effects of vapes on human health are not yet known, but vapes have now been linked to cancerous chemicals, and other health issues.

Cancer can be a critical condition. Due to the rapid and uncontrollable cell division that is caused by cancer, the condition is often life threatening. Cancer can easily spread through the body and it is often difficult to prevent cancer from spreading. If vapes are being linked to cancer then the public needs to be informed of these life threatening side effects. Understanding that vaping can cause health complications, such as cancer is important to biology. Cancer can significantly shorten an individual’s life by causing cell mutations that are uncontrollable.

Being aware of the health effects of vapes is very significant because many people do not know what they are putting in their body. Vaping is still relatively new, compared to cigarettes so not even scientists are entirely sure of the full effects. Although there are still many unknown factors of vaping, it has been proven by a large number of health experts to have negative side effects. (John, par. 3) In an article by Sarah Gants, it is reinforced that very little is known about the effects of vaping, but vapes have in fact, been the cause of lung related illnesses recently. The US centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported 42 deaths that were caused by vaping.(Gant. 6) Out of these deaths and illnesses, Steven John reports that according to the CDC, 79% of individuals affected were under the age of 35. (John, par. 12) The American Heart Association has recently donated $20 million dollars towards research on youth vaping in order to further understand the effects of vaping on health.(Gant, par.1) Numerous sources have confirmed that although there is still more to be learned, vapes are causing illnesses and death.

Works Cited

“American Heart Association to invest $20M for youth vaping research.” Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, PA], 16 Nov. 2019, p. NA. Gale OneFile: News, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A605886252/STND?u=lom_lansingcc&sid=STND&xid=96a9c5b0. Accessed 17 Nov. 2019.

John, Steven. “9 Alarming Facts about the Vaping Illness Epidemic.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/9-alarming-facts-about-the-vaping-illness-epidemic-2019-10?amp;utm_medium=referral.

 

 

 

Nathan Scott

The Man who “didn’t” do it

Nearly twenty five years ago the OJ Simpson trial began and revolutionized the DNA testing system. Today DNA testing is widely used, the Simpson trial deserves credit for some of this according to an article titled: “How the OJ Simpson trial created 347 DNA labs and Public Love for Crime Tech”. Although DNA testing can be very useful in criminal trials it was the opposite in the Simpson trial. Police officers and investigators did not properly collect DNA which resulted in contamination and ultimately not enough evidence against Simpson to lock him up for what he had done. Simpson plead guilty to murder in the first degree of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Although he was not convicted of this crime he was later sentenced to a ten year sentence for robbery, during this time he wrote his famous book “If I Did It”. However the other authors deny Simpson had much influence on how it was written. The Biology of this case caused a spark of interest by the American people as to how DNA testing is used and conducted. During the time of this case the use of DNA testing became widely known about.

The Case and Biology

The non-guilty verdict given to Simpson in the first trial became very controversial due to the way DNA was collected and tested from the crime scene.There were many mistakes made after this crime by the Los Angeles Police Department while collecting DNA; “They (LAPD) collected blood evidence weeks after the crimes had been committed, placed the blood samples in plastic instead of paper containers, took hours to deliver fresh blood samples to the laboratory, and even spilt Simpson’s blood in the lab where they later tested other samples” (Sloat). Due to the mistreatment of DNA testing the jury could not use this to put Simpson away. During this case in 1994 the technology in the DNA testing lab the LAPD used was in fact not very legitimate as other testing centers (Sloat). The combination of mishandeling DNA with a poor testing center made this evidence illegitimate in this trial. This was a large problem for those prosecuting Simpson however his defense lawyer at the time never refuted DNA evidence and supports using it to free wrongly convicted inmates (Sloat). The mistakes made in the Simpson trial led to an increase of DNA testing centers and the technology inside of them. This case is still important in how DNA testing is done today, although it may be much different from the 90’s researchers can look back on previous mistakes to improve their own studies.

Figure 1. O.J. Simpson advertisement. “1978 Dingo Boots OJ Simpson Advertising Playboy December 1978”. Nov. 3rd 2019.
https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/2521553c-e569-44ac-8a6e-32aaed29a032

The information highlighted in the article is commonly known to be true about the case. The many mistakes the LAPD made created a demand for better more proficient testing centers. It is true that the jury was not able to see the DNA as a valid form of evidence however the crime seemed quite obvious. How could they not lock Simpson up? Well at the time the tensions o LA had been high after the brutal murder of Rodney King, some say giving this case to the defense was a way to get back at the LAPD (Forensics). This may not have been the only factor in keeping Simpson clean as he had been a star in the NFL and was well liked by the public. There are many questions this case led Americans and prosecutors to ask about DNA testing and the role it plays in court. It is important to note that DNA tests had been used in court cases for about ten years yet the public was not widely aware of this until Simpsons case (Sloat). This meant the DNA evidence was not only contaminated but also hard for the jury to understand. The facilities used for testing were not necessarily the crème of the crop at the time let alone LA’s. Due to the numerous factors in this case there was simply not enough to convict Simpson.

Biology In Class

For the majority of our class we have learned about DNA and the functions it serves to keep organisms living. But it is also important in determining the phenotypes and genotypes of organisms. The process of DNA testing takes what we have learned and uses it in criminal and civil investigation cases. Collecting DNA evidence from crime scenes nowadays can be crucial to determine a verdict in a court case. Today we use DNA for much more in order to find family history and to use paternity testing, which could potentially lead to more or less male investment in a child. Although we have not spoke about many criminal cases DNA is used in both the prosecution and defense. Allowing both sides access to the DNA results ensures they are not biased or tampered with, furthermore giving the jury credible information to work with. DNA is important in our everyday functions along with functions of the government and much more.

Although DNA testing is very useful it can still be controversial as we have talked about in class. If your are arrested you are subject to certain test such as fingerprinting and possibly blood samples depending on your state. Blood test are usually taken for people who are intoxicated and not necessarily used to examine your DNA. However there are crimes your DNA can be taken and put in the federal system for. Just as we said in class is this process ethical? DNA is very personal information that gives a distinct description of a person, would you want your DNA out there? The argument from many criminal investigators is those who choose to commit these crimes give up the right to withhold this information from the government. Twenty five years ago the problems associated with DNA testing were much more technological than the ethical controversy it has in our world today.

Works Cited

Sloat, Sarah. “How the O.J. Simpson Trial Created 347 DNA Labs and Public Love for Crime Tech”. Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/article/13129-how-the-o-j-simpson-trial-created-347-dna-labs-and-public-love-for-crime-tech. Nov. 2nd 2019.

“Forensics at the OJ Simpson Trial”. Crime Museum. https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-murders/forensic-investigation-of-the-oj-simpson-trial/Nov. 2nd 2019.

Contagion is a medical thriller movie produced in 2011. The movie was directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Z. Burns. The stars of this movie include Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law (IMDB). Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow play Beth Emhoff and Mitch Ehmoff in the movie, whom are the main characters in the movie, and are a husband and wife with the two kids.

The plot of Contagion is quite interesting – and quite terrifying. Beth Emhoff comes down with a mysterious illness after travelling home from Hong Kong on a business trip. Shortly after arriving home, Beth experiences seizure-like conditions and is rushed to the hospital by her husband, Mitch. Beth ends up dying of “unknown causes,” and the disease that she contracted during her Hong Kong visit begins to spread around the world. Mitch, being suspected of contracting the disease, is put in isolation. However, he seems to possess a gene that makes him immune to the disease and is released back home to his daughter. The next question that arises is if his daughter inherited the immunity to the disease.

The disease in the movie takes the world by storm, and eventually leaves it almost entirely apocalyptic. People begin robbing and looting as the number of deaths from the disease go rampant. The CDC is forced to take action and attempt to develop a vaccine for the disease. Through rigorous tribulations, a vaccine is developed, but it can’t meet demand. The vaccine is limited to a lottery system and allotted for certain citizens, such as first responders.

The movie Contagion is actually pretty accurate it in its depiction of its Biology-related elements. The entire concept of a disease outbreak is a biological nightmare and creating vaccines for such diseases are biological feats. The movie’s accuracy actually struck a nerve with the CDC and the public, causing them to release a program separating the “facts from fiction” within the movie-virus. The CDC program reads, “While the movie Contagion is a fictional account of an outbreak of a dangerous infectious disease occurring globally, the real-life stories of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service are just as exciting as the one on the screen…contagious disease outbreaks can and do happen. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates contagious diseases every year. They can emerge in the US or anywhere on the planet, just a plane ride away from spreading globally.”

One of the main biological plot lines in the movie is the issue of immunity and vaccines. In the movie, some people are immune to the disease because of certain alleles of genes that they possess. Vaccineinformation.org explains immunity as, “When disease germs enter your body, they start to reproduce. Your immune system recognizes these germs as foreign invaders and responds by making proteins called antibodies. These antibodies’ first job is to help destroy the germs that are making you sick. They may not act fast enough to prevent you from getting sick, but by eliminating the attacking germs, antibodies help you to get well.” In this particular movie, however, the disease kills the victim before the antibodies even have time to act, so vaccines are completely imperative to survival. Carrington College explains that a vaccine is, “…a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. It contains an agent resembling a disease-inducing microorganism – a bacterium, virus, or toxin – that activates the body’s immune system.” In the Contagion movie, developing a vaccine is the only hope in preventing a bottleneck population issue where only the immune can survive the mass outbreak.

Immunity is another key factor in the movie, adding to the dramatics. Certain people in the movie possess an allele of a gene that makes them immune to the disease, and Mitch is left to question whether his daughter inherited the immunity or not. This concept of immunity relates both to gene heredity and natural selection that we looked at in class. Since Mitch’s mother did not have the gene allele to prevent the disease and Mitch did, it is left to chance whether their daughter inherited the allele or not. This would be true for all individuals concerning the allele, making the gene naturally varying in the population. And, considering the deadly nature of the disease that it prevents, people possessing the allele are more likely to survive and are “more fit” than those who do not have the allele. Thankfully, vaccines exist to combat unknown diseases such as this, so natural selection is hindered by modern science.

 

Figure “Contagion (2011).” IMDB, 2011, www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/mediaviewer/rm492927744.

 

Works Cited

“’Contagion’ Reality Check: CDC Experts Explore Some of the Film’s Scenarios.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 23 Sept. 2011,    www.pbs.org/newshour/health/cdc-experts-examine-the-science-of-hollywoods-contagion.

“Contagion: Facts Behind the Fiction.” Center for Disease Control, CDC, www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/media/pdf/Contagion.pdf.

W., Melanie. “How Do Vaccines Work?” Carrington College, 25 Jan. 2016, carrington.edu/blog/medical/vaccines/vaccines-work/.

Biology behind Frankenstein

Fig. 1, Victor Frankenstein creating his monster. “File:Frankenstein, pg 7.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 1 May 2019, 20:17 UTC. 27 Oct 2019, 04:31 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Frankenstein,_pg_7.jpg&oldid=348246346>.

 

What is Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley’s science fiction horror, Frankenstein, is deemed to be the very first science-fiction novel and has stood as a foundation for many other scientific horrors over the past two centuries. This classic piece of English literature explores the both beauty and danger of knowledge, the social morality that encompasses the progression of technology and the excitement and fear that is induced by the power of science. (Harkup) And seeing that it was written during a period of vast scientific discoveries, this book delves deep into the frightening possibilities that new science brought to the public’s eye, jarring the reader’s even more at the bone chilling prospects of monster building and re animation.

The book begins as a series of letters from a captain of a North Pole bound ship, Robert Walton, as he writes to his sister. In these letters, Walton starts to recount the strange happening that occurred as he and his shipmates were trapped in ice; while waiting for the icy to melt and free them, a lone stranger traveling atop the ice on a dog sledge was spotted and brought on board in a state of extreme exhaustion. The stranger was no other than the young Victor Frankenstein and, after being nursed back to consciousness, he explains to Walton he is chasing his enemy, a monster of his own creation. The story then switches to Victor’s tale and how he came to be in this predicament.

As a young boy, Victor was incredibly gifted and was highly motivated by curiosity, especially towards science. When he became of-age, he entered an elite institute where he studied natural philosophy and chemistry. As he further indulges his naïve hunger for discovery and knowledge, the situation begins to get intense. On this path to extended knowledge, he is consumed by his work and begins to build together a creature from grave-snatched body parts. Harnessing the energy from electricity, he is able to re-animate the corpse and bring to life his creation, only to be absolutely horrified of what he has done. As the story continues, Victor faces the stages of depression, denial and anxiety of what his toying has caused, all while having to deal with the destruction his monster creates. Ultimately, Victors neglect towards his creation gets many of his loved ones killed and his very quest for revenge results in his death.

Integration of Biology

Although Frankenstein involves many reoccurring allusions to scientific advancements and themes, the two most prominent reoccurring themes are that of electricity and the process of creating life. When writing the book, Mary Shelley was very inspired by actual scientific advancements of her day. Towards the beginning of the 18^th-century, science in today’s definition of the study (more commonly known then as natural philosophy) was still a very new and unexplored realm. (Harkup) Medieval views sought to explain the world as revelations of God, but as the Enlightenment Era dawned, new inventions began to spring up and with them came scientific progress and newly realized views of the world. Electricity and the means to harness it were discovered and, as the world continued to be shocked and appalled at it’s abilities, new questions arose about the true capabilities to all that raw power. (Harkup) Experiments were conducted to explore its effects on living and dead material and popular scientists, such as physicist Giovanni Aldini, made attempts to raise the dead through applying electrical currents. (Semiatin) Although the book never clearly states the methods Victor uses to animate his creature, many interpretations point to electricity, for this was one of the biggest scientific puzzles of Shelley’s time.

Along with the implications of electric technology, anatomy is a major themes, as well as how Victor creates something new from previously dead material.

“Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. “ (Shelley)

He must go through the tedious process of accurately recreating a full human from dismembered parts, testing his skills and knowledge on the human form and all the complexities it holds.

 

Believability of the Biology

We know today that corpses cannot be brought back to life through any means, especially not with lightening or electrical currents. We know now that our bodily movements are results of internal electrical currents and stimulus that cause our muscles to convulse and contract to move things. Any movement that occurs when electrical pulses are applied to dead material are just involuntary contractions of muscles and are by no means considered “bringing it to life.” So, by today’s standards, this application of scientific and biological justification would not be believable.

That being said, the standards of the time were completely different. To the knowledge of people in the 18^th century, this could have very well been something achievable and when new sciences are being regularly discovered, a story of this kind could be very believable.

How it relates to class

Another one of Shelley’s inspirations for the novel was the observations of “spontaneous generation” like that of Aristotle and the science behind debunking it. In a preface in the 1831 edition of the book, she “recalled an experiment in spontaneous generation–a piece of ordinary vermicelli preserved under a glass case seemed to move and show signs of life.” (Harkup) This is a concept that we have briefly explored in class and something that we know has been disproven by scientists like Francesco Redi and Louis Pasteur.

Work Cited

 

Harkup, Kathryn. “The Science Behind the Fiction: Frankenstein in historical context.” Natural History, Apr. 2018, p. 34+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link-gale-com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A536255858/AONE?u=lom_lansingcc&sid=AONE&xid=e2ea41b4. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.

Semiatin, Steve. “Giovanni Aldini: Bringing the Dead to Life; Steve Semiatin Examines the Experiments of the Man Who made Corpses Come to Life.” History Magazine, vol. 12, no. 5, 2011, pp. 52.

Shelley, Mary. Stewart, Diana, et al. Frankenstein. Raintree Publishers, 1981.

Five Feet Apart

Madison Cunningham

Figure 1. Lionsgate.com, www.lionsgate.com/movies/five-feet-apart.

The movie Five Feet Apart recently came out and it is a movie about kids with Cystic Fibrosis. This movie focuses on three kids who have Cystic Fibrosis. This movies goes through describing the daily things kids who are sick with this disease must do. It also shows some pretty tragic side effects that can come from having Cystic Fibrosis (Five Feet Apart). Some of the information in the movie is accurate but there is also a decent amount that is inaccurate. According to Access Science, Cystic Fibrosis is a “common inherited genetic disorder that severely damages the lungs, pancreas, liver, and digestive system” (Paranjape, Shruti M.). In the movie, they also allowed other sick kids with CF to be around each other which is banned if kids are sick in the hospital. This will be an analysis on the movie Five Feet Apart and the correctness of the science within it.

Overall, Five Feet Apart is about kids that are sick and in the hospital with Cystic Fibrosis. It is mainly about two kids with Cystic Fibrosis fall madly in love with each other. This is not really practical because they are supposed to stay six feet apart from each other at all times. The main character, Stella, is sick and is very much a rule follower. When she falls in love with Will, who was sicker than she was, she lets go of one foot and agrees to being five feet apart from each other. In this movie Stella’s friend with Cystic Fibrosis passes away. The death of her friend made Stella realize it was time for her to start living her life and stop living in fear (Five Feet Apart).

Figure 2. Faigl, Armando. “Cystic Fibrosis.” Cystic Fibrosis | Armando Hasudungan, armandoh.org/disease/cystic-fibrosis/.

This story line directly relates to biology. Cystic Fibrosis is “A hereditary genetic disorder, resulting from mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene, that severely damages the lungs, digestive system, pancreas, and liver” (Paranjape, Shruti M.). This disease tends to shorten the life of the affected people. They tend to get sick easier and the sickness becomes more severe. 

The way that the disease is portrayed in the film is not the way the disease is in real life. When kids with CF are sick, they would not be allowed to see other sick kids with CF. In this movie, they were allowed to see each other as long if they were six feet apart, but in reality when these kids are sick they are not allowed near each other because they don’t want to get each other more sick (Ammer, Christine). 

This story line relates to numerous topics we have discussed in class. Previously, in class we discussed content on genetics. This directly correlated to Five Feet Apart because the movie is about Cystic Fibrosis which is a genetic disorder. For someone to get Cystic Fibrosis, they have to receive the mutation for that gene from each parent. That means that the gene to get Cystic Fibrosis is recessive. Having a recessive gene means that the only way it will be present is if the dominant gene is not involved. A person’s genes are what determine the characteristics that make up a person. A person’s genes are determined by their parents. In this case, the kids in the movie had parents that were either carriers for the Cystic Fibrosis gene or they had Cystic Fibrosis themselves. To be a carrier means that they have the allele for the trait but that they do not exhibit the trait. The mutation for this gene comes out when both parents carry the gene. If both parents are heterozygous then they have one dominant trait and one recessive trait. If they have offspring they have a 50/50 chance of having offspring with the Cystic Fibrosis gene. The mutation is an alteration of the base pair of the individual DNA sequence (Phelan, Jay). This is a sad disease that  most often leads to a shortened and can be hard to watch a loved one go through.

Work Cited

Paranjape, Shruti M. “Cystic Fibrosis.” AccessScience, McGraw-Hill Education, Jan. 2019.

Five Feet Apart. First edition. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2018.

Ammer, Christine. “Cystic Fibrosis.” The Encyclopedia of Women’s Health, Sixth Edition, Facts On File, 2009. Science Online, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=11992&itemid=WE40&articleId=127622. Accessed 17 Nov. 2019.

Phelan, Jay. What Is Life?: a Guide to Biology. W H Freeman, 2015.