To the future AP Bio students...

The amount of work you put into this class is what you get out of it, so work hard! This class really makes you earn your grade. Its a lot of hard work, but it makes you better understand and appreciate the world around you. Also, make sure you take chemistry before hand, because I learned the hard way that some things will go way over your head if you don't! Overall, I would recommend this class to anyone who is willing to try their best every day.

SHS Cell War! GO GOLGI!

The SHS cell war has begun! Each group in our A.P Bio class got assigned an organelle. They must then create a campaign video, poster, and twitter account to present to the rest of the school. We got the golgi apparatus. The Golgi should be voted for because it packages the proteins your body needs so that they can be safely delivered either inside or outside the cell. Without it, the proteins could never be given to your body!  Here is our campaign video!
Go Golgi!

If i were a macromolecule...

The 4 macromolecules are lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. Proteins do everything except store DNA. Nucleic acids make up RNA & DNA. Carbohydrates provide quick energy. Lipids provide energy and energy storage.I would be a protein because proteins do everything for the cell.

Blood's Immune Cells May Replace Faulty Brain Cells

Our immune system can do amazing things. One cell, called a monocyte, travels through our blood to eat foreign cells and promote the healing of tissues. This type of cell is now linked to preventing dysfunctional brain cells by replacing another type of immune cell called microglia. In certain situations, the moncyte cells can enter the brain and help heal the brain cells by replacing the microglia. The replacement of these cells has brought up a great concern and a new question:

Can monocytes be exploited to combat the consequences of Alzhiemer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases?

Eye-Popping Discovery

On the coast of Southern Florida, an giant eyeball that washed ashore was found Wednesday. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comission is left with one question? What does this 'mystery eyeball' belong to?

A spokesperson for the agency says it is about the size of a softball. Her assumption is that the eye belongs to a bigeye thresher shark, who are prominently found in the moderately deep water off the Florida coast.

The eyeball is going to be delivered the a research lab in St. Petersburg to determine who this eyeball came from.

To tie this is to Biology...what do we think the researchers can do to determine the species this colossal eye came from? DNA testing? Comparing closely related species with this size of eye (which could have evolved from each other) Hopefully they will find out! Pretty fascinating discovery that would be impossible to solve without Biology, huh?

Meanwhile, people have made many guesses. Could it be a whale? a giant squid?

Homecoming 2012!

This year at Sparta High School, the homecoming theme for each grade was musicals.
In case you didn't know already, we at Sparta High School have a homecoming like no other. Every year it is so much fun! Homecoming week there are dress-up days that the grades compete over. On the Friday of homecoming week, wearing our class colors, we all compete in games such as limbo and the caterpillar.

One of the events, Mock Rock, is also something that sets Sparta Homecoming apart from the rest. We get together as a grade to create a dance routine pertaining to our theme. (ours was Footloose this year) It is so much fun and it gives us a chance to become closer friends as a grade. The Homecoming Dance is really fun too! I think the reason I like it so much is because we all just want to have a good time, so we don't really care what people look like when they dance!

Overall, Sparta Homecoming 2012 was a great and I'm sure next year will be just as fun!

' Human Ecological Stupidity '

We, as humans, have made some pretty stupid choices in our lifetimes, and these choices, whether we realize it or not, can have a great impact on our surroundings. One of our growing problems, or what D. Knuffke & Memphis calls, 'human ecological stupidity,' is Deforestation. 

            Deforestation is not simply cutting down 1 or 2 trees, it's destroying the Earth's forest in huge proportions. If we continue at this rate, in one-hundred years the rainforests will have completely disappeared.

            Deforestation has a myriad of negative impacts on the environment. For instance, removing the trees also removes the habitats of the animals. Seventy percent of land animals and plants live in these forests, so removing their homes makes it almost impossible to survive. Deforestation also impacts the climate change. Without the trees to protect the forest's moist soil, it will rapidly dry out. Additionally, through transpiration, trees provide water vapor from their leaves to the atmosphere. Without this, former forest areas soon become deserts. The trees also absorb greenhouse gases, so if we keep cutting trees down, these harmful gases will linger in the atmosphere and eventually accelerate the severity of global warning.

            So why is this 'stupidity' resuming if we know and have seen the consequences? You guessed it; money. Among the myriad of things like logging operations, urban sprawl, and especially agriculture and pastures for cattle grazing, our rainforests don't stand a chance.

            How can we stop deforestation, you say? One solution is to use crop rotation. Instead of clearing a completely new field for one crop, rotate the different crops in the same field. Not only will this save the forests, it will also give the soil a season or two to replenish the nutrients used in one crop while the other is planted. Another solution is to spread the word about tree plantations. Since the old deforestation sites are being used, we can plant what are called tree plantations to try and put new forests on the Earth. These tree plantations are spreading, but they aren't enough to replace the world's forested land. Another solution would be to cut down on the use of paper products and/or recycle old products. This would decrease the amount of trees needed, therefore decreasing the amount of forests being cut down!

     In short, stop the stupidity! Lets help educate the loggers and farmers who think that deforestation of our rainforests is the solution.

Here's a video, too!

For more information, visit: /http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/