Human Genome Project

Do you think the advances in genetics prove that humans are more similar to each other, or that humans are more different from each other?  

Human Genome Project is an international scientific project that hoped to determine the order of all the bases A,T,C and G in human DNA. It shows that there is a very small number of DNA bases which make one person different from any other person in the world which creates unity. Also those small differences are significant ones which determine his/her skin color, facial features or resistance to disease.  


I believe that all humans beings are the same in terms of the genetics and there is no genetics group can be considered genetically superior to another. But then, one question comes to our minds; what about being individual? Individuality basically means that people who is an individual has her/his own ideas and uniqueness. The thing that separates the humas are the thought ni the genetics.

Karyotype and Chromosomal Anomaly

A karyotype test is basically a test that analyzes your chromosomes. It tells you how many chromosomes a person has and looks at the structure of each chromosome individually.

As we all know, there are different diseases that comes from chromosomal abnormality. If the number of chromosomes is less or more than the 46, it causes some problems which comes from the defects with the division of the egg or zygote. One example can be a people who has a additional chromosome in his/her 21st chromosome, in other words down syndrome. A karyotype can be done before the baby born to determine chromosome numbers of the baby. Anyway, there are two ways to do a karyotype; one is amniocentesis and the other one is Chorionic villis sampling. In order to make Amniocentesis doctors use a long needle to take out some of the liquid that surrounds the developing baby, for the Chorionic villis sampling, doctors get a sample of the cells from the 'villi' of the placenta. Both of these methods are invasive and expensive, so it's only recommended in cases when there is more likelihood of a chromosomal abnormality. For instance, doctors must decide if it's necessary to make a karyotype or not. It's not a decision that parents can make, the decision that can done by parents should be ' the abortion or not.' Doctors can only supply the results of the test and worn parents about it but the rest is all on the mother and the father's shoulders. Because they are the ones who are responsible of that baby's future. 

If I found out that my future child had a chromosomal anomaly, honestly I would made my decision on the abortion side. I would not want to give a hard life to that baby since he/she doesn't deserve such a life. The healthiest decision for me and that baby would be the abortion. Because after the first minute that child born, the whole world and people perspectives will be different on him/her, that child never get the same rights as other people. Every single person wants to give the best life for their child so i would think it's not the good life to live. Maybe it's hard to let strange people to get 'your' baby from your body just as separating a part from your body, it would be the right decision for that innocent unborn baby.

have a good week :) 

If you don't know the relationship between the Sickle Cell Anemia and Malaria, IT'S TIME TO LEARN!

Let's start by watching this cute little video ( please do watch! it's only 5 minutes :)

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder in which red blood cells (RBCs) are abnormally shaped. This abnormality can result in painful episodes, serious infections, chronic anemia, and damage to body organs.

It gets its name because a person's red blood cells are shaped like sickles, or crescent moons, instead of their usual round, disc shape.

Round is the healthiest shape for red blood cells (or RBCs) because they can move easily through the body. RBCs carry oxygen around your body, and every part of your body needs oxygen to work properly.

Many people don't know they have sickle cell trait. When both parents have the sickle cell trait, there's a 25% chance that a child will have sickle cell disease. But when one parent is carrying the trait and the other actually has the disease, the odds increase to 50% that their offspring will inherit the disease.

This picture briefly shows the process.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. 

The case of sickle cell anemia and malaria is an example of correlation without causation.

- ( now wait, if you are like " what is a correlation or causation!!" dont be stress, there is an little explanation for you )

Correlation: mutual relation of two or more things, parts, etc. Synonyms: similarity, correspondence,matching; parallelism.

Causation: the relation of cause  to effect; causality.-

Anyway, sickle cell anemia and malaria disease have a parallel relationship between them but one of them doesn't cause the other one. If a person inherits one copy of the sickle gene and the other being normal, this person gets advantageous than the others. Since, those who carry the sickle cell trait do not suffer nearly as severely from the disease. Also these carriers have been naturally selected, because the trait confers some resistance to malaria.

Bibliography 

"Sickle Cell Disease." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/sickle_cell_anemia.html>.

"WHO | Malaria." Web. 12 Feb. 2012. 

<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/>.

"Evolution: Library: A Mutation Story." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 12 Feb. 2012

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/2/l_012_02.html>.

HAPPY NEW YEAAARRR! :) :)

Protect Nature AND Protect Livelihoods of Human

                         
               Wake up! We are sitting on our hands and melting!



After a little bit search about the human impacts on the nature, I realized that people causes a lot of damaging on the nature. However, if we can damage the world openly, so it means that we can conserve the world too. We as individuals on the earth should be aware of the fact that without nature (without functions of plants etc.), we cant live! So why do we stop to ruin it? At least every single individual can start to care about it just a little, then these little thoughts are going to combine and create a cleaner world than before which is so important for us.

On the other hand, livelihoods of people is a completely important issue. Building up schools, hospitals, houses... We need all of them in order to survive even though a lot of trees are cutting down. The main part is we should be able to keep the balance. People are building up shopping malls, stadiums just like crazy. So they are suffering the trees for the needs which we don't need that much, in other words, because of they don't know the limits, nature get hurts over and over again.

                             

             Protect the Nature  &   Protect the Livelihoods of People 

Measuring Biomass. And the biggest question is UNETHICAL OR NOT?

Its not important to say its ethical or not at first. If we really want to clarify this issue, well first we should ask ourselves that “what is biomass?”, “why do we need to measure it?” and “what are the advantages and disadvantages of it?” After getting the answers then we can bravely give our answer to this biggest question. Without contrasting the positive and negative parts we cant get the best answer.

What is Biomass?

Biomass is the total mass of organic matter. Organic matter consist of carbon compounds such as carbohydrates, lipids and protein. Biomass is measured as dry mass of organic matter of living organisms.

Why do we need to measure/ what are advantages of it?

Biomass is of interest for a number of reasons. It is the raw material of food, fiber, and fuelwood. It is important for soil, fire and water management.

1) Biomass used as a fuel reduces need for fossil fuels for the production of heat, steam, and electricity for residential, industrial and agricultural use.

2)Biomass is always available and can be produced as a renewable resource.

3)Biomass fuel from agriculture wastes maybe a secondary product that adds value to agricultural crop.

4)Growing Biomass crops produce oxygen and use up carbon dioxide.

5)The use of waste materials reduce landfill disposal and makes more space for everything else.

6)Carbon Dioxide which is released when Biomass fuel is burned, is taken in by plants.

7)Less money spent on foreign oil.

What about disadvantages?

1)Agricultural wastes will not be available if the basic crop is no longer grown.

2)Additional work is needed in areas such as harvesting methods.

3)Land used for energy crops maybe in demand for other purposes, such as faming, conservation, housing, resort or agricultural use.

4)Some Biomass conversion projects are from animal wastes and are relatively small and therefore are limited.

5)Research is needed to reduce the costs of production of Biomass based fuels.

6)Is in some cases is a major cause of pollution.

As we can see from the above, even though there are significant reasons for measuring the biomass, the negative causes that it gives to nature is just terrible. Using those destructive techniques, and destroying the plants for this is just openly causing the global warming, pollution, erosion and lot of damages to our world. So in my opinion, it is totally a unethical behavior. Now...

Dear Scientists,

I know in some ways its important to see and measure biomass of plants and animals. But bear this in mind, I dont care! WE dont care. Just find another way to make your scientific researches.

Sincerely,

a girl who cares the nature that she lives in.

CITATION

http://science134.tripod.com/id9.html

SL Biology ( Pearson Baccalaureate )