Paralyzed Man Can Walk

Rob Summers, who is now twenty five, was left paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident in 2006. Thanks to new treatment for spinal cord injuries, he is now able to stand and even take steps. This therapy involved sending electric currents to specific parts of his spinal cord. The therapy is not supposed to stimulate movement, but tap into parts of the spinal cord that can induce movement on their own, without signals from the brain. The purpose of the electric current is to mimic signals from the brain. Then, the patient has to perform a task such as walking. For someone like Summers, who couldn't even move a toe, this is life changing. Summers can also flex his toes knees, and ankles which requires input from the brain. This suggests that somehow, his brain has regained access to the spinal cord circuitry below the point of injury. The researchers don't know that this treatment will work on more severe cases, but they are hopeful. Other scientists believe that this miracle is the result of a placebo effect. Either way, this amazing discovery can only lead to other future treatments.

http://www.livescience.com/14245-paralyzed-man-spinal-cord-injury-walks-electrical-stimulation-therapy.html

Tornadoes Sweep the South

Recently, multiple tornadoes have been sweeping across the Southern States. A tornado is caused when warm air encounters cold air. The two fronts then form a tunnel known as a tornado. When hit with a tornado, it is also possible that it will be followed by severe thunderstorms. This has occurred in the South, and they are starting to deal with the aftermath. Trees have been left scattered, along with piles of rubble and leveled buildings. These disasters have cost millions of dollars in damage as well as costing people their lives. The storms have killed at least 300 people between six states as well as at least thirty six people in Tuscaloosa, Alabama alone. The road to recovery is going to be a long one for these devistated states.



http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/tornadoes.color/index.html?hpt=T1&iid=EAL
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

Soaring

During the rocket ship lab, i was enlightened on the relationship between gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy. After recording my data, i discovered that as the elastic potential energy went up, so did the gravitational potential energy. I know this because the more the rubber band is stretched, the more elastic potential energy there is. Therefore, as i increased the amount of stretch, the gravitational potential energy also increased. For example, when we stretched the rubber band to two centimeters, our gravitational potential energy was 2.943 millijoules. When we increased the stretch to three centimeters, the gravitational potential increased to 5.886 millijoules. Last, when we increased the stretch to four centimeters, the gravitational potential energy increased as well, to 11.772 millijoules. Because of my data, i can conclude that as the elastic potential energy increases so does the gravitational potential energy.

During our lab, the were a few possible errors that occurred. One possible error was the amount of stretch on the rubber band. Even the slightest amount of stretch alters the gravitational potential energy. Therefore if it was not a precise amount of pull each time, the gravitational potential energy became different. Another error is that we shot out rocket over a course of two days. Because we did it over two days, it was possible that we grabbed a different launcher on the second day. A different rubber band would create a different amount of elastic potential energy which would change the height. A different height would then change the gravitational potential energy. In conclusion, that is what the lab soaring straws taught me and how it could be improved.

Toothpick Fish Lab

For this lab, we had to "mate fish", and take note of what color offspring it produces. But certain colors didn't blend well, causing those fish to die. The different phenotypes were green, red, yellow and orange, while the possible genotypes were GG Gr Gy rr yy ry (G=green, r=red, y=yellow). The green was dominant while the red and yellow alleles were recessive to the green, but co-dominant to each other resulting in orange when combined. We first pulled out eight green fish, two red fish, one yellow fish and one orange fish. All of the yellow fish died as a result of a lack of camouflage. For the next generation, the population number decreased because there was one less fish to mate. We pulled out seven green fish, two red fish, no yellow fish and two orange fish, therefore none of our fish had to be put in the morgue. In the third generation, we had seven green fish, one red fish, two yellow fish, and one orange fish. The two yellow fish that were produced died and had to be put in the morgue. With two less fish in the mix, the population decreased even more. Six green fish, two red fish and one orange fish were produced in the fourth generation, but then a natural disaster occurred; all of the seaweed and algae died. The green fish then had no camouflage, so all the green fish became extinct; hence, a drastic population decrease. The survivors of the fourth generation were two red fish and one orange fish.

Over time, the population decreased greatly because of the many deaths of a certain color fish. The reason that all of the yellow alleles have not become extinct is because it is recessive to one color and co-dominant to another. For that reason you could have a green fish with a yellow allele that would not have been killed within the first three generations. You could also have an orange fish with one red allele and one yellow which also would not have died. On the other hand, the green fish became extinct so quickly because green is dominant. Any fish with in the fourth generation with a green allele died, causing all green alleles to become extinct. Since the red fish and orange fish cannot mate to make green (because non of them carry a green allele) there will not be another green fish

Bergen County in a Pickle

In Bergen County, NJ administrators had to resort to pickle juice as a de-icing agent. As their plowing budget was thinning out, they had to find a cheaper solution to melting the snow. The pickle juice successfully melted the snow because of its high salt content. Salt melts snow because when combined with the snow, it lowers the point at which the water freezes. "We actually pre-spray the properties, the sidewalks, the parking lots as a preventative before the snow is uncontrollable,” Bergen County Public Works Director Joe Crifasi stated. I believe that using pickle juice as a salt substitute is a smart idea. It is cheaper and just as effective. This is very useful information as we could use it in our next snow storm as a low-cost alternative.






http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/29/winter-dill-emma-bergen-county-n-j-turns-to-pickle-juice-to-melt-snow/#ixzz1CZP0QVZQ

Genetics

Currently in science, we are learning about genetics. Genetics is all about the passing down of traits from parents to offspring. To understand genetics better, we use punnet squares. Punnet squares organize the possible outcomes of allele combinations such as 50% heterozygous, 25% homozygous recessive and 25%homozygous dominant. Heterozygous is two different alleles and homozygous are two of the same alleles. I enjoy learning about this specific topic in science because it is interesting to find out more about what makes people look like one parent more than the other and how they get their traits. It also makes me wonder about my family's history, what my relatives looked like and what different alleles my sister and i have. This is my favorite topic because i get to learn more about my relatives through my appearance.