nchenda's blog

I visited the greenhouse the other day to see which plants I would be interested in doing a project on. There were many different types of plants in there that it was difficult to choose. I saw flowers, bonsai trees, cacti, and so much more. At the end of the greenhouse was a section that looked just like a rainforest. There were bamboo trees, a water reservoir with fish, pathways made of pebbles, benches, a bridge going across the reservoir, and lots of other beautiful plants. I got to feed the fish because the person who was watching the greenhouse gave me fish food. I went onto the bridge and fed the fish from there. I put my hands under a misty waterfall that was next to the bridge which felt great. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Everything was so stunningly beautiful despite it not being my first time inside. 

I keep learning about action potentials in all of my biology courses so far this semester. The professors always start off with the resting membrane potential of the cell. This is when the inside of the cell is negative compared to the outside. When there's a stimulus, the cell goes through depolarization as its first step. This is when the charge inside the cell becomes more positive that the outside. If and once the cell reaches threshold, an action potential will occur. The cell will then go through repolarization where it starts becoming more negative again. The next step is hyperpolarization which is when the cell becomes even more negative than it was at its resting membrane potential. The cell finally goes back to its resting membrane potential until another stimulus makes it reach threshold again. 

The parts of my days in which I look forward to is when I get to eat with friends. This includes lunch, dinner, and late-night. My friends and I tend to eat or stay in the dining commons for at least 1-2 hours at a time (sometimes more). We do not just eat and leave once we're done eating like other people. We get there and we stay there until everybody is done or until people have things they have to go do. We always eat at the same big circle table because that is the only table that fits everybody most of the time. Sometimes we have more people than we can fit at a table so we take up 2 tables. Those tables are basically our territory in the dining commons. It basically has our names on it. As we eat, we involve in so many different conversation topics with each other. We always laugh hysterically and we are usually loud. We also do homework and help each other with things we need help on once we're done eating. Sometimes we even play games with each other. People don't always come eat at the same time so whoever comes first usually waits until the rest of the people come and finish eating also. This is the reason why eating with friends takes up so much of my day just about everyday.

Tuesday (January 30th)

I woke up at 9am and went on with my morning routine.

I walked to my Organic Chemistry 2 class that was from 10 - 11:15 am.

I went to eat with my friends from 11:20 am - 12:45 pm. We usually talk and catch up on our everyday lives when we eat.

I went to my Bio564 class with my friends tagging along even though they don't take the course from 1 - 2:15 pm.

I went back to my dorm to do homework alone and then my friends joined me for a bit. I always play Korean pop music on my speakers leaving my door open. The sun shining through my windows along with the music relaxes me and motivates me to get work done. Doing homework with others also motivates me because then I'm not the only one being productive.

I went to eat with my friends again at 6 - 7:30 pm. Again, we talk and catch each other up on various things. Everyday is different which is what makes it so enjoyable to go eat.

I went back to my dorm to relax and watch Korean dramas or music videos. I made sure I finished whatever assignments I needed to finish by the next day if not get ahead.

I get ready for volleyball at the Recreation Center and take the bus there with friends. I played volleyball with my friends from 9:15 - 11:45 pm.

I went to Roots Cafe with my friends to eat and talk from midnight until 2:30 am. We walked back to our dorms together. I showered and died down.

The level one headings in both articles include the usual of Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. In Olenin’s article, there are level 2 headings within the Introduction such as “Rate of secondary spread within the Baltic Sea”. In Knapp’s article, there are level 2 headings within the Materials and Methods such as “Species Selection.”

Each section is structured with paragraphs. The abstract summarizes the whole article including the results of the scientific study in one paragraph. The introduction introduces terminology needed in order to understand what the article will be talking about. It includes background and the question the article is looking to answer. Materials and Methods describes the procedure that was done for the study. The results report all the main findings. The discussion includes interpretation of the findings. The first paragraph in each section plays a role in introducing background needed to be known by readers in order to understand why the scientists did what they did for the studies and experiments.

There are topic sentences in the paragraphs of the articles. There are logical flows of ideas. The ideas are organized from a big picture into more detailed information in order to understand the topic and research. Once all the details are put together logically, each paragraph ends with a closing sentence to continue on to the next paragraph or section.

High-schoolers are mainly taught to write creatively. The only scientific writing they do are lab reports. They only know that they have to state facts in scientific writings. They don't know much else about including structure within those facts when writing. They usually just answer the questions the teachers have them answer for various parts of the report. There are 4 main types of writing which include expository, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. The scientific writing falls under the expository category. Despite scientific being only factual unlike the other types of writing, all writings need to take into consideration the readers. Every reader thinks differently so the writer has to be as clear as possible as to what he or she is trying to get into the readers' heads. I never thought that scientific writing would have to consider the readers and how they think. I thought it was just stating facts and hypotheses. What was true was true. What was observed was observed. Structure and function still matters in scientific writings. It seems to matter more than in other types of writing. Creativity can be many different things. Scientific writings sort of can't be many different things. Each sentence, paragraph, and section has a function. Each of those things matter. They do their own jobs in order for the readers to understand what points are trying to be put across. 

I get scared of writing. When I write, it makes me want to let everything out. It usually ends up in me saying too much. As of now, I have so many things I could and want to write about. I want to relieve my stress by talking about what I want to talk about. If I do so, people will probably judge. I don't want that. How do I relieve my stress then? I just botttle it up inside. I replay what's happened over and over in my head. I try to think what would have happened if I did this or that instead? Would it have been better to do this or not do this. There's so many possibilities of what I could have done differently. Was I the one who was wrong. Was that person wrong? Were we overreacting? Was it a misunderstanding? Why does this keep happening? So much regret is felt. There's noone I can talk to about how I truly feel. I'd look stupid. My problems would be irrelevant to them. Would it be ok if this became my way of relieving stress? Can I just talk about anything on here without going too far? Maybe that's just impossible. Still, if I don't write about what I truly want to write about, what's the point of writing? It would just be fake-writing just trying to get these assignments over with. That's dreadful. Regardless, this is a life science course. I have to stay on topic. 

I observed an unknown organism in a clear container. The organism has a translucent coating that surrounds its organs. The length of its tail is about the same length as the rest of its body which was about 15 mm. There are two tiny protrusions sticking out from the front of its body that resembles a mouth or antennae. It has tiny legs on its belly that it uses to crawl in a worm-like way. The creature does so by contracting the front part of the body first and following through with the rest of its body in to move around. The only part of the organism’s body that wasn’t covered by the translucent coating was the very end of its tail. It kept trying to escape the container resulting in many failed attempts. It finally succeeded after one hour of crawling and flipping over on itself.

I thought it was a tadpole at first, but I saw it crawl. This organism has a tail. It is alive. It is moving like a worm moves. I can see the inside of it contracting as it moves. It moves its head first and then pulls the rest of its body with it. It seems like it is trying to escape from the plastic cover because it’s moving along the walls of the cover. It was originally put in the middle of the cover. It is about the size of my digit including the tail. It is brownish tanish and somewhat transparent. It moves very slowly. It keeps going in circles straightforwardly without turning around or moving backwards. It stops moving when I put my finger against the plastic cover where it currently is. It starts moving again once I remove my finger or when my finger has been there for a long time without moving. It has 2 protrusions sticking out of it from the front. It tried to climb up the cover walls after I flipped it over. It flipped itself back over slowly after I flipped it over. It twisted it’s head over first and slowly twisted the rest of its body over along with it. It has black part on the front inside that looks like its eyes. It has a white part connected to that black part as the rest of its insides. It has multiple very tiny legs on its under-side to help it move like a worm.

It is 30 mm long in total. Without the tail it is 15 mm long when extended. The tail is 15 mm long. It’s trying to climb up the wall more frequently. It turned around to go the other way. It tried to put its legs against the wall to walk on the wall to escape. It fell over instead. It seems like it dislikes being put in this plastic cover that’s clear. It keeps rolling over on its back and started moving using its back with its legs in the air. It’s still trying to climb up the wall. It has little white furs on its whole body. It has grooves on its outer parts. It doesn’t make any noise.

What does it eat?

What habitat does it live in?

Why is its tail half its total length?

Is it because of the small legs that i moves like a worm or the other way around. What’s the point of having legs if it moves like a worm anyway?

How does it breathe?

Can it drown?

Why is it sort of transparent on the outside and even around the tail besides at the very end of the tail?

How does it mate?

Is it male or female and how can you tell?