Drafts

According to a recent publication, Microorganisms found in dirt can yield antibiotics that can kill pathogens that already have found a way to create drug-resistance to known antibiotics. Soil samples across the country were analyzed, particularly in the search for known genetic sequences used in the production of antibiotics. A sequence was identified and a new possible antibiotic has been tested on the skin of rats which showed signs of sterilization of MRSA. Even if this method initially fails to kill pathogens in human cells, the discovery brings hope as increasing antibiotic resistance is becoming becoming a huge problem all around the world. 

This experiment shows that the diet of the birds is what most likely caused their mercury levels to be so elevated, so the next part of their experiment was to study the mercury levels in the bird’s main prey. This part of the experiment showed that the prey did have elevated mercury, but it further proved that the higher in the food chain, the more mercury in the system. In this case, spiders had a much higher mercury level because it eats other organisms that already have mercury in them; and if spiders have this much more mercury, then birds would be significantly higher because they are so far up the food chain. 

I had my third intramural basketball game today. I've been extremely sick for the past 3 days and I didn't think I could make it. But because we were 2-0 in the season, I wanted to go support the team by playing. I ended up playing most of the game forgetting that I was sick because I was way too into the game as my adrenaline was through the roof after taking an energy drink. I hurt my arm but I didn't even realize it hurt a lot until after the game was over. Sadly, we ended up losing the game but it was an eventful night and it was fun to play some basketball with my fraternity brothers. It is crazy how human body works when the adrenaline kicks in.

Two pictures are taken: a close-up picture of an individual flower and a picture of the entire plant. The close-up of the individual flower includes a fully blossomed flower. The fully blossomed flower is pink in color and has multiple layers of petals. Measurements of the flower size is taken with a ruler in centimeters and is recorded for future reference. The picture of the entire plant is taken from a distance at an angle in which the plant is in between the entrance and the camera. The size of the entire plant is estimated by standing next to the plant. Along with the two pictures obtained from the Durfee Conservatory & Garden, is a world map showing the origins of the Camellia Japonica Napoleon plant. This information is found by researching the origins of the Camellia Japonica family, rather than the specific individual Napoleon species. The countries where these plants grow in the wild is marked on the blank image of a world map.

The species of plant that is being observed is the Camellia Japonica Napoleon. This plant is located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Durfee Conservatory & Garden. The greenhouse is in between the morrill science buildings and the university health center. Facing the morrill science buildings is an entrance to the greenhouse, where the different kinds of Camellia Japonica are found on the right immediately after entering the greenhouse. The Camellia Japonica Napoleon is the second to last tree from the entrance.

Introduction

             As a beginning, I wanted to get the images from the Ray Ethan Torrey Botanical Collection at the Morrill Greenhouses being that I have passed by a countless number of times in the past two and a half years. Being from a part of Central America, I was determined to get a plant that was native to either Central America or the upper regions of South America. In addition, I want a plant that is distinct in that it contains few flowers with distinct features as oppose to a plant with multiple flowers surrounding the plant itself, which would make it difficult to pinpoint the specific flower that will be individually photographed. A plant potted on the floor or on a shelf mid-height will enable others with shorter statures to have easy access over high-hanging ceiling or wall plants.

The botanical collection will be best illuminated at around mid-day when the sun is the highest entering the windows on the top of the greenhouses. Both images of my figure will be taken at the same time to minimize discrepancies between them as well as same height, although different angles will be needed to get a more in-depth view of the plant. Both images taken on a vertical axis as oppose to horizontal. The range figure will be taken off a website where marking the range is simple with little no to chance of error.

The images itself will be labeled A, B and C on the upper left-hand corner of each. The multi-panel figure itself being build using an online source with the images of the flowers itself above and below one another with the close-up being below the further image. These two will be on the left of the range map which will serve the same height of both plant images to make a larger square.

Summary of Marquis, “Why Abortion Is Immoral”

In this article, Marquis argues that abortion is immoral with his “future-like-ours” argument. Marquis compares his argument with several other arguments regarding abortion; including the discontinuation and desire accounts.  

1. What makes killing wrong?

Marquis begins section II by discussing many possible explanations one may give for the immorality of killing one another.

-        Explanation 1: Brutalization. The first argument Marquis presents is simply that killing our own “brutalizes” the killer. However, Marquis refutes this explanation by arguing that to kill, one must be accustomed to the performance extremely immoral acts. Thus, the brutalization caused by murder does not provide an explanation for why killing is immoral.

-        Explanation 2: The loss others feel. Marquis then turns his attention to the idea that killing is wrong because of the loss that those who know the victim feel when that person is killed. However, Marquis argues against this by arguing that killing a hermit, who is isolated, would still be immoral even though there is no one to feel a loss by this hermit’s murder.

-        Explanation 3: Effect on the victim. Marquis then turns to what he argues is the true reason that killing is immoral; it’s effect on the victim. Marquis argues that those who are killed experience the greatest loss that one can experience; the loss of their future. This argument becomes Marquis’ main argument in the paper which he refers to as the “future-like-ours” argument.

Ephrin receptor tyrosine kinases divereged from other tyrosine kinases throughout the course of evolution. The divergence came from the response to specific activation and regulatory signals that require pairing kinase catlytics and regulatory functions. The similarities between the two receptors include everything from structure, organization, function and the types of pathway they activate. Juxtamembrane and sterile a motif were both found to be linker regions to the respective kinase domain. These linker regions are responsible for increasing kinase activity and regulating the pathways functionality. These kinase proteins are responisble for everything from protein synthesis and activation to hormonal regulation and secretion. 

If you look at a human embryo next to the embryo of a reptile, or that of a bird, you will see striking similarities between the groups. But why is this? If each goes on to take a completely different form, then why would each start from nearly the same point? These embryonic forms have remained the same since the branching of these species from a common ancestor some millions of years ago. I suppose evolutionarily, these embryonic forms provided everything needed to grow into completely separate body types, and any change wouldn’t have been beneficial enough to take place. This is just one of the many vestiges left from our evolutionary past.

The study done shows the mercury levels in different organism’s blood, by tracking these levels the mercury can be tracked as it moves through the food web. This looked at species around the Shenandoah River in Virgina where there was mercury contamination. The experiment tested 13 terrestrial-feeding bird species that bred within 50 m of the river, 5 aquatic-feeding species that had direct contact and species at an uncontaminated site. Both aquatic and terrestrial-feeding birds had similar levels which were significantly higher than the uncontaminated birds. This suggests that the birds do not need direct contact to be affected; if something they ate was contaminated it would be passed on to them. Predators typically only receive 10% of the energy from their prey, so they must eat more to receive sufficient energy for survival; this means if spiders are contaminated and the birds must eat many to get sufficient energy, then they will have much more mercury in their system then one individual spider.