Cells

What is a cell?
A cell is the smallest complete piece of a living thing. cells are like building blocks because they go together to form whole plants, animals, and any organisms. They are living things and need water, food, air, and energy. In order for them to obtain these resources they have to absorb them through their cell membrane. They are also a structural and functional unit of all living organisms.
How many cells do organisms have?
The amount of cells that organisms have varies. some organisms such as bacteria may be unicellular and consist of only one cell. Other organisms such as humans are multicellular and have around 100,000,000,000,000 cells.
What is the cell theory?
The cell theory was developed in 1839 by Schleiden and Schwann. It states that all organisms are composed of one or more cells. This means that all cells come from preexisting cells.
What can cells do?
Each cell has its own set of directions. It has to take in nutrients and convert them into energy. Some cells carry out functions. Others reproduce if necessary.
What types of cells are there?
There are two types of cells that all other cells fall in. There are Eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Eukaryotic cells are found in multicellular organisms, have nuclear membrane, and are ten times the size of prokaryotics. Prokaryotics are found in unicellular organisms, are small, and lack in nuclear membrane.
What is metabolism?
In successive cell divisions cells grow through the functioning of cellular metabolism. This is the process in which individual cells process nutrient. first the cells break down complex molecules to produce energy and reduce power. Then the cells use all that energy to construct complex molecules and to perform other biological functions. When cells use this process they can brek sugar that the organism has consumed into a less chemically-complex molecule called glucose. Then the glucose is broken down into ATP, which is a type of energy.
What is cell division?
This process involves a single cell dividing into two daughter cells. This process leads to growth in a multicellular organism. Prokaryotic cells divide by binary fission. Eukaryotic cells usually go through a process called mitos followed by the division of cells called cytokinesis.

Overall, cells are a cool topic to learn about visit this website for more information. http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/13-cells.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(biology)

Gregor Mendel

Who was Gregor Mendel?
Gregor Mendel was an important scientist who developed a method of cross-pollination when he was in Eastern Europe. He was born in 1822 and died in 1884.

What did Gregor Mendel do that was important to genetics?
Gregor Mendel did many things that were important to genetics. First of all, he experimented with pea plants. By experimenting with pea plants he discovered the method of cross-pollination. He picked pea plants to experiment with for many reasons. He picked them because they grew easily in large numbers and their reproduction could be manipulated. In a pea plant there is both male and female reproductive organs. This means that they can either self-pollinate themselves or they can cross-pollinate with another plant. In Mendel's experiments he was able to cross-pollinate purebred plants with traits. He also discovered what happens in the transmission of heredity traits from parents to children. He learned that some traits of parents don't pass onto their offspring.

What are some results that he came up with after experimenting with pea plants?
After experimenting with pea plants Gregor learned that the first offspring generation always have yellow pea plants. The second generation always has a ratio of 3:1 of yellow to green offspring.

What are the three main conclusions that Mendel came up with in his life?
He learned that the inheritance of each trait is determined by the genes that are passed on to the offspring unchanged. Mendel discovered that an individual inherits one unit, from each parent, for each trait. Lastly, he learned that a trait might not show up in an individual, but can still be passed onto the next generation.


http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_1.htm

Icy Weather

As you probably already know we've been getting very unusual weather changes lately.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma the weather has gotten freezing. On Friday, freezing rain fell and there was a huge windy storm. The storm left several states coated in ice. This storm has also been very deadly. In fact, at least two deaths have been blamed on this storm. In addition, a few schools closed down early and dozens of flights were delayed. Some people predict that this is going to be a very long-term event.

In Kansas, several inches of snow was expected at the end of the week. A few deaths were blamed on this storm as well. One of the deaths that was blamed on this storm was of a 16-year-old boy who was riding to school on a pick-up truck. While he was riding to school the truck slipped on ice and overturned. The same thing also happened to an 81-year-old man.

In Oklahoma City a lumber truck flipped on an icy interstate 44 off exit ramp Friday.

Unfortunately, because of all these deaths and injuries we will have to be much more careful from now on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_us/winter_blast

Triplets!!!

Have you guys ever seen triplets or quadruplets?
Well 1 out of 38 times a mother gets twins, 1 out of 8000 a mother has triplets, and 1 out of 64 million a mother has quadruplets. Anyways, on January 11th Jennifer Clapp-Bennet and her husband Daniel got to see their triplets on an ultra sound record and then a computer generated view that was very accurate. Jennifer really thought that this was a miracle. She couldn't believe that 3 boys were growing in her womb. She said that they were doing gymnastics in her belly and that they kept kicking her stomach and each other. Even though her pregnancy was very complicated she was very excited about it. The three babies in her stomach were also growing very quickly. In fact, their fetus grew 9 inches in just a few months, which made the uterus very crowded. In addition, Jennifer also thought that it was so amazing that her children had began sibling rivalry that early.



http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2788721&page=1

E. coli

Hey guys!

I'm here to tell you about E.coli, the disease that had spread throughout the entire nation in Taco Bells. This disease began spreading around the third week of November. It was spreading through green onions most likely. Because of this deadly disease over 5800 Taco Bells had to close down nationwide. Over 160 people fell sick. The disease began spreading in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. There are 103 cases in new York. Approximately 7 cases were reported in Pennsylvania. There were 41 sick people in Long Island. There were about 55 cases going on in New Jersey. Anyways, if you don't know what E. coli is, then it is a type of bacteria that normally inhabits a person’s intestine. Some of these strains are capable of causing disease under certain conditions when the immune system is compromised or disease might result from an environmental exposure. But don't worry if you haven't gotten this disease yet then you won't get it ever. But be careful just in case it spreads again

http://www.monheit.com/taco-bell/index.asp

Hey!!!!

hey guys!
This blog sight is awesome. Leave as many comments as you want. So guys, how was your your break? I really wanted it to snow. Well I gotta go. Bye!