Britanny+B.

(Just so you know, you've been spelling my name wrong for quite some time.)

Post 1: De-extinction

__March 25, 2013 __

 Would you ever, just once, just want to see what life we are missing? What about a mammoth walking through your backyard (Though it is highly doubtable it would be able to roam) or the famous dodo bird walking around once more? Science is in a breakthrough period of being able to bring back the previously extinct. There are lots of “should” and “should not” going around about such a subject but just think about this… Very carefully, screw your brain on this little titbit.

 Why not?

 We aren't playing god, which is a religious statement and really has no placement in science. You cannot calculate any act of god. But that is beside the point. Bringing back an extinct race could be the next big feat for humans; we have already started on some interesting cases, even.

 Science is actually using the process of cloning to bring back these extinct animals much the same as how we would do this with mice or actually living animals. Recreating their genome from a bit of flesh or bone then inserting it into a living, closely related, animal. You just have to wonder, what would we choose to bring the mammoth back?

 This little bugger here is the passenger pigeon; a native American bird that was hunted out from what used to be flocks that would cover the sky. A group of scientists are trying their best presently to recreate this extinct bird from simply padding on a preserved foot.

 Here is one many already know about. (It’s rather hard not to with the “Dead like the dodo bird” jokes all around) If they can succeed in bringing back extinct animals, this one is definitely on that list! In fact, they already have a list of a good 22 species they are trying to save.

 This being the list; it is more specifically a good illustrated group of animals on the list. Giant sloth, New Zealand giant moa, Tasmanian tiger, and surprisingly the Sabre-toothed cat.

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Here is a very detailed and informing video about the whole process, definitely a ton of thought put into the process of de-extinction. They are still struggling very hard to break down the moral barriers to this and whether it is really the ‘right’ thing to do.

 When you look at this big lug of animal, you might think it couldn't possibly be extinct. But it is and it has been for quite some time. In fact, it’s estimated it lived 11,000 years ago. It looks a lot like a bear of today’s age but this beast is actually a giant sloth.

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 * <span style="color: #731717; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">So we’re bringing back the past, what about the future: **

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 * <span style="color: #731717; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Maybe it’s good they are extinct: **

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 * <span style="color: #731717; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A wider definition of what extinction is: **

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 * <span style="color: #731717; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How long do we think Earth will last: **

= Post 2: Fruit fly, personality wise =

__ April 12, 2013 __

Cheez whiz certainly has personality, but would you think the same thing about the Drosophila fruit fly? Okay, that was a really bad joke, but you don’t think about animals like flies having much of a personality at all. It is a fact that most humans (In North America) do not think an animal may have a personality at all, in terms of feelings and emotional drives.

This path to thinking is most certainly proved wrong now as scientists recently (As of last November, 2012) discovered the presence of transposons in the brain; particularly in parts of the brain cells responsible for memory related genes. We also used a wonderful contraption called a FlyVac to test if certain genes in the same breeds of flies and their young are attracted to the LED light at the end of a T-path or two different splits in the mechanism. The fact of this experiment is that this was proven the wrong hypothesis in this experiment as no matter what flies they experimented with; whatever breeds or whether they were in-breed or otherwise the results always varied.

They even used several known brain chemicals that are similar between most organisms and inserted them into the flies, thinking this would determine a path for them to take between the two paths in the FlyVac. The fact that this does not and that every fly had a preference to either light or no light exhibits a form of personality however primal.



Now I’m sure we all know about the wonderful characteristics of flies. Here is a close up picture of just that, isn't he beautiful? Yes, I do agree that you can only stare at that marvellous picture so long before it just blows your mind and you have to go on to the next poor science experiment.



Here is a nice, sizable picture of the FlyVac mentioned in the above experiment. As you can see there is a choice point in the middle, leading to two tubes on either side of the flies in which at the end there lies a LED light to one side and dark to the other.

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This video will state very clearly of another experiment used to test fly emotions, another point in their personality, and the release of a calming chemical called dopamine. This is, in fact, a chemical that both flies, humans, and just about any other species with a brain have within its head and is released for a calming effect on the body. As you can see, the flies are calmed quicker than normal when they are given cocaine which has the same effects as what ADHD children are prescribed called Ritalin. So effectively, the flies with their dopamine receptors having problems to them are ADHD flies, unable to calm down after their puff of air.



Ignore the man on the side, as him being there is as puzzling as his expression. This is a nice capture of the graph in the video, showing a diagram of how the cocaine fed flies have vastly surpassed the normal ones when it comes to calming down. It also shows the mutant fly that has their dopamine receptors unresponsive takes much longer to calm down than would be normal.



Here is a poor soul downing a hearty chug of alcohol enriched food stuffs. This is an apparently sex starved male fruit fly drinking off his rejection. From studies, it is shown that male fruit flies will drink more when they are rejected by female fruit flies then their accepted colleagues. This seems to be a show of some sort of remorse; you can’t possibly look at this poor fly and say that he is feeling fine.

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Post 3- Recovery and Improving Memory

__ May 21, 2013 __

As nearly half the class has recognized, not excluding me, this is a topic nearly every human alive today must tussle with. With age and youth, spread among the whole world of many cultures, and even in the prime ages of our species, we all suffer from the complexity that is memory and its loss. Some of us will suffer just a wee bit more than others with the loss of marks on top of it. And others may forget everything they know and hold dear due to complications, a lot of which are unknown to today’s sciences. But, thankfully, we are advanced enough in these studies that there is much that is brought to light at this point.

I mean, how else will we evade the horror that is late marks? Human memory is an amazing thing and can hold lifetimes in its metaphorical hands. Any problems in memory lead to many inconveniences and can change your life on levels. Amnesia, a total or partial wipe of long term or short term memory, can nearly change a person to the point you’d never recognize their personality. As much as this might be a GOOD thing when you look at some… Undesirable people; apparently giving them a memory wipe is inhumane and must not be done.

With all that we know, there is still much our species does not. But, why would I need to go into some speech for this wikipost? That isn't even part of this topic! In fact, it is actually quite the opposite. For there is some things people have tried, and actually had experiments trialed through, to recover or retain your memories.

Now doesn't that sound like an infinitely better post than losing your memory to age?



Now look at this cute little girl, sleeping her night away to get ready for another day. It is sweet, yes? Bet you would never guess that the brain of hers is going a kilometre a minute at this moment. Not only that, but that growing brain is also processing her recent memories to prepare her for the future ahead. This is some real deep stuff; as long as you’re thinking of deep sleep that is. This process only happens in REM sleep and the psychologists studying memory proved this through an experiment. Don’t worry; no lobotomies were performed in this study of memory potential.

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Pretty darned self-explanatory and an amazing host to boot. This video shows you the wonders of our friend, memory, and how to help them remember the small stuff. You don’t even have to work up a sweat! It’s as easy as moving your jaw or fist.



You see this? Yes, this took a long time to scrounge up. It is a picture of champagne that is NOT exploding or being poured. Yeah, I am totally proud of my skills with working in Google Images here. Now to switch this topic onto something more memory related, I AM trying to keep a theme here. You see, there are studies shown that champagne or something within this bubbly drink can help with your memory processes. In fact, they are called phenolic compounds and they help a protein in your brain that contributes to a wonderful and lasting memory, or just spatial memory. This works for most forms of alcohol, as long as you don't binge as that will compromise your memory, as most probably know. Now isn't that something you'd drink to? But remember, drink responsibly... Hah.



Let's take a moment to look at this guys nose... Yeah. That's weird. Now, you might be wondering why he has squiggles coming out of his head. If you guessed they are lightning bolts, you deserve an applause. Yes, scientists have actually stuck electrodes into the brain and I will be covering that. It was supposedly some form of cure for obesity; only they made a small miscalculation and helped the mans memory! Instead of lessening his undying hunger, they caused him to remember in utmost detail a moment 30 years prior and in colour! I don't know about you but my memory does not work in colour very much. Sometimes it is a question of if it's working at all. Don't look down on this simply because they attached an electrical device straight to an important part of your being; science has already been there and is well practiced in this. In fact, we have used this exact procedure to help Parkinson's disease and many other locomotive problems. Now it is in the early stages of study but there is high hopes for it working really well. After all, what amazing leaps forward in discovery would we have without spontaneous surprises and tons of research?



Alright, maybe it's a little too classy of a library to be considered to be someones memory... But a library is the best way to describe ones brain in simple terms. All sarcasm aside; it is easy to get lost in libraries, there is ample information around every corner, something is always happening, and sometimes all you have to do is ask the librarian and you can be lead to what you want. If it's a good librarian, anyways. I know the possibility that I'm just REALLY tired may mess with my perception of things, but this is probably the best description I've heard in a long time about memory. I study it in my free time, after all... So the hippocampus is basically our nice little mental librarian. They can be very poor at their job and not be any help at all or they can be computer-tier amazing and give out book numbers and all that without blinking their metaphorical eyes. Everything else, as you've probably guessed, is in books. Memories can be stored in bookshelves, a specific part of the brain is responsible for this happening.


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Post 4- Animal Hybrids
June 12, 2013

Okay, a lot of people harp and whine about hybridization being unethical out the wazoo. I'll have to restate that again; some people yell and holler about how messing with cute bunny genetics is beyond unethical. You don't hear an abundance people sympathizing with experiments on bugs and rats and pigs. It just doesn't happen often? Are they not cute enough or do they just not have many followers? I don't care, if we must learn about genetics, we need something to test on. At least we aren't doing it on other humans, which would be cruel and heartless. Scratch that, they are even trying it on humans, in a way. But regardless, this is not some elongated opinion piece, this is to teach others about the genetic wonder that is hybridization. Or the many kinds of it, at least.

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Yeah, 150 sounds like a decent amount of trials for DNA experimentation. Yup. While America does have a hefty moral code and let's not even get into the religious weight they throw around, it does seem a little creepy to be holding only 150 half human embryos and you need to wonder why they haven't let them proceed any further to find out the exact outcome to these oddities. Then again, you know, the sterility of the offspring and it's descendants are somewhat compromised. Would it do the same with human-like hybrids? Only time can tell...



The liger, biggest cat IN THE WORLD and weighs more that a car. Okay, probably not the latter... But this hybrid that anyone who has looked up the word knows about is, in fact, the largest cat in the world. It has surpassed both of it's parental species and has been proved to be fertile. In fact, there is an adorable little liliger somewhere on earth named Kiara; this is the product of a lion and a liger if you had not been able to put it together.



Okay, so it isn't on your top 10 list of things you want to meet on your way to the grocery store. Unless... You're really into that sort of thing. If you have heard of Greek mythology in ANY form of the word, you might have caught wind of some beast or another called a chimera. If you haven't I urge you to use this wonderful discovery called google or some other search engine to look it up. But we now use this beasts name as a form of hybridization! When you combine really early stages of embryos of two different species, you can cross the boundary of chromosome numbers and specifics. The downfall? You don't quite know... What will come out of it. A patchwork, in most cases, such as Toast of Botswana perhaps? Our lovely neighborhood sheep-goat did turn out a little... Horny, for lack of better terms. But it is one of a few satisfying outcomes from using chimera-ism to create an organism.



Thank god the spider goat did not turn out in this fashion or kids around the world would be having a new form of nightmares! But like most of my photos, this one is more of a joke than anything; though don't diss this information overload I am selling to you. Spider goats are real serious business. They can produce the wonderful but strong web silk of spiders within their milk. Though the spider goats we currently have do not produce the silk at the same strength as the spider just yet we are working hard to equal things out.



If you combine a daddy long legs spider with a centipede what is it you get? Oh, that answer is simple! A gejigeji. Hmm, yes this is a real animal and you might be wondering why exactly I have a picture of this when I'm writing about animal hybrids. Well, if you really must know, not all hybrids are created in a lab. Not all hybrids are mankind messing with the gene pool or locking two different animals in a cell while they are feeling a little frisky either. Some hybrids are natural! Like Mr.daddy long legged centipede. There are several others of various origins that have happened naturally that we have tried to reproduce as well like liger and mules.

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Post 5 (FINALLY) -Hermaphrodites or Intersex
__ June 12, 2013 __

Hermaphrodites. Yes, you read that right up in the topic area. For those people out there that do not necessarily know what a hermaphrodite or intersex is, they are a living animal or plant that shows physical characteristics of both males and females. This is actually a condition that isn't as rare as people think it is. If you really want a number, it can be as common as 1 in 2000 people are born in an unambiguous gender state. That's actually a pretty large odd, isn't it. Most times people just dust stuff that breaks laws like ethics and moral code under the metaphorical rug. If it isn't a norm, if something doesn't make sense to the majority of the world, if it goes against some religion somewhere... Just think, years ago people would've been beaten up if they fell under any of these topics. Okay, they probably still are hurt when they fall under any of these... Society isn't really the most accepting of places.



Does this young woman look any different from the females you've known before? Just look around outside! Is there any girls passing by that catch your attention and make you think, "Is that really a girl?" Okay, yeah... The fashion sense of today isn't really prided on, "Girl vs. Guy" appearances. But there is barely a doubt that this young woman is, well, a woman. But, as you might have guessed from the topic I'm writing on, you might not be entirely correct. In fact, she is an intersexual female. Surprised? No, probably not...



You might want to eat these gummy wonders but the living version of gummy worms; or, you know, earth worms, are hermaphrodites. They are all neither male or female and reproduce by choosing to excrete eggs or sperm based on just how many worms are around! Okay, this is not really all that new of a fact and most that took biology in high school probably already knew this. But snails, sea cucumbers, and a few kinds of fish are also like this as well!



Not everyone knows what a papaya is, but that is beside the point. There are even plants that show signs of being hermaphrodite or carrying both male and female plant parts. The hermaphrodite papaya is supposedly the best as it can self germinate and create more seed within. As I have never actually eaten a papaya, I can only guess that you're supposed to eat those seeds. And more seeds mean a better feed. Hermaphrodite plants are more common in flowers, having both stigma and pollen mean it can self pollinate and produce more flowers around it as time goes by. Not to sell growing weed, but most weed growers have found out, whether eventually or by looking around, that their hermaphrodite plants tend to produce mostly female plants. Though it is questions whether this fact is applicable to other plant life.



I can't really add an actual picture of what being inter sex looks like; this is a high school project after all! So here is the symbol for intersex, or the medical term for hermaphrodite-ism in humans. It is more of a social problem in our species rather than a physical problem. Surprisingly, it isn't a religious one as most social problems are. The bible does not say anything about intersex or anything of the like and people are born this way without any scientific aid at all. The main problem with this is just in how other people view that there is only two sexes. It isn't a very big deal, in my own opinion, but some make it out to be one.

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Here is a little tidbit of information into the life of someone who is suffering from intersex judgement. It mostly explains itself, so I'll simply let it do it's work to finish off this last wiki post.

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OBVIOUSLY the word was greek! []