Alyssa+Q.

=Wiki Post #1: Genetics =

Have you ever heard of the term “Pinhead”? Has the thought of where this name came from ever occurred to you? Well to your disbelief, this term is derived from a disorder called Microcephaly. So when you call someone a pin head you’re actually making fun of someone who has a neurodevelopmental disorder. This photo is a comparison of a normal head size to someone who is affected by microcephaly.

Microcephaly is a problem that causes a person to have a head circumference more than two-three standard deviations below what the norm is, for that age and gender. It can be something one is born with or it may develop within the first few years of their life. Having Microcephaly can lead to a child having intellectual disabilities but it can also lead to them having a normal intelligence. Some symptoms from having Microcephaly are: This video explains more on Micorcephaly. media type="youtube" key="YIlsP-ds5tM" height="315" width="420" align="center"
 * What is Microcephaly? **
 * Appearance of the head (Size)
 * High-pitched cry
 * Poor eating habits
 * Seizures
 * Increases movement of the arms and legs (Spasticity)
 * Developmental delays
 * Intellectual Disabilities

The reasoning for this disorder is not clearly identified yet but the most common theory is because of an inherited defect in a gene that interferes with the brains maturing and growing. Although it is said that two copies of a "loss-of-function" mutation in one of the microcephalin genes can be passed down to children and may cause primary Microcephaly. The diagram under this is to show how a defected gene is passed down to their children.
 * Causes: **

It is also stated that in some cases, Microcephaly is cause by something that affects the mother during pregnancy. Some examples would be substance abuse, improper nutrition, untreated phenylketonuria (PKU), exposure to certain viruses and exposure to toxic chemicals. When a baby develops this disorder after birth it may be due to a brain injury, lack of oxygen to the brain or an infection to the brain.

This is a photo of **Schlitze Surtees** (1901-1971). He was an American sideshow performer and actor. He is best known for his role in the 1932 movie **Freaks**. The world had a fascination with him. He suffered from Microcephaly. This is a brain scan of 2 people who are the same age and same gender. The first photo on the left is of a person who is healthy and the second photo on the right is a person who suffers from Microcephaly. You can clearly see in this picture the size difference of their heads and the difference of their brain developments.

More information about Microcephaly can be found here:

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=**Wiki Post #2: Timeline of evolutionary history of life**=

In biology there is a certain definition given to the term **evolution**, “Any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations”. The timeline of evolution that I will be talking about today is based on the major events throughout the process of development of life on Earth. The evolution of life could be anything from the development of biological organization (Kingdoms to species) and individual organisms and molecules (DNA and Proteins.)

Picture of the history of life on Earth as a spiral.


 * Basic timeline: **

The history of the earth goes back 4.6 billion years. Throughout these billions of year, historians and geologist have assembled a timeline in which these major events have occurred. The way that the timescale is organized, the large chunks of time are called periods and the smaller chunks are labeled as epochs. All of the time periods are separated by major geological or paleontological events. This timeline has the most important prehistoric events and their time periods.
 * The basic events on this timeline go as such.**
 * 3.6 billion years of simple cells (prokaryotes),
 * 3.4 billion years of stromatolites demonstrating photosynthesis,
 * 2 billion years of complex cells (eukaryotes),
 * 1 billion years of multicellular life,
 * 600 million years of simple animals,
 * 570 million years of arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids and crustaceans),
 * 550 million years of complex animals,
 * 500 million years of fish and proto-amphibians,
 * 475 million years of land plants,
 * 400 million years of insects and seeds,
 * 360 million years of amphibians,
 * 300 million years of reptiles,
 * 200 million years of mammals,
 * 150 million years of birds,
 * 130 million years of flowers,
 * 65 million years since the dinosaurs died out,
 * 2.5 million years since the appearance of the genus //Homo//,
 * 200,000 years of anatomically modern humans,
 * 25,000 years since the disappearance of Neanderthal traits from the fossil record.
 * 13,000 years since the disappearance of //Homo floresiensis// from the fossil record.

media type="youtube" key="H2_6cqa2cP4" width="560" height="315" align="center"
 * A video of the Timeline of Evolution that takes the 4.5 billion years and makes it occur within 24 hours.**

** Precambrian: ** The Precambrian (4500 to 543 million years ago) was a vast period of time, almost 4,000 million years. It started with the forming of the Earth and ended with the Cambrian Explosion. The Precambrian accounts for seven-eighths of our planets history. The tectonic plates formed and began to shift on the surface during this period. Eukaryotic cells evolved and all the oxygen that they exhaled collected in the atmosphere. This period came to an end just as the first multi-cellular organisms’ evolved.

Illustration on what is believed the Precambrian Period looked like.

** Cambrian Period: ** The Camprian Period (543 to 505 million years ago) is the very first time period of the Paleozoic Era. The Cambrian Period was created due to the aftermath of a mass extinction of the very first multicellular creatures to have inhabited Earth (Ediacaran biota). In the early years of the Cambrian Period the first bivalves and arhtropods came about and then they were followed by the first molluscks, brachiopods and triolobites. At that time all life was aquatic.

Illustration of what is believed the Cambrian Period looked like.

** Devonian Period: ** The Devonian Period (408-360 Myr BP) is the 4th out of 6 periods that made up the Paleozoic Era. The era before it was the Silurian Period and followed by the Carboniferous Period. The Devonian Period is also referred to as the age of Fishes, because during that time the fish had their highest levels of diversity. Also the true bony fishes first appeared. During this time period, life on the lands started to thrive. Plants that developed during this time included mosses, ferns and liverworts. Close to the end of this era the first amphibians evolved.

Illustration of what is believed the Devonian Period looked like.

More Info on the Timeline of Evolution can be found here:

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=** Wikipost 3: Lamarck vs. Darwin **=

A main focus we have been studying in the evolution unit was Lamarck and Darwin. We learned about their beliefs and how they came to these conclusions. The two of them both tried understanding how life on earth has evolved and got to be the way it is now. They both had very different ideas but had some of the same ideas as well. This is a picture of a giraffes with Lamarck and Darwin's head on them. (Lamarck left, Darwin right).

** What they agreed on: **

Most people didn't think like Darwin and Lamarck, they both liked to look at the living world and try to sort out what had been happening over the past. The two of them both thought that life had been changing very slowly overtime and was still changing as time went by, things would change and adapt to their environment so they were better suited to thrive and survive, and that all organisms are related. One other thing that they both agreed on was that all living things evolved from fewer simpler organisms into many more complex and evolved organisms. A picture that pretty much shows the evolution of man.....I just really enjoy the shopping cart because our society is very materialistic.
 * What Lamarck believed: **

One of the most famous things Lamarck is known for is his “Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics”, which was first established on 1801. The book said that if an organism was to change during its life span to better adapt to an environment, those changes it made would be passed onto its offspring. The change that the organism makes is because it is what the animal wants or needs. One example he used was that elephants had short trunks and when there was no longer any water or food that they could reach with their tiny trunks, they stretched their trunks to reach the water and branches. Since they made that change their offspring then inherited long trucks. Lamarck also believed that giraffes started out with short necks but once they ate all the food they could reach, they stretched their necks and then their offspring were born with long trunks.



Elephant with a little trunk.....I thought it got the point across while being cute.


 * What Darwin believed: **

Darwin believes that the desires that animals had would have nothing to do with how they evolved. He thought that the changes in an organism during their life would not affect evolution of the species. He said that organisms (even of the same species), are all different and those which happen to have some sort of variations to help them survive in their specific environment and to have more offspring. These offspring’s are then born with their parents “helpful” traits and they can reproduce more offspring with more traits, which would then make up more of a population. The others who are not as well adapted will die off, ending the chain of weak links. Which leads me back to the elephant example; Darwin knew that there were elephants with long trunks and short trunks. When the water and food supply that the short trunks could reach was gone, they died off, and the ones with the long trunks survived and kept reproducing. So eventually that meant that there were only elephants with long trunks left.

An illustration of Lamarck and Darwin's theory
 * Why we believe Darwin: **

The theory concluded by Darwin has been supported by a lot of evidence, while Lamarck’s theory has been dis proven by many people. This has been in 2 major ways. The first way is by experiment. Throughout many animals, we have seen a real life changes that occur in them during their lifetime that has not been passed onto their offspring. Examples of that would be if a dogs ears a cropped short, its puppies are not going to be born with cropped ears; if a person works out every day and eats well their fitness will not be passed onto their child, it will have to work just as hard to achieve that level of fitness. The other way that Lamarck’s theory has been dis proven is the study of genetics. Darwin knew that traits were passed on but he was never really sure how they were actually passed on. However, we now know much more about genetics and we know that the only possible way for a trait to be passed on is through genes. We know that genes cannot be affected by the outside world. That is how we figured out that Lamarck’s theory cannot be correct. This was a sketch that Darwin made while observing finches on the Galapagos islands. He noticed that each finch on different islands were adapted and suited for their environment. **Video Talking about Lamarck Vs Darwin + Evolution (Part 1 & 2):**

= **__Part 1:__** = media type="youtube" key="vg_FV195hv8" width="420" height="315" align="center"

__Part 2:__media type="youtube" key="NPvs3o4XZFY" width="420" height="315"

More Info on Lamarck & Darwin can be found here:

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 * Wikipost 4: Rita Levi-Montalcini **

Throughout the history of science, most of the time you hear of men who discovered new findings but there is one very intelligent woman who helped make a very big difference in the understanding of cells and leading to many medical advances. She was an Italian neurologist who was paired up with Stanley Cohen, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the nerve growth factor.

=“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them” = -Rita Levi-Montalcini = = ** What is "the nerve growth"? ** The nerve growth factor (NGF) is a small secreted protein that is very important for the growth, maintenance and the survival of certain nerve cells. It is also a signaling molecule. NGF is critical for the survival and maintenance of sympathetic and sensory neurons. Without this protein, these neurons would undergo apoptosis (it would kill itself). There is evidence that NGF will actually circulate throughout the entire body and is very important for maintaining homeostasis. "Human Nerve Growth Factor from PDB 1sg1" **<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Personal Life of Levi-Montalcini: ** ====<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Levi-Montalcini practiced her experiments from her home laboratory. She was studying the growth of the nerve fibers in chicken embryos, which is how she later found her research. The very first genetics laboratory she did was in her bedroom at her home. ====

Baby chicken embryos (what she was studying).

====<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In September 1946, she accepted an invitation to Washington University, who she would be under supervision of Professor Viktor Hamburger. Her original invitation there was only for 1 semester but she ended up staying there for thirty years. It was at WU that she made her most important observation: isolating the nerve growth factor from observations of cancerous tissues that cause a very rapid growth of nerve cells (1952). In 1958 she was made a full Professor, and in 1962, she established a research unit in Rome (Research Center of Neurobiology of the CNR), which divided the rest of her time between there and WU. From 1961 she directed the CNR and from 1969 to 1978 the Laboratory of Cellular Biology. ====

=Interview with Rita Levi-Montalcini:= media type="youtube" key="WgkAR-vrJpM" width="420" height="315" align="center"

=Other Achievements and Discoveries:= <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Levi-Montalcini worked with the Italian pharmaceutical industry Fidia. While working for Fidia, she was able to improve the understanding of gangliosides. In 1975, the scientist supported the drug Cronassial (a certain ganglioside) produced by Fidia from bovine brain tissue. Independant studies showed evidence that the drug could be successful for certain treatments for diseases (periphrastic nervous system meuropathies). Although years later there were some patients who went under treatment with Cronassial and reported a severe neurological syndrome (Guillain-Barré syndrome). German then banned the drug in 1983 and then other countries followed. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Rita working at Fidia.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the 1990's :Levi-Montalcini was one of the very first scientists to point out the importance of the mast cell in human pathology. She then identified the endogenous compound pallmitoylethanolamide as an important modulator of this cell. This research lead to a new discovery in treating chronic pain and neuro-inflammation using this compound as a anti-inflammatory drug.

Mast cells.

=Death:= <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Rita passed away in her home in Rome on December 30th, 2012. Amazingly she lived to the age of 103. Her discoveries and dedication will always be praised and many people admire her still. To many people she will always be an inspiring woman.

Interesting facts about her to sum up this post!

More Info on Rita Levi-Montalcini can be found here:

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** Wikipost 5: Less Known Drugs ** Most of the time when you talk about drugs, you hear about cocaine, meth, acid and marijuana but have you ever heard about other types of weird drugs? There are so many odd drugs out in the world right now, that do crazy things to people. Once you heard about some of these weird drugs, you'll probably wish you never heard about them.... Roman Sakovich's 'Half' Series Shows Before And After Portraits Of Drug Users **Zolpidem (The Sleepwalking Pill):** Zolpidem is a drug many people haven't heard about before, it has potential side effects of sleep-walking, sleep-driving and sometimes sleep-spewing. Zolpidem is more commonly known as Ambien, a sleeping pill that was made as an alternate to Valium and most of the time it works very well. Normally you can take one, go to bed and wake up feeling fine without any incidents happening. But for some odd reason Zolpidem can make people do all kinds of crazy, dangerous stuff while they are asleep. There are cases of people on this drug and them crashing their cars and claiming that they were asleep. If you think that's bad, that's just the beginning. There's an insane story of an Australian couple who were both on Zolpidem and the woman hallucinated that she was floating above the bed before she projectile vomited all over the place. Her husband then strapped on a tool belt and loaded it with spatulas and tried to clean it up. The next morning they both woke up thinking it was a bad dream....only it wasn't.

A picture of an old woman who has a sleeping disorder and fell asleep at her wheel.....tsk tsk** Scopolamine (The Drug Criminals Blow Into Your Face): ** Scopolamine has been found to have the ability to cause amnesia and suggestibility. I know that might not sound too scary but the intimidating thing about it is how easily it is able to be administered. It's as easy as walking beside someone blowing it in their face and voila. There have been criminals in Colombia who have been going around blowing the powder into the faces of victims, who will then happily empty their bank account or assist the criminal with robbing their own home and then the morning after the victim will have no clue what had happened the night before. There have been rumors that this drug has reached the US by soaking business cards in it but that rumor has been released as false. So it seems that the drug is for the most part only still in Colombia. Just a girl blowing something... ..maybe dust...idk....just thought it was relevant to the blowing of the drug

Documentary about Scopolamine:
media type="custom" key="23301250" align="center"

** Nutmeg (The Hallucinations Waiting in Your Pantry): ** Yeah...it's the nutmeg you're thinking of....the stuff that's probably sitting in your home right now. It's not only useful for baking yummy treats but it's also in fact a hallucinogenic. It's one hell of a crazy drug because high doses of it can make you indeed hallucinate. Many people who don't have much money or are looking for a legal alternative will opt for high doses of nutmeg. The trips you get while on nutmeg are normally unpleasant and are more like psychotic detachment from reality rather than feeling all psychedelic and stuff. While taking this drug it not only causes hallucinations but it also causes severe anxiety and misery. The physical effects it causes are extremely rapid heart rate and palpitations, dry mouth, nausea and urinary retention.

This is nutmeg...

** The Hellish, Deadly LSD Trip That Lasts for 3 days **** : ** Bromo-dragonfly is sort of similar to a super duper version of LSD with the trip lasting up to 3 days. It's called the Bromo-dragon fly because it's molecular makeup resembles a dragonfly....that's really the only reason why. This drug is sometimes sold as LSD because it's able to be an active drug at very low doses...so little it can fit on a tab. Although while a LSD trip only last for a few hours, this trip can be active for up to 3 full days and can many nasty side effects. Effects such as seizures, spasms in your veins and your blood vessels constrict. Sometimes if the case is severe enough you may need amputation of limbs. If you don't find all of this very freaky.....the trips have been compared to being dragged to hell and back again. Is that freaky enough?

This is the molecular makeup of the drug....see how it resembles a dragon fly now??

These are just very few examples of all the crazy stuff being made out in our world. It's sort of scary to think about all of these unknown things floating around us and how much danger you can actually be put in by some of these. Seeing all of this crazy stuff makes me sit back and shake my head and think what has this world came to? The fact that some people feel the need to attempt some of these stupid things or the fact that some people will go to such extents to put people in danger just to make money makes me sick to my stomach. Hopefully as the years pass and education on these topics increase, people will really realize how much drugs can ruin their life and we will slowly see them fade out of our incredible world because every deserves much better than that.

More info on drugs can be found here:

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References: [|http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/photographer-roman-sakovi_n_2118624.html#slide=1748366] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []