Nahomi+B.

Post #1: Colour Blindness Nahomi Bosse March 1st, 2014

**What is Colour Blindness?** " The colour blind have a narrowed colour perception. Green is still green and red stays red most of the time, but not as vibrant or bright as a non colour blind would see it. Colours lie closer to each other, especially shades of colours." [1]

People who are affected by this condition have malfunctioning cones or might be missing one.

Cones are responsible for colour vision. Every eye has three cones: Red cone, Blue cone and Green cone. If a cone is not functioning well, it might perceive a certain colour as another. (The "rods" which are pointed out in this picture do not affect colours but have function in low light levels.)

The three types of colour blindness are:
 * Anomalous trichromacy: when one of the cones in your eyes is faulty.
 * Dichromacy: when only two types of cones can perceive colour.
 * Monochromacy: when the person cannot see any colour.

**Video **
This following video will talk mostly about cones and how they are important for perceiving colour. media type="custom" key="25257244" width="239" height="239"

**Genetics **
8% of males are affected by colour blindness, while only 0.5% of females are. Why is this? The most common type of colour blindness is the red/green one, which of course is inherited. The faulty gene is found in the X chromosome of the sex cell. (Blue/Yellow blindness is rare and is not inherited through sex chromosomes.) Since it is the X chromosome that will cause this, males have more chance of being colour blind. To go further into this, males have a X and a Y chromosome while females have two X chromosomes. A male would only need his one X chromosome to have a faulty gene to be affected while for a female to be affected, she would need both of her X chromosomes to have the faulty genes. When one of the female's X chromosomes is affected, she is called a carrier.

The following tables show how parents could pass on their faulty gene(s) to their sons and daughters. The circled X represents a chromosome that is affected)


 * __//Case #1//__**

This shows that when a father is affected, he cannot affect his son(s) since his X chromosome can only go to his daughter.

Since the mother has one affected X chromosome, and one unaffected, it's a 50/50 chance on whether her kids will receive the good chromosome or not.
 * __//Case #2//__**

Again, the father cannot affect his son therefore it will again be 50% chance for the son(s). The daughter in this case will get an affected X chromosome for sure and be a carrier, but only has a 50% chance of being colour blind.
 * __//Case #3//__**

This one being well described in the picture, with a colour blind mother, the son(s) will be colour blind and the daughter(s) will be carrier(s) no matter what.
 * __//Case #4//__**

**Perceiving Colours**
__Deuteran (Green)__ __Protan (Red)__ __Tritan (Blue)__
 * Deuteranomaly - malfunctioning green cone ( 4.36% affected)
 * Deuteranopia - missing green cone (1.27% affected)
 * Protanomaly - malfunctioning red cone (1.08% affected)
 * Protanopia - missing red cone (1.01% affected)
 * Tritanomaly - malfunctioning blue cone (0.02% affected)
 * Tritanopia - missing blue cone (0.03% affected)

This graph below shows what colours the cones perceive. When we look at the above picture of the balloons, we can see that deuteran (green) and protan (red) are closely connected which is because the green cones and red cones are close together on what they perceive as we can see in the graph below.


 * //Further Reading //**

http://www.color-blindness.com/2006/03/07/the-biology-behind/ http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/color-blindness-topic-overview http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask80 http://wearecolorblind.com/article/a-quick-introduction-to-color-blindness/

//**References**//

http://wearecolorblind.com/article/a-quick-introduction-to-color-blindness/ [1] http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/types-of-colour-blindness/ http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/color-vision-deficiency http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/ http://www.biology.arizona.edu/human_bio/problem_sets/color_blindness/intro.html

Post #2: Creationism vs Evolutionism Nahomi Bosse May 02, 2014 Genesis 1:1 quotes "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"

The online dictionary defines the Big Bang as "The theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 million years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature.



The Debate

How did it all start? This question cannot be answered quite easily. There were many men looking for answers through science with fossils and such but there is another point of view that others believe. Bible believers speak about God creating the earth we live on today, not the Big Bang happening. Evolution is a scientific theory. There have been many debates about what is true and I will be talking about both creationism and evolutionism.
 * Evolution Theory**

"According to evolutionary theory, life began billions of years ago, when a group of chemicals inadvertently organized themselves into a self-replicating molecule. This tiny molecule gave rise to everything that has ever lived on the planet. Different and more complex organisms grew from this simple beginning through mutation of DNA and natural selection." [1]



In the picture above is Charles Darwin who usually has the credit for the evolution theory. He is the one who said we all came from one ancestor.




 * Creationism**

"In the simplest form, creationism is the belief that some form of intelligence created the universe and all life, as opposed to the universe and life arising without an intelligent cause." [2] People who believe in creationism believe in what the Bible says or to what the book of Genesis says. In the beginning of the book of Genesis, how the earth was created and how humanity began is explained.


 * Ken Ham vs Bill Nye**

As said earlier, there are many people debating the theories. The video below attracted 500 000 viewers during the live event. It is a debate between creationist Ken Ham and evolutionist Bill Nye which can be interesting. I myself haven't watched it all for it is quite long, but they both give their opinions on the beginning and such.

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 * Belief**

When thought through, both creationism and evolutionism are based of faith. There are no observable proofs that we can currently see. We can't go back and see what happened therefore it becomes a belief. The following video is about a man questioning atheists who believe in evolution. The point of this video is to show that the evidence is not there to prove what they are saying. They all believe what the scientists say, just like creationists believe what the Bible says.

media type="custom" key="25797804"

//**Further Reading**//

http://www.creationism.org/articles/genesis.htm http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/creationism http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/06/272535141/who-won-the-creation-vs-evolution-debate http://www.icr.org/article/evolution-creation-public-schools/ http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/mental-health/alcohol-and-mental-health

//**References**//

http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-theory-of-evolution [1] http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/creationism [2] http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/06/272535141/who-won-the-creation-vs-evolution-debate http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-theory-of-evolution http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/creationism http://www.creationism.org/articles/genesis.htm http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/can_science_support_creationism/ https://www.google.ca/search?q=the+big+bang+theory&oq=the+big+bang+theory&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2732j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=the+big+bang+theory+definition http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/ http://ncse.com/creationism

Post #3: A Brain on Alcohol Nahomi Bosse June 9, 2014

**What's going on**
Alcohol affects two neurotransmitters: GABA which is inhibitory and glutamate which is excitatory. When affecting the GABA neurotransmitter, it causes sluggish movements and slurred speech while the glutamate affected causes the body to not process or react as fast. The following video explains in a simple way what goes on in the brain when a person consumes alcohol.

media type="custom" key="26185780"


 * Areas of brain affected**

__Cerebral cortex__: This section of the brain is where thought processing and consciousness happens. Alcohol slows down the processing of information from the eyes, ears, mouth and other senses.

__Cerebellum__: This part of the brain is responsible for balance and posture so that is what alcohol affects.

__Hypothalamus and pituitary__: The hypothalamus and pituitary coordinate automatic brain functions and hormone release. Alcohol depresses nerve centers in the hypothalamus that control sexual arousal and performance.

__Medulla__: This part of the brain is responsible for functions like breathing, consciousness and body temperature. As alcohol acts on medulla, it induces sleepiness. It can also slow breathing and lower body temperature.


 * Long-Term Effects**



The picture above are examples of effects that alcohol can have on us.


 * Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome**



Up to 80% of alcoholics have a deficiency in thiamine and some of them can develop serious brain disorders like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome consists of two separate syndromes, Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis. The symptoms of Wernicke's encephalopathy include mental confusion, paralysis of the nerves that move the eyes and difficulty with muscle coordination. Learning and memory problems would be the symptoms of Korsakoff's psychosis which makes the patient forgetful and frustrated. The syndromes are not attached together but 80-90% of alcoholics who develop Wernicke's encephalopathy, also develop Korsakoff's physhosis.

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The video above speaks about the syndrome, of its symptoms and treatments.

//**Further Reading**//

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm http://www.hamsnetwork.org/brain_damage/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-douglas-fields/alcohol-brain-damage_b_3857430.html http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/HealthIssues/1127400726.html#.U5aAiPldVIE

[] [] [] [] http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa63/aa63.htm http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000771.htm
 * //References//**