Review Day

All we did in this class, as clear form the title was review.  We linked all the unit key ideas and learned the connections between everything we've learned.  I am currently reviewing all of these topics like a mad man, because it is almost 11 and I have my midterm tomorrow.  So I will keep this blog post short as well.  Not like there was a lot to talk about there anyways....

Your Inner Fish Chapter Six Summary

In this chapter of Your Inner Fish it talked all about embryology and how animals develop differently after their parental genes are combined.  That was basically the whole thing, and I am trying to study for the test...so this is my chapter 6 summary for Your Inner Fish, enjoy Mr. Quick.

Starting A New Unit: Mitosis and Meiosis (And A HUGE Project)

At the start of this class we had an opportunity to start working on our huge product that is due on Friday, the day of the test.  For this project we look at the inside of and animal, plant and bacteria cell to figure out how each organelle functions.  In theory, doing this project will not only let us understand how cells work in different forms, but why and how cells undergo mitosis.  After we had the short time to start the project, we got an introduction into using the microscopes, digital and optical.  We looked at a flea and some plant cells through both and figured out how to use the different parts of the microscope.  Next class
we will be using the microscopes again, so this was a good first attempt at using them.

Test Day: Genetics

In this class we took a test on our knowledge of genetics and everything else in this past unit.  I felt confident on every answer except for the Hardy Weinberg questions.  The formula is a concept that I am still struggling with but getting better at.  The prezi I turned in before the test helped me review a lot of the genetics and pedigrees.  If any questions from this test show up on the next one (excluding the Hardy Weinberg), I would be confident in answering.  I feel that I had a strong understanding of the concepts within this unit.

Even More Genetics! and Pedigrees

In this class we delved even further into the topic of genetics, this time looking at pedigree's and how dominant genes work together, such as AaBb.  So first of all, how they work together, is when in the genes their is too dominant alleles, like in AaBb, then their can be a co-dominance.  In pheontypic terms, it could be a brown cow with white spots.  Both of the dominant traits for color will show up.  If the genes were Aabb though, the cow would be all brown.  It only takes one dominant gene to over ride the recessive traits.  On to pedigrees, these are family trees that put into picture what punnett squares do for us in genetics.  Their is seperate symbols for male: carrier, deceased, etc., female: carrier, deceased, pregnant, etc., and even unspecified gender for pregnancy.  So with these you then have the ability to make a detailed family trees which show the traits being passed on through many generations of breeding.

Genetics and Meiosis

In this class we furthered our knowledge of genetics with alleles, as mentioned in the previous blog, and looked at the process of meiosis.  Meiosis is the process of your parents genes copying half of their traits and creating a new cell, a sex gamete.  These sex gametes are only supposed to have 23 traits each so that when they meet there is 46, the offspring's traits.  I say "supposed to have" because sometimes occasionally an extra trait will be coded in to the gamete and this can cause genetic disorders such as down syndrome.  The 23 traits that go into each of your parent's gametes are random, your mom and dad could give b recessive for blonde hair but they both might have brown hair.  This is where the punnett squares come in, if they are both carriers then there is that 1/4 chance you will be recessive-recessive.  But if they had four children, there would not necessarily be 1 BB, 2 Bb, and 1 bb.  This is because the process of selecting genes is randomized, yes the percentage outcome is still fairly accurate but, it will not be exact in this situation.  This is how meiosis works, and this is how your parents passed on their genes to you.

First Day of Unit 4: Alleles

In this class we started the fourth unit which involves genetics and how they work.  This is important to us because it is us.  Genetics are what determine anything that is living.  They are what distinguish each of us as different people down to our sex.  So for this class we specifically looked at how genes are passed down form parents to their offspring.  Traits get passed on from your parents, one from your dad and one from your mom.  Let's take hair color as a n example: Let's say B is the dominant gene for brown hair and b is the recessive trait for blonde hair.  Now your parents both have two genes for this trait because they got one from each of their parents.  Lets say your parents Bb and bb.  That means you have a 50% Chance of being Bb and 50% chance of being bb in other words you could be brown haired or blonde haired.  Recessive traits like blonde hair in the example only show up if both of your genes are that, if a dominant allele is present whether it is one or two, will show.  That is why it is called the dominant gene.  The first person to see these alleles and apply them was Mendel who bread pea plants and observed generations and how certain genes would show in them.  He would look at height, color, etc. and see how these traits would pass through in generations of pea plants.  This is how humans and all animals differ from one to another.