Progress Toward Artificial Photosynthesis?

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070312152123.htm

Summary: This article is about the progress toward artificial photosynthesis using a special new type of metal-free catalyst: graphitic carbon nitride. The reason it's hard is become it takes a lot of energy to break down the Carbon bonds in CO2.




What is the chemical equation for photosynthesis? Carbon Dioxide + Water = Glucose + Oxygen

What organelles are involved in this process? chloroplasts

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. CO2 bonds are difficult to break, artificial photosynthesis is possible, their are few metals that can break co2 bonds

What impact would the absence of this process have on the biosphere? Without photosynthesis and in turn plants their would be no oxygen which would kill humans leaving the earth without carbon dioxide.

Music made to measure from nature's proteins

Link:http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn11775-music-made-to-measure-from-natures-proteins.html

Summary: This article is about how you can translate proteins into a musical form. The "notes" available are the 20 natural amino acids from which all proteins are constructed. The basic concept is simple: assign each amino acid to a different musical note, so leucine could be middle C on the piano, for example, serine could be D, and so on till all 20 have their own note.

What is the major role of this molecule in the cell? Proteins code the information from the genes

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Different proteins make different sounds, The sounds can be used to identify different proteins, they can use the sounds to make a musical score.

What impact would the absence of this molecule have on the cell? Without Protiens there would be nothing to code the genetic information

Protein Found To Shield Pancreatic Cancer Cells From Self-destruction

Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070320095656.htm

Summary: This article is about An over expressed protein that protects human pancreatic cancer cells from being forced to devour themselves, removing one of the body's natural defenses against out-of-control cell growth.

What is the major function of this cell's organelle? The major function of this organelle is to protect human pancreatic cancer cells from devouring themselves

Which cell types have this organelle? eukaryote

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. A protein can protect cancer cells, cancer cells devour themselves, cells can die from stress.

What impact would the absence of this organelle have on the cell? the cancer cells would continue to devour themselves

GM virus shrinks cancer tumours in humans

Link:http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn12839-gm-virus-shrinks-cancer-tumours-in-humans.html

Summary: The article opens by telling us that a virus engineered to target cancer tumours has shown promising results in treating liver cancer in a small, early-stage clinical trial. Since the early 1990s researchers have tried using modern genetic engineering to tailor viruses to specifically infect and destroy cancer cells. But some experts say the specially designed viruses do not replicate fast enough within tumours to have a big impact.

What process is being used in the article? Engineering viruses to target cancer tumors.

What is the purpose of genetic engineering in this article? To help eliminate cancer tumors.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Viruses can help shrink tumors, rabies vaccination can shrink tumors, This process has been worked on for 17 years.

What impact would the absence of this process have on humanity? Without this process patients with tumors will have to wait longer until they find another way to shrink the cells.

Nanoelectrodes could provide bird flu test

Link:http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn12999-nanoelectrodes-could-provide-bird-flu-test.html


Summary: The article opens describing finding the presence of specific genes could be as as hard as finding a needle in a haystack but new technology could put an end to that. To do this they wire a DNA strand up to a pair of nanotube electrodes and feed electricity through it. Since DNA with non matching base pairs lets considerably less current flow through it than a pair of matching strands, so they can use this to find certain genes.

What are the major functions of nucleic acids in the cell? To carry genetic information or form structures within the cell.

What are the differences in RNA and DNA? RNA is single stranded while DNA is double, while DNA contains deoxyribose, RNA contains ribose.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Electricity can be used to find certain genes, a 27 nm gap is the length of a segment of 80 base pairs of DNA, DNA with non-matching base pairs lets considerably less current flow through it than a pair of matching strands.

What impact would the absence of this organelle have on the cell? Cells woudlnt be able to carry any information to their host.

Sickle-cell mice cured with their own cells

Link:http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn13007-sicklecell-mice-cured-with-their-own-cells.html

Summary: The article is about mice with the blood disorder Sickle-cell anaemia who were cured with stem cells, but even bigger is the fact that they retrieved the cells from the mouses tail, avoiding the ethically controversial alternative of deriving them from embryos. The problem with using this in human is they can't use viruses to ferry the reprogramming genes into cells because it may cause Cancer later in life.


Explain the phenomenon being described in the article. The phenomenon described in this article is the transformation of tissue cells into stem cells which can be used to treat diseases.


What is the difference between a genotype and a phenotype? Phenotype is physical such as eye color and genotype is the code that tells what the phenotype is such as Tt

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Stem cells can cure some diseases, tissue cells can be turned into stem cells, their is a way to get stem cells without using embryos


What impact would the not understanding genetics have on medicine or agriculture? Without understanding genetics, genetic diseases would not be identified leaving many infants dead.

Computer servers 'as bad' for climate as SUVs

Link: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn12992-computer-servers-as-bad-for-climate-as-suvs.html



Summary: The article opens by stating that computer servers are at least a great threat to the environment. The article says that a server has the same carbon footprint as your average SUV doing 15 miles to the gallon. 1 billion computers on the planet, the global IT sector is responsible for about 2% of human carbon dioxide emissions each year.

What are some ways this phenomenon could be stopped? considerable amounts of electricity could be saved by more efficient data storage: 60% of the departments said they were using less than half their storage capacity and 37% said they are storing data indefinitely.

Is there anything you could do to contribute to the reversal? I could turn off my computer after each use or set the screen on a lower brightness.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Computer servers can be as bad as SUV's, the rate at which data storage is growing surpasses the growth in the airline industry, and 1 billion computers on the planet, the global IT sector is responsible for about 2% of human carbon dioxide emissions each year

What impact would the continuance of these process have on the biosphere? If this continues the diminishing of the ozone would be vastly sped up.

Jumping Mouse Considered for Protection

Link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGNmjo4sZaK7c7uuIHFuDW-SMyVAD8TCTJLG0

Summary: This article opens by telling you that the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse is up for consideration to become and endangered species. Other candidates include a snail and a frog from Arizona, a fish from Tennessee and a variety of buckwheat found in Nevada. The list names 280 plants and animals in all.

Why is this species endangered? This species is most likely endangered do to grazing and the loss of habitat. The mouse depends on moist meadows along streams and rivers to make its homes which due to the drought could be a problem.

What could prevent this organism from going extinct? The article does not list how they can prevent extinction but they do say that they can work with land manager once it's on the list.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. I learned that their are species that have been up for the list for over 25 years, Their are many different organisms up for the list, being a candidate for the list does not grant you the protection.

What impact would the absence of this organism have on its ecosystem/community? The article does not state a direct impact but the mouse is prey for some species.

'Lizard Isles' reveal natural selection at work

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10586&feedId=online-news_rss20

Summary: This article starts buy describing the 2 different species involved in the experiment
Anolis sagrei and the larger Leiocephalus carinatus, which prey on the Anolis sagrei. The point of the expierment was to find out if introducing the L. carinatus, would cause the A. sagrei to grow longer legs to get away from the L. carinatus. They also hypothesised that in time the legs would shrink and the lizards would go to the trees to escape their predators. After 6 months the first became true their was a greater number of long legged lizards then short, and after another 6 months their second prediction came true.

How is natural selection or evolution illustrated in this article? Natural selection is illustrated by the lizards need to escape predators so they grew longer legs and after time found that shorter legs enabled them to climb trees.

How does this support Darwin original findings? In Darwin's original theory he stated that organisms change to help them survive and, to escape predators (survive) the lizards grew longer legs.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. Natural selection does not take a long time, It can happen more than once over a short period of time, and natural selection can be experimentally induced.

What impact would the absence of this organism have on the ecosystem? The Anolis sagrei and the Leiocephalus carinatus are located on different islands so removing one will not have a great impact on their ecosystem.

MRSA Infections on the Rise, But Treatable If Caught Early

Link: http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002819.html



Summary: This article discuss' methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. The article states that the disease was first identified in the early 1960's, and first began infecting humans in the mid 1970s. The article also describes how their are more than one type of MRSA.

HA MRSA (Hospital Aquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and CA MRSA (Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staph Infection). CA MRSA attacks and destorys the white blood cells in our body that help us fight infections.



Questions:

What are the symptoms of this disease? Common symptoms include an inflamed skin infection that may be mistaken for a spider bite, but once inside the blood stream MRSA can cause septicemia (blood poisoning) or endocarditis (an inflammation of the lining of the heart).

How is this disease passed from person to person? This disease is passed through
Close skin-to-skin contact, Openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, Contaminated items and surfaces, Crowded living conditions, Poor hygiene.

List three things you learned from this article in your own words. I learned that MRSA is not something new, there are 2 different types of MRSA, and the flu kills twice as many people then MRSA

What impact does this disease have on the US economy? This disease could cause an epidemic which would speed up the need for a wide spread vaccination.