20 Questions

     Even though it is not the game 20 questions that we all love to play when we are bored out of our minds, the 20 big questions of science are called big for a reason. Even though all of these inquiries are very interesting, I think the question "Can we live forever?" is something that, if answered "yes!", will probably be disastrous! I was intrigued by this question because if it is something that can happen, it will change everyone's life because they can live until the sun blows up. But after that, will they keep on living? I thought this question was interesting because it leads to so many more thoughts! One hypothesis for this question could be, If bodies stop expanding, then humans or other species can live forever. Though this is a very loose statement, scientists have used this concept to come very close to an answer.

20 of the many questions I think about are listed here:

1. How did we develop complex emotions?
2. Why do we see in color?
3. Will we ever be able to live on Mars?
4. Why do people cry?
5. Why does hair curl?
6. How do muscles remember how to do things? (referring to "muscle memory)
7. Why do people look different?
8. Is "natural born talent" actually real?
9. How do airplanes fly?
10. What in our body lets us sing?
11. Can you survive without sleep?
12. Why do some things taste like a smell?
13. Why are expressions in dance so hard to master?
14. Why do people lose and gain flexibility?
15. Why do we still have so much hair in some places of the body and very less in other places?
16. Why is it bad to look straight at the sun?
17. How much longer will the earth exist?
18. Is it possible to revive dead people?
19. What causes us to make bad choices?
20. Why is math so complicated?

Identifying Questions and Hypotheses

     The Good Samaritan Experiment, carried out in 1978, tested the helping behavior of humans while placed in different circumstances. The set up of this experiment includes many adolescents in a room learning about religion. Then once the lesson was over, the children were asked to move from one building to another. Some were given many minutes to pass to the next classroom and others were told to move locations in a haste. While walking to the next building, the students would see an "injured" man and the experiment would essentially test whether the students would help or not.
     The full experiment can be found at https://explorable.com/helping-behavior
     The main question of the study was to find out if students would be a Good Samaritan and help out an injured man, under various circumstances. They tried this experiment and used variables like lack or length of time and the effect of religious or nonreligious values.
     The experiment tested three hypotheses. The first one was, If people are thinking about religion and higher principles, they would be no more inclined to show helping behavior than laymen (a non religious person). The second one held as, if people are in a rush, then they would be much less likely to show helping behavior. And finally, If people are religious for personal gain, then they would be less likely to help than people who are religious because they want to gain some spiritual and personal insights into the meaning of life.
     These hypotheses were based on prior knowledge on human behavior. The first one argued that people who are religious and non religious can have the same values to help others out, which is true in many cases because people who aren't god-fearing, usually help because they have good morals. The second one stated that people who are in a rush won't help out, which can be accurate because when a person has some work to finish, they will put themselves first. But this statement may not hold true in all cases, which is why they took the experiment. The last hypothesis hints that people who are religious for personal gain are selfish, which may have been true in 1978 but where we live today- being religious will not give you more gain in society than others.

Cheese Lab

9-21-15

Analysis

In this lab we asked the question, “What are the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese?” We made the claim that if a cow’s stomach, where renin is found, is warm and acidic, then renin will contribute to the making of cheese best in a warm environment with a pH lower than 7. We found that renin caused the fastest curdling time but chymosin was the most consistent, making curdles in almost every situation. For example, renin curdled the milk by 5 minutes in the hot and acidic environments but didn’t curdle at all when the milk was in basic and cold areas. But, the chymosin, curdled at the same rates and more, having curdles by 20 minutes in the basic environment. The reason the milk curdled quicker in the acidic and hotter environments were because these factors denatured the enzymes quicker. This data supports our claim because the enzymes chymosin and renin, were affected by the pH and temperature, to curdle faster.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could’ve been errors due to inconsistency in checking for curdles. We checked in five minute increments, but the fastest curdling agents and environments could have curdled in four, three, two, one, or even less than one minute. This error is pretty unavoidable because every time we checked, we would have to take the experiment out of its environment but I think checking more often would result in more accurate data. Another hypothetical error could’ve been forgetting to invert the test tube 3 times after adding the curdling agent, something our group almost forgot to do. This could’ve ruined the data accuracy because the curdling agent would me more concentrated in some places more than others. To avoid this error, simply follow directions! One suggestion for the next lab would be to have one hot and cold station per group to reduce the risk of getting test tubes mixed up or broken while walking across the room.

This lab was done to demonstrate the different factors including changing pH, temperature, and curdling agents, that can influence enzymes in milk. We applied what we learned in class about changing substrates, which in this lab were the renin, chymosin, and buttermilk, or pH and temperature, to have faster or slower results. From this lab I learned about changing the activation energy by using different variables which helped me understand the concept of the chemical reactions we covered this unit. Based on my experience from this lab, I applied that when baking, the food will be made quicker under hotter circumstances because the temperature speeds up the chemical reaction.

Class Data	Time to Curdle	(minutes)
Curdling Agent:	chymosin	rennin	buttermilk
Acid	5	5	5
Base	20
pH control	15	10
Cold
Hot	5	5
temp control	10	10

Unit 2 Reflection

     In the beginning of Unit two, we touched some basic chemistry for biologists which included a review of atom structure and solutions and we learnt about polarity, cohesion, and adhesion. Then we were introduced to many concepts surrounding macro-molecules, which are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are sugars that provide energy and are usually made of 1, 2, and 3 or more rings. Lipids are made of long chains of carbon and hydrogen and they store energy. Nucleic Acids are made of repeating nucleotides and they store information, while proteins are made of amino acids and they support our bodies and speed up chemical reactions. The hardest part for me in this unit was remembering all of these definitions and separating their unique structures and purposes. We also learnt about chemical reactions and components that can speed up or slow down these processes. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy, and they are the machines of the body, also known as catalysts. In class we demonstrated this lab by curdling milk into cheese, but using different components to speed up or slow down the curdling time. I thought this was a great way to apply the information learnt in class and you can read a full analysis on my blog, skmbiologyp6.blogspot.com. Attached below are two pictures, one showing the structures of the four macro-molecules and the other provided as a visual representation of an enzyme lowering the activation energy of a chemical reaction. Overall, this unit was very informative and I learnt a lot, and I look forward to learn more around these topics.

http://www.biology101.org/images/macromolecules.jpg

http://academic.pgcc.edu/~kroberts/Lecture/Chapter%205/05-05_CatalystGraph_L.jpg

Sweetness Lab

9-11-15

Analysis

     In this lab we asked the question, "How does the structure of a carbohydrate affect its taste?" Before beginning this lab we stated that if lactose is a disaccharide made of glucose and galactose, then it will taste sweet. But we found that the sugars with less carbohydrates, basically monosaccharides, turned out to be the sweetest. Glucose, with a sweetness of 125, when combined with galactose, which only has a sweetness of 25, made Lactose, which tasted very bland, scoring a sweetness level of 0. That is why, dairy products like cheese, milk, and yogurt have a very slight sweetness and mainly have other distinct tastes. All of this data proved our hypothesis wrong, because lactose, even if it has a taste, is not sweet. 

     Carbohydrates are used for in different ways in animals and plants. Based on its structure, some are used to store energy and others are used to provide it. For example, fructose, a monosaccharide provides energy while lactose, a disaccharide, gives strength to bones and teeth. 
     Some times, three out of four testers would say there is not much sweet in a sugar but there will be that one tester who finds that same sugar extremely saccharine. One reason for this is because each person eats food from a different cuisine, based on their family, and the Indian who eats extremely spicy food will have different judgement for sweet than an Italian who eats fairly mild food. Also, some people may eat sweets more often, therefore having a high taste for the sugar rather than someone who doesn't like sweet, might find fructose, a mild sugar, extremely sweetened. Finally, the sugar was tasted after lunch, when all the tasters had a variety of foods. This contributes to the fact that each person would have a biased palate based on what they ate for lunch. 

     According to Dr. Margolskee, who spoke for an interview on NPR, when a sugar touches the taste buds, it "stimulates these receptor proteins on the very outer tips of the sweet-responding taste cells". These taste cells are packed about 50 to 100 per taste bud and while half of the taste cells are experiencing the sweetness, the other half are retaining the bitter, salty, spicy etc. tastes from pasts foods.This is to differentiate the  sweet taste from all the others. 

http://www.dshskoeln.de/imb/spomedial/content/e866/e2442/e7594/e7651/e7659/e7663/monodipolysaccl_ger.jpg

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