CSB #3: Scientists Creating Synthetic Life Forms

Definitions
genome: an organism's whole genetic code, usually found in the DNA
synthetic life: a man-made, living organism

Summary
Scientist J. Craig Venter has been studying the genes of organisms for many years. He analyzed the human genome by 2001, and every since, he has been striving to create synthetic life. He created a virus by making its DNA outside of any cell and putting into an E. coli cell. Once he did that, the E. coli's ribosomes read the DNA and created the proteins of the virus. He also put DNA of a bacterium into another bacterium along with certain enzymes, and the original DNA would disappear, creating a new cell of the transplanted DNA; they changed the species of the cell. If the technology advances, and we are able to make certain cells into a different species, there would be many advantages, such as making plastic bags without oil, or feeding people food made from a less costly ingredient.

Discussion
It is really interesting that scientists can make artificial organisms. It could be potentially very useful for feeding others. We could turn plants into meat, reducing the cost of meat dramatically. It would help to treat diseases like cancer because we could inject normal cell DNA into tumor cells, making them become normal again. We could also make products more efficiently and environmentally. It is also very much related to cloning. If we manage to do the same thing as Venter did on a bigger scale, we could clone many organisms.

Questions
How much bigger is the genome for humans than for viruses or bacteria?

Will it be much more difficult to make a clone of a human in the same way as they made an old species into a different one by putting DNA into it?

Resources

Venter, J. Craig. “The 100 Discoveries That Are Changing The World: Technology: Biology.” Interview by Pamela Weintraub.  Discover Magazine 2010: n. pag. Science Reference Center. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. <http://puffin.harker.org:2092/‌ehost/‌detail?vid=4&hid=14&sid=6e875807-b5e8-4f14-846f-59cc4211f0a7%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=sch&AN=46710863>.
DNA picture - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3214/images/01-coll-dna-knoll-l.jpg

CSB #2: Mongoose Tradition

Definitions

Tradition – a non-instinctive way of doing things passed down from adults to their young

Mongoose – a small carnivore that lives on the savanna

Escort – the adult mongoose that the parent mongooses hand their children over to after caring for them for a month. The small mongoose and escort are always together, with the escort parenting, teaching, and protecting the young mongoose.

Summary
Humans have traditions and so do high-intelligence animals like chimpanzees or dolphins, and scientists originally thought that lower-intelligence animals did things by instinct and did not learn from adults. However, a study involving mongooses proved that lower-intelligence animals had traditions as well. The scientists observed that the adult mongooses had two ways to break shells of food, like eggs or beetles. They either used their teeth to crack it or smashed the shell against a hard object, and each adult favored one of the two ways and used it much more than the other.  When the adult became an escort to a small mongoose, the younger would watch the adult either crack it with their teeth or smash the shell against a hard surface. The younger would usually use the same method as their escort did to open their shelled food. This behavior suggests that the mongooses do have traditions that they learn from their escorts.

Discussion 

I think that it is interesting that lower-intelligence animals have traditions because it shows that animals may be more intelligent that we thought they were. Recently, scientists have been discovering this more and more as new studies show that animals can communicate and learn from each other and their surroundings.  Scientists have found out that primates can communicate with humans using signs and that elephants mourn for their dead. This finding that animals have traditions could help scientists understand animals better and interpret their actions more accurately. Scientists could use the traditions to help endangered animals by having the animals who are better adapted teach the less adapted animals how to survive.

Questions 
Do other animals have traditions, too, or is it just mongooses?
Could traditions have an impact on evolution of species and natural selection?

Hill, Raymond P. "Mongooses Have Traditions, Too." Science Online. Facts on File, Inc., n.d. Web. 11 

     Oct. 2010. <http://www.fofweb.com/ 

     activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=TSs1800088&SingleRecord=True>. 

Mongoose picture - http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=SciPhoto03333&SingleRecord=True

CSB #1: Rethinking the Factors of Evolution

Definitions

speciation - the process of how a species evolves so that it is adapted to its environment

allopatric speciation - theoretically what happens when the same species get split geographically: a new species emerges that is adapted to its surroundings

anole - a species of lizard

progenitor - ancestor/original

Summary

People have always believed that separation between a species is the most important factor of evolution ever since Charles Darwin did his observation of finch species in the Galápagos Islands. Roger S. Thorpe, Yann Surget-Groba, and Helena Johansson of Bangor University, United Kingdom researched anoles, a species of small lizards that had been naturally separated over a small cluster of islands, then reunited again after some volcanic activity a million years ago made the four islands become one. Thorpe, Surget-Groba, and Johansson studied the DNA of the anoles from different original islands and the DNA of the anoles from different habitats of the same original island. Surprisingly, there was less of a difference between DNA of anoles from different original islands than difference between the DNA of anoles from different habitats of the same original island.

Discussion

It seems strange that the DNA from the lizards from the same original island but different habitats have more difference than the DNA of lizards from different original islands. I think that it is interesting that we have thought that geographical separation contributes the most to natural selection or evolution since Darwin, but through this research we find out that it may not be so. Furthermore, it may be that different habitats contribute more to speciation than geographical separation. This finding might change a lot of what we think about evolution because much of what we know comes from Darwin’s observations and research. This research may help us better understand species and how new ones form.

Questions

-Does geographical separation really play that big a role in evolution, or is it just because the two land masses usually have different habitats?

-Have people done the same experiment with different animals and came up with the same results?


Resources

Galloway, Evan. "Island Lizards." Science Online. Facts On File, Inc., June
     2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.

Original article -http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=TSs1800071&SingleRecord=True

Darwin’s finches illustration -

http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=SciIllus04968&SingleRecord=True

Picture of anole -http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE40&SID=5&iPin=SciPhoto03332&SingleRecord=True