Biology Blog #10: It's BACON TIME!

Seriously. Butchering a pig. It's one of the things that I've been looking forward to since the beginning of semester. Honestly. And you know how you felt like when you saw the last Harry Potter film? Yeah, the moment that pig brain was dug out, my entire ambition and drive for biology just went away. Leaving me empty inside.

Anyways...
In my group of far-more-considerably-talented-but-not-as-handsome-people (that means you, Angela, Jannel and Tiange), we were given a decently sized fetal pig, after ignoring the label of a heavy bucket (Mr. Chung, if you're reading this, I hope you know that I'm still mad when you said, "Oh wait, these are rats, wrong bucket,") and haggling (Yes, we haggled for the size of the pig, cause you know... I want BACON!).
Below: Our piggy, prior to c-section.














And then, came the opening of the pig.

then we just went and found all the organs we could. like a scavenger hunt. mmhmm ;)

something interesting about our piggy though, we held a bet the day before we dissected, and we were betting on gender. 2 on female, 1 on male, and 1 on hermaphrodite. somehow... our pig had one ovary and two testes. people disagree about the ovary, but what else can it be?

and here's something you shouldn't try at home. i get away with it cause i'm crazy. and i'm James Lau. and in case you're wondering, that's pig brains.

and before you start criticizing me, i'd like to show you a picture of Angela and pig testes.




















good dissection :D

Biology Blog #8: Stories from the Royal Ontario Museum - October, 28, 2011

On October 28, 2011, our class went to the Royal Ontario Museum. We took a guided tour after disposing of my dearly beloved food (unfinished large coke and large fries from MickeyD's, you will be missed). Our tour guide, Ian, was well informed and told delightful story after story to keep us enthused and interested in the topic at hand. One story that he told was particularly memorable, and stuck with me. Below is a brief recap:

In the prairies, the prairie dogs run wild, while the black-footed ferrets choose to stalk their prey at night. The prairie dogs are deemed as cute and cuddly (don't you argue with me, I know what you girls said), while the ferrets are deemed as nuisances. However, it should be the opposite, since the dogs are the ones who create burrows under the ground, while the ferrets kill them. Thus, they were shot to near extinction by the humans, and were thought to be extinct over 40 years ago. Because of the lack of ferrets, the dogs bred like humans (okay, it should be "bred like rabbits" but since there's only 1 billion rabbits and 7 billion humans, which is more appropriate?), causing more tunnels to be made. It was only thirty years ago that a small colony of the ferrets were found and rescued, placed into a zoo to breed more ferrets. However, the ferrets that were bred were lazy, and expected their food to be handed to them on a silver platter. What do you expect though, you grew them in captivity. Anyways, a "boot camp" was made for the ferrets and now they can eat and kill as their ancestors could before.

Biology Blog #9: Five Questions about "The Cove"

2. Where is the dolphin slaughter taking place (city and country)?
In Taiji, Japan.

10. How many dolphins are killed at this secret cove a year? 
23,000

14. Dolphin meat has 2000 ppm of mercury in it while the recommended amount is no more than 0.4 ppm. Why do many Japanese people eat it then?
Most Japanese people are unable that they are eating dolphin meat. When they go to their fish market, dolphin meat is usually labelled and sold as another high quality meat. As the women buy it, they are aware of the dangers beneath the packaging and continue to eat it.

19. the Deputy of Fisheries claims that the dolphins are killed humanely. What does one of the crew members do when he says this?
They dispute his claim and show him the footage that they've captured, which puts him in a bad position.


20. The main character goes to the IWC and does what at the end (even though he is banned from their meetings)?
He shows the same video that he showed the Deputy of Fisheries and causes a lot of controversy amongst them.

Biology Blog #7: Movie: Sharkwater

As a long time lover of shark-fin soup, I had first experienced shark-fin soup back in 2007 in Hong Kong. I quickly grew to love the texture of the soup, as well as the flavour. Maybe it was just the event back then, but I never forgot that that bowl of shark-fin's soup.

Around September, I was once again craving shark-fin's soup, as I hadn't tasted it in around half a year or so. When i heard of the possibly ban on shark-fins, i was dismayed, but i brightened up when I heard of the "loophole" that could be found in the by-law, which only covered the City of Toronto. Past steeles, and you would be scot-free to eat shark-fins. Incidentally, I tried this out two weeks ago (November, 6, 2011) and i happily indulged in shark-fin soup, though my mom told me that the quality was lower than before.

While I can understand the controversy that has been taking place about the finning industry, especially because sharks can no longer survive without their fins, I am also inclined to still want to eat shark fins. It is a selfish reason, and because of that, I am human. However, like most humans, I can rationalize and think calmly as well. In New Zealand, shark fins are only allowed to be taken after they are dead. So if somehow, a system, to classify shark fins and where they came from could be made into effect, i think the ban wouldn't be needed, because just by looking at the movie, most people are thinking that canadians just dump the shark back into the waters without their fins, while in truth, it's the exact opposite. canadians use the entire body.

Biology Blog #6: Clothespin Lab

Right Hand Left Hand
 110           104
 94             75
 70             69
 70             66
 68             65
 67             59
 73             60
answers to the questions:

1. Strength decreased as you progressed through the trial

2. Hands and fingers felt numb, tired, and strained

3. Focus and breathing might have caused us to get more squeezes

4. The dominant hand showed slightly higher results than the non-dominant hand

5. The muscles would've been able to operate at the original squeeze rate because they were relaxed and given time to regain energy

Can of Bull - Video

Link and Biography below:

http://youtu.be/4lNtgSsIE20


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4lNtgSsIE20" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bibliography:


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Brown, E. (2011, February 04). Ingredients in the nos energy drink. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/381000-ingredients-in-the-nos-energy-drink/

ccordell. (NA). Look at the label: Comparing energy drinks. Retrieved from http://ccordell.hubpages.com/hub/Look-at-the-Label---Comparing-Energy-Drinks

ChronicFatigue treatments. (2007, August 07). How does redbull affect your energy levels?. Retrieved from http://www.chronicfatiguetreatments.com/wordpress/energy-boosters/how-does-redbull-give-you-energy/

dietfacts.com. (2004, September 09). Red bull energy drink nutrition facts and calories. Retrieved from http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutrition-facts/red-bull-energy-drink-with-taurine-lightly-carbonated-canned-25972.htm

Disanto, B. (2010, December 16). Red bull ingredients. Retrieved from http://www.dflfitness.com/2010/12/complete-red-bullmonster-ingredient.html
CBC. (2005, February 06). Raging bull: Health warnings over popular energy drink being brushed off?. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/pre-2007/files/health/redbull/index.html

energyfiend. (NA). Caffeine in monster energy drink. Retrieved from http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/monster

energyfiend. (NA). Caffeine in nos energy drink. Retrieved from http://www.energyfiend.com/caffeine-content/nos-energy-drink

fitsugar. (2007, August 27). You asked: Red bull ingredients. Retrieved from http://www.fitsugar.com/You-Asked-Red-Bull-Ingredients-547628

Monster Energy. (NA). Monster energy drink. Retrieved from http://www.monsterenergy.com/us/en/products/monster-energy/

Red Bull. (NA). Red bull ingredients. Retrieved from http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/red-bull-energy-drink/001242937921959?pcs_c=PCS_Product&pcs_cid=1242937842064&pcs_pvt=ingredients

ShaeLee, C. (2010, November 05). Ingredients in monster energy drinks. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/297117-ingredients-in-monster-energy-drinks/

Thomas, P. (2007, March 01). Behind the label: Red bull. Retrieved from http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/269137/behind_the_label_red_bull.html

Biology Blog #5: Twenty Points From Pg. 58-77

1. Living organisms must continually capture, store and use energy, which is the ability to do work.
2. The sum of all anabolic and catabolic processes in a cell or organism is called metabolism.
3. Work is done when one object applies a force on another object and changes its position or state in motion. 
4. All forms of energy can be classified as either kinetic energy, which is the energy possessed by all moving objects and can turn into heat energy (movement of particles), mechanical energy (coordinated motions of particles), electromagnetic energy (motion of light) and electrical energy (motion of charged particles).
5. Potential energy is stored energy. Created when position changes within an attractive or repulsive force; comes in two different forms, gravitational potential energy (attraction of electrons to protons in a chemical bond) and chemical potential energy (the attraction of electron to protons in a chemical bond)
6. Bond energy is the minimum energy required to break one mole of bonds between two species of atoms; a measure of the stability in a chemical bond.
7. Activation Energy is the difference between the potential energy level of te transition state and the potential energy of reacting molecules.
8. In a chemical reaction, a temporary condition in which the bonds within reactants are breaking and the bonds between products are forming is called the transition state.
9. Entropy: a measure of the randomnesss or disorder in a collection of objects or energy
10. Free energy: energy that can do useful work.
11. Exergonic reaction: a chemical reaction in which the energy of the product is less than the enrgy of the reactants.
12. Endergonic reaction: a chemical reaction in which the energy of the products is more that the enrgy of the reactants.
13. Oxidation: a chemical reaction in which an atom loses one or more electrons
14. Redox reaction: a chemical reaction involving the transfer of one or more electrons from one atom to another
15. Reducing agent: a substance that loses an electron in a redox reaction.
16. Oxidixing agent: a substance taht gains an electron in a redox reaction.
17. Substrate: the reactant that an enzyme acts on when it catalzyes a chemical reaction.
18. Active site: the location where the substrate binds to a material
19. Competitive inhibitors: substances that complete with the substrate for an enzyme's active site.
20. Non competitive inhibitors: substances that attach to a binding site on an enzyme on an enzyme other than the active site.

^CAN YOU FEEL THE ENERGY?!?!?! IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!