Lit Circle Post #2: Time, Love, Memory's 3 Concepts

Time
The concept of time is mentioned in Chapter 8: First Time.  It began with the quote "-As if the idea of time had been disturbed.-" by Charles Darwin in the M notebook.  This chapter discussed the Konopka's experiments and the "clock gene" being discovered and how Seymour explains this Benzer's lab to Max Delbrucks at a seminar at Caltech.  "With the discovery of the clock gene, the sense of time, mysterious for so many centuries, was no longer a mystery that could be observed only from the outside." (110)  This discovery helped ease the recording of observations for behavior labs; therefore, time is an important concept.


Love
The concept of love is discussed in Chapter 9, First Love .  It began with the quote "What is it men in women do require?  The lineaments of Gratified Desire.  What is it women do in men require?  The lineaments of Gratified Desire." by William Blake in The Question Answer'd. This concept is demonstrated with the description of how Benzer and other scientists had crossed flies.  The flies' behavior and reproduction is discussed to emphasis the importance of this concept; being about to understand reproduction, helps them conduct their experiments and to record their observations.  


Memory
The last main concept, memory, is discussed in Chapter 10: First Memory.  The quote it begins with is from Elie Wiesel's All Rivers Run to the Sea, "Memory is a passion no less powerful or pervasive than love."  As the last chapter of Part Two: Konopka's Law, it discusses Benzer's relationships with his students as postdocs.  Benzer was know for sharing his discoveries, while some scientist chooses to keep things to themselves.  Benzer and his students had even shared haircuts, by doing so he was known for keeping close relationships with people around him.  With his first experiment, his memory of observations are passed on to many more people. This transportation of information is "helping to change our view of all behavior, including the behavior of the human family." (141) 

Seymour Benzer 

Cell Poem

Cells

What is the fundamental unit of life?

Cells, cells, cells

What do their structures include?

ribosomes for protein production

membrane-bound organelles for replication, RNA synthesis, energy transformation

endomembrane systems for transport, export, digestion, manufacture, and storage

cytoskeleton for providing support, movement

cell surfaces and junctions for support, communication, connection

What are their structures for? 

ribosomes for protein production

membrane-bound organelles for replication, RNA synthesis, energy transformation

endomembrane systems for transport, export, digestion, manufacture, and storage

cytoskeleton for providing support, movement

cell surfaces and junctions for support, communication, connection

What is the fundamental unit of life?

Cells, cells, cells

Plant Division Examples

Angiosperms 

Magnolia Virginiana

Flowering plants and vascular seed plants make up the division of angiosperms, they are placed in the phylum of Anthophyta.Their flowers and fruits allow them to reproduce.  Other parts of the flower and the angiosperms are also specialized for production and survival.  Such parts that sums up a flower includes, petals, stamens, sepals, and carpels.  Alterations of generations have change these parts and their process throughout years, and is now improved.  The process of reproduction is then passed on to the responsibility of pollinators, such as insects.  Female sex organs receive pollen from bees and pollinators as they pass on pollen from other parts of the plant.   




Gymnosperms 

Picea Glauca Needles

Gymnosperms were common in the Mesozoic Era, they were seen in four phylas(caycads, ginkos, gnetophytes, and the most known- conifers).  Unlike, angiosperms, gymnosperms are not flowering plants; they do not have flowers.  Therefore, they do not have ovaries; gymnosperms have cones with scales.  Their seeds and ovules are produced in their cones, for angiosperms they are produced in their ovaries. 


Bryophytes 

Marchantia

Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts make up the three phyla of bryophytes.  A few characteristics of bryophytes include the absence of many tissues and their dominant generation being the gametophyte.  They are known to not have conducting tissues that transport organic substances and water in thicker tissues. However, they do have tissues that are specialized that work in water based areas.   They also do not have lignin coatings in their structure; without this coating, they have a shorter and weaker structure compared to other plants.  As for their dominant generation, their gametophytes allow its cells to be near minerals and water, due to their thin layers.

Pteridophytes 

Cyathea Arborea

Pteridophytes are commonly known as non-seed vascular plants.  They have phloem and xylem which depends on spores; therefore, are not similar to plants that produce seeds.  They are found on land and may have evolved from the pass green algae.  They are categorized in two phyla, peterophyta and lycophyta. Some examples include, ferns, spike mosses, club mosses, and horsetails.  Pteridophytes are mostly found in damp areas, since their reproductive processes involve flagellated sperms to swim pass water and to eggs.  Their structure also includes lignified vascular tissue and spores.  

Article(#4): On Society as Organisms

The author of this article had presented that idea the most humans believe that they work independently and are capable of doing so.  However, in reality we live in a society where we must work together for our survival.  An example that the author provides are the Herrings and fishes that work together to form a large "multi-fish organism".  It illustrates that a school of fish or a group of organisms have a better advantage over a single individual of a whole species in survival.  I strongly agree to this concept of working together as "multi-organisms" since, humans doing work in groups similar to the way fishes do. Like the the saying goes, "Two minds are better than one"

A School of Acanthuridaes

Articles(#1): The Lives of a Cell

Allium cells

The "Modern Man" is describe in this article as being a strong or even lethal force on Earth, by being compared to weaker objects such as bubbles and birds.  However, the author then calls it an illusion, that humans are in reality, much weaker than most beings on Earth.  Then the idea is of humans being a single cell or the human body as an ecosystem is then presented in the fourth paragraph, with different parts acting as the mitochondria, centrioles, and basal bodies.  With similarities with other organisms through evolution and symbiosis humans may be very much alike other organism; however, they still have differentiation and speciation.  In the conclusion, the author expresses his conclusion of the theory of Earth being an organism.  The author decided that Earth "is most like a single".  Recalling the theories mentioned, this conclusion is supported.

"The Marble Blue"

  

Article(#3): Thoughts for a Countdown

The Earth's Moon

The article started out with the introduction of astronauts returning to Earth from the Earth's Moon.  The author mentions the "ceremonies" they conduct as they land on Earth. Such "ceremonies include meeting the president, staying in sealed boxes, and other "antiseptic ceremonies".  The author shows that astronauts may have carried back organisms from space, and hence they must conduct all those careful "ceremonies".  By generalizing, the author may have meant that in this century, most people would be in fear for the findings of new organisms and the diseases they may carry.  People tend to have fear towards microbes and they are often  forgetful of the symbiotic and beneficial abilities of many microbes.  The technology we have now are not yet capable in studying microbes even on Earth; there is a chance that many more are not yet studied.  This is the case, because most microbes cannot be cultivated in our present labs or have not yet been discovered.  Therefore, certain bacteria and fungi serves as models to help scientist study the nature of microbes and other organisms.  

Some bacteria live in cockroaches; they are in the mycetocytes of cockroaches and termites and are later transmitted to future generations.  Although it is not for certain, bacteria are beneficial to some insects.  Even eukaryotes 's origins may  have been from prokaryotic cells.  In sea life, for example, crabs and damsel fish recognize others with certain anemones. Some organisms and their hosts even make hybrids when their cells make its way to their hosts.  Therefore, the fear of new organisms may be unnecessary, since organism may form hybrids or work together on Earth. 

Virtual Diffusion Simulation

The simulation starts with this introduction.

The virtual cell's rate of diffusion is effected by the change in the variable presented above.  Different variable changes allow for different rates of diffusion.  The greatest rate of diffusion for this cell is at 4.64.  After a few tries, it is found that the rate of diffusion, and surface area to volume ratio decreases as the size of the radius increase.  However, the increase of dimples and the villi percent of cell surface are had no affect on diffusion.  The increase of dimples and the villi percent of cell surface area has and correlation relationship with the volume ratio; although, they don't affect the rate of diffusion.  Similarly, the surface area to volume ratio and rate of diffusion is not affected by the dimple percent of cell surface area.  When the structural shape of the cell itself changes the rate of diffusion changes.  As the cell becomes thin, the rate of diffusion increases.  The increase of diffusion is possibly due to the more accessible passage of particles in thinner/ flatter structures. Therefore, the cell's structural shape is the reason to the change in cell diffusion and not the other factors.    

Diffusion increases as the cell thins out/ flattens.

Source:  http://mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/biolink/j_explorations/ch02expl.htm

Articles(#2): A Fear of Pheromones

A Fear of Pheromones

This article discussed the idea of humans having the function of "releasing odors into the air to convey information".  The concept of having humans release moisture and gases seem unrealistic and strange, since humans have the ability to communicate through other instruments( telephones, notes, etc.)  According to the article they have evidence that these such anatomic structure do exists in humans- hair, folds of skin, etc.) Pheromones that are known are simple and small, they are used to send messages to other species and members within species.  

 Examples of animals with pheromones, include moth's bombykol, chemical attractions, monkey's estradiol, and fish- catfish leader's scent, bullhead's scent used to distinguish between different species.  Examples of humans that seem to prove the existent of pheromones include synchronization in health cycles, beard growth, and sweat production.  However, modern technology may be stopping the production of human pheromones, since can already communicate easily.  The article ended with the idea of continuing this study.

"Time, Love, Memory"

Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior is a non-fiction novel written by Jonathan Weiner. I am about a little more than a third way through the novel. The main point that fasinated me the most would be the ability of flies to contribute to science.  Flies are simple, small living organisms; however, they play a really significant role in our lives. The many experiments conducted in this novel were possible because of the flies.  Benzer, Morgan, and other scientists all conducted experiments with flies. 

 They described that the secret of life is the reason for scientists to conduct experiments.  As they conducted them they often used files; therefore, their importance tend to surprise me most. They seemed to have acted as small, annoying pests that most people would overlook; however, they are actually significant contributors to scientific discoveries!

THE EXTREME: GREAT WHTE SHARKS

Carcharodon carcharias

Carcharias or the Great White Shark is one of the most extreme species on Earth.  I may also be known as the "Great White", the "White Death", the "White Pointer", etc.  They are often featured in many films, such as "Jaws" and best-selling novels.  

Although this being is known for it's size and teeth it is also categorized as "vulnerable" for threaten species.  It may be the largest known macropredatory fish since it is the primary predator for large marine mammals.  It has a strong bite force and its general size ranges from 3-4 meters and 1,500 - 2,400 pounds as males while females are slightly larger.  

The blue area sums up the range of the Great White's habitats around the globe.  

Great White Sharks are Extreme creatures!