Quote of the Day - January 11, 2011

Super Student: Miss, are we watching March of the Penguins today? That's, like, my favorite movie right now.

Biology Problem of the Day - November 2, 2010

Yesterday, we played review Trashketball for today's test on community ecology. One of my review questions was "What is symbiosis?"

A+ Student wrote down, "the study of symbols."

Photo Comment of the Day - October 21, 2010

Each day, I post a cool photo of the day. Usually, it's something biological, or else a geographical location of note. Anyhow, one student's reaction to this photo of an adult emperor penguin with his penguin chicks:

"Looks like a bunch of Ricans surrounding a white dude."

Sexy Animals

After yesterday's discussion, I polled my students on which animals they found sexiest.

Their responses, starting with the most popular:

Tigers
Koalas
Cougars
Panda bears
Kangaroos
Lions
Komodo dragons
Chihuahuas
Mickey Mouse

What Is Life?

I just read a really interesting essay by Carl Zimmer on how to define life, or whether a definition matters. The piece exposes the litany of definitions of life -- life must transform carbon dioxide, or contain membranes, or contain DNA, or it must evolve -- within the scientific community. It also exposes our curious current state of affairs, where we spend so much time arguing over issues, like stem cells and abortion and genetically modified foods, to which the meaning of life is crucial, yet we cannot actually agree on what life is.

Zimmer goes on to explain the platform of Carol Cleland, an astrobiological philosopher who argues a comprehensive definition of life is in fact unnecessary to our study of life. So much of the universe is yet undiscovered that we are limiting ourselves to arbitrary terms until we increase our sample size. In other words, we cannot purport to define life until we confront forms of life radically different from what we know here on Earth. Until then, we risk overlooking that which is life, perhaps bizarrely so, due to our possibly narrow constraints. This view commonly plays out with regard to viruses -- Scientists intensely debate whether or not viruses are living things, yet biologists continue to study viruses in their labs.

My favorite part of the essay discussed the origin of the debate on the meaning of life. It turns out that the instigator was not a biologist, but rather a physicist named Erwin Schrodinger. (Physics students around the world love and hate Schrodinger. At the same time). Schrodinger wondered how life seemed to violate the laws of physics: While everything else in the universe tends toward entropy, life is based on order, from ecosystems down to molecules. ...What a wonderful idea!

read The Meaning of Life

A Bakery of Blood Cells!

Isa Humble is my hero. One of them. She bakes the most delicious-looking cookies, and, even better, she blogs about it at Not So Humble Pie. Best of all, she is fond of baking biology themed cookies. Below, a petri dish and a cephalopod.

But now, she has teamed up with histology lecturer Joanne Masterer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to create a video explaining all the different cells that make up your bloodstream. It's delightfully delicious and dorky!




via Boing Boing

Some Darwin Mix-Ups

A few gems from my evolution quiz:

Who was Charles Darwin, and what did he contribute to the study of evolution?

"Charles Darwin was a biological specimen."

What was the name of Darwin's controversial book?

"Organisms and Theyre Specs and Babies"

Sketch Is on a Roll

In Environmental Science, we are doing an activity that involves comparing the impact on the climate made by poor people as opposed to wealthier people....

Adorable But Slightly Sketchy Student: Yo, you so dumb, why would you buy a radio instead of a bicycle? If you only have $200 in lifetime savings, buy a f***ing bicycle so you can get to work and make more money.

Turquoise-Colored Glasses: I don't know... I just thought a radio would be fun. And then I have $50 left, so I can take the bus.

Sketch: Nooooo, you dumb as sh*t. It says here that taking the bus everyday costs $125, so your $50 doesn't mean anything. Get a bike! Transportation is so f***ing important compared to a radio. Get your priorities straight! And bikes are better for the environment anyway, so you're making climate change better by having a bike!

On Having a Neandertal as a Great-Great-Great-Grandmother

A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome

I am so excited to learn about this. I'm doing my best with my kids to get beyond the banal basics of natural selection and into the more interesting specifics of adaptive human evolution. We are slowly learning about various examples of selection pressures, and I'm delighted to see that my students are buying it! Most of them were initially resistant, but they are opening up to the science more than I think they realize.

That being said, I learned today yet another lesson about assuming too much of my students' prior knowledge. Excitedly, I stood before my 6th period class and said, "Hey! Did you guys know that we share about 4% of our DNA with Neandertals?!!" And I got blank stares. Not a single student had ever heard of a Neandertal. I did my best to explain, but the news was kind of lost on them. And so I lost a little of my ebullience.

On the Natural Selection of Rabbits

Me: So if these rabbits are picked off by predators from the land AND the air, what kind of rabbits will we probably see in the next generation?

Poorly Influenced by Boisterous But Lovable: Flying rabbits!

Interestingly enough, I got that same answer in all three of my biology classes. My kids have such wild imaginations!

On Whale Evolution

I asked my biology students to write essays on whale evolution.

This is how Bright Kid With World's Biggest Attitude Problem began his essay:

Back in the days I'm talking before people were alive (prehistoric times) there were whales.

Quizzz, Part Two

I totally forgot to post the big news last week!...

My kids averaged an 84 on their transcription/translation quiz. They did so well! I am so proud of them! In particular, they completely mastered transcribing DNA into mRNA and using the genetic code to translate mRNA into amino acids. Big stuff!

Yay! My kids rock!

Blueberry News

Did you know... Consumption of blueberries has been shown to stimulate the growth of new neurons?

Cool! Bring on the blueberries! (It's almost local berry season!!)

Via, via (via)

Quizzz

My biology students have a quiz today on transcription (making RNA) and translation (making proteins). As a 47 (Genetics) TA, this is easily my favorite part of biology, and I have tried to pass on that love to my kids. So I am really hoping they do well! =)

Best Biology Teacher Week EVER

Thursday = Earth Day

Friday = National DNA Day

Then again, Friday is the first day of PSSA Science testing. So we'll get to see how ridiculously below proficient our kids are at science.

Anyhow, I'm going to be optimistic and continue to call it the best week ever. Yay!

NSTA Convention!

The National Science Teachers' Association is holding its annual conference in Philadelphia this weekend! I'm going today (in about 5 minutes), and I couldn't be more excited! I have mitosis, climate change, and inquiry-based learning, among other things, on my agenda.

My only issue is that it's such a beautiful Saturday -- If only the conference could be held outdoors!

Why Didn't I Think of This?

Mitosis cookies!!

... Brilliant, just brilliant. Now, if only I could demonstrate mitosis using blueberries...

via Boing Boing

How to Destroy a Fragile Ecosystem...

A good friend of mine made this delightful and kind of frightening video: Who knew destroying a fragile ecosystem was so simple? One thing's for sure, I will certainly embark on a dam-building expedition tomorrow, munching on fast food along the way. Er....

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!