Jae Rhim Lee’s Mushroom Burial Suit
It’s Halloween!
In topic 5.1 we learn that energy flows… but nutrients recycle. We are made of organic molecules – nutrients. So why not truly go green?
Watch the TED talk below and think about how many connections across the course we can make so far.
I want one!
For more on how saprotrophs such as fungi can be harnessed to solve pollutant problems, check out Paul Stamet’s talk: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.
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In other grisly news, a UK taxi-driver has donated his body to science – to become a mummy (in the ancient Egyptian sense).
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Mummy image courtesy of halloweenclipart.com.
The Language Gap – TOK, Language & Sciences
The Language Gap - Word with different meanings to scientists and the public. Click to open.
This GoogleDoc has been doing the rounds this week, based on an AGU article by Callan Bentley. It links well to the “Just a Theory?” Evolution lesson we had a few weeks back, where the basis of much confusion can be rooted in the different uses of a word within and without the scientific context.
Although not an exhaustive or authoritative list of terms, it could be a good discussion starter. It would be good to pick out some of the words we use in our class and compare what we think we know with the ‘public’ and ‘scientific’ definitions.
New posts now should appear on the facebook page and on twitter (@IBiologyStephen, #ibbio).
Brian Schmidt – Nobel Prize Winner 2011
A double-pow of awesome in this video. Derek Muller, of Veritasium, interviews Brian Schmidt, one of the winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae”.
At first they thought the Universe should be slowing down in its expansion, but their data told them otherwise. So how will the universe end?
Imagine Science Film Festival
This visualisation of the role of breast stem cells was the winner of the award for Visual Science at this year’s Imagine Science Film Festival. Carl Zimmer was one of the judges and has posted more of the winning videos to his Discover blog.
For lots more quality visualisations, visit the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s YouTube channel.
The Imagine festival includes a $500 Budding Scientist award, open to High School students. Get working!
Here is a cute video called Do You Know What a Nano Is?
RSA Animate – The Divided Brain
I love these video clips. Here they animate Iain McGilchrist‘s RSA lecture on the nature of the divided brain.
The full talk is here:
Thai Floods – Shelterbox appeal
The recent floods in Thailand have killed many and displaced many more. John Burrell, author of Click4Biology, lives and teaches in Thailand and has posted an appeal for donations to relief charity Shelterbox. If you have taken advantage of his free site over recent years, please pay it forwards – visit the site and make a donation.
Forces & Change in Motion Resources
As the Grade 10 classes end the content of the unit this week, the resources have been updated and uploaded to the class unit page here. When we return from the holidays, we will review the content of the last two units, complete a short unit test and start working on our One World/Communication in Science assignment “Acceleration Kills”. If you think of any good ideas for topics when you’re away on the break, keep a note of them. Otherwise, have a good holiday!
Here’s another Veritasium video to make you think:
Embryonic Stem Cell Patents Banned in EU
Yesterday, the European Court of Justice banned the issuing of patents for embyronic stem cell research, stating:
“A process which involves removal of a stem cell from a human embryo at the blastocyst stage, entailing the destruction of that embryo, cannot be patented.“
The decision has caused widespread concern amongst European stem cell researchers, yet has been welcomed by other groups on moral, ethical or religious grounds.
So why is it such a hot topic?
Human Embryonic Stem Cells (Nissim Benvenisty, via Wikimedia Commons)
Use the resources here, and others that you can find, to discuss the following questions in your group. Be prepared to feed back to the class with a summary of no more than 5 minutes.
- What are (embryonic) stem cells and how do their properties facilitate research?
- Where are stem cells found? Are they all the same?
- How do stem cells eventually become differentiated and specialised?
- Outline at least one recent successful therapeutic use of stem cells.
- Identify a range of stakeholders in the debate. What are their views and reasons for them?
- Can you propose potential solutions or workable compromises that could reduce the impact of the ban on scientific research?
Resources:
Some write-ups on this news story here:
About Stem Cells:
- Cell Theory, topic 2.1 resources by MrT
- Loads of interactive resources from Learn.Genetics
- SEED Magazine’s Stem Cells Cribsheet
- Stem Cell Differentiation (animation) from MCB Harvard
- Stem Cell Basics, from the National Institutes of Health
- StemCells: Seeds of Hope? video from Teachers Domain
- NewScientist special reports on Stem Cells
- Stem Cells transplants in lymphoma (animation)
Theory of Knowledge
The embryonic stem cell debate generates strong and emotive knowledge issues, which is evidenced by the fact that the case was passed all the way up to the European Court of Justice. There are many stakeholders in embryonic stem cell research, each with their own knowledge claims and beliefs.
With this recent ban on patenting methods based on the destruction of embryonic stem cells, we add the elements of patenting and intellectual ownership (and of course the knock-on effects to funding, progress and public perception).
To what extent does the embryonic stem cell debate highlight potential conflicts between the areas of knowledge of the natural sciences and ethics and between the ways of knowing of emotion and reason?
After reading through, understanding and discussing the resources, what knowledge issues can you identify?
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Connections:
This follows on from a related story in the USA last year:
Comments have been disabled on this post, but are open on the TOK page for the same content.
Symphony of Science – Quantum World
This Symphony of Science song is one of my favourites, which ties loosely to our new Grade 9 unit on Atoms.
Related to it is an update to the Powers of Ten video, from the IMAX Cosmic Voyage movie, narrated by Morgan Freeman. the start brings us in powers of ten, out into the universe. From 6:03, we start moving in – to cells, molecules and atoms.
Jump straight to the small bits here (6:03). Biology class will use it too, as we look into measurement and microscopy.
This is why we love Science.
How Epigenetics Works
Neil deGrasse Tyson presents this short PBS NOVA overview of how epigenetics determines the differences between gene expressions in identical twins, how epigenetic variations build up over time and how it affects us. A relatively new, but very interesting field of medicine and genetics, this is a good introduction.
Epigenetics is not directly mentioned in our syllabus, but does help us to connect the ideas of nature vs nurture, genetic variation and inheritance. To what extent does the nurture of our cellular environment (lifestyle) affect the genetic nature of who we are?
For some more really good resources on epigenetics, visit the brilliant Learn.Genetics site from Utah.
Thanks to Ed Yong for posting this on his weekly links roundup.
i-Biology 