Digestion (Core)
New unit – Human Health and Physiology. Try to keep up…
Here is the presentation for the Core section:
Essential Biology 6.1: Digestion (Core)
Class Notes to fill in here (pdf download – A3 size)
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Some good links:
Enzyme activity animations from McGraw Hill, Northland College and KScience.co.uk
A great animation/tuturial on digestion of different types of foods from kitses.com
And an introduction to absorption(and villi):
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And, of course, here are JD and Turk to tell us about the diagnostic miracle of egestion:
Not a video, but…
… a great site for visualising data. InformationIsBeautiful.net.
Deadliest infections, from Information is Beautiful
I particularly like these posts:
How safe is the HPV vaccine? (in response to ridiculous scare-mongering news stories)
The Billion-dollar-gram (What is a billion, anyway?)
Ecosystems and Biomes
Final presentation for Option G: Ecology and Conservation uploaded!
Click here for the full unit: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation.
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Here are the Mighty Boosh telling us why Tundra is dangerous:
Population Ecology
Last topic of the unit! HL Students try to bring together all of the concepts we have learned through the unit when discussing how we can effectively manage our biggest shared resource: the fisheries.
Essential Biology G5: Population Ecology
Read:
Watch:
And don’t forget The Cove.
If you need to review, here is the presentation for Populations from the core:
Conservation of Biodiversity
This one is for the HL students in Option G: Ecology and Conservation.
Essential Biology: G4 Conservation of Biodiversity
Interesting article:
“Should Pandas be left to go extinct?” from the Guardian.
Proteins (AHL & C1)
Although we are learning this in the Chemistry of Life unit, it is actually part of the SL Option C and HL additional material, so look for the book chapters in the right place!
Essential Biology 7.5 & C1: Proteins
Proteins:
Life Cycle of a Protein from Sumanas
Making polypeptides from John Kyrk
Check that you know the different levels of protein structure, including the roles of hydrogen bonds and disulfide bridges. Think about how the properties of the R-groups on amino acids cause the protein to fold up in a set configuration.
FoldIt!
Make sure you can give examples of fibrous and globular proteins and that you can name some examples of uses of proteins that are not structural or related to the plasma membrane.
And don’t forget to play FoldIt – the brilliant protein puzzle that helps medicine!
The Greenhouse Effect
Here is the class presentation – shadowed images are links. I’ve included the slides from G3 on the ozone layer. Make sure you understand that the greenhouse effect itself is a natural phenomenon, enhanced by human activity. Be sure also to distinguish between the greenhouse gases in the troposphere and ozone layer – they are in different positions, with different functions.
Essential Biology 5.2 and G3: The Greenhouse Effect and Impacts of Humans on Ecosystems.
Click4Biology:The Greenhouse Effect
More decent resources from Cutting Edge
Use these CO2 data to plot trends and annual cycles with a spreadhseet.
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Carbohydrates, Lipids and Proteins
Here’s the class presentation – click the shadowed images for animations.
Essential Biology: Carbohydrates, Lipids and Proteins (core)
Essential Biology: Proteins (7,5 / C1)
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For more information on condensation and hydrolysis reactions:
Simple explanation by Terry Brown
Collection of examples from North Harris College
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Carbohydrates:
Explanation and animation from National Louis University
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Lipids:
Structures of Fats from HHMI
Lipids (and condensation animation) from National Louis University
The revision notes from Click4Biology are here.
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Impacts of Humans on Ecosystems
For Option G: Ecology and Conservation. Because we’re learning this concurrently with the Ecology and Evolution core topic, the Essential Biology document has been rolled into one: Essential Biology 5.2 & G3 – Greenhouse Effect and Impacts of Humans on Ecosystems.
The presentation on The Greenhouse Effect will follow soon.
Creation: Darwin Movie
Due for release this week, Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin in the biopic Creation. Based on Randal Keynes’ (Darwin’s great-great grandson) biography Annie’s Box, it promises to be a good movie and has received great reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival and the Guardian.
Here, the makers discuss the challenge of creating an exciting movie based on the life of a scientist, when the ins-and-outs of everyday science work can be pretty mundane. It looks as though they are focusing on the personal aspects of Darwin’s life and relationship with his wife as he works on the manuscript.
Bettany as Darwin
For more listening, the movie is discussed in this week’s Science Weekly Podcast, with discussion from Caspar Melville (with some questionable ideas*). Richard Dawkins also guests, to talk about his new book The Greatest Show on Earth.
Sadly, the movie has not yet only just been picked up for US distribution. I wonder if the title has something to do with that – perhaps Annie’s Box would have been easier to swallow? I also wonder if we’ll get to see it here in Indonesia.
* EDIT: It appears he was ‘conned’ by the AIDS-denialist ‘House of Numbers’ and explains here.
i-Biology 