Blog 4: Growing Artificial Meat in Labs to End Hunger

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/31/growing-meat-labs-end-hunger/

     Recently, scientists have developed the idea that "cultured"(artificial) meat will end our world's hunger and also be much less expensive. In other words, they have been creating genetically engineered meat that apparently can be designed to your liking. Scientists say that they "envision football field-sized buildings filled with large bioreactors, or bioreactors the size of a coffee machine in grocery stores, to manufacture what they call "charlem" -- "Charleston engineered meat.". In my opinion, the idea of growing meat in a lab is unethical. I mean, its obviously unnatural, especially because you don't know how it is grown. It might have chemicals, or other toxins and ingredient that just aren't healthy. Also, isn't meat supposed to contain proteins that our bodies need to survive? I understand that it could possibly solve some of our world's large economic crises. But is it really worth all the risks? Some people may not agree, though I'm sure the idea of genetically engineered meat is both unethical and at too high of a risk. I mean, think about this, who would want to eat artificial meat?

Blog 3: Class Response

I found today's science class very intriguing, although very confusing. Someone came in and informed us on his work in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and how to date fossils and rocks. The Stratigraphic Laws are the ways you use to give rocks a relative age. These include horizontality, superposition, intrusions or faults, and inclusions. Each one of these is a different law you can use to date rock. You can also do this with layers of rocks, just like the examples we did in class. In addition to giving rocks a relative age, you can also give a fossil a relative age based on what layer of the rock it is found in. We use all of this today to determine what Earth was like millions of years ago. I found all the things we did in class quite fascinating. Paleontology and geology are very unique fields to work in.

Blog 2: Mutualism

This is an example of mutualism. It is a picture of a vine on a tree. This tree is providing a home for the vine. The vine is also poisonous. And no living  thing could go near or else they would be harmed. So by living on the tree, this vine vine is protecting the tree from harm by predators and nearby limiting factors. Which is why this is an example of mutualism. Because both organisms are benefited.

Biotic Limiting Factor

This tree is a limiting factor because it blocks sunlight from the plants that live under it. It does this because plants need sunlight but if a tree is blocking it the plant will die because it doesn't have the energy it needs to produce food in the process of photosynthesis. It also takes up space around the the trunk that could be used for other plants to live.