Response Blog

Recently I read a post from a blogger named Eagles121395 about a disease called Klinefelter Syndrome. This particular disease makes males infertile. Klinefelter Syndrome is caused by an extra sex chromosome. Some of the severe symptoms are pulmonary diseases, germ cell tumors, breast cancer, varicose veins, osteoporosis, diabetes, and arthritis. Sadly, 40% of men die from Klinefelter Syndrome. Luckily, there is Testosterone treatment for those with the disease who want to look more manly. After reading this post I was very sad. Mostly because a lot of the men who have increased breast tissue from this disease have severe depression. Also, because they are infertile so they cannot have children of their own.

phenylketonuria

Phenylketonuria or PKU is autosomal recessive disorder that is caused by mutations in the PAH gene.PKU was dicovered by a Norwegian physician in 1934. Today about one in every 10,000-15,000 newborns have this disease. This condition causes someones body to not handle normal levels of phenyladine which is found in meat, dairy nuts etc.The symptoms of this disease are fair skin and hair, light sensitivity, must oder and eczema. If PKU is left untreated a child will have severe mental retardation. When a child is diagnosed with PKU he/she needs to eat low levels if phenyladine. This means that for the rest of his or her life they would need to not eat meat, chicken, fish, nuts or dairy products. Also, because of lack of phenyladine the patient would need to take supplements and pills daily to live a normal healthy life.

DNA conclusion

Last week we did a lab were we extracted animal and plant DNA. I chose to do animal DNA. First, I swirled blue Gatorade into my mouth for one full minute. Secondly, I spit the drink into a cup and poured the contents into a test tube. Next, I poured liquid soap into the same test tube. After that, I Sealed the test tube and mixed the contents by turning the test tube upside down and right side up six to eight times. Then, I gently poured cooled rubbing alcohol into the mixture by letting it run down the inside of the test tube. At first, I thaught I did something wrong because there were bubbles but the alcohol cleared it right up. After I waited about five minutes I saw white clumps float to the surface were the alcohol was. I learned that these white clumps were my DNA. Ms A. explained to the class that this process happens because The enzymes in the soap break down the fast that connect the DNA to the cells. Also, the cold alcohol releases the DNA and pulls them out of the solution which is why the DNA safley and slowly floats to the top. When the DNA floats up they look like little white clumps.

Robocop

A Japanese crime fighting robot called T-34 has me stunned. This twenty five pound battery operated robot detects suspicious activity using a camera installed in it. If it sees anything it will send a video message to a guard via mobile phone. If the activity is indeed suspicious the robot will call out a warning. When the criminal does not stop, T-34 will shoot a net that can shoot up to ten feet at the person. This will demobilize the person allowing the guard controlling the robot to arrest the criminal. Although it does have flaws i think it is way better then Wall-E and Spiderman should be jealous.

http://www.digitpedia.com/burglars-beware-t34-robot-patrol/2899/

SS state blog

Just yesterday, a thirty one year old man was killed by a wood chipper at the Edison recycling center. His name was Henry A. Aguilar and he was chipping wood to turn into mulch at the General Materials company on Meadow Road. He was on a conveyor belt carrying wood to a wood chipper when something went horribly wrong. Police say it was an accident but the investigation is still going on. The New Brunswick resident was found dead around noon yesterday.


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/investigation_continues_in_fat.html

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/edison_wood_chipper_accident_v.html

My Roller Coaster Website

Free Fallin'

roller coaster

This week in science class, we started a project where we have to construct a roller coaster or skate park. My group chose to do a roller coaster. Unfortunately, we have to construct it out of cardboard tubes, boxes and bottles. While we build we need to show how Newtons laws apply to it. Also, we need three hills and a roller coaster aspect. This seems easy but when all you can use is recyclables it gets pretty tough. To make it even worse, we have to buy everything we use for our roller coaster. Don't worry we are not using real money, just omega dollars that we had to earn. Our roller coaster starts out high so it has a lot of momentum but, the friction causes the marble to slow down.