Zebrafish Being Used For Human Immune System Models

www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/09/08/these_dendritic_cells_are_fishy_but_thats_a_good_thing.html


Researchers from the University of California have found that Zebrafish have a dendritic antigen-presenting cell. Haveing the dendritic cell allows scientists to use zebrafish as a model for the human immune system. Because Zebrafish are translucent, scientists can track cells in the whole animal. Zebrafish are a wonderful orgainism to use for models becuase they reproduce quickly and wont become exctent any time soon.

In my opionion this discovery could lead to scientists finding out new facts about our immune system. I think that the possibility of sceintist finding new cures too low immune system issues is fairly high as well. The fact that zebrafish can reproduce quickly makes me feel more at ease, knowing that we wont have to sacrafice this whole speices to science. This discovery remindes me of how pig valvues and baboon hearts have been used to help aid humans today. The only difference is that zebrafish are not used in the human body. What do you think about this discovery?



JoAnne J

Gene Discovery Helps to Grow Crops in Cool Climates

Researchers have shown for the first time that a gene known as Spatula limits the growth of plants in cool temperatures, which may help them adjust to cool conditions. At the University of Edinburgh Researchers who took part in the study believe that by fixing the gene, they could produce the opposite effect which would be enabling development of crops that grow well in cold climates. In a weed known as the Thale Cress scientists studied the Spatula gene and found that when levels of the gene were low, the plant leaves grew almost twice as much at lower temperatures as they would normally. Being able to improve crop growth under cool conditions could help ensure the availability of food supplies for future populations.

Opinion
I think that this study will greatly improve the food problems in the United States. We will have much more plants which will help to supply food to the people that do not have food. I also think that it will help in other country's like if they continue the research maybe they will be able to learn how to grow plants in under nourished areas like deserts which would help a great amount in Africa for the people that live at the Sahara Desert. I am glad that they started doing this research. http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/09/09/gene_discovery_holds_key_to_growing_crops_in_cold_climates.html
By Josh Grix

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/09/07/termites_foretell_climate_change_in_africas_savannas.html

Termites love were they make there mounds cause it helps them multiply. The perfect place for these mounds are not to dry but not to wet. They live on hill tops in Savanna called seep lines. This shows us that the soil I'm Savanna is very rich and that is good for Africans that live there. This is the advantage of monitoring termites.

I think this is a good use of research to study about termites. Now we no that termites live and thrive in semi wet areas. I don't think that termites are very good for the environmentand humans either. Now we no that where termites like to live so we can protect our houses better. This will finally make all humans happy that don't like termites.

Curent event- Zach Vaughn

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100906160107.htm


summary-
Cancer is a hard to disease to treat because it's a personal disease.Many of the side effects experienced by chemotherapy patients are due to the fact that the drugs they are taking aren't selective.But, if we had cancer treatments that only killed cells that where genatically mutated then the chemotherapy patient would not get sick. Researchers at the California institute of technology have created conditional small molecules to perform this task. The molucules are able to detect which cells have cancer and which do not. Future experiments will tell if the expirements will work on a big scale.


Opinion-


I personally know somebody with cancer. It is a very hard thing for her to deal with. This article touches me personally because if we had the availibility to do this on a larger scale it would save many lives. I think that they need to continue research on this topic to go more in depth. I hope that they will find many more cool things to cure different diseases.

Termites Foretell Climate Change in Africa's Savannas

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/09/07/termites_foretell_climate_change_in_africas_savannas.html

Scientists have been able to map out the landscape and vegetation of Africa in relationship with the termite mounds. The Termite mounds are built on high elevation that has seeplines from water flow below the ground. Higher elevations with well drained water contain woody trees and the lower, wetter grounds grow grass. Scientists can predict climate change using these graphs because the termite mounds can tell where different vegetation will grow. The tool used to make 3-D maps of vegetation and termite mounds is called CAO and uses a waveform LiDAR system. With this, scientists and researchers can predict how warming will affect the vegetation growth in Africa.
In my opinion, I think that this is awesome. Using other tools in nature to figure out environmental issues is fascinating to me. We could never understand everything about nature, the wonders of nature are endless. The technology that allows us to map out geology and vegetation is useful in many ways. For the CAO they used the same idea as a medical scanner, but they just made it larger and put in the neccessary components to map out land. I am so amazed at what is new in science because it is always changing and finding solutions to problems.

Massive Jellyfish Swarms

Swarms of jellyfish are being found in hard-hit areas that are covering hundreds of square miles. They have caused deaths & injuries to water enthusiasts. Since the 1980's, these swarms have hurt the fishing & tourism industries financially by hundreds of millions of dollars. Some jellyfish are getting as large as a refrigerator and are being generated by humans. Pollution, oil, artificial structures, overfishing, etc. are being blamed, but no one knows which to blame yet.

The swarms seem intimidating & I will make sure I am near safe waters if I am ever in the water. I think there are many things to blame it on & not just one. If I was a water enthusiast, I would definitely be less enthusiastic to return to the waters quickly. I would have thought this would cost businesses but I didnt realize people would be so scared & the businesses be hurt so bad. I can see how it effects the tourism industry, but I would think the fishing industries would survive a little more since you usually don't get in the water fishing.

http://www.macroevolution.net/jellyfish-swarms.html

Savanna Elephants -- Kilby Young

http://www.macroevolution.net/savanna-elephants.html

Summary :

In the past four years, about 2,000 Savanna Elephants have been killed by ivory poachers in and around Chad's Zakouma National Park. Conservation has become very difficult for the guards, who have been shot and killed over the years. The World Conservation Society (WCS) is working on saving the current elephants in the park. The sudden drop in the population was noticed by Mike Fay, and other research showed that poaching was one again taking down the elephant population. There have been and are still many efforts going on to try and save this species, including the US government chipping in.

Opinion :

I think this is a very depressing topic, and the poachers should stop killing the elephants. The WCS should get more people involved in the problem, so maybe more could be done to stop the poaching. I also think the government and park guards should be more fierce in handling this situation. Since the elephants are only being used for their tusks, there are lots of dead elephants just lying around, which is heart-breaking. All in all, I think this situation should be taken seriously before the elephants go extinct.