3rd Blog Post

                                             Environmental Impact of Hybrid Vehicles Progress Report 3

Right now I already finished my google slide on my Hybrid vehicle 20-time Ted talk. The problem I want to solve is according to http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1083671_hybrid-vehicle-sales-grew-40-percent-last-year-study-finds,  25-34 year olds are 16% more likely to live in a household that owns hybrid vehicle, with 8% of these people are more likely to say that it is important others see hybrid vehicles as an environmental impact to our society.  Hearing these statistics I want to somewhat increase these numbers by having my 20 time Ted-talk reflecting on the environmental benefits of hybrid cars, and also using a hybrid model to explain the concept as well. I need to start building my hybrid model, and continue preparing for my Ted talk.

Unit 8 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about artificial and natural selection, and how does it relate to the evolution of species. While natural selection is the "survival of the fittest" and artificial selection is we pick out traits that we want in order to mate different individuals with these traits, the population does evolve by having some indviduals die and other indviduals live. We also learned about speciation and the different types of isolations: Behavioral, Geographic, and Temporal isolation, along with discovering relative dating and drawing evidence from fossils to determine how long they live and when. Next, we learned about gene pools, and allele frequencies which are used in the Hunger games lab when we found the "A" and "a" allele frequencies based on how much Stumpys, Knucklers , and Pinchers. In the population, there are different kinds of selections such as Behavioral, Stablizing, and Directive selection based on the phenotypes it favored. We also talked about Embryology in which we once shared a common ancestry with other animals such as frogs, birds, but eventually evolved differently from the time.  There is evo-devo which is evolution among multicelluar organisms such as humans, whales, and any other living individuals. Also there is adaptive radiation, where there is rapid speciation from a common ancestor. Finally, we learned the History of Earth was long and vast. It was divided into 4 eras: Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Era. Precambrian era shared 88% of Earth's time and was when concentration of oxygen increased, Paleozoic era is divided into Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. It was a time where animal diversity increased and the colonization of land and animals, diversification among vascular plants, along with the "age of fish" and domination of amphibians. The Mesozoic era was the "Age of Reptiles, and Cenozoic Era was the time insects and flowering plants dominate, and the Ice age along with evolution of humans.

I want to learn more about whether there will be another era existing after the Cenozoic Era? Also, is there going to be another mass extinction? In other words, is there going to be a 7th math extinction? I do not have any questions, and I wonder how long will there be life on Earth?

I have tried to make an effort on it, by not stressing after each test, and knowing that I cannot control the final score or result I get on the tests. All I can do, is control how much time I study for the tests and how much preparation is needed. I still need to work on having more confidence in myself on tests.

Geologic Timeline Reflection

The 3 major events of Earth's history are the creation of Earth, concentration of atmospheric oxygen increasing, and the "Cambrian explosion."Humans and living animals would not exist without the Earth's creation. Without oxygen on Earth increasing, we would not survive because the oxygen amount will be so little for us to breathe in. However, without the "Cambrian Explosion," we would not have the food that is needed to survive, since animals are the primary food source for humans. Without all three major events, Earth will not be having a "green" environment as it is.

Scale of Earth history starts with Hadean Period, Precambrian Era, Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era, and finally the Cenozoic Era. The Precambrian Era is subdivided into Archeozoic and Proterozoic periods, Paleozoic Era subdivided into Cambrian, Ordovician,Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian periods, Mesozoic Era subdivided into Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous period, and lastly, Cenozoic Era is subdivided into Tertiary(Paleogene and Neogene), and Quaternary period. What surprised me was after the Diversification of early vascular plants, the diversification of bony fishes existed before extensive forests of vascular plants form, since I thought after the diversification of the earliest plants would come the existence of these plants. Also, after the diversification of flowering plants was the major radiation of mammals, bird, and insects, instead of Angiosperm(the flowering plant) dominance increases since the dominance of a flower consists the process of creating and diversificating it.

The short time we had on Earth really made a big impact by increasing the global health of our environment, maintaining diversity among our planet, and most importantly, caused more concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere by the increase of human population each year. However, without the preceding events before the existence of humans such as the oxygen increasing, Cambrian Explosion, and diversification of marine life, we would not be having the happy experience of living in a good Earthly environment. The recycling we try to do as humans, also helps out with Earth to maintain a greener environment.

The questions I have is based on past evidence before the Existence of Earth and its' land and sea creatures, along with humans, when will Earth end? While scientists say that the increase of human population will cause the Earths' carrying capacity to be eventually full and explode, the movie"Story of Stuff" says that if we keep do not recycle our trash and continue burning trash, Earth will not exist. Also what will be the aftermath of Earth after humans die? Will a new kind of species exist? Or will Earth will just die itself?

Hunger Games Final Analysis

Hunger Games Lab Analysis

1.In the Hunger Games lab, we were divided into 3 groups: "Stumpys"(AA), "Knucklers"(Aa), and Pinchers(aa), that fought for survival by trying to get as many corks as possible before all the corks were gone.  Those who survived after each round got to mate with other people in the class by flipping 2 coins to determine whether they were a "Stumpys," "Knuckler,"  or "Pinchers," and those who did not survive had to sit out until the mates called their name to get back in.We simulated natural selection by being to mate with different people that have different traits, after each survival round was over so that those who did not survive in the previous round or two, could come back in as a child of mom and dad, and evolution, which is the change of allele frequency over time. For evolution, we would have survival rounds where we had to get as many corks as possible for ourselves until the corks ran out. Then we would determine the number of Stumpys(AA genotype), Knucklers(Aa genotype), and Pinchers(aa genotype were left. Eventually after the Hunger Games lab was over, we were able to use how many Stumpys,Knuclers, and Pinchers surivived in each round, and determine the allele frequency for each round.

2. The Pinchers captured more food since they were able to just use between their thumb and index fingers to get the corks, saving more time to get more corks each time to get all the corks. Darwin concluded that "individuals with better traits help survive better and reproduce more offspring than other individuals," and those are the pinchers of the lab.

3. Population evolved over time by having the "A" allele frequency decreasing after each trial because the "Stumpys" and the "a" allele frequency increased because of the "knucklers." Also the population was evolved by the natural selection among the Stumpys, Pinchers, and Knucklers. For instance, both A and a allele frequencies started with 50% but eventually in the end the "A" allele frequency had 17% and the "a" allele frequency had 83%. This is because of the amount of Stumpys, Pinchers, and Knucklers changing after each time.

4. Random events in the Hunger Games Lab is the amount of corks needed to survive was unpredictable around each time. For example for the 1st round, I picked only 10 corks which I thought was enough until Mr. Orre said we needed 12 corks to survive. In the 2nd round, I picked 12 corks and also though I would survive but, then Mr. Orre increased his expectancy of the amount of corks to survive. Also, Mr. Orre spreaded out the Corks in different places so you were either close to a clump of Corks and survived or you will not close to a group of Corks and you died. Predictable events were that everybody was going to fight for survival so that they could get more corks over time, and eventually mate each other. These random events or predictable can either slow down the population or increase the population.
5. It would have been different since if the corks were larger, then there would have been a tie between the Stumpys and the Pinchers, which is an example of Disruptive selection. If the corks are smaller there would have been a tie between Pinchers and Knucklers.This happens in nature for example when some plants and animals grow more than others due to their enviornment and so when predators eat them, not everybody will have equal amount of food.
6. The results will be different since now that there is one less group, the competition will reduce greatly and it will be much more safer and better for having survival.
7. Natural selection is selecting traits in a population that cause it to not survive, in order to cause evolution on population over time. For example, since the Stumpys could not get as much food as the other groups did, some people(animals) had to be taken apart from the Stumpy population so that the Stumpys could survive which was true with only Tripp on the Stumpys surviving.
8. In order for the groups to survive in the Hunger Games Lab, some people become very aggresive and eventually dive to get many corks as possible before the corks run out, which are mainly the pinchers and knuckles.  Aggressive animals like tigers, lions, sharks fight anyone it takes in order to eat their prey. Another way students used to survive is wearing sweaters on that day purposely to get more corks in order to survive. This meathod would work the best if someone was a Stumpy. For example, big fur mammals like bears, grizzlies, and kangaroos would use their huge hands and pouches to store as much food inside to feed their offspring.
9.  In evolution, populations that have offspring  and allele frequency in the gene pool will evolve greatly over time.  Natural selection acts on the phenotype since if animals  have better traits, they will survive better. However the genotypes will change in order to be susceptible to mutations.
10. I have no questions. I wonder whether if we will ever do another outside lab again?

2nd blog post

The progress of preparing my 20-time Ted Talk on my Hybrid Vehicles

I learned that hybrid vehicles are ran on half engine and half motor. I learned in myself that I need to start having earlier preparation of my Ted talk on Hybrid vehicles to have success. Started on my Google Slide of my 20 time topic of Hybrid vehicle that I will use as my Ted talk and also preparing materials to build my hybrid model that will represent the environmental benefit of hybrid vehicles. I have not encountered any challenges and my next steps are to start building the Hybrid model of the Hybrid vehicle that I will use in my Ted talk; also work on my google slides to prepare for the day of my Ted talk of my 20-time idea. I can apply my idea to the community by the teachers, sophmores, juniors, and seniors driving to school, still using. regular cars that are composed all gasoline and I want to reduce that numerical amount.

Bird Beak Lab Conclusion

In this lab we asked the question of if Natural Selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of species. We found that birds with the better type of beaks like the tweezers get more food and evolute faster than other, causing them to be the winner. In feeding round of part 1, there were 41% of chicks from the Tweezer-beak bird, 38% of chicks from the Spoon-beak bird, and 21% of chicks from the Paper Clip-beak bird; this supports the hypothesis that if there are winners and losers, the tweezers would win and the scissor and the paper clip lose. In the feeding round of part 2, the paper clip beak had 16% of the chicks, the tweezer picked 31% of chicks, and the spoon picked 53% of the chicks; this however does not supports the hypothesis that the tweezer-beak bird is the winner since in round 2, the spoon-beak bird was the winner. Based on the 2 rounds, we found that the whole population of chicks are the tweezer-beak bird and the spoon-beak bird which made them the winners of the competition. This comes from what Natural Selection is, which is selecting pop. out of a group that cannot survive, and the Change that it's all natural vodcast, that included Darwin's observations and conclusions that we used in the lab. By knowing what Darwin's observations were, we related it when we had a competition among who can get the most food using different types of beaks. The data in the Bird beak lab supported that there are winners and losers among a population, by having some types of bird beaks having more chicks than others, because of eating more food than others.

Some errors we made in the lab included that not everybody in our table group might not be trying as much to get as much food in round 1 and round 2 of the Bird-Beak lab competition. If we did this lab in the afternoon, even though we might not have the best bird beak to eat food,  we would have more accurate results since all these birds are competing really hard for food with a lot of energy, and in the morning not everybody is having that energy to get the food in the lab. Another error we might have faced was in the second round of the Bird Beak competition, we did not have toothpicks to feed on due to massive drought. So now the competition of resources will be more tighter since there are less resources.

In conclusion, the Bird beak lab was done to demonstrate Darwin's observations & conclusions in effect. There were different types of bird beaks that had to fight for survival in order to raise their offspring. From this lab, I learned the concept of natural selection that there are going to be some birds or any other living organisms that become extinct, and some of them survive;those who cannot survive are moved out naturally out of the competition like in the 2nd round of the Bird beak lab competition where we had some birds drop out or extinct because they did not get enough food in order to raise their offspring, or survive. Based on my Bird beak lab experience, I can apply it to the school life today where we all eventually want to get in the great universities like Stanford, Berkley, UCLA, Harvard, etc. But eventually there is limited space for each of the universities so some will get accepted and others will be dropped or rejected from the university like the bird beaks in the experiment when they could not get enough food, they go extinct.