Blog 6: Marburg Poem

A man comes in, leaking blood like a faucet,
He's has been killed many times, but not close to death yet.
Inside, creatures of the dark loom over his beating corpse,
Tearing away all of the sterile organs, it became a warp.
Shocked doctors attempt to stop its spread,
But to no avail, the creatures refuse to be dead.
Near immediate sicknesses came upon its victims,
Many deaths and a quarantine later, people were still under its whim...

Blog 11: Trait-picking (Gattaca)

In the universe of Gattaca, parents can pick the most desirable traits for their baby before it's born. I fully support the idea of this, as it could help cut down on genetic disorders and diseases. With this advancement in giving birth, it'll give our future generations the ability to survive better and have the "best" traits out of all of us, like the desired hair and eye color, height growth, body build, etc., leading to the "perfect" human beings. Without any undesired traits, most setbacks that occurs in one side's family traits can be cut off from the newborn, allowing them to live without many restrictions the older generations are burdened with.

Blog 10: Fermentation Recipe

For this fermented foods pickle recipe, you will need:

• 2-one gallon crocks or glass jars
• 4 lbs. of cucumbers
• 3⁄4 cup kosher salt
• 1 bunch dill weed
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, sliced
• pinch of black peppercorns 
• (optional)10 grape leaves
• 1 gallon boiling water

First, wash your cucumbers and remove any remaining blossoms. Poke them with a bamboo skewer, inserting it a few inches into one end, but not going all the way through.

Slice the onions, peel the garlic and rinse the grape leaves.

Boil the water and dissolve the salt in it and set aside to use later.

Place 2 or 3 grape leaves in the bottom of the jar(s). Place as many cucumbers as will fit in a single layer on the grape leaves. Add 5-6 cloves of garlic, a handful of onion slices, a handful of dill weed, and a pinch of black peppercorns. Put another layer of grape leaves on top.

Continue layering in this way until the jar is full. Finish with grape leaves.

Pour the hot brine into the jar(s) until full. Use a chopstick or knife to poke down into the jar (around the sides) to remove air bubbles.

Find a plastic lid (called a follower) that you can fit into the jar by bending it, and that will expand to mostly cover the grape leaves on top.

Place a weight on top of the follower to keep the pickles under the brine. They should be covered by at least one inch of brine once the weight is in place.

Let sit at room temperature for 3-7 days, checking daily for desired taste.

Refrigerating will stop the fermentation process and allow you to store your pickles for a year or more.

Blog 8: Blog Facility Procedures

Though various levels of a bio-contamination require different forms of protection, most of the basic needs are universal. These procedures include the usage of gloves, masks, long-sleeved clothing that's not loose and doesn't reveal skin, and the like. Due to some of these viruses being airborne, masks are not enough; the need to various medications that repel any sort of infection are needed for any kind of accidental contact with them. Lower level viruses, because they can cling onto a person, can be safely destroyed when one enters through an ultraviolet light post.

Blog #9: Government on Diseases Isolation

Like seen in The Hot Zone book and the Outbreak movie, there are possible chances of a dangerously lethal disease hitting a populated area, a terrifying worst case scenario involves the imminent deaths of many, along with a high chance of the disease spreading from area to area at an unsuspecting rate. The government must do their job to defend their country from such threats, but how far should they go if such a lethal disease is present?? 

If a virus similar to the "Motaba" in Outbreak hits a town, quarantine is top priority. Nothing with the possibility of carrying the dangerous disease comes out, and yes, the usage of military is recommended. Sure, it may seem degrading for the civilians to see how dangerous their town has become, but it's probably the only way to keep order in a chaotic state. In the town itself, separating the people with a normal status from people showing symptoms of the disease in them cuts the chance of the disease infesting more people.

Blog #5: "Useful Bacteria, Harmful Bacteria"

Useful: Bacillus thuringeinsis

This bacterium, known as Bacillus thuringeinsis, is well known to be an important component of many insect-eliminating products. The content of the cell includes a few number of shaped particles, each have their part on acting as a whole. Several round structures in the bacteria are spores that are covered by the cell wall, with darker, angled shapes that look like crystals called B.t. toxin. This toxin is poisonous towards many types of insects that consume it, which includes mosquitos, different types of beetles and worms, ideal to keep pests away from crucial areas around the house. Around 400 types of this bacteria-based products are registered to be buyable in the U.S.

Harmful: The Cold Virus

The common cold is caused by a virus that is transferred usually by small droplets of a cough or sneeze of a person that already has the virus. This virus particle attaches itself onto a cell, gets in, multiplies and kills the cell, making it rupture and spew out freshly-made virus cells onto the other cells. Though it might not be the worst virus in the world, it is one of the easier ones to obtain, giving ones who are sick stuffy nasals, sore throats, sneezing and coughing with hoarseness of the voice, and probably fevers and headaches.

Blog #4: "Monkey in the Mirror" (Bio News Article)

With the help of head implants, an experimental group of Rhesus monkeys were able to develop some form of self-awareness, where they were able to examine themselves and their hard-to-see body parts on a mirror. This is also proven to be effective on other animals, though it wouldn't work well with colored marks, only head implants. With colored marks, the monkeys weren't able to notice them and actually became aggressive with its own reflection, thinking it's another monkey. There is a conclusion that the monkeys probably are only able to develop their self-awareness by seeing and feeling the implant on their head. Further research found that the monkeys would touch and groom the area around the implant if a mirror is present at the cage, though will not attempt to do so when the mirror was covered.

A picture of one of the monkeys inspecting himself.

Blog #3: Are Non-Carbon Based Life Forms Possible?

Our planet revolves around the wonderful element of carbon, which is also what we are composed of, however, in theory, the idea of other lifeforms in other planets made of non-carbon elements is plausible. I don't support the idea that there is such thing, but having other organisms that have a different appearance while being composed of carbon is possible. First off, older stars naturally emit carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, making the building blocks of carbon-based organisms very abundant in the universe. In cooler areas away from the star/sun, these elements could form with available hydrogen to start the process of making life. A second reason why non-carbon life is a rare find is because carbon is much more "durable". The basis of organic compounds is made by a very unique carbon pattern of rings and chains allow them to have a better life expectancy in Earth-like environments.

Blog #2: Should the US Switch to the Metric System?

"Several years ago NASA rocket failed because scientists were not using the same system of measurement for all the parts."

The United States, though working with many parts of the world, does not share the same, common measurement system called the Metric System, which is already integrated into so many other countries for years; we instead mostly use inches, feet, yards, etc. that takes a while to convert back to the Metric System. I am into the idea of having the US switching into the Metric System, though it won't be an easy nor quick process. One reason is because if this does pass, our country can be more universally linked with other nations in terms of measuring calculations. Now, with large-scaled projects similar to rocket launches, it's much easier to contribute, organize, edit/fix everything. Another reason is because the metric system can help  settle a lot of confusion in other measuring-related jobs or tasks, such as mathematics and building items, or even when traveling to other parts of the country/world. Some people have lived off of the US's inch/feet/yard system for the majority of their lives, but when it comes to international areas, they will soon find out that they will need to take drastic measures to reconvert inches to centimeters, and they'll get easily confused and/or lost in the mess. Therefore, if we have this more unified measuring system with other parts of the world, we can finally lose the confusion that lurked in many measuring processes.

Blog #1: Class/School Year's Goal

Finally got biology this school year, meaning there should be a set goal so that I can find my way to success in the midst of the everyday struggle. Anyways, for overall class grades, I'm planning to get a better GPA's than last year (yeah, pretty much crashed and burned for being too lazy). Though the lowest I got was an average 3.0 last year, I have to bring myself together and concentrate more towards the class and not so much to the random stuff that happens around me. Secondly, my other goal is to get better scores on tests, which, of course, connects to my first reason so it's important to study to get better grades in the long run. Outside of grades and piles and piles of homework, I plan to meet great new people in this vast and crowded high school where it's great to be connected with one thing or another. Though this may not be the best set of goals, it's what's in my mind at the moment; of course, there are many other achievements waiting to be accomplished for this year.