The significance of the double helix is that it allows DNA to replicate itself.  After it has copied itself, it can transfer that copy from parent to offspring.  The significance of DNA to us humans is that we are able to use it to trace back to our ancestors. A couple of reasons to why a triple helix DNA strand wouldn't work was because it was unable to make copies of itself as a double helix does and Rosalind Franklin had X-ray pictures to prove that the DNA strand couldn't be a triple helix. Watson~Crick model's novel feature is a double helix.  After research and many tests, they were finally able to find the structure of DNA.  It was a Double Helix. If you know the DNA sequence of one side then you can just guess what the other side is because the opposite side is always the exact opposite of the other side.  For example, if it is A-G-G-T-U-G then the opposite side will be G-A-A-U-T-A.

Watson and Franklin

Franklin did not get the just credit she deserved.  She wasn't credited with her discovery until after she had died. As I researched this topic, I had found that Wilkins, who was also making pictures, and Franklin really didn't get along with each other at all.  Wilkins had just taken some of Franklin's pictures when she wasn't around and they turned out to be the best pictures that had been taken.  He had given them to Watson and received all of Franklin's credit. After Wilkins had received all of the credit for her discovery he was awarded the Nobel Prize and it wasn't till Franklin died that she received any credit.

I personally don't think it was fair that Franklin didn't receive any credit for her work.  As for Wilkins, I personally believe he is lazy and wrong for taking away Franklin's work and not even giving her any credit.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990626-3,00.html

http://www.chemicalheritage.org/discover/chemistry-in-history/themes/biomolecules/dna/watson-crick-wilkins-franklin.aspx

http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/jaffe.forum.pdf

GATTACA

Advantages and Disadvantages

The movie GATTACA, they use a new type of DNA sequencing to form offspring's with no flaws.  This has some advantages but on the other hand it has some disadvantages.  If we had a society like the one in GATTACA, we would have very few defaults or mistakes in the society.  Everyone would be perfect and flawless.  But on the other hand, no one could express themselves with their mistakes.  We wouldn't be able to learn from our mistakes.  If we were to also allow genetic engineering, the normal people, "Faith Babies", would have the menial jobs and would be treated as second best and they would be known for failing or never succeeding at anything.

A World Without Misfits     

 

If we were able to get rid of all of the trouble makers and the different people in our society we would probably fall apart.  Every single one of us have an important role to play on earth, whether your smart, shy, funny, annoying, we're all important.  If there weren't any people with problems we wouldn't have jobs that help figure out what is wrong with them.  The crazy people need the sane people to help them, the not so smart people would need the smart people to help them.  We all seek help from other people but if we are perfect and think we can do it all on our own we may never succeed.  If we were all little angels there wouldn't be anything unique about a single one of us, but since we all have different personalities we all are very unique.

Should it be Allowed?

Genetic engineering should only be used for those family's who really are in need of it.  If they have a family history of diseases, they could get their child's genes rearranged in order for their child to have a little chance of receiving that disease. This should be allowed to those who want their kids to live a normal life.  Not worrying about falling down and always getting hurt or getting really sick and have to go through kemo.  Parents want the best for their children and by giving them a care free life is a good start.  I don't personally know what it is like to have a disease or a physical defect but I know I would not want my kids to go through that.

Effects on Disinfectants and Antiseptics on Bacteria!!!!

Disinfectants and antiseptics are both products that are used to kill bacteria, but they only work on certain things or surfaces.  Disinfectants, such as bleach, can only be used on non-living things, but antiseptics, such as soaps, can be used on the body.  The only substance that can be used as both disinfectants and antiseptics is alcohol. 

What did you do?

In our recent lab, we swabbed different surfaces with different antiseptics and disinfectants.  We took cotton swabs and dipped them in distilled water and rub it other our index finger and we streaked the cotton swab over the agar.  We did the same thing for the next two step but we used alcohol and washed our hands.  Now we move onto the surface. Everyone swabbed their own hands, but we also had to swab a surface we thought would be the most contaminated.  I decided to swab the toilet seat in the girls bathroom.  We followed the same concept as the skin but instead of washing the surface we used bleach on it instead, since it is an disinfectant.  Then we stuck our petri dishes in the incubator to allow our bacteria to grow.

Results

After 24 hours we took our dishes out and looked at the bacteria cultures that were growing in the agar.  The bacteria I gathered with the alcohol had little or no growth at all, the same went for the soap and bleached bacteria, but the control bacteria was the worse.  This is bacteria from the skin or the surface that didn't have any disinfectants or antiseptics, and these were the most contaminated areas.  After the petri dishes has been in the incubator for at least 48 hours, we took them out and gram stained them.  This is a process used to figure out whether the bacteria is gram-positive or gram-negative.  We heat fixed out bacteria and then looked at it under a oil immersion lens and I discovered that the bacteria I had found on the toilet seat was gram-positive, because it was purple, and its shape was staphylococci, because of its grape like structure.

LAVA LAMPS!!!!!!

Lava lamps were originally called Astro Lamps and were created by Edward Craven.   The lava lamp contains wax, water, and other contents that are all combined together with a secret formula.  How does it work you ask?  Well as the lamp heats up the wax in the lamp melts, and as it melts it becomes liter and it floats to the top.  But how does it come back down?  As it moves away from the light source it cools and becomes heavy once more and falls back down. 

Home made lava lamps are a little different.  Instead of having a heat source, we use salt or Alkaseltzer tablets to make the water bubble. When you combine the water and the oil they don't mix because the oil is hydrophobic and the water is heavier than the oil so it will sink to the bottom.  If you wanted to you could add food coloring to your lava lamp but this will only effect the water because it is hydrophillic.  When you put in the Alkaseltzer tablet you will notice that the water starts to bubble.  This is because the water is causing the tablet to release all of its oxygen and it all goes to the top. This is how home made lava lamps are made.

Bacteria and Quorum-Sensing

Summary of Article


Bonnie Bassler and her lad work on quorum-sensing at Princeton.  They main focus is to figure out how bacterium communicate with one another. There are many types of bacteria, both good and bad, that are all over the place. So what does Bassler do? She works with her students to figure out how these good and bad bacteria communicate to fight against each other. Instead of using words, she believes that they sense things and react with one another.


What is Quorum-Sensing?


Quorum-sensing is just another way of saying bacteria work together, communicate, and function well in groups. Bassler works with these bacteria, which are single-celled organisms that have no nucleus and only one piece of DNA. These bacteria cells do reproduce, but not as we do. They reproduce asexually, meaning that they just get larger and make an exact replica of themselves and just simply divide in half. After they reproduce they release a chemicals that we call auto-inducers, but is more commonly known as hormones. It starts out with a little bit of this molecule but when you get more bacteria to reproduce, you get more auto-inducers. One way to demonstrate how they communicate is when there is a lot of bacteria and auto-inducers, some of the bacteria start clinging onto the molecule because there are a lot of other bacterium around and they think they need to change their behaviors. This all got started because of a glowing substance known as Vibrio harveyi. They had put some bacteria in with this but it didn't glow as much, but when they added more of this bacteria, the glow started to get brighter. This is showing how Quorum-sensing really works because the glow is being controlled by quorum-sensing.

Wallace Carother and Nylon

Wallace Carother was a fine chemist.  He first went to school to major in accounting but then changed his major to science.  He left his job, teaching accounting at Harvard, to take a new job as the head of the research team at DuPont, where they were trying to make new silk like materials.  During his experiments to make a synthetic silk, Wallace made the process better by adjusting the tools that they used.  This made better and stronger fibers.  After a long period of time, he finally came out successful. He had found the way to use polymers to make "nylon". 


http://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/51730c388888d18a


In Wallaces' work, there is a relationship between science and engineering.  In order for Wallace to reconstruct the tools and equipment that he used, he needed some kind of engineering. The definition of engineering is "technology: the practical application of science to commerce or industry" according to the google.

The invention of nylon was revolutionary because it was during the time period of WW1.  This was when we were at war with Japan, who had supplied the U.S. with silk, so our trade was breaking apart.  But with this new synthetic material, we are able to by durable clothes for less. With nylon we are able to manufacture more and people will buy more because it is cheaper than buying actual silk.

http://exurbanpedestrian.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/pantyhose.jpg

Everyday, everyone comes in contact with synthetic materials.  I come in contact with many types of synthetic materials, such as paper, clothing, and anything that might be made of rubber. What if synthetic materials never existed?  We would be wearing leather and silk, which would be a lot more than buying synthetic materials.