What's an interesting topic to teach to my biology peers?
I need to give a 40 minute lesson to my AP Biology peers for an assignment. I want to do something neat and interesting. Also, I’ll be presenting this after we take the test (it’s to fill up the remainder of the school year with), so I want to stay clear of anything that an AP bio expert would ordinarily recommend. Thanks!
Tags: ap bio, ap biology, peers, remainder, school year
Biotechnology! It’s the analytical perspective of genetics. Basically, it’s an application of genetics on our environment.
i.e. transgenic plants or GMO’s (Genetically modified organisms)
It’s an interesting topic, new and very emerging. In fact the debate about whether GMO’s are good for our environment or not is quite interesting as well.
In my opinion, I believe that a slice of pizza (which is filled with synthetic products) is less safe than a GMO (which eliminates the use for harmful pesticides)
Other things that are relevent:
* Rachel Carson, pesticides, DDT, evolution
* whether we should play around with the genetics of other organism
* Is solving world hunger…finally is a possibility? (or should we listen to Thomas Malthus)
* What are the harmful aftereffects of GMO’s (if any?)
* The history of humans messing with the genetics of other organisms: this technology has been used for centuries before (domestication of dogs and mules, also wheat! its genetics has been messed around with for ages!)
* Could GMO’s be used for biological warfare? (This is an interesting aspect! After you are more comfortable on this topic, look in to what the company Monsanto did to make sure their work can’t be copied, it’s very scary actually since it opens a door in to modifying and programming an organism’s termination)
* GMO’s and drugs (insulin)
* Also, where should the line be drawn (Human-Cow chimerics)
I’d like to get more in to this topic, but I am sure I would end up quoting my genetics textbook and end up boring you with the scientific jargon.
Instead, If you are interested in genetics or GMO’s, there’s a very good lecture on this topic:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=2009-B-7753&semesterid=2009-B
It’s called "Lecture 27: GMOs and Organismal Cloning"
Make sure you click on the left most icon (It’s a video lecture file)
I’d just advise you to kick back and watch it! And if you become more interested, I’m sure you can ask you teacher for guidance on this topic.
Also, if you need to brush up on your genetics, there’s a Bill Nye episode on genes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2o_fzprY2k
Hope this helps!
vagina?
you should do it about the six kingdoms like protist fungi archaebacteria aeubasteris animals and plant and explain each one and houw they get food !!!!!!!
that would be soooooooo interesting
Cloning and genetic engineering/manipulation
rectums.
the theory of evolution
Phagocytosis and all the good stuff that goes with it. And I’m not being a smart ass.
Try teaching some Basic Marine Biology, I liked that
How certain cold-blooded amphibians burrow into the muck underwater to winter-over. Frogs, turtles, etc. You can look them up and stretch it into 40 minutes.
But here’s the kicker, the interesting fact:
We all know that matter expands as it is warmed, and contracts as it’s cooled, right? It has to do with molecules getting more excited by heat, and slowing down in the absence of heat.
What’s inconsistant then….?
Water is it’s MOST dense at 4 deg C. Below 4 deg C it actually begins to expand again.
If water continued to get more dense as it cooled (and becomes ice).. Ice would Sink! and wetlands, ponds, swamps, rivers, and streams would freeze from the bottom up, not from the top down. So the muck would be sealed off… and the amphibians could not burrow into it. No one can know the implications but we can be fairly certain these ecosystems, and maybe life on earth in general, would be different in significant ways if not for this one apparent exception to an otherwise universal rule – water EXPANDS as it cools, after 4 deg C
As a matter of trivia as well: water at 4 deg C is used to help tie volume, mass, and linear meausre together in the metric system:
1 cc (cubic centimeter of course, there’s your linear measure, 1 cm x 1cm x 1cm) = 1 ml (milli-liter of course) i.e 1 Liter = 1 cubic decimeter (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm)… and 1 cc of water at 4 deg C wighs exactly 1 gram. (or 1L wieghs 1 Kg… water at 4 deg C)
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and I-N-G-E-N-I-O-U-S
sorry it’s not all Biology.
About the water (ice) expanding.. so that Ice (the solid state) floats on water (the liquid state)… prep about the change-of-state things a lit too. Someone could question if the change-of-state makes ice a different substance than watter. I think it’s still unique. Most solids (below their melting point) would sink through their corresponding liquids (above their melting point.)
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OR –
do it on Breast Implants and material selection, the poisson ratio and texture of breasts, Silicon vs. Saline… or what else could be used? and get everyone testing and gaging all the breasts in the room (yes, feeling them) for avaerage firmity and texture measures.