20 Time Reflection

Wannabe Sweden
individual reflection 

The idea of my topic came to mind starting off with a Facebook video titled "Sweden Has no trash" or something of that sort. The video was about how Sweden is able to recycle 99% of its garbage resulting in only 1% of their trash making its way to a landfill. After I watched the video, I was intrigued by how an entire country was able to recycle so much of their garbage. I learned that Sweden was able to recycle so much due to their WTE (waste-to-energy) plants. These plants burn some of its unrecyclable wastes and convert it into usable energy that is able to provide heat to 810,000 households. I kept this video in the back of my head, and when the project of 20 Time was presented, I thought of doing this topic for the project. At that time, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do anything enormous like building a WTE plant; I knew I had to narrow it down to something simpler. I did a lot of research on the recycling revolution in Sweden. It turns out that the WTE plants are only half of the reason Sweden is able to recycle so much of their materials. The other half was in thanks to the citizens of Sweden. The citizens of Sweden play a large role by disposing of their trash in an organized manner. Sweden's citizens separate their wastes into metals, plastics, compost, and other materials. This way, it is much easier and efficient for items to be recycled and for the WTE plants to burn some of the trash. Although I won't be able to construct a waste to energy plant in Saratoga in the near future, there's still other ways to improve my community. 

The next challenge for my 20 Time project was to figure out what to do, specifically. I knew I wanted my project to be based on Sweden's recycling revolution, but I was having trouble narrowing the topic down to a smaller idea. After doing more research I came to the conclusion that I wanted to base my 20 Time project off of recycling because it's the catalyst of Sweden's recycling success. America has a recycling rate of about 35%, so there's a lot of room for improvement. I wanted some way to teach recycling tips and techniques that was free and easily accessible for my audience. I decided to make a website (https://jasonmoon007.wixsite.com/wannabesweden) that would give a general overview about Sweden's recycling revolution and their WTE plants. Also in the website would an explanation on how a large part of Sweden's success is attributed to their citizens who put in a lot of effort to recycle effectively by organizing their wastes into their respective containers. Additionally, I would add recycling tips such as what materials are considered plastic and belong in the plastic recycling bin, paper in the paper recycling bin, metals in the metals bin, and things of that sort. The first step in following Sweden's 99% recycle rate is in the hands of the citizens, our community, to recycle and dispose of everything properly.

Overall I think I did a good job finding a topic that interests me, doing a lot of research on said topic, and finding a way to link to the topic to a project where I can influence my community. I did a lot of research to find out as much as I can about the WTE plants in Sweden and how the process works and decided to do my project on recycling. I've been keeping up with the workload by publishing my blog posts (1, 2, 3, 4) on my blog, keeping readers updated on how far I've gone in my project and what I have accomplished. One of my strengths throughout this project was my commitment. One thing I have discovered about myself through this year, enrolled in the anatomy course, is that my effort is proportional to my interest. I realized, that some of the units where we covered organ systems that were less interesting to me made me pay less attention and put in less effort into the lecture notes, homework readings, and labs. For example, I really liked the nervous system unit and was really intrigued by the woman living without a cerebellum. On the other hand, I didn't find much interest in the muscular unit, so I didn't put in as much effort or find as much liking in the readings. I was really glad that for 20 Time, we were allowed to pick any topic we wanted. This way, I was promised a topic that was personally interesting to me. I used this to my advantage so I would want to do more research and put more effort into what I am doing. One weakness that came to my attention right away was when I started making my website. I noticed that I have no experience in making websites, so I had no idea where I could make my website or how to design one. Luckily, there were a lot of websites where I could design my website, and the designing process was surprisingly simple. That was the major concern going into the project, and I'm glad it wasn't too large of an issue. If I were to start the project again, I wouldn't change a thing, because I had a lot of enjoyment researching Sweden's recycling revolution and getting to design my own website with my own ideas from scratch. 

River Clean Up Service

The river clean up service started with driving to the location, arriving at 9 am. We turned in our forms and were briefed on the schedule, equipment and some dangers such as poison oak. The group picked up gloves and trash pickers and started walking along the path, beginning our adventure of cleaning the river. We walked along a trail next to the river, but there wasn't a lot of trash alongside this path. However, the ledges along the path contained a lot of trash including chip bags, paper, and cups. As we walked further along the path, we got closer to the river and were able to get next to it. There was a lot of trash in the bushes next to the river that was the usual chip bags and paper. One of the more interesting I found was a baseball. At around 10 am, they called us back to the tent we first met up in and relaxed with some water and popsicles. I was honestly disappointed that the cleanup service ended early because I found myself actually really motivated to collect all the trash I could. One thing I took away from this experience is that I was really disappointed in all the people who were too lazy to hold a piece of garbage until they found a trash can and too selfish, making other people cleaning up their mess since they don't care about their impact on the environment we share.

8reflection

Muscular System Reflection


In this unit, we covered the muscular system which consists of all the muscles in the body and how our muscles move by contracting and relaxing. The main functions of the muscular system are the movement of the bones and fluids such as blood, maintaining body position, and stabilizing joints. Muscles are classified as prime movers, antagonists, synergists, and fixators. These classifications differentiate how the muscle moves and if they contract or relax. Muscle contractions include many bundles of muscle fibers. Each muscle fiber contains myofibrils and each myofibril is lined up with sarcomere. Muscle contractions are a complicated process that starts with sending an impulse to the muscle. Then a multitude chemicals such as Ca 2+, ATP, and Phosphate are released and the myosin binds in a pulling action which makes the muscle contract.

I think that this unit was extremely in depth and we covered how muscle moves down to every detail. As a result, there isn't anything I have questions on. However, I do feel like the way the muscle contracts is a little complicated. I was wondering if there could maybe be an easier way for muscles to move. I couldn't really think of a more effective way for muscles to move, but it was something interesting for me to think about. 

I think I was able to learn a lot and grow a lot throughout the last two units, the muscular system and the skeletal system. I really liked these units, because it was really relatable to me since I had a lot of injuries that consisted of broken bones and joints. I also always wanted to know how a muscle was able to move since it is such a important function in our daily lives, but it's always overlooked and taken for granted. I was glad to finally able to understand how muscles work. 

Blog Post 4

Throughout the project, I have learned a lot about recycling, especially the massive impact it can have on our community and our world. The positive effect of recycling can be immeasurable if there is the contribution from every community. One thing that I have learned about myself is that I have been recycling wrong for a large majority of time in my life. I was very timid to throw away food whenever it had drinks or food on it, but I recently learned through this experience that a lot of food and drinks can go into the recycling bin. 

The next step in my process is to create a website that will list a lot of tips on how to recycle better. A large majority of the American population don't recycle for many reasons. One of the reasons is that they are afraid of putting something that shouldn't go in the recycling bin into the recycling bin and harm the recycling system. They would just rather put everything into the garbage bin since there's no requirement for what goes into a landfill. I want to make a website so people can learn the proper way to recycle and all the requirements and restriction when it comes to throwing away our garbage.  

One setback I discovered in this experience is that finding a site that allows you to create your own website and design how you want it is pretty difficult. I have found a few sites that allow me to design my own website, but the software is pretty difficult. Luckily, this setback is not incredibly troubling, and it will probably just take a little more time. 

I can apply the things I researched about my topic to my school and communicating by sharing all the information to help my fellow students and neighbors recycle. I can easily share this information through the website. 

What Happens When You Stretch

"When you stretch the muscle fiber is pulled out to its full length sarcomere by sarcomere."
-I thought it was pretty cool that when you stretch, you're muscle fibers are being pulled to the maximum length. I always thought that stretching was limited by how far our bones will allow us to go and their joints, but it's actually the maximum length the muscle can reach.

"Picture little pockets of fibers distributed throughout the muscle body stretching, and other fibers simply going along for the ride."
-It's cool how our muscle works as a multitude of individual pockets or fibers. When movement occurs in the muscle, a few of the fibers are doing the work and the rest are just following along the fibers causing the moton.

"Some sources suggest that with extensive training, the stretch reflex of certain muscles can be controlled so that there is little or no reflex contraction in response to a sudden stretch."
-I know that the body comes with a lot of issues when you are born, but in many ways, we can train our body to get better at certain actions and overcome some weaknesses. I like how this example of the strectch relfex allows us to overcome a negative aspect of our muscles if we practice extensive training.

Relate and Review

The stretching of the muscle occurs in the sacromere which is the basic unit of contraction in the muscle fiber. When a sacromere contracts, the area between the thick and then myofilaments increaes, and when the sacro mere stechted the area of overlap is gone. the nerves in our muscular system allow us to know where parts of the body are in comparison to the body through the proprioceptors. The stretch relfec occurs when the muscle is stretched and so are the muscle spindle. This triggers the stretch reflex that tries to resist the change in muscle length. Other aspects of stretching in the lengthening reaction and the reciprocal inhibition.

More Effective Joint

A Better Wrist

Abstract

I choose to modify the wrist as the joint for my project. I first researched the most common injuries that occur in a wrist which was spraining a wrist. Then I followed the layout of the write up provided to fill in the information needed for the bones, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels in the joint. Afterward, I started thinking up different ways to prevent wrist sprains from occurring and the best solution seemed to be adding cartilage behind the wrist to add protection and still allowing flexibility and taking up little room. Then I added in all the necessary extra material needed to support the new cartilage such as nerves and blood vessels.

Overview

The joint that is being redesigned is the wrist. The wrist connects the hand to the forearm and is responsible for a multitude of human activities such as grabbing, pulling, pushing, and lifting ourselves and objects.

Bones

The wrist is made up of bones including the distal ends of the radius and ulna and the 8 carpal bones along with the proximal ends of the 5 metacarpal bones.

Ligaments

The wrist has a very complex arrangement of ligaments that are classified as extrinsic ligaments, intrinsic ligaments, and interosseous ligaments. The most important ligaments in the wrist are the collateral ligaments. There are two collateral ligaments, one on each side of the wrist. They connect the wrist to the forearm. These ligaments help stabilize the wrist and keep it from bending too far to the side.

Tendons

There is a multitude of tendons that run across the wrist that first start as muscles in the forearm. The tendons that cross the palm side of the wrist are called flexor tendons. These tendons curl the fingers and thumb and bend the wrist. The tendons that run along the back of the wrist are called extensor tendons run through multiple tunnels called compartments. The compartments are lined with fluid to prevent friction between the tendon and the compartment.

Nerves

The main nerves in the wrist come from the radial, median, and ulnar nerves. The radial nerve runs along the thumb side of the forearm, and it gives sensation to the back of the hand. The median nerve travels through the carpal tunnel. It gives nerve supply to the thenar muscles of the thumb and also sends sensory fibers to the palm and first three fingers. The ulnar nerve runs through a separate tunnel called the Guyon’s Canal. The ulnar nerve branches out to supply sensation to the pinky and ring finger along with smaller muscles in the hand.

Blood Vessels

Large blood vessels run through the wrist to supply the hand and keep up with its mass number of activities it completes every day. One of these blood vessels is the radial artery that runs across the front of the wrist near the thumb. The ulnar artery runs alongside the ulnar nerve. The ulnar and radial artery arch together in the palm of the hand to supply the hand and its fingers with blood.

Wrist Sprain

By far, the most common injury in the wrist is a sprained wrist. Wrist sprains are common in athletes, motorcyclists, gymnasts, and others. A sprained wrist occurs in many athletes and in a lot of daily movement. All it takes to sprain a wrist is a second of loss of balance that causes someone to fall. A common reaction to a fall is to stick a hand out and break the fall. Doing so applies a lot of force to the wrist bending it a little too far backward towards the forearm. This force can tear the ligament that connects the wrist to the carpal bones, or in worse cases, break the ligament. Minor to moderate wrist sprains can heal on their own, but require some time to rest the wrist, icing it, or compressing it. In severe wrist sprains, the ligament can snap, requiring surgery to repair.

Design

One design feature I could add to the wrist to prevent injury from wrist sprains is by adding a layer of cartilage on top of the carpal bones to the distal ends of the radius and ulna bone covering the wrist. Adding a layer of cartilage here will make the wrist more firm by making it harder to bend the wrist too far backward. Cartilage is firm and flexible so it will be able to protect the wrist from injury while also allowing the wrist to continue its multitude of motions. Since the cartilage is connective tissue itself, it won’t require any extra or new tendons or ligaments. The radial nerve already runs through the back of the wrist to provide sensation for the back of the hand. However, the cartilage will require an additional blood vessel to run through the wrist since the existing blood vessels only run through the palm side of the wrist. This new blood vessel can run alongside the radial nerve and borrow the tunnel that the nerve travels through. Now the new cartilage can be formed to protect the wrist from future wrist sprains while being supplied with new blood vessels that take up as little room as possible.

Diagram

Discussion

Most wrist sprains are caused by a fall that bends the wrist too far backward and tears the ligaments. I thought about adding more bones around the ligaments to give it more structure and prevent damage. However, adding bones will require additional ligaments since ligaments are required to connect bone to bone. I then thought about adding muscle behind the wrist to soak up the impact when a person falls. But muscles are useful in protecting the body from their function is strictly movement. I wanted to add a strong material to could defend the wrist from being pushed too far back, but was also flexible enough to allow the wrist its flexible range of motion. I thought about adding cartilage to the wrist since it's a bendy firm structure used the ear and nose. Cartilage could prevent damage when a person falls since it can restrict the hand from bending too far back.

Prevention

Wrist sprains are generally hard to prevent since they normally occur in unpredicted accidents. However, tools such as wrist guards and tape can be used to prevent the wrist from bending too far backward causing a wrist sprain.

Works Cited

Phillips, Benjamin Z., Md. "Wrist Joint Anatomy." Overview, Gross Anatomy, Natural Variants. Medscape, 28 Oct. 2016. Web. 09 May 2017. <http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1899456-overview>.

"Wrist Sprain." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 09 May 2017. <http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/wrist-sprain#1>.

Wrist Anatomy." Wrist Parts & Anatomy | Houston Methodist. Houston Methodist, n.d. Web. 09 May 2017. <http://www.houstonmethodist.org/orthopedics/where-does-it-hurt/wrist/wrist-anatomy/>.

Code, Keith. A Twist of the Wrist. Glendale Calif.: Code Break, 2002. Print.

Wrist X-ray picture

"Scapholunate Advanced Collapse Wrist." Wikimedia Commons, 27 Oct. 2012. Web. 9 May 2017.<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scapholunate_advanced_collapse_wrist.jpg>.

Wrist guard picture

Liew, Cheon Fong. "3M Futuro Reversible Splint Wrist Brace." Flickr. Yahoo!, 24 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 May 2017. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/liewcf/6393617505>.

Chicken Dissection Analysis

Chicken Dissection

We started with the dissection procedure by first removing the chicken from the bag and drying it. The next step was to remove the skin, and we did this by slitting the skin along the midline of the skin then peeling the skin off. We then made an incision through the pectoralis major along one side of the sternum and opened the pectoralis major to see the pectoralis minor beneath it. We turned the chicken around and made a slit along the backbone and removed the skin to the base of each wing. Now we can see the trapezius and the latissimus dorsi. We then removed the wing from the chicken to examine the muscles within the wing. We slit the skin on the ventral side of the wing and peeled off the skin. We then moved on to examine the muscles of the thigh and drumstick. We spread the legs apart and slit the skin on the inside of the leg all the way from the abdominal opening to the hock, and peeled off the skin. We then applied the same procedure and skinned the drumstick.

Muscles play a role in movement by contracting and relaxing to move body parts. An example of this is the pectoralis major muscle that allows the chicken to fly. This muscle runs from one side of the sternum through the shoulders to the humorous. The bones help in movement by supporting the body and giving it structure. The role of the tendon in movement is connecting the muscle to a bone so that the movement can be compacted and the muscle and bones can move together instead of the muscle dragging the bone.

Some physical and functional differences in the tendon of the insertion compared to the tendon at the origin is that the tendon at the origin is probably tighter and stronger than the insertion since it is the immovable end of the muscle. The tendon at the insertion is probably is looser to allow more movement of the muscle from the insertion towards the origin.

An example of a difference in chicken muscle compared to human muscles is that the chicken pectoralis majors are much larger in proportional size to its body than the pectoralis major to humans. Another difference is that the biceps of the chicken in the wing are a lot smaller compared to the biceps in humans proportional size to human arms. Another difference in chicken muscle compared to human muscles is that in chicken muscles, the muscles in the drumstick are about the same size as the muscles in the thighs. However, in humans, the muscles in the thighs are much larger than the muscles in the calves.

This pin in the middle is the sternum.
The pin on the left is the pectoralis minor.
The pin on the right is the pectoralis major.
















The pin on the left is the trapezius.

The pin on the right is the latissimus dorsi.

This pin shows the deltoid.
The biceps brachii is on the cranial side of the upper wing.
The triceps humeralis is on the inferior side of the upper wing.


















The pin on the top shows the triceps humeralis.
The pin underneath it shows the biceps brachii.
The pin on the left is the flexor carpi ulnaris.
















The pin on the top is the sartorius.
The pin on the far left is the iliotibialis.
The biceps femoris can be found on the medial inferior section iliotibialis.
The semimembranosus is inferior and medial to the biceps femoris on the edge of the thigh.
The semitendinosus is anterior and medial to the semimembranosus inside the thigh.
And the quadriceps femoris is on the inside of the thigh and lies medial to the sartorius.

The gastrocnemius is represented by the pin and is on the posterior and medial side of the drumstick.
The peroneus longus is on the lateral side of the drumstick.
And the tibialis anterior is under the peroneus longus.

7reflection

the skeletal system

unit 7 reflection

The skeletal system is made up of bones, joints, cartilages, and ligaments. It is divided into the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton consists of the bones in the core, which includes the skull, ribcage, and vertebrae; the appendicular skeleton consists of the bones in everything else. The function of the skeletal system is to protect vital organs, support the body, movement, and blood cell production. Different bone cells include osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts. Bones are categorized into lone, short, flat and irregular bones.
Our bones are constantly being destroyed and new bone is being created. osteocytes and mature bone cells. Osteoblasts are bone-building cells that produce osteocalcin. Osteoclasts are huge cells that are found on the surface of the bone and destroy bone tissue. Bone remodeling is controlled by the parathyroid hormone based off Ca2+ levels.
Some negative impacts that can happen on the skeletal system are fractures are disorders. Fractures occur when more stress is applied to the bone than the bone can hold. Fractures are classified though how far it's broken through, the angle, and if there are fragmented pieces. The disorders of the skeletal system include arthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis, and rickets. These disorders include conditions such as bone inflammation, bone weakening, and abnormal curvatures.
Bones are able to move the way they do through joints. Joints are a point of connection between two bones or elements of a skeleton. Joints are classified based on the amount of movement possible from synarthroses to amphiarthroses to diathroses; and also what kind of material is in the joint resulting in fibrous, cartilaginous, and synovial joints.

Something I wanted to learn more about was about joints. I was curious by some joints in our body would have limited movement. For example, our elbow is considered a freely movable joint, but we can't bend out elbows backward, unlike a ball-and-socket joint. If we could, we could have much more flexibility that could possibly come in handy. The elbow is just one example or the potential if all our joints were more flexible and movable.

I found myself learning about the human body, its specific organs, and how to take care of them can be extremely helpful. Although I probably won't remember every detail about all the organ systems we covered, I think I am able to remember the basics of some of the organs that can help me in certain situations. For example, I recently had an issue with eye irritation. My sclera was swollen and I looked up online for what to do. If I hadn't learned about the eye anatomy, I would have probably typed in "what to do with a swollen white part of the eye" instead of "what to do with a swollen sclera" which could change my search results. Learning about your body can be extremely beneficial be preparing you for futuristic health issues.

20 time 3rd blog post

Sweden Wannabe
2-week progress report

the topic

After doing further research for my topic, I learned that Sweden is currently buying the unwanted garbage from other countries to help them provide energy through their recycling revolution. Sweden's recycling revolution first involves the organization of garbage provided by the citizens of Sweden. The trash is then separated into different categories from newspapers, plastics, glass, metals, electric appliances, light bulbs, and batteries. The trash is then sent to a waste-to-energy plant where the trash is burned and turned into usable energy. The energy is able to provide heating to more than 800,000 households. Moreover, Sweden is now buying trash from other countries, 2.7 million tons of trash to be exact. Sweden now recycles more than 99% of their garbage, and other companies and countries are joining the effort. The first step towards Sweden's success is recycling.

self-learn

Over the course of learning about my topic, I noticed that I discovered quite a few things about myself. One thing I have learned about myself through this experience is that I strongly support recycling and want to encourage other people to participate and join the effort. Recycling has endless positive effects on the environment and our world, and the best part is that recycling is extremely easy. It takes little to no effort and just a portion of a portion of someone's time to help recycle. However, I dislike how inaccessible recycling is for the American population. Many areas in my community have trash cans, but not recycling bins along with the trash cans. If we want to make an effort to recycle, we should make it easily accessible for the community.

setbacks

One setback that I experienced is that it's not as easy as it seems to help put out more trash cans. My initial idea was that I would just set up trash cans and recycling bins in any area that seemed to be lacking in an accessible waste bin. However, the city council would probably not be thrilled with a random high school student dropping trash cans and recycling bins all over the place. The problem comes in when the trash cans fill up and need to be emptied out. The people that normally clear out trash cans wouldn't be happy about collecting more trash and going to more places. I thought maybe I could clear out the trash myself, but I wouldn't know how to carry all the trash or where to dispose of it. I knew I needed to get an ok from the city council

next steps

The next step in my project is to talk to the city council and get their approval to help set up more trash cans and recycling bins in areas that don't have a sufficient supply. I would also need to get the alert the companies that handle disposing the wastes from the trash cans and recycling bins and to get their approval and support to help set up more trash cans and recycling bins in the area. I also want to help the recycling effect by education the American population. Two main reasons people don't recycle as much as they could is because recycling is not available or because people don't know whether something is able to be recycled or not.

application

Two ways I'm applying what I learned to my school and community is setting up more trash cans and to educate people on how to properly recycle. Putting out more trash cans in my school, my community, and around the area will definitely leave an impact since it will allow people to recycle more easily. Another way I plan to use my project to apply an impact to my community is to educate as many people as I can about recycling. Many people don't recycle because they don't know if what they are throwing away is okay to be recycled or not. I want to teach people what are proper items to be recycled; for example, what is considered plastics, papers, metals, cans, compost, etc. I also want to teach people if recycling is appropriate in different conditions such as a plastic bowl with food left over food in it. I hope that supplying my neighborhood with more trash cans and recycling bins and education our people can increase recycling and reduce the amount of trash that makes its way to landfills.

Owl Pellet Lab

procedure 

We began out dissection by getting the owl pellet to our table. We opened the tin foil and began picking away at the brown mess. We began removing all the brown fur trying to find some bones. The first thing we found was actually the lower jaw of our organism. We carefully removed more brown fur from the pile and cleaned out to brown fur from the bones we found. It was really difficult to clean up some bones like the skull since they had many holes and caves that required us to be very delicate. At the end, we made a pile of all the bones we found and left a pile of the shredded owl pellet.


organism

After we collected all the bones from the owl pellet, we had to identify what organism the skull we found belonged to. We started off measuring the skull that was less damaged and came to the measurements of a length of 17 millimeters and a width of 13 millimeters. Looking at the Owl Pellet Dissection Guidebook, our measurement identified the organism to be a mouse. According to the guidebook, a mouse skull is less than 25 millimeters and the mandible is 9-16 millimeters which fits our measurements. Also observing the comparisons of the skull of a mouse, shrew, vole, rat, and pocket gopher, the mouse skull in the guidebook was the most like our skull from the owl pellet. The skull in the guidebook had two hooks coming from the side of the face and a long hole through the front top part of the face.

comparison

Similarities: One of the things that I found similar between the mouse skeleton and a human was they have similar femurs. Both femurs and the large relative to their body size. Another thing I found similar between the mouse and human skeletons are the vertebrae. Both vertebrates have the cervical vertebrae that's smaller and in the neck, the thoracic vertebrae that's in the bulk of the back, and the lumbar vertebrae that's in the lower back. The structure of the mouse phalanges also struck me to be pretty similar in the struct of our phalanges.

Differences: One big obvious difference between the mouse and human skeletons are the skulls. The mouse skull differs greatly in proportional size and small details in the structure of the skull. Another difference I noticed was that the human pelvis was different from the mouse pelvis. The mouse pelvis was a simple long bone hole at one end. The human pelvis is a much larger flatter bone and has more ridges and indents for more muscle. One final difference was the scapula. The mouse scapula was a lot larger in size and proportion to its body than the human scapula. The mouse scapula was also shaped in much more of a large long bone compared to the human scapula that was shaped in more of a flat bone.

Reflex Lab

Analysis

In this lab, we went over some of the body's natural reflexes to environmental stimuli. The first lab reflex we went over was the photopupillary reflex. We had one partner close their eyes for about a minute, then when they open their eyes, the other person quickly shines a flashlight in their eye. What happens is that pupil contracts to decrease the amount of light getting into the eye.

The second lab is the knee jerk reflex or the Patellar Reflex. One student sat with one leg dangling, and the other student hits the leg just below the knee with a reflex hammer. The leg that was hit with the hammer immediately kicks up. This reflex could have been developed after more medicine and doctor exams were taking place in human society for an easy way for doctors to check if environmental stimuli and reflexes were properly working.

In the Blink reflex, one student held up a see-through plastic wrap in front of their face while the other student threw a cotton ball at the person. The person would blink anytime the brain sees something is coming toward the face in fear that something would hit the eye or get into the eye and damaging it since it's very fragile.

In the Plantar Reflex, one student drags the cap of a pen firmly on their foot from the heel to the base of the big toe. The student who receives the dragging should clench and flex their toes, moving them closer together.

Our last lab is the Reaction Time Reflex. One student puts his hand at the bottom of the ruler and the other student that's holding the ruler up will randomly drop the ruler. The person that's not holding the ruler tries to catch the ruler as quickly as possible. Wherever they catch it, convert the inches or centimeters to time. Afterward, we repeat the same experiment, but now, the person catching the ruler is also texting. This was to simulate texting and driving and how texting slows our reflexes and reactions of important actions. The times were again recorded for the second part of the lab.
When I participated in the second part of the lab, my reaction time actually got faster by an average of 0.02 seconds when I was texting. This unusual occurrence likely could've happened, because the I wasn't very distracted by texting and I got better at catching the ruler as I got more and more practice.

20 Time Second Blog Post

Sweden Wannabe

What have you learned about your topic so far?

For my topic, I've learned that Sweden has a great program on how they are able to recycle a lot of their waste. They are able to convert 99% of their wastes into reusable energy. Sweden's success in recycling their wastes comes from 2 reasons. The first reason Sweden is able to so successfully recycle their waste is due to their citizens. The citizens of Sweden play a large role by disposing their trash in an organized manner. Sweden's citizens separate their wastes into metals, plastics, compost, and other materials. This way, it is much easier for the WTE plants to organize the waste into its proper method of recycling. The WTE plants, or waste-to-energy plants, are the second reason behind Sweden's success in recycling. These giant plants burn some of its wastes and convert it into usable energy that is able to provide heat to 810,000 households. 

What have you learned about yourself?

I found myself being very interested in recycling and our efforts in it. I discovered that recycling can have a massive positive impact on our environment and it is very easy for our citizens to follow through with. However, despite the effortlessness of recycling, many people end up not recycling mostly because they don't know how to. They don't know what materials should be thrown where, and it has made my passionate about giving society a little help in educating the public and provide more a wider diversity of trash cans to encourage and increase recycling. 

Have you had any setbacks? How do you plan to handle them, or how did you already handle them?

One of the things that I have learned that set me back was that Sweden's waste to energy system has its fair share of criticism around the world. Other people also say that Sweden doesn't actually recycle 99% of their waste because the term "recycle" means to reuse whereas they alter the purpose of some materials. Others are concerned about the plants ejecting an immense amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 
A setback closer to my goal is that it is very expensive to build a waste-to-energy plant and I should just focus on increasing recycling. 

What are the next steps in your process?

My next steps are as following Sweden's lead, to set up more trash cans in different areas, and also to increase the variety of what trash is disposable. I hope to talk to city and ask to set up more trash cans and recycling bins around residential areas where the number of trashcans seems lackluster. I hope to put more trash cans and recycling bins next to crosswalks. 

How can you apply anything you have learned to yourself, your school, your community, etc.? 

Throughout learning about this project and discovering new interests about me, some ways I can apply what I have learned to my school and community by picking up trash that didn't make it to the garbage can. I can also help my school and community by properly disposing wastes into the garbage cans and recyclable material into the recycling bins. Organizing waste and properly disposing them to where they should go makes a big impact on how much less waste ends up in landfills. 

Brain Dissection Analysis

Relate and Review

After scooping out the brain of a bucket, I carried the specimen from to our lab table. From the outside, I was able to see the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem from the outside. The brain, especially the cerebrum, was covered in an oily sheen. My lab group places pins on the anterior, the cerebrum, the posterior, the cerebellum and the brain stem, and drew the sketch from my perspective.

In the picture below, the there is a perspective of the brain from my partner's view. It has a white pin to mark the anterior side of the brain, a yellow pin to mark the cerebrum, a black pin for the posterior, blue for the cerebellum, and a red pin for the brainstem. It was really easy to differentiate between the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem since they all have specific obvious locations and look pretty different from each other.

After observing the outside of the brain, cut the brain along the middle of the brain, splitting it into left and rights sides. We noticed that from the inside of the brain, the cerebrum or outer section of the brain looked gray. The center part of the brain, the thalamus and corpus callosum for examples, was a white color. The outside was known as gray matter and the inner section was white matter. We found the medulla oblongata, the pons, the midbrain, and the corpus callosum, but our table had some trouble identifying where the thalamus and hypothalamus was. We originally thought the hypothalamus was where the thalamus was, and the thalamus was where another part of the corpus callosum was. But with help from Dr. Orre, we were able to locate the thalamus and hypothalamus safely and soundly. We marked the above sections of the brain with the pins, took the picture, and made our detailed artistic sketches.

This picture shows the inside of a halfway cut cerebrum. The red pin (upper) represents the medulla oblongata, the blue pin (right) marks the pons, the blue pin (left) marks the midbrain, the black for the hypothalamus, the yellow for the thalamus, the red pin (lower) represents the corpus callosum, and the green for the optic nerve. It was pretty hard to distinguish the different sections of the brain since everything is pretty much the same color. But with lines and shadows between the sections, we were able to identify most of the parts before help.

After making our sketches of the inner view of the brain, we cut a half of the cerebrum in half hotdog style. This way, we were easily able to identify the gray matter between the white matter and see another view of inside the cerebrum.

This picture shows the inside of half of the cerebrum cut hamburger style. The white matter looked like a tree branching into the section of the gray matter.

After finishing the lab, disposing the specimen, throwing away garbage, and cleaning the table. We got down to the questions from the lab. The questions along with the table and functions are in the pictures below.

Sheep Eye Dissection Analysis

The Anatomy and Physiology of the Eye

The function of the eye is to observe our surrounding by taking in and transforming light into electric signals which can be decoded into images and interpreted by the brain.

The eye is surrounded in a tough covering called the sclera, also known as "the white of the eye". The sclera protects the eye and is transparent to allow light to pass through it. Humans have 6 extrinsic muscles around the eye to move the eye by some of the muscles contracting and other expanding. The eye is surrounded in fatty tissue to cushion the protect the eye from impact or damage.

Light first enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent cover that protects the pupil, the iris, and the anterior chamber. The aqueous is found behind the cornea and helps give the eye its spherical shape. The cornea roughly focuses the light, and then the light enters through the pupil, which is a dark circle in the center of the eye that allows light to pass through. The pupil is not technically a structure but instead is a hole to allow light into the eye. Surrounding the pupil is the iris, the colorful part of the eye. The 2 muscle layers of the iris constrict and expand to change the size of the pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye. Staying in a dark room causes the iris to constrict enlarging the pupil to allow more light in. But if you walk outside into the sunlight, the iris will quickly expand shrinking the pupil to prevent too much light entering the eye and damaging it.

After passing the pupil, the lens focuses the light by bending and altering the shape and angles of light rays to focus them properly. A condition where the lens turns cloudy is called cataract. Cataracts reduce the amount of light reaching the retina, but can be treated by removing the lens and replacing it with an artificial one. The lens is held in place by the suspensory ligaments that join with the smooth muscle containing ciliary body. The light passes through the vitreous humor that fills the center cavity of the eye which also helps the eye keep its shape as does the aqueous humor. Glaucoma is the condition where there is too much fluid pressure from the aqueous and vitreous humor in the eye, causing eye damage. The retina lines the back of the eye. The retina lies on top of the choroid layer, which is a network of blood that is used to bring oxygen and nourishments to the back of the eye. The tapetum lucidum is not found in the human eye but it helps animals in night vision since it can reflect light at very low intensity onto the retina. The retina is lined with photoreceptors that sense different types of wavelengths of light that is converted into electric signals and sent through the optic nerve to the brain.

Other dysfunctions of the eye are myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness). In myopia, the eyeballs are too long and the cornea is too curved; the image lands in front of the retina and allows the person to see near images but not far ones. In hyperopia, the opposite occurs. The eyeballs are too short and the cornea is not curved enough. The image lands behind the retina and the person won't be able to see things clearly when they are close, but can see objects clearly when they are further away.

Nervous System Power Hour Reading

Welcome to Your Brain
by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang

Chapter 1 - Can You Trust Your Brain?

In this non-fiction novel, many themes and the reliability of the brain are explored. Your brain is doing its best to keep you alive and well and has good intentions, but sometimes, it lies. In emergencies or quick thinking situations, your brain may not take the time needed to figure everything out and get the best possible solution and may sometimes assume. For example, if you ask someone what is 1+1+1*0, some people might say 0. It seems like a very simple question. Doing everything in order, it would be 3*0 so the answer is 0. However, because it seems like an easy question, they don't take into consideration the order of operations where they only multiple the last 1 by 0, resulting in an answer of 2.


With the innumerous sensory triggers around you in the environment, the brain receives more information than it can grasp. The brain throws away any information it finds unimportant. Lawyers use this information against eyewitnesses since they usually remember more information than they actually can. Your brain often takes shortcuts, especially when speed if a major factor. The brain will interpret events based on what is easy to apply since concentrated logical thinking takes a lot more effort.

Chapter 2 - Gray Matter and the Silver Screen: Popular Metaphors of How the Brain Works

Mental dysfunctions are often poorly depicted in Hollywood films either that they occur too often or are not factual, often blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. In problematic situations, ideas wrongly portrayed in films can reinforce a large amount of people to believe in an inaccurate depiction of the brain or its disorders. A common myth about the brain is that we only use 10% of our brain's capacity, which used as facts in the movie Race to Witch Mountain. This started when it was observed that with damaged lobes of the brain, people are still able to perform other tasks under the other lobes. This led to the belief that we only use 10% of our brain, since other lobes may not be in use, but this is completely false. This myth caught on due to its optimistic message of "we only use 10% of our brain, so imagine what we can do if we use the other 90%", but has been proven to be entirely false.


1) I found one section of the novel that was very relatable to something that was discussed in class. In class, we discussed how the right side of the brain was in control of creativity and the left side of the brain was in control of logical thinking. There is a myth that people are either "right brain" or "left brain", but the authors debunk this myth that people have a dominant side of the brain. The authors explain that how left brain is used more for speech, mathematics, and logical problem solving, intense need for logic. They explain how the right brain is spatial perception and the analysis of objects by touch. The right side of the brain is also in responsible for being great at visual-motor tasks, not just artistic and emotional skills contrary to common belief.