Sunflower Project

On a Wednesday in March, the class was given one sunflower seed each to care for and track its progress.


My seed took until the next Saturday to show a tiny bit of green sprout, and until Sunday to actually have two leaves.

 After that, the plant seemed to grow rapidly. Daily I could check on it and see a noticeable difference in the height of the stem. One of the most interesting things about it was that the leaves continuously reached for the sun, no matter which direction I turned the cup.

 Soon two other leaves began to grow on the opposite sides of the original two. At about this point, the plant was very top heavy and I tried propping up the stem with a straw so that it could be straighter instead of bending so drastically to look for the sun.

 Just below the leaves, on the stem, a growth began that I can only describe as "fuzzy". This part of the stem then began to grow higher than the original leaves so that there were two distinct sets. It was at about this time that I began to notice that the original leaves were drying out. I had only been watering occasionally as instructed, but even that was causing the soil to overflow so that I needed to dump the water out to prevent drowning it.  As a compromise, I cut a few holes into the bottom of the cup and placed the cup in a thin layer of water. This seemed to help for a little while, and in the middle of the top leaves another growth began.

Unfortunately, this last picture is the last life of my plant. Despite dealing with the water problem, I suspect that the unfortunate orientation of my house and it's lack of sunny places seriously compromised the plant's growth. It constantly had to fight to get the little bit of sun that came in through the window, and a series of overcast days did not help things towards the end of its life. 

The plant did die, though I'm not convinced that it was solely because it wilted. I was able to make some positive progress even after the leaves started to dry, but one day when I looked at the plant, it had literally been cut in half. I find it hard to believe that the entire thing wilted overnight, especially since the stem and the "fuzzy" part of it was still vividly green and strong. I suspect that an animal (cat, maybe mouse) might have eaten it, especially considering that I never found the entire top part of the plant, only one or two leaves.

Mitochondrial Eve

Today it is almost common knowledge that a child receives half of its DNA from its mother and half from its father. A lesser known type of DNA is Mitochondrial DNA which is unique from the type of DNA which gets passed down from a child's mother and father. This type of DNA is passed down 100% from the child's mother. So while 50% of a child's DNA comes from its mother and 50% from its father, if you look back at the family line, only 25% of that comes from the child's grandparents. Soon those numbers become very small, almost obsolete, so that very quickly, the child's DNA no longer looks like that of its far placed relatives. In contrast, because Mitochondrial DNA is passed down in its full form from mother to child, it can be traced much further back down genetic lines. This has led scientists to come up with the concept of Mitochondrial Eve, an ancestral mother stemming from Mitochondrial DNA.




Mitochondrial Eve is thought to be around 200,000 years old and to have originated from somewhere in Africa, most likely Ethiopia. The interesting part about Mitochondrial Eve is not necessarily that she could have existed, but all of the changes which the DNA has undergone despite potentially originating in the same person.


The theory of why all of humanity is so unique despite the concept of a common ancestor begins with the movement from Africa to the far reaches of the world. 

As this happened, it became necessary for humans to adapt to their new surroundings. This did not happen quickly, but over generations, Africans who needed dark skin in order to combat constant sun exposure began to lose some of their color because they were no longer bombarded by the sun in their new environment. Peoples who were genetically predisposed towards thinness began to hold on to body fat more easily in order to fight back against their new cold climates. Slowly, the many different people of the world came into being just because they needed to change their appearance in order to adapt to their environment. Once melanin production was no longer the most important aspect of keeping someone alive, in say, Europe where there is not as much sun, melanin production slows down significantly and the body can use that energy in a more productive way. 


In this way, although Mitochondrial DNA might be able to be traced back to one ancestor, there are huge variations in the looks of people throughout the world. Just because people look different does not mean that they do not have a connection to this ancestral mother, it only shows the power of gene mutation in order to maintain a more effective body.

Japanese man

Naomi Campbell, a British model with Jamaican parents

Barbara Mori, a Mexican actress

Karen Gillan, a Scottish actress

John Terry from London

Animal Testing

Throughout the U.S. and other countries, it is common knowledge that animals are used for scientific testing and experimentation. In 2002 in the U.S. alone, 1,438,553 animals were used for testing, and these are only the numbers of cats, dogs, sheep, hamsters, guinea pigs, and primates which scientists are required to report. Mice, rats, birds, and cold-blooded creatures, which actually make up about 95% of animals used for experimentation, are not required to be reported, so their numbers are unknown. While some would argue that tests like these are necessary for medical advancement, I would hold on to the position that the cruelty which usually accompanies these tests is excessive and wrong.


Originally, my position on this issue was one that more or less condoned animal-testing as long as it is for the "greater good" of humans, even though I did not particularly like the idea. However, after reading the section in Richard Rhodes' book Deadly Feasts about the testing done on the chimpanzee Georgette, I began to wonder if any kind of good was worth the kind of pain caused. It was very disturbing to imagine an animal locked up for the duration of their life and purposely infected with a known deadly disease. Beyond that, it was hard to watch as the people studying Georgette did nothing to help her once symptoms set it; they simply sat and watched and took notes on her spiraling condition. That alone goes against my personal impulses to help things if I can. With all of that medical technology surrounding the scientists, they would easily have been able to help her if they'd wanted to, but that was not the point of the experiment. Worse than that for me though, was the way in which she was finally killed. It is not the method of her death so much as that she was not allowed to die and be put out of her misery until the scientists decided that they had enough information and that from now on Georgette would only be useful dead. The description of these incidents in the book were enough to take a subject that I was uncomfortable with and push me onto the side of being against animal experimentation.


If using an animal for a legitimate medical purpose is unacceptable, than the idea of using animals in the cosmetic industry, an industry which is born mainly of vanity, is repulsive to me. At least in the case of Georgette, she was being used in order to determine the cause and potentially a cure for a deadly disease.  To use animals simply to determine whether or not a kind of makeup or household cleaner won't irritate human skin is unacceptable considering the pain that the animals go through. Not only do they suffer physically, but spending their lives in cages with little to no stimulation causes them to develop necrotic ticks such as spinning in incessant, pointless circles. They become bored and lonely, cowering when anyone comes near their cage and with little hope out of their predicament except for death.





http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/default2.aspx

Johns Hopkins is in the process of searching for a method of experimentation that will improve health for both humans and animals. They are seeking ways to replace animal methods of experimentation with non-animal experiments, or at least to make the methods less painful and stressful for the animals involved. It is a start that needs to be pursued to end the cruelty.


http://caat.jhsph.edu/about/index.html