Extremophiles

Extremophiles> Psychrophile> Grylloblattidae
Psychrophile-
Psychrophiles or cryophiles are considered to be an extremophile organism. They are capable of growing and reproducing in cold temperatures that range from −15°C to +10°C. When temperatures are as low as −15°C they could be found in pockets of very salty water surrounded by sea ice. They are present in alpine and arctic soils, high-latitude and deep ocean waters, polar ice, glaciers, and snowfields.

Grylloblattidae is a family of the extremophiles. They are wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains. They are usually called grylloblattids. They were discovered by T E.M. Walker and T.B. Kurata and concluded that most are nocturnal and appear to feed on detritus. They have long antennae (23–45 segments) and long cerci (5–8 segments), but they contain no wings.

SOURCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile
Images from google.

Time, Love, Memory: Entry #2 Important Key Points

Three Key Points:
The first key point in the book is DNA the genes of the organisms that they studied over. For the most part their study was on fruit flies and about them crossing over and seeing the dominant and recessive traits that were given by the parent flies, also known as sex linked traits. This is what we basically did on the online lab with drosophila flies the other day, Benzer and his colleagues basically did the same thing as us in finding out the genes and traits that came from each offspring. DNA played an important role during this time because in the book, while Benzer was conducting his experiment on the way animal behavior of flies, Watson and Crick made their big discovery on DNA. This later helped Benzer when him and the other scientists began to work together in search of the genes of the fruit fly. It also helped with them finding out about eugenics and how it affected the Germans.

The second key point in the book is animal behavior. From our ecology chapters we learned about taxis and kinesis from our worm lab and how some behaviors are learned and innate. We have kinesis which is a movement that is random and does not result with respect to the stimulus and we also have taxis which is a direct response to the stimulus. Every since chapter 1, we've seen the effects of animal behavior in the different environments that the flies were placed in. We've seen them being place in tubes that resemble panpipes and to see how they react in the light and dark regions, and we've also seen the flies move towards the edge in an experiment only to find out later by Benzer that it was because some of the flies contained traits that inhibited them from having good vision.

The third key point in the book is structure of the fly as well as other structures in the body's of other organisms. Throughout the entire book we've look at structure and organization, which is one of the main themes of biology. We've looked at parts of the flies in terms of eyes, wings, body shape, etc. As for other species, we've looked at the brains of other organisms as well as optic nerves and the nervous system itself. A main part of the book was about structure and organization because Benzer and them were trying to find the genes that were influenced by the offsprings parents. By looking at different parts of the body structures they were able to tell which traits were passed on. They also looked at different body shapes and structures because it would help them determine which animal was in better use for the experiments they were doing.

Time, Love, Memory: Entry #1

In Time, Love, Memory, what surprised me the most is how a small fly is able to make a difference in the studies that Benzer, Morgan, and the other scientists conducted. They were able to discover genetic material such as DNA and the recessive and dominant genes that Mendel was able to see form his pea experiment, as well as animal behavior from just this tiny fly. I would have thought that a larger animal would have made a larger impact, but in this case this fly was able to make a bigger discovery than most animals used. Returning back to animal behavior, the author made it important that the audience saw what he was trying to do in his experiments. He was trying to see the behavior of the fly most of the time and why the flies did that. I found it interesting on how the flies moved (taxis and kinesis) depending on what variables that Benzer and his colleagues did in their experiments. What also surprised me was the amount of scientists that were involved in the experiments that Benzer conducted, there were so many who took an interest in this matter and soon it evolved and many of them making important discoveries.

SOURCES: Images from google.
Time, Love, Memory book.

A Fear of Pheromones

In the article "A Fear of Pheromones", it begins off asking questions of why we as humans would even want anything to do with pheromones in the advanced society that we live in. We soon find out that the human being is actually in possession of pheromones and have been for quite some time. Like animals and insects, we are able to use these simple molecules the same way insects use them for communications and other uses. It has been concluded that women who have been living close to each other in the same dorms have their menstrual cycles at about the same time, this is because of a pass of pheromones between the women. Another example would be that fish "make use of chemical signals for the identification of individual members of a species" and because of this fish can tell whether or not they belong in their group of not. I agree with the author about how pheromones might actually do some good to human beings rather than the fear that we live in that we do not need them in our lives like animals and insects.

On Societies as Organisms

In the article "On Societies as Organisms", the author talks about how we as humans think of ourselves to be an individual character and that we are lonely and try to do things independently. As we explore, however, we come to see that we are not just one being but rather a group of people who will make a great difference as a group rather than one individual. We depend on each other and communicate. I agree with the author on this because from his example in the article, he puts that "Herring and other fish in schools are so closely integrated that they seem to be functionally a great multi-fish organism", one single fish in the sea may not seem to do a whole lot, but a whole school of fish in the sea would make a change in whatever they would be trying to do. We as human beings cannot be seen comparing ourselves to species like insects and fish, but after while, we do see the similarities among each other and come to accept the fact that we are not so much different from each other.

Thoughts for a Countdown.

In the article "Thoughts for a Countdown", the author starts off by saying how humans are afraid of things like diseases and foreign objects. We come to the conclusion that if something is foreign then it must be hostile and cannot be touched. The author further says that we soon have to find a way to kill it. He makes this connection by comparing this to foreign life on the moon, by stating that" if there should be life on the moon, we must begin by fearing it". I don't think that this is true and the author would agree with me too. I think, along with the author that although there are some species that are considered to be parasitic, not everything is bad. Instead of everything being a pathogen and harming everything, the connections between an organism along with another one can be considered to be symbiotic. They rely on each other to live. He even says that "every creature is, in some sense, connected to and dependent on the rest", like the previous statement he made in his first article. We are not independent creatures, we always rely on other things. This could range from the beneficial bacteria that grows in our stomach to help with metabolism to the bacteria that live in the tissues of insects, and without them they would not be able to survive. It is best to think that it is necessary for each other to live by depending on each other.

The Lives of a Cell

In the article "The Lives of a Cell", we are told from the author that the Modern Man has been finding himself to try to detach himself from nature. He goes to say that the Earth is delicate and frail. I think that it is wrong to think that Modern Man is detached from nature because nature is where we first started off with. So when the author goes on and talks about how we are not just an individual being but rather a group of "individuals" that provide the essential need for everything in our lives, I agree with him. The Earth is best understood as a single cell because although we consider ourselves independent and detached from nature, rather we are shared, rented, and occupied just like the cell itself. The author states that in the inside of our cells, mitochondria "provides the oxidative energy that sends out for the improvement of each shining day", without them, we would not move a muscle, drum a finger, or think a thought. So if we were comparing the Earth to a single cell, there is no way we are considered to be detached from nature because nature and all the things around us provides the essential needs for our everyday lives. "The Lives of a Cell" makes a perfect connection between the Earth and the cell and how we are made up as a whole rather than a single being.