Population Growth Modeling

Formula:


 This formula is used to find the number of birds in a certain population.  The first part of the formula is the population of the previous generation multiplied by the rate of increase (constantly 0.1) added to the previous generation's population.  The second part is then subracted from the first part.  The second part of the formula is the population of the previous generation multiplied by the rate of increase (constantly 0.1) added to the previous generation's population and then multiplied by the rate of decrease (D) due to diseases (.15).





This simple graph was constructed using the above formula.  It shows how the population of sparrows changed over 50 years.  Even though the population of sparrows was increasing at a 0.1 rate, the rate of disease exceeded it at a rate of .15.  As time passed by, the sparrow population decreased.  As a whole, this graphing activity was a great learning experience.  As models went from simple to increasingly complex, we learned how useful spreadsheets are for keeping information organized.  It's a good way to do business from a science standpoint because  it's an efficient way to do calculations with several numbers.

Speed Up Your Metabolism and Clean Up Your Body..Through Exercise?

According to recent research, it has been discovered that exercise is the quickest way to purge the insides of your cells of all the unwanted debris that accumulates there over time. “Broken or misshapen proteins, shreds of cellular membranes, invasive viruses or bacteria, and worn-out, broken-down cellular components, like aged mitochondria, the tiny organelles within cells that produce energy”, all add up over time and end up producing this “trash heap” that needs to be removed. Cells clear away this debris and even use it to give them energy through a “self-eating” process called autophagy. The cell creates special membranes that collect all the matter in the cytoplasm and then carry it to the cells lysosome which breaks apart this matter and uses it for energy. Scientists have found that malfunctions in this system of autophagy can lead to many diseases and may even be a great contributing factor in aging. Autophagy increases in situations of physiological stress such as exercise. So an experiment was run in order to see the connection between autophagy and exercise and how these two activities benefit the body as a whole. The first strain of mice had normal levels of autophagy but when they were forced to run, within 30 min, their levels of autophagy level increases greatly. The second strain of mice was altered to ensure that their level of autophagy would not increase in stressful situations but is otherwise normal. When both mice were set up to run the altered mice who couldn't increase their levels of autophagy quickly became tired and weak. The scientists also discovered that when put on a fatty diet the normal mice were able to alter their diabetic effects through exercise whereas the altered mice were not able to do so. This finding shows that exercise can increase levels of autophagy which can in turn clean your cell faster, making you healthier and stronger!

Link to the Article

Buy Gold!... for your immune system?

We're all familiar with the vaccination process; you go to the doctor, you cry and cringe and then you finally receive the shot. The vaccine of course is a de-activated version of a disease or virus, which causes your body to make protective antibodies, so if you ever do get the disease you'll be able to easily fight it off. However, scientists were still confused as to how the immune system recognizes these particles and knows whether or not to act against them. In order to find an answer, the scientists used nanoparticles made of gold and coated them with different chemical residues so the immune system can detect them. They concluded that hydrophobicity caused the immune system to react to their presence. This discovery could lead to more effective vaccines, better drug delivery systems, and more understanding about viruses and bacteria.