Cartoon

This cartoon illustrates animals trying to save other members of their species because they don't want their "friends" to be eaten.  As we move along to the next cartoon we see that the same animal that was trying to keep someone from eating, is now eating.  This shows that although we don't want our own kind to become hunted, we ourselves are also hunting.  The animal does not even realize that it is doing the same thing it was trying to stop.  It also gives light to the saying we don't care about a scenerio until it happens to us.  The predator prey relationship is an important one; not allowing one species to dominate another.  As a prey population decreases, a decrease in the predator population will follow.  Once the predator population decreases, the prey population increases, and then causes an increase in the predator population.  Many organisms need to eat to survive.  Instead of bashing one organism for "killing" another we should understand it is merely doing what many of us others do on a daily basis.  We should rather respect the greatness of the predator-prey relationship.

The evolutionary process that is being modeled is natural selection.  As time went on, the beaks on finches changed significantly.  Although only two other types of beaks are shown here, a plethora of different beak sizes became present.  The initial beak made it difficult for the finches to exploit multiple food sources, but over time different beak sizes were able to thrive in different environments.  I chose this evolutionary process to model because I was inspired by the Galapagos Island presentation that I attended at Hofstra University.  The bigger beak allowed for the exploitation of other dietary supplements while the smaller beaks allowed the finches to obtain food in smaller spaces.  The evolution was able to occur because finches that were able to survive reproduced.  The finches that were inadequate at obtaining food were not able to survive and pass their traits on.  The cause for the variation in finch beak sizes all originates from the fact that there was competition for food and some beaks were advantageous to have while others were not.  

Natural Selection

My model depicts a prime example of natural selection.  The example deals with English peppered moths which come in two different colors: a light shade and a dark shade.  In England prior to being industrialized, the moths with the light shade were better adapted to the environment because they were more adept at camouflaging in order to hide from predators.  This made for a larger population of the light shaded peppered moths.  Once England became industrialized and numerous factories were built there was a lot of pollution in the air.  The factories mainly ran on coal which produced a thick black smoke.  The smoke inevitably reached and settled on the plant life making the trees considerably darker.  The dark trees made the light shaded moths visible, and more prone to predation; allowing for the dark shaded moths to survive and reproduce.  Ultimately there was a greater population of dark shaded moths than light shaded moths.  Natural selection allows more the more fit member of a species at the given time reproduce at a higher rate, due to less predation or the ability to easily obtain resources, which increases the frequency of the given trait that makes that member more fit.

Kidney Failure

Kidney failure is a very serious complication.  The kidney has a really important role which is to filter and clean the blood.  They kidneys filter out waste and excess water that may be present.  This waste comes from the food or from the breakdown of tissue.  If the kidneys stop functioning, the blood will not be clean and will become toxic.  In the modern world we live in now, procedures can be carried out in order to keep a person alive by cleaning his or her blood without the use of kidneys.  In order to do this the patient must have his blood filtered from a dialysis machine.  A person must be hooked up to this machine for several hours in order to clean the blood.  A long and expensive task that the kidneys would have done quicker, more efficiently, and for free.  But, not anyone can go and be hooked up to a dialysis machine.  Our veins have thin layers that would not be able to withstand numerous punctures and having a large amount of blood taken out.  Arteries are not superficial like veins and rather are deep.  This makes them hard to reach, especially since this will be needed every week.  To get the best of both vessels, a vascular surgeon constructs a fistula for the dialysis patient.  A fistula is a large blood vessel that is created by joining a vein and artery together.  By doing this the vein grows and becomes much stronger.  Additionally, the blood pressure increases.  The fistula is near the surface of the skin and is strong, and has good blood flow.  This makes for a viable vessel to withdraw large amounts of blood out of on a weekly basis.  A fistula will be able to withstand a great deal of punctures making it a great option.  These dialysis patients can truly appreciate the work kidneys do without us even thinking about it.

Aging Eyes

Many of the nuisances that come with getting older have not been given a clear reasoning as to why they occur.  Some of these setbacks include a slower reaction time, memory loss, and insomnia.  Recently studies have pointed to altered circadian clocks as the culprit for these consequences of old age.  "The gradual yellowing of the lens and the narrowing of the pupil that occur with age disturb the body’s circadian rhythm." Because the eyes are aging, less sunlight is able to get to the the cells in the retina.  The retina regulates the body's internal clock, and this disturbed internal clock is now said to be linked to ailments like heart disease and insomnia.  Blue light is said to be greatly responsive with such cells in the retina, and as it turns out blue light is known to be filtered out as our eyes begin to age.  A study was done testing the amount of suppressed melatonin on women of 20 years and women of 50 years after exposure to blue light.  The older women had no were not affected at all while the younger women were.  Also it was found that people increased their reaction times after having cataract surgery.

This article gives light to how a disturbed circadian clock can disrupt certain aspects of everyday function.  It shows that getting outside even at old age is important, not only for physical activity but for the well being of our bodies.  I will be sure to get outside throughout my life as it is beneficial and more engaging than staying indoors.  Even the doctors mentioned in the article have installed sky lights in their offices because "artificial lights are 1,000 to 10,000 times dimmer than sunlight and the wrong part of the spectrum".