Studying Dangerous Viruses

The book I have chose to read for this blog assignment is a research book about the development and history of dangerous viruses and ailments ranging from HIV/AIDS to various types of cancer.
The book is taken from the view points, experiments, and breakthroughs contributed to the study of these sicknesses by various well known immunologists, oncologists, and clinical doctors.
I chose this book mainly to learn more about the progression of studies done on HIV/AIDS, and to learn more about the virus's peculiar characteristics (example: How the virus is able to adapt to withstand the varieties of medications administered to the host).
I also chose this book to learn more about cancer studies of some of the more aggressive cancers. My developing passion for medicine (more specifically Pediatric Oncology) also fueled this choice.
In reading the book, I will also be looking for similarities between the cancers discussed the the HIV/AIDS virus. Though they are two very different diseases, I would not be surprised if I found similarities between them.
As I make new discoveries from the text, I will post that which I find the most intriguing and important.

A Tear for Baiji

"I consider myself a strong man," he said. "But when I saw that footage I cried for several minutes. It's just so terribly sad."

That was August Pfluger's response to watching a video of Qi Qi (pronounced "chee-chee"), the last known member of the now apparently extinct Chinese River Dolphin, or baiji. Qi Qi died in 2002 after over 20 years living in captivity. She was rescued after being caught in fish hooks and brought to the aquarium.

Pfluger lead a team along China's Yangtze river (the dolphin's only habitat) in a 6-week search for any remaining dolphins that might still be alive but their quest was fruitless and they have essentially declared the species extinct. Official recognition of the extinct status takes a lot longer to reach.

There are now only 5 remaining species of freshwater dolphins, and 4 of them are "critically endangered."

As usual, the culprit is human exploitation of the rivers. In the case of the baiji, industrial needs led to the dredging and deepening of the river, boats propellers may confuse the dolphin's sonar, and pollution reduces the dolphin's food supply, which consists of smaller fishes in the river.

Baiji is the first large species of (aquatic) mammal to become extinct since the Caribbean monk seal was driven to extinction by over hunting in the 1950s.

National Geographic Article

The Beak of the Finch - Final Entry

By Jonathan Weiner

Reading Level - Advanced High School, College

Judgement - Loved it.

This is a book that other biology teachers have raved about for years but I kept thinking, how interesting could an entire book be that is devoted to such a seemingly narrow topic - a bunch of little birds who are distinguished by little more than the size of their beaks?

But I was wrong. I was interested in finding out more about the beaks of finches since we have a required state lab on natural selection that is inspired by these creatures that Darwin frankly paid little attention to at the time. So I ordered the book from Amazon a few months ago and started reading it on my subway commute to work and back. It is a fascinating story of the struggle for survival on a single Galapagos Island called Daphne Major - a desolate island not habitable by humans and small enough that Peter and Rosemary Grant, along with their research teams, were able to literally count and measure every bird and generation of birds on the island every year from the early 1970s to present (published 1994). Along the way we get insights into Darwin's theory, the nature of scientific study, and excursions to related stories of other researchers conducting similar investigations into natural selection at work in other species around the world.

One of the most important discoveries of the Grant teams was the unexpected speed at which natural selection can work on a population when environmental conditions change. For most of the history of biology since Darwin, scientists had assumed that evolution occurs at a really slow pace and few scientists, until the Grants' study came along, even attempted to make actual measurement in natural settings (a nice example of a type of "bias"). The Grants' study of the Galapagos Finches demonstrated that the pressures of natural selection can be measured and observed over a time frame of years - as opposed to centuries or millenia. Many other studies, a few of which are discussed in the book, confirm this conclusion.

Quote:

"Evolution happens the whole time," Peter Grant tells his classes at Princeton. "You look up in surprise. But Evolution is always happening. Completely contrary to Darwin's view that very, very, slowly, very intermittently, life evolves."

Science Reading Log Assignment

Revised 1/1/07

Read one medium length non-fiction science book. That’s approximately one book at around 50-100 pages. Alternatively read 10 newspaper or magazine articles on science.

• At least one completion of this assignment is due by February 26th, 2007. Additional completions of this assignment (a second 50-100 page book with log entries for example) will be awarded extra credit points. This assignment counts as a project.
  For books – write three or more log entries per book as described below.
• For articles, one log entry per article as described below.
• Post at least one comment in response to someone else’s entry.

Log entries may be posted on the class reading blog or in a composition book.

Books

Pre-Reading Entry

• Pre-reading heading
• Title, author, short description of the book (from the book sleeve or other source), A short explanation of why you chose this particular book, and your expectations – what do you expect to get from the book, do you expect it to be interesting, dull, difficult, etc.

Midpoint Entry

• Midpoint heading.
• Review the following from your pre-reading post:
• Title, author, short description of the book (from the book sleeve or other source).
• Reflect on what you have learned so far – include at least one SHORT quote from the book and explain why you chose it. Remember – we read non-fiction to learn more or less factual information about the world Your reflection should describe some of that information.

Final Entry

• Final entry heading
• Your final book review in which you summarize the main ideas in the book, what you think were the most important ideas, and how you judge the quality of the work in terms of readability, clarity, appropriateness for your reading level, etc.

Newspaper or Magazine Reports

• Title of article, author, name of magazine or newspaper, main topic.
• Discuss any new vocabulary words you learned from the article.
• Describe 1 or more facts you learned from the article (NOT vocabulary words).
• Discuss any experiments that were conducted to support the ideas presented.

These are guidelines especially for students who “don’t know what to write about” in a log. If you are a proficient reader and writer, feel free to diverge somewhat from these guidelines – as long as you express yourself clearly and give the essence of the book or article and bring your own style into the writing your entries will be acceptable.

Welcome Post

Welcome students. Please remember to use your nicknames and not real names in this blog. Do not post photos of your self or your classmates. Refer to your classmates with nicknames only.

I have posted the official assignment guidelines above. You may, however, also post on other items of interest to you as they arise, including but not limited to comments you wanted to make in class but didn't have the opportunity, things you saw on TV or at a movie that are related to science, observatons you made outside of school -at a park, for example or in your back yard. You may also post appropriate photographs as long as they do not include you or your classmates - at least for now.

There are also rules of etiquette that I will strictly enforce regarding how you respond to other people's ideas. We will discuss these first in class and I will post them here as well.

Otherwise, have some fun but consider this semi-formal writing. Do not use instant messaging abbreviations or (mis)spellings. Mistakes are unavoidable, just don't intentionally mangle the English language, please!

heyyyyyy baaabbeeess =] ayyo. emma be is in the house. chyea. fo sho.

hey babes =D
chyea. it's emma dw if you can't tell by my user name. uh-oh oreeoo <3.
anyways i just wanted to say im finally connected to the blog
mhm. yes i am. whoopie. booya. yay. hazzah. however you like to cheer.
and also the book i have is all about viruses and nasty stuff like that etc. haha.=]
but im not sure if im gonna read that or just read 25 articles.
i think i might just read the articles. because im sorry but i really do not like to read books...
some if they REALLY interest mee ...
i used to LOVE to read but my beacon program kind of killed any desire i had to read =/
but ANYHOO =D
comments.suggestions.input.feedback.or just wanna say hi? fantabulastic!
comment me my loves=]]
please don't delete me mr.g=]]
oh yeah that's what i forgot to mention...
MR.GATTON IS MY FAVORITE TEACHER BECAUSE HE IS JUST SO AWESOME=D
i lovee mr.g =D
ILY ALL <3>

HAPPY HOLIDAYS =]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Awh I'll miss you guys while im in Chicago.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS U GUYS
gets some cool stuff =]
nd girls.. get some nice clothes I can borrow
Merry Xmas Mr. Gatton.
[dont delete me =[[[[]

sweet =]

this is pretty sick.
all you guys are crazyy but i love you anways hehe
so yeah this is cool, and the laptops are even cooler.

yeah
aha
peace
<33

HELLO MY WACKADOODDLE'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just want to sya that even though i despise a lot of things i really think you all better watch out for this crazy wacko, i'm the D to the E to the L to the I to the............................................................................................................ well........ you get the picture.

Hello Everybody

This is so cool. I think its awesome that our whole class can be together on one site. Replying to eachother's blogs about very nice books and magazine articles.
*smile*
*frown*
*smile again*
Soooo...how is everybody doing? I'm pretty good...I'm just sitting here in Mr. Gatton's classroom with all of you with me...
*this is the_coolest_loser* (edited)
This girl or boy (you will never know) can really play moonlight_sonata on the piano. And if you know what the song is you are now a cool loser. Just to tell you that this girl or boy (you will never know) is the bestestest person in the whole 801 science readers!!!!!!
*this is hprocks again*
WAIT BEFORE WE LEAVE I WANT TO SAY BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAHBLAH....

MR GATTON PLEASE DONT ERASE MINE! ITS THE LAST ONE THAT'LL BE ALL WEIRD...*i promise*

hello!
mr. gatton is awesome! im sitting here, isadora is mad at me because kalina and i were arguing over who like harry potter more! i still love you kalina! and i love you to izzy! now she's taunting me! izzy, i said i don't want to meet sabrina because you were being mean! now i want to meet her! okay? good. emma n, im sorry if i did anything wrong, please tell me why you are mad at me! happy holidays!
love everyone!

j j:P

HELLO FRIENDS!

Hey guys! So this blog thing is pretty cool! Im like so excited! Anyway sorry i dont really have anything to say about a book yet because i havn't started to read one yet but I will be soon!!! Ok so I just wanted to say HI and like put up my first post! Ok so ummmmmmm well uhhh bye!

Hey ! guyss

this is kristina and Ghaleb :p

whats up?

well.. im so happy about this blogging "thingy'

but ghalebb isnt.. because he cant do it

because his parents wont let him..

so he will be doing his blogs on a compostion book :(

Hello Darlings!

Hola lovers!
Think of it as a privilege that you are on the same blog as I.
I am happy to be here and I'm sure you are all happy I'm here too!
I look forward to posting with all of you. To the contrary, I am ecstatic.
I do look forward to reading some new books and chatting about them with all of you.
Love,
LouisHarker310

Awesomeness!

Hi everyone! This is sooooo awesome! I love using these laptops,and it's even more awesome than the fact that 2007 is days away! Anyway, I will see you all when I look up from the computor. See ya!

yeah

yeah im on!!!!!

I LOVE BIOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!
(even though i don't understand it)
yayayayayayayayyayayayayay

yahhh yaahh(cool losers)

Hello everyone this is emma. Yes this is emma. If you know me then you know that i'm very special and that i am THE COOLEST LOSER! Yes i may be a loser but that does not mean that i am not cool. GOSH! OK i don't care what you think about me! I am cool whatever you say. And Mr. Gatton this is not junk. If you really think that i am a a cool loser or that i AM THE COOLEST LOSER of all then you won't delete this. But sadly you will have to because this isn't scientific and it doesn't have BIG words. So i am so very sorry that i have put this pressure upon you Mr. Gatton to choose how cool i really am. Welll to everyone reading this have a nice day and a very happy chirstmahanakawnsaka to all of you COOL LOSERS OUT THERE! But not to you little popular girls... and boys who think you're all that. WELL NO ONE GIVES A WHOOT ABOUT YOU PEOPLE. Anyway to all my cool losers have a nice hoilday or whatever you celebrate. Have a happy New Year. I mean everyone should celebrate that. Yes they should. Because it is almost 2007. yup yup yup.
HAVE A NICE DAY YOU COOL LOSERS! =}

(Last names deleted by moderator)

So...Um...How's it going

So...Um...How's it going
I really don't know what to say except you are all probably going to bug me to the poinnt of mental collapse over the exsistence of this project... so, there

This is so fun

OMG this is so fun.... I can't wait to actually start working on the real project

yoooooooo,
i am chilling in mr.gatton's class! (whoop whoop) and someone next to me is being REALLY annoying (*cough Cough* JAY) but then again what can ya do. but youu know i love him!!!! Kalina is rocking and so is every one else! but she and Jay are dorks (like me) because they are in LOVE with Harry Potter!!!!! but i am not i just like the movies and some of the books! so yah now i just like hearing the sounds of the "key pad thingy's" click. ummmmmm.....so what else. oh and Kalin wants me to say that she is more in love with Harry Potter than Jay. and Jay is arguing that its not true.
Whatever and Peace,
Isadora