The trip to Huntington Garden

I really learned a lot about plants in the trip to Huntington Garden. The first part of the trip we visited the desert area. Cacti are probably the best adapted plant in the desert because it appears the most often in the desert area. In the desert area, I notice many different kinds of cactus with different size, colors, and different shapes of spines. However, these different kinds of cactus all shared one common trait, they all have spines. Before, never knew what the spines are for and what the advantages of having it. But after the trip, I learned that the cactus have spines for several main purposes. The spines are for defending against herbivores, help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. The spines will send out a signal of “stay away from me”, therefore, the animal will not come near and harm the cactus. I also learned that the growth rings of the trees can tell how old the tree is. My favorite part of the trip is the walk to the Japanese and Chinese houses. I really like the views and the how the houses reflect their culture and living style. 

Huntington Garden

Stolen Future 10,11,12

1. "Human and animals share a common environment as well as a common evolutionary legacy". (168)
 This quote means all human enterprise rests on the foundation of natural systems that provide a myriad of invisible life-support services. Our connection to these natural system may be less direct and obvious than those of an eagle or an otter, but we are no less deeply implicated in life's web.

2. "The pressing question is whether humans are already suffering damage from half a century of exposure to endocrine - disrupting synthetic chemicals."(171)
 My respond to this question is yes, these man made chemical had already altered individuals destinies by scrambling the chemical messages that guide development. Given human exposure to dioxin-like chemicals, for example, it is probably that some humans, especially the most sensitive individuals, are suffering some effects. But whether hormone disrupting chemicals are now having a broad impact across the human population is difficult to assess and even harder to prove.

3. "The new results reveals a striking inverse correlation between the year of birth and the health of men's sperm."
 This quote show the more recently a man was born, the lower average sperm numbers and the greater the number of sperm abnormalities. For example, the Scottish study conducted by the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Biology Unit in Edinburgh on a sample of 3,7299 men found a median sperm count of 128 million per milliliters in semen donor born in 1940 but a median count of only 75 million in those born in 1969.

4. "Because total estrogen exposure is the single most important risks factor for breast cancer, estrogenic chemicals, which would add to this lifelong exposure, are an obvious suspect when searching for the cause of rising rates over the past half century. "182
This quote reveal the number 1 cause of Brest cancer, estrogen exposure. Since 1940, when the chemical age was drawing, breast cancer deaths have risen steadily by one percent per year, in the United States, and similar increases have been reported in other industrial countries. Such incidents rates are adjusted for age, so they reflect genuine trends rather than demographic changes such as a growing elderly population. Among American women forty-five years of age, breast cancer is now the leading cause of death.

Stolen Future chapter 7,8,and 9 discussion

Stolen Future chapter 7,8,and 9 discussion
1. The major nonhousehold uses accounted how many punds of 2, 4, 5-T in 1974 according to federal figures? (pg.114)
2. What effect did the explosion at the chemical factory caused in northern Italy in July 1976? (114)
3. In 1982 and early 1983, Times Beach, Missouri became a ghost town because of what ? (115)
4. What is the answer to the initial question - whether the sewage treatment plants were releasing something that acted like estrogen? (132)
5.A nationwide survey followed in the summer of 1988 involve how many sites? In where? (132)
6. What was the first thought to where the estrogenic substance was coming from?
7. What did Sumpter and his colleagues suspect? (134)
8. What did the Preliminary data show? (134)
9. US production of what , represent the lion's share of synthetic chemicals?(137)
10. Around the world, about how many synthetic chemicals are now in market? (138)
11. What happen to pesticides and DDT in United State in 1991?
12. Who found p'p-DDE? (139)
13. What did the fisherman found in May 31, 1989?(142)
14. Who thought of "Another entry for the Book of the Dead" (142)
15. What happen to the females in St. Lawrence? (146)
16. What did the salmon in Lake Erie show? (158)

ch. 5 and 6 stolen future vocabulary

chapter 5 & 6 vocabulary

estrogen- chemical structure of the nature female hormone(estradiol)

disinterestedness - DES, a synthetic female hormone drug with estrogen-like effects.gargantuan-gigantic; enormous; colossal: a gargantuan task.

hypothalamus-a region of the brain, between the thalamus and the mid brain, thatfunctions as the main control center for the autonomic nervous system by regulating sleep cycles, body temperature, appetite, etc.,and that acts as an endocrine gland by producing hormones, including the releasing factors that control the hormonal secretions of the pituitary gland.

maneuvers- a series of tactical exercises usually carried out in the field by large bodies of troops in simulating the conditions of war.

chlordane-a colorless, viscous, water-insoluble, toxic liquid, C 10 H 6 Cl 8 ,used as an insecticide.

lindane-a white, crystalline, water-insoluble powder, C 6 H 6 Cl 6 , thegamma isomer of benzene

 

hexachloride: used chiefly as an insecticide,delouser, and weed-killer.

aldrin-a brown, water-insoluble, toxic solid consisting of more than 95percent of the chlorinated hydrocarbon C 12 H 8 Cl 6 : used as an insecticide.

dieldrin-a light tan, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, C 12 H 8 OCl6 , used as an insecticide: manufacture and use have been discontinued in the U.S.

endrin-a highly toxic, chlorinated hydrocarbon, C 12 H 8 OCl 6 , formerlyused as an insecticide.

toxaphene-an amber, waxy, water-insoluble solid, whose principal constituent ischlorinated camphene, used as an insecticide and as a rodenticide.

heptachlor-A white or tan powder used as a pesticide. Because it is highly toxicto humans and is a suspected carcinogen, its use has been largely discontinued. Chemical formula: C 10 H 5 Cl 7 .

copepods-any of numerous tiny marine or freshwater crustaceans of the order(or subclass) Copepoda, lacking compound eyes or a carapace and usually having six pairs of limbs on the thorax, some abundant in plankton and others parasitic on fish.

hitchhiked-to travel by standing on the side of the road and soliciting rides from passing vehicles.

turmoil-to agitate; etymology uncertain; perhaps

guess who came to dinner

Today is sunday night, I’m having a pleasant dinner with my family and my good friend, Charles Darwin. We are all enjoying our meal with spaghetti and bacon. All of a sudden, the doorbell rings. Plato, Aristotle, Charles Lyell, Lamark,Ernst Mayr, Theodosius Dobzhansky. George Cuvier, James Hutton, Thomas Malthus, Gregor Mendel, Godfrey Hardy, Wilhelm Weinberg, Carolus Linnaeus., and Stephen Jay. I would love to invite all of them to my sunday dinner however I only have enough serves for 6 people. So I invite Plato,Aristotle, Lyell, Hutton, and Lamark to join my dinner, and invite the rest next week.

Yong: Wow! It’s really a great pleasure to have all of these great influential scientists and philosophers to joins my dinner today. Cheers!
Dad: yong, remember to brush your teeth right after dinner. Last time you give me a nightmare when open your mouth without brushing your teeth.
yong:  dad, a lady should learn how to drink red wine by now.
dad:  wine, not watermelon juice.
yong: …haha (changing topic) Darwin, let’s share you perspective on evolution  and your book, ORIGIN OF SPECIES with the rest of us.
Darwin: Of Course. The Origin Of Species focused biologist's attention on the great diversity of organisms- their origins and relationships, their similarities and differences, their geographic distribution, and their adaptation to surrounding environments.
Grandma: That seems interesting. How is the geographic distribution connect to evolution?
Hutton: Because evolution refers to all the changes that have transformed life on Earth from its earliest beginning to the diversity that characterized it today. The change in the Earth's geographic can lead to the change in other organisms. It is also  possible to explain the various landforms by looking at mechanisms currently operating in the world.
Yong: ...Huh?
Dad: Yong!
Yong: sorry, Sir! I mean a  further explanation please. Perhaps an example or an theory?
Hutton:... for example, the canyons were formed by rivers cutting down through rocks and that sedimentary rocks with marine fossils were built of particles that had eroded from the land and been carried by river to the sea. The Earth’s geographic features can be explained by the theory of gradualism, which holds that profound change is the cumulative product of slow but continuous processes.
Lyell: Yes, however I incorporated Hutton’s gradualism theory into another theory known as uniformitarianism. I look it as that geographic processes have not changed throughout Earth’s history. ( take a peek at Yong, learned from Hutton’s lesson). For example, the forces that build mountains and erode mountains and the rate at which these forces operate are the same today as in the past.
Darwin: Exactly, I was strongly influenced by HUtton and Lyell’s conclusion.  According to Hutton’s idea, is the geographic change results from slow, continuous actions tather than a sudden events, then the Earth must be very old.
Yong: how old?
Darwin: For sure it’s older than 6,000 years. Second, a very slow and subtle processes persisting over  a long period of time can add up to substantial change. Understand better now, Yong?
Yong: For sure, yes.
Grandpa: I know that there were a number of philosophers had ideas about the gradual evolution of life. But the philosophers who influenced Western Culture the most were these two gentlemen here, right? Mr. Plato and your dear student, Mr. Aristotle?
Yong: wow! That’s very impressive. Let’s shared some of the views that you guys have for evolution.
Platio: I believe in two worlds. The real world that is ideal and eternal and an illusory world of imperfection that we perceive through our senses. Evolution would be counterproductive in a world where ideal organisms were already perfectly adapted to their environment.
Aristotle: I agree that species are permanently perfect however, they do not evolve. I believes that all living forms could be arranged on a scale of increasing complexity, which is also known as the scale of nature.
Grandpa: Oh, Mr. Lamark, you hasn’t opposed your view to evolution yet. You mind sharing your ideas to us?
Lamark: No problem sir. I believe in inheritance of acquired characteristics.  The modification an organisms acquired during its lifetime can be passed down to its offsprings, and continued from generation to generation.Which means A change in characteristics occurred due to the 'need' or 'desire' that an organism possessed For example, the long neck of the giraffe evolved gradually as the cumulative product of a great many generations of ancestors stretching even higher. In another word, If a Giraffe needed to reach to tall trees for food sources , they  would keep trying and stretching their necks until one day their necks are long enough to get food from the tall tress.  After they get their long necks, they would mate with other giraffe and pass the long neck trait to their offsprings. pass its long neck trait to its offspring.
Darwin: I disagree! It could be a mutation or natural selection due to the survival of fitness. Natural Selection occurs through an interaction between the environment and the variability inherent among the individual organisms making up the population. Using the giraffe example again, because the short neck giraffe will not be able to get food sources from the tall trees they cannot reach, and they will die of hunger. Due to survival of fitness, the population now only consists of the tallest giraffes. So the only remaining characteristic is for tall,so their offsprings will most likely to be tall.. This is  called gene fixation occurs in the characteristic for short, which means this characteristic is no longer in the gene pool and all the giraffes are subsequently tall.
When Darwin and Lamarck are arguing about each other's opinion toward evolution, the doorbell ring.
Yong: I’ll go open it.
Suprisely, an unexpectable guest appear..
Darwin:Why, hello! Mr.Carolus Linnaeus ! Come, come, drink a cup of wine first.
Yong: Thanks goodness, the argument stop.By the way, Darwin, would you mind introduce Mr. Linnaeus to us?
Darwin: Oh, yes. Mr. Linnaeus’s idea of taxonomy had a great involvment in my book, The Origin of Species. It became my focal point in my argument for evolution.
Yong: Why, Mr. Linnaeus, let’s share the idea of taxonomy with us.
Carolus Linnaeus: My pleasure. Taxonomy is the branch of biology concern with naming and classifying the diverse form of life. I developed the binomial system of naming organisms according to genus and species. I also adopted a system for grouping similar species into a hierarchy of increasingly general categories. For example, similar species are grouped in the same genus, similar genera are grouped in the same family.
Yong: Wow! That’s very impressive!

Dong! Dong! The clock for 12:00 finally ring, and this is end of our sunday dinner .

End. Guess Who Came To Dinner

Guests seating chart

Seating Chart