Friday, November 21, 2014

This is it fans. The last blog of the semester for Biology and Human Concerns. I admit I have been a bad blogger at times throughout the semester, but I also feel that I have kept my audience entertained. I was a bit sporadic about when to blog and the blogs never did come at the same time every week. For that, I would like to apologize but I would also like to say it has taught me a few things. For one, I need to learn how to stick to a game plan and follow it through until the end. I am going to keep the blog up even though my time with Biology and Human Concerns is coming to an end. I enjoy writing blogs and I feel as if it is a good way to relief oneself from the stresses of the world. For this last blog, I am going to discuss my favorite blogs. Going back to the first blog, I did not really know where was I was going with it but it got me somewhere. In that blog, I talked about how everything has an effect and the effect only gets worse as it moves through its cycle. I expanded on this a little bit more in the blog about bio-accumulation and DDT, which happens to be my favorite blog. To remind you guys, DDT is an organic chemical compound that is dangerous to our health and the health of whatever it touches. On the bright side, it is effective is controlling malaria but unfortunately it was banned in the United States. Rachel Carson is responsible for helping ban DDT and shedding light on its dangerous effects. Another blog that I enjoyed writing was the blog post about venom and poison. I really enjoyed this blog because I did not know that there really was a difference. I honestly thought that venom was just more potent than poison and only snakes had venom. Turns out though that venom and poison do not differ much on potency because they both are really potent. The actually difference is the way in which the toxin is delivered or received. Normally, venom is injected through a bite and poison is through touch or ingestion. With this blog, I also looked at the most venomous animals in Kentucky. The timber rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in Kentucky and it is common in the woods. Luckily, this snake is non-aggressive so it will not harm anyone unless it is provoked. Another blog that I enjoyed writing was the blog about ants. When I spent time watching ants, I was fascinated by their hard work and strength. The amount of strength that ants have is insane. If humans had the same proportion of strength that ants have to their body then humans would be able to pick up cars and carry them. Imagine what sports would look like if humans had this amount of strength. To end, In enjoyed every last one of my blogs and I am going to miss having to post each week. I will probably post once a month and depending on if I have something funny or interesting to say I will post immediately. Bye guys...

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Hello lads and gents. This week I am on time and this is a special week. It is a special week because this week, you guys, my fans, are getting two blogs instead of one. One reason, I am doing this is because of the extra credit for having ten blogs for the course and, secondly, I need that extra credit because I have failed two of the three quizzes we have taken. Well, enough of that and on to the blog. For this blog, I  am going to ramble on threats to biodiversity in Kentucky. Habitat loss is one of the largest threats to biodiversity. Invasive species and global warming are factors that effect habitat loss. Both are really important and global warming may be the only factor that we may be able to monitor. Invasive species became a factor when the Europeans came over from Europe. But global warming is a factor that can be controlled and monitored because we actually have the opportunity to change it. Greenhouse gases are one of the main sources of global warming. They work by trapping heat in the atmosphere and over time, the air thickens and the climate becomes warmer. The climate change produced from greenhouse gases is not entirely significant but as the concentration of greenhouse gases increases in the atmosphere the more severe the climate may change. Also, there are different greenhouse gases and each may stay in the atmosphere longer or may be stronger in thickening the air. Each of the gases has an effect and the only way to resolve their effect is to reduce their emission. Some possible ways to reduce greenhouses gases are wind and solar polar. Basically, in order to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases we must improve our energy usage and production in all ways. Wind and solar polar are only some examples of ways to reduce emissions and natural gas and nuclear power are other examples. I will not get into that stuff because I do not want to bore you guys with advanced reactor technologies and higher level science stuff so take care! Hope you enjoyed the blog and I will probably post the second blog on Thursday or Friday and check out the picture of gas emissions. 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Hello ladies and gentleman. I am really sorry about posting the blog late this week. I completely forgot about the blog because I was caught up in another class. This past Thursday a friend of mine and I had to lead a discussion in Ancient Chinese Thought and the preparation took up most of my week. Luckily, my friend and I did very well. On the bright side, I have a great idea for today's blog and it begins with the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect is a theory that states that small changes or conditions can result to have a larger difference in a larger state. For example, small winds in the Pacific Ocean accumulating to cause massive waves near the shore. This relates to bioaccumulation, which is the accumulation of toxic substances throughout the food web. Simply put, pesticides are sprayed onto weeds, inadvertently hitting flowers, pollinators transfer the chemicals when they pollinate, pollinators are ate by insectivores and the concentration of chemical substances increases as it goes up the food chain. Now, the food chain ends with us, humans, which means that humans should get the highest concentration of the chemical substance. Over our lives, theses concentrations build up in our bodies and cause illness and side effects. DDT is an example of an organic compound that is able to bioaccumulate. During World War II, DDT was used to prevent soldiers from contracting malaria. After the war, DDT was sold as the best man known insect removal pesticide. DDT was pushed by Chemical Manufacturing Corporations because it was making millions and people believed that it was harmless. Until, Rachel Carson began noticing the abuse of chemical substances on the environment. In her book, Silent Spring, Carson argues against the over abuse of chemical substances because it is beginning to have effects on nature. Carson focused on the effects of DDT and received hateful criticism for it; however, it did not stop her because when her book was published it shed light on DDT. Carson died soon after her book was published but her work helped in banning DDT in the United States. Thanks to Rachel Carson, we do not have to worry about the hazards of DDT. Well, that is the end of this blog folks. Hope you enjoyed it. Also, look at the hilarious yet disturbing picture of a man spraying DDT.