My science eportfolio

Contemporary Science Research

Term 1:

Nanotechnology: What is nanotechnology? Why is it important?

What is nanotechnology?

Firstly, Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. In its original sense, 'nanotechnology' refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high performance products.

Why is it important?

The reason why nanotechnology is so important is that, at the atomic level, molecules can behave differently than they do at our level. For example, we all know what gold looks like -- it is yellow, shiny, and metallic. But when you take just a few atoms of gold and deal with it at the nano level, it is nothing like that. For one thing, it can actually look pink.

By building things at the nano level, people are working with individual atoms or a handful of atoms and taking advantage of these different properties. The advantages can be huge. Let's take batteries as an example. A battery is full of chemicals that make electricity. The chemicals are normally powders or gels. But by forming the chemicals into nano-particles, the batteries work much better. This is because when you make the particles super-small, you increase the number of atoms that are exposed for the chemical reaction. Now, the reaction can happen much faster and/or more completely. Therefore, the battery can store more energy, and it can charge a lot faster. Today it might take two hours to charge a cell phone. In the future, it will only take two minutes.

Term 2:

Obesity, who is responsible?

With obesity rapidly approaching the number one spot for preventable deaths in the United States, it's time we asked a few questions.

1. Why is it that society in general is growing fatter by the day?

2. Is it just a lack of willpower or is there another force tipping the scales?

3. What will it take to turn the situation around?

It's really easy to point the finger at overweight individuals and conclude that their condition is their responsibility. While it is true, that they are the ones left with the responsibility, are they solely responsible for getting themselves overweight.

Let's take a few minutes to look at some of the influences that people in our society have to contend with before we point the finger.

Have you ever noticed how the candy racks in the supermarkets are right at the eye level of toddlers? Do you think this is an accident? We have all seen little children screaming at the top of their lungs in the grocery store because they couldn't have that candy bar that is positioned right in front of their face.

Now we know that the child did not set up that candy bar rack. We also know that the child's parents did not do it. So who's responsible?

Greedy corporate America does not care how many obese children there are. They don't care what kind of medical challenges obese people face during the course of their life. They care about one thing and one thing only, profits.

Once a child's taste buds have been perverted by junk food and sweets, is it any wonder they won't eat their broccoli? With more and more demands being put on people's time these days, is it any wonder that so many people have come to rely on fast food restaurants?

It doesn't matter where you look, people are constantly bombarded by images of unhealthy foods and snacks. TV commercials, billboards, magazine ads, the list goes on and on. From infancy people find themselves on a junk food assembly-line that leads straight to weight problems.

If we lived in an environment that fostered healthy eating habits and a physically active lifestyle it would be reflected in the way people look. But we don't. In fact the exact opposite is true. For the most part people are products of their environment.

If you want to understand why people look the way they do, then you need to take an honest look at the environment that produced them. Most people didn't make a conscious choice, somewhere along the way, that they wanted to be fat. They were just living their lives and doing their jobs like everybody else.

As long as the fast food industry produces trillions of dollars of profit per year, things are unlikely to change. That means change has to come on an individual level. That means people need to be educated so that they can make wise decisions about the foods they eat and the activities they choose.

What it really comes down to is this. If you are overweight or obese, you probably did not get there by yourself, you had help. Unfortunately, if you want to change it is going to be up to you. You need to make up your mind to change and then you need to take action in harmony with that decision. Once you do that, you will find that there are literally thousands of people who understand and are willing to help.

People die every day from complications of obesity. Make up your mind not to be one of them.

Term 3:

Genetics: What are the possible positive and negative impacts? Do you think the positive

Potential Benefits

There are many potential benefits which can arise as a result of genetic testing. Individuals identified as carrying potentially harmful genetic alterations can receive regular medical check-ups and be eligible for screening to enable early detection of cancer (although these options are also available to individuals who have not been tested but who do have a strong family history of cancer); they may also choose to undergo preventative surgery. This can potentially lead to a reduction in cancer incidence and mortality.

Individuals who are found not to carry a harmful gene alteration which is known to run in their family may feel that they are less anxious and have a better quality of life; they may also benefit from the knowledge that they have not passed a gene alteration on to their children. Also, because such individuals do not require the same regular checkups as do people who carry the gene, resources can be targeted to benefit those people who do have a higher risk of developing cancer.

Despite the significant advantages of genetic testing, there are also, however, several disadvantages which any individual considering undergoing testing should be aware of (these include the limitations of the genetic testing technique which were discussed in the previous section.)

Potential Disadvantages

Because genetic alterations generally need to be identified in a family member who has already developed cancer this can lead to distress and difficult family relations, for example if there are no surviving family members who are able to undergo diagnostic genetic testing, or if an individual is reluctant to undergo testing he/she may be subject to pressure from other family members. A positive genetic test can also lead to an increased level of anxiety and individuals may feel guilty for having potentially passed a gene alteration on to their children. There may also be issues for individuals wishing to obtain health and life insurance.

Receiving a negative genetic test can also affect family relations, with many individuals feeling ‘survivor guilt’, for example if they have a brother or sister who has been shown to carry that gene alteration, they may feel guilty at having escaped the increased cancer risk, while their sibling is still at risk.

Some people with a strong family history of cancer believe they would find it too difficult to receive a positive genetic test result. They may feel that knowing they are definitely a carrier of a harmful alteration will lead to increased levels of anxiety throughout their life. They choose, instead, to undergo regular medical check-ups, and screening, to enable early detection of cancer without ever having to know their genetic status.Potential Benefits

Potential Disadvantages

Lesson 1: We learnt about the lab rules.

From this activity, i have learnt about the rights and wrongs in the lab.

Lesson 2: We heated an ice-cream stick and learnt about the types of flames as well as the parts of a bunsen burner.

From this lesson i learnt that luminous flames are less hot than non-luminous flames and that luminous flames produce a lot of soot and is unstable while non-luminous flames do not produce a lot of soot and are stable.

Lesson 3: We mixed chemicals together and watched the chemical reactions

Lesson 4: We observed water boil to a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.

Lesson 5:We observed the number of swings by the pendulum bob when at different heights.

I learnt that we have to record the time taken for the bob to make 20 oscillations to ensure a fair test.

Lesson 6: We learnt how to use the vernier caliper and the micro meter screw gauge.

We learnt about distillation today, this is just simple distillation and distillation is one of the many methods use to separate physical solutions and suspensions.

This was when we were burning magnesium! its so bright!!!!!!

This is the Benedict solution being boiled. Its show us if it contains glucose!

This was one of our last experiments, chlorophyll separation

My science eportfolio

Monday, 3 September 2012

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Contemporary Science Research

Obesity, who is responsible?

Genetics: What are the possible positive and negative impacts? Do you think the positive

Friday, 16 March 2012