20 Time Final Post

I presented my 20 Time project and its results in class where it recorded and the video is below. I think overall my Ted Talk went well. I had rehearsed my talk several times and each time I had gone over the allotted 5 minutes so I was continuously trying to cut out unnecessary information so I was happy to see that I was able to slow my talking down a bit and fit in the time frame. However because I was adjusting my presentation over and over it was hard to remember how I wanted to say things so I was stumbling in my words some. Another thing is my acknowledgement of the sources I used and the citations. When I watched the video again, I noted that I did not explicitly name my sources but when I discussed that men eat more in the presence of women, parents should not force children to clean their plates, and how much a person cleans off their place, I was talking about Cornell and Dr. Wansink's studies, and Stanford's culture and food studies as well. The citations of these are seen in my final works cited slide even though I failed to explicitly say, 'According to..." Actually giving the talk, I was not as nervous as I thought I would be and it turned out that I did not need my notes. It was fascinating listening to other people's presentations, especially if I had not previously read their blog posts on their projects. I really liked the 20 Time project idea but it was difficult for me to settle on one topic so I think it would have been better to explore other topics and do some research on them first before sticking with one. From my presentation, I learned that it is extremely important to be clear and thorough since I had to realize that even though I may know a lot about the topic, no one else does. On the rubric, I think I would grade myself how it was graded since I realize that I was not clear on what sources I actually cited.

20 Time Reflection

My 20 Time experience did not go as I had but I feel nevertheless that I have learned from this experience. Initially I wanted to do an experiment on how color affects people's perceptions but having the means to carry out that experiment was beyond my abilities. Instead I shifted my topic to subconscious cues and decided to gather research to write a paper on it. I chose this because it was similar to my original topic but by focusing on subconscious cues in relation to food, I was able to incorporate something I am interested in as well. Through my 20 time project I just wanted to be able to research something that interested me and possibly make something out of it. Since I got started later I was not able to get a whole lot done but I did most of my research and know where the paper is heading and I have a brief outline. However even in my English class, just writing an outline and doing the research was a long and time-consuming process so I feel that I have gotten a good start. I was able to find research from labs such as Cornell and their research has showed me how extensive it can get. I learned about time-management and also about how people can change their habits to subconsciously change how they eat. One of my biggest difficulties was not getting distracted from my main topic while researching since there were many other topics it could branch out to. That said, if I could do this again I would have my project to be researching a certain area of a broader topic each week instead of confining myself to just one. I hope to be able to continue with this and just make a habit of looking things up once in a while to broaden my understanding of the world.
I will begin my story with an anecdote about eating then transition into subconscious cues. To make it more interesting I will relate it to teenagers and people in general, especially those who like eating and then conclude it with a call to action.

Reflexes Lab

In this lab, we tested our reflexes using different experiments and actions. Reflexes are rapid involuntary responses to stimuli such as touch and a reflex arc is a pathway to nerve impulses that happens extremely quickly and so does not go to the brain. Reflexes can regulate smooth muscles or stimulate skeletal muscles, it can regulate the heart and glands, digestion, and blood pressure and sweating as well. From this lab I was able to see how quickly the body reacted to different stimuli and how the body reacted as well.This, I could understand at a chemical level through neurons and reflex arcs. The different reflexes in this lab, such as the plantar reflex, also showed how reflexes can show the functionality of our nervous system.

This shows the photopupillary reflex wher the iris contracts and the pupil get smaller due to the bright light.

In the photopupillary reflex, the iris contracts to decrease the size of the pupil so that less light enters the pupil. This can be seen when the eye is exposed to bright light after a period of darkness and the pupil changes size. I was able to witness this in the lab as the pupil decreased. This reflex occurred so that less light would enter the eye because the bright light is a stark contrast to the dark and so the eye needs to be able to adjust.
The patellar reflex is also known as the knee jerk reflex and is when the leg kicks out when the place just below the knee gets hit. Clearly, this reflex can be seen when the leg kicks out and this worked when I hit my lab partner's knee when his legs were crossed. This reflex occurs because the thigh muscle stretches and that sends a message to the spinal cord and so the sense gets sent back out and the reflex occurs.

The blink reflex is when a person blinks when witnessing a stimulus that is moving at a fast speed and it close or nearby to the eyes or face. This can be seen through an experiment where you throw a cotton ball at a person with a see through barrier in front of him/her or suddenly clapping your hands in front of their face. This reflex has evolved due to the need to react to predators quickly and helps the eyes 'defend' themselves against whatever may attack or hurt the organism.
The plantar reflex is a person's foot's reaction to an upward movement on the foot. When I dragged the pen cap up along my lab partner's foot, his toes flexed, showing a normal reaction of the plantar reflex. This reflex occurred because the toes moved closer together showing that there is not nerve damage and that the toes are reacting appropriately. This is also known as the Babinski sign.
In the last reflex, we tested our response times by having one person drop a yardstick and another person catch it as fast as he/she could. Through the distance measured, we could convert that to reaction time. The reaction time decreased significantly by each trial going from 0.35 seconds to nearly zero seconds. However, when the person was texting, the reaction time increased dramatically to over 0.5 seconds. This occurs because the eyes sense the movement and sends the signal and the brain sends a signal to grab the yardstick. This shows just how quick our reflexes and mental processes can be.

The Brain Map

Cerebral Cortex
1. The frontal lobe is responsible for a person's personality but it also controls language, judgment and impulse, and problem solving.
2. Relationship between learning and selective attention is that learning is a person's capacity to respond to certain stimuli when activated simultaneously and learning is
3. The frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to develop. People can help prevent it from deteriorating by choosing to not "zone out" and instead, focusing on their environment and the five senses. In addition, transforming information by looking at the bigger picture or analyzing things is better than just memorizing and it helps exercise the frontal lobe.
4. The neo cortex governs the senses, spatial awareness and motor skills and is very receptive to environmental enrichment.
5. The prefrontal cortex controls a person's personality and is responsible for how a person behaves.
6. In addition, the pre-frontal cortex prevents people from multitasking.
7. Broca's area is the section of the brain responsible for speech and language development. One interesting fact about this area is that it also helps people know how to respond to social cues.
8. The somatosensory cortex is the area that conveys touch and where the body responds to receptors such as temperature.
9. The visual cortex help people distinguish color and differentiate faces and other complex things such as that.
10. Some interesting things about the occipital lobe are that it helps people visualize themselves doing certain things when they concentrate on it, it helps people understand their place in the world, and it processes the imaginary.
11. If the temporal lobes were damaged, people would forget simple things such as where they put their keys or how to get to the park.
12. The "fast brain" is the portion of the brain that works quickly to respond to immediate signals or stressors.
Neuron
13. Three things that I could do to influence my synapses would be to practice my reflexes, exercise more to get them firing, or doing speed or memory games to work the brain. These would all positively influence my life as they would be helping me exercise both my body and my brain.
14. Multisensory or multimodal learning is where students are being taught to use more than one of their sense to learn things. This can be very beneficial for students with disabilities as it allows them to sense things in different ways to enhance their learning. The ability for dendrite growth is thought to play a role in learning and memory formation.
15. Big picture thinking and mnemonics affects dendrites and/or learning because dendrite spine plasticity and the synaptic connections store meaningful information used for learning. Therefore these devices and affect the dendrite spines.
16.  A neurotransmitter that is important is norepinephrine since it plays a role in wakefulness, learnin, and memory. This is essential to the human body as it helps us to continue to learn and to grow, helping develop a person to their full potential.
Limbic System
17. The corpus callosum divides the brain into the left and right hemisphere and conveys the messages between the tw. For example the right eye's information is conveyed to the left hemisphere of the brain.
18. Music and the corpus callosum are related because it has been researched that musicians have larger corpus callosums as musical training increases the plasticity of the corpus callosum.
19. The thalamus is important because it is involved in sensory perception and relaying sensory information to the cerebral cortex.
Relate and Review
The different parts of the brain each play significant roles in a person's development, both physically and mentally. For example, the neo cortex is responsible for motor control and spatial awareness while the prefrontal cortex plays a large role in a person's personality and behaviour. In addition to sections of the brain, neurotransmitters are extremely important in a person's development. Neurotransmitters such as serotonin, GABA, dopamine, and nor-epinephrine are involved in a person's memory, learning, and more. The corpus callosum and thalamus, parts of the limbic system, are also important as they help convey information from the brain to other parts of the body.





An interactive infographic by Open Colleges

Brain Dissection Analysis

In this lab we dissected the brain of a sheep in order to better understand the placement of different parts of the brain and their functions. In addition, we were able to identify grey matter and white matter sections of the brain. This lab helped give me a better sense of where parts of the brain are, specifically parts such as the midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata. Previously I had thought them to be further towards the center of the brain near the thalamus and hypothalamus but in truth, they are closer to the brain stem and look like 'bumps.' In a neuron, myelin forms an electrically insulating layer that helps conduct electrical impulses through nerve cells.

This is my longitudinal depiction of the brain.

This is the longitudinal view of the brain.

This is a view of the brain from the top.

This is my depiction of the brain from the top.

My depiction of the cross section showing grey and white matter.

Cross section of the brain showing grey and white matter.

Sheep Eye Dissection Analysis

In class, we dissected a sheep's eye to better understand the structure and physiology of the eye. First we cut all the fatty tissue off of the eye and there was a significant amount of it. This is because it is the cushion for the eye while the extrinsic muscles move the eye. The cornea was the bluish part while the optic nerve was behind that. Then we cut through the sclera which is very tough and makes up the 'whites' of the eye. When we cut it open we saw the retina, vitreous humor and choroid, which was behind the retina. The retina contains the photoreceptors for vision while the vitreous humor is a clear gel-like substance and the choroid which brings blood, nourishment, and oxygen to the eye. The tapetum lucidum is a part of animal eyes that is not a part of human eyes as it helps with night vision as it reflects light. The ciliary bodies surrounding the lens encircle the lens and controls lens shape while the lens focuses light on the retina. One condition of the lens is cataracts which is when the lens becomes cloudy and the amount of light reaching the retina is lessened or prevented. When the lens is removed, it reveals the iris and pupil; between the iris and cornea is aqueous humor which also helps maintain the shape of the eye. A condition of the aqueous humor is glaucoma where fluid pressure becomes too high and it damages the eye. Like with the tapetum lucidum, a sheep's eye is different from a human's also because the pupil of a sheep's eye is more oval-shaped compared to that of a human's. From this lab, I could clearly see the different structures and functions of the eye and how significant the relationship between the two is, such as with the shape of the pupil and retina.

20 Time Blog #4: Presliced Fruits!

So far I have gotten to research a lot about this topic as Cornell has a branch of study regarding food psychology. By doing this instead, there is already completed research and it is up to me to sort and pick out the research that is relevant and more worthwhile. Some things to note were: Don’t force little kids to clean their plates which shows that parenting has a role in obesity/eating behaviours; Putting healthy food such as fruits out on counters instead of unhealthy foods such as chips subconsciously help you eat healthier; children are more likely to eat pre-sliced fruits. I've learned that although research is research, there can be clear bias in the analysis of that research, especially when an outcome is 'predetermined,' so to speak. My next step will be to continue to research and to start a compiled paper on this. This topic is definitely applicable to myself and my community/country as America is becoming increasingly related with obesity.

The 'Clay' Brain

In this 'Clay Brain' lab, my group and I made models of the left hemisphere from the right looking at the sagittal plane and a lateral view of the right cerebral hemisphere with Play-doh. This helped us better be able to recognize and map out different sections of the brain. It also showed us how complex the brain is.

A Woman without a Cerebellum

I just read an article about a woman found to be missing her cerebellum. Surprisingly, this was not discovered until she was 24 years old, already a significant age for a person growing up without a cerebellum. As the cerebellum controls voluntary movements and balance, it is also involved in many other functions such as speech and motor skills. In this case, the woman had problems walking steadily and had difficulties when she was young. However, other parts of the brain took some responsibility for the role of the cerebellum, allowing this woman to grow up fairly normally.
If a person's medulla oblongata was missing or severely damaged, involuntary actions would be severely limited. The medulla oblongata controls autonomic functions, relays nerve signals between the brain and spinal cord, and helps coordinate body movements. It may be possible for a person to survive but their capabilities will be very limited as the medulla oblongata is even involved in heart beat. However, like how other parts of the brain took over some of the cerebellum's roles, the same could happen with the medulla oblongata. Most likely though, the person would not be able to function for very long without medical help.

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Nervous System Power Hour Reading

Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite: evolution and the modular mind
By Robert Kurzban
Consistently Inconsistent
In this book, Kurzban aims to convince the reader that the brain is made up of "modules" which are different parts of the brain that as a whole, shape human behavior. He argues that the human mind is made up of many different mental processes that do not always align. For example, split brain patients. In an experiment by two neuroscientists, they showed that one hemisphere could see something that the other hemisphere couldn't. A simpler example Kurzban used is the phantom arm example where people with amputated arms and legs say that they can still feel those missing limbs. Kurzban argues that this is because some of the nervous system truly believes that the limb is still there. Another one of Kurzvan's arguments is that people should not believe everything that comes out of a person's mouth because the "talking portion" of the brain is not connected to everything else. In other words, the "talking portion" does not accurately portray what the rest of the modules believe; this is the reason for apparent contradictions, why everyone else is a hypocrite and you're not. kurzban's entire book rests on his argument that there are different modules which is why we have inconsistencies, specifically moral hypocrisy.
Kurzban's introduction began with the argument that "Being ignorant, wrong, irrational, and hypocritical can make you much better off than being knowledgable, correct, reasonable, and consisten. As long as you're ignorant, wrong, irrational, and hypocritical in the right ways." In later chapters he discusses how knowing more information can just be disadvantageous, especially to a person's moral compass but that does not make his previous claim any more believable or credible  That is, unless a person wants to stay ignorant, wrong, irrational, and hypocritical. However through his examples, I can see how a person's brain has different modules that either work together or separately.
On a side note, his "wit" and "sometimes hilarious" personality, is not obvious in this book.

20 Time Blog #3: Shifting Directions?

I have been trying to research more about color, but I find that my research has taken me in a direction I did not plan for- subconscious cues. My original topic came about through an article with underlying information on subconscious cues as well but at the time I chose the color aspect. However, now I am finding increased interest in these "cues" as well as that my experimentation takes time and money, both of which are not easily available to me right now. Like we said in class, I think I went for a too ambitious experiment. Much of the information I have come across is backed up by research and experiments which have hundreds of people behind them, showing me just how many resources I would require. However much of what I have studied will be useful as well. Therefore, I am thinking, but not sure yet, of turning my 20 Time project in a different direction, one that I hope will be able to more significantly impact other people. (Advice on this would be much appreciated!)

Unit 7 Reflection

In this unit we learned about directional terms and joint movements, muscle fibers, performance enhancers, and of course, the muscular system! Projects that we did interspersed between lectures really helped bring together and highlight the ways our body works together (such as in our Muscle Contraction Skit Video). This skit depicted the specific steps of contraction in an easy and thorough way since we were able to apply what we learned and not just read it off a piece paper. In addition, the dissection of a chicken that we did helped solidify my understanding and knowledge of the muscles and how they work with tendons and bones to move (Chicken Dissection). I would like to learn more about different muscle diseases and how they affect the person with that disease and the muscles themselves. Learning about the Performance Enhancers touched on that subject but I would like to go a bit more in depth with natural consequences as well.  In regards to my New Years' resolutions, the anabolic steroids 'ad' let me research more about it, as did the chicken dissection. I would say that I am following it sometimes but since it takes more time for me because I like going into more depth, I would like to modify my resolutions to be at least once a unit.

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Performance Enhancement Advertisement: Anabolic Steroids

Performance enhancements can range from amino acids to hormone stimulants but all can hold potential danger for the users. People take anabolic steroids or performance-enhancing substances to boost athletic performance, build muscle, increase body mass, or lose body fat but many of these substances are not regulated and illegal, especially when used in athletic competitions. Some health risks include severe acne, stunted growth, high blood pressure, strokes, and even liver cancer. Some stimulants are seemingly harmless such as caffeine or protein diets, but others such as anabolic steroid, androstenedione, and gene doping have extreme risks.

Chicken Dissection Lab Analysis

In this lab, I dissected a chicken (pre-plucked, with no head or feet) to become more familiar with the different muscles and how movements correspond with muscles. For example, we would pull on the wing to see different muscles move as those would be the muscles that normally contract to cause that action such as pulling the wing up to exercise the pectoralis major which is responsible for flight in birds. In addition, the biceps brachii works to bend the wing in chickens, and is connected to the humerus. The origin is proximal to the body; for example, with the latissimus dorsi, it is attached to the arm. The insertion is where the muscle is attached to the bone or tendon and is distal to the body. In chicken muscles, the pectoralis major are much larger than those of humans since chickens must use those breast muscles to fly. Another comparison between chicken muscles and human muscles can be seen in their function such as with the triceps humeralis where in chickens it straightens the wing and in humans it is used for reverse curls. The flexor carpi ulnaris is a connected to a chicken's thumb and flexes it while in humans, the hand can be flexed using all five fingers.

The pectoralis major is the breast muscle of the bird and pulls the wing up, powering flight in chickens.

The pectoralis minor lifts the wing dorsally and pulls the shoulder down and forward.

The trapezius helps to shrug the shoulders, running perpendicular from the backbone to the shoulder.

The latissimus dorsus runs from the spine into the arm pit/wing, extending the wing/arm.

The deltoid raises the upper arm/wing and is on the center top of the shoulder. 

The triceps humeralis straightens the wing/arm. The biceps brachii flexes/bends the wing/arm.

The brachioradialis pulls the hand back and the flexor carpi ulnaris flexes the hand.

The gastrocnemius is attached to the achilles tendon and extends the foot and flexes the lower leg. The Peroneus longus extends the foot. The tibialis anterior flexes the foot.

The sartorius flexes the thigh and allows crossing of the legs. The iliotibialis or tensor fasciae latae, gluteus maximus and iliotibial tract extends the thigh and flexes the leg.

The biceps femoris flexes the leg and helps make up the hamstring group. The quadriceps femoris or vastus lateralis, intermedius and medialis and rectus femoris flexes the thigh and extends the lower leg. This is also known as the quadricep.

The semimembranousus extends the thigh and the semitendinosus extends the thigh as well but is anterior and medial to the semimembranosus.

20 Time Blog #2: More Research...

When doing research about emotions or human reactions, it often begins with figuring out what portion of the brain this reaction occurs in. I've found that since the hippocampus deals with long term memory, a person's subconscious reaction to color is most likely due to what a person can recall in his or her memory about what experiences or events were connected with that color. However, Mr.Orre gave a comment on my previous post about looking into blind and double blind studies. I knew I already wanted to use the likert scale for the questionnaire but the double blind study seems to fit well as well. Although it seems like it would be useful for making my results more accurate, I am struggling with finding a way with having the participant and the experimenter not know who belongs to the test group and who belongs to the control group. I could try having both wear colored shirts but the colored shirts and the questions would give away the subject of the experiment. 

In the meantime, I have come up with a few set questions and am preparing more in varying degrees of subtlety to ask if I want to incorporate the double blind experiment as well. In addition, there are already assumptions about different colors and what emotions or reactions they can result in. However through this experiment I would like to expand it to refer to clothing and since much of this is assumption and not based on evidence (because this is extremely difficult to accurately study I'm finding), I aim to find more solid proof.

"What Happens When You Stretch"

"What Happens When You Stretch" Bradford D. Appleton 1993

This article discusses what happens when a person stretches. According to Appleton, when a person stretches their muscle fiber, it begins with the sarcomere which stretches, decreasing an area of overlap and allowing the muscle fiber to elongate, also helping realign disorganized fibers. The length of a stretched muscle is the number of fibers that were stretched. When a person stretches quickly, the nerves causing the contraction and relaxation of the muscles fire rapidly as well, increasing muscle length. The lengthening reaction causes muscles to relax and is controlled by the golgi tendon organ, preventing muscle, tendons, and ligaments from injury. Reciprocal inhibition is a bit like the lengthening reaction as they both inhibit things from contracting. Stretching also has dynamic and static parts: static occurs when the muscle is being stretched and dynamic occurs quickly in response to the increase in muscle length. This relates to my Monday Wellness project first semester since I did my subject on stretching and how it is beneficial. I also went into the physical components of stretching and muscle fibers during my presentation and it was interesting to go in depth regarding the reactions that are immediate results of stretching muscle fibers.

"Another reason for holding a stretch for a prolonged period of time is to allow this lengthening reaction to occur, thus helping the stretched muscles to relax. It is easier to stretch, or lengthen, a muscle when it is not trying to contract" I like this quote because it seems odd that a person would want to stop contracting muscles as that is what makes them stronger but that the lengthening reaction actually helps relax the muscles. Since the contraction stretches them originally, the lengthening reaction makes it easier to stretch.

"You also want to relax any muscles used as synergists by the muscle you are trying to stretch." I think this is helpful information since they work as opposites and it is not something that is commonly thought of. For example, if a person is stretching their calf, they want to contract the shin muscles, or the hamstrings use the calves as synergists and relax them.

"Triggers" This word was used quite often in the articles, such as when it mentioned triggering the lengthening reaction or reciprocal inhibition or the stretch reflex. The word "trigger" helps embody how the body works since, to maintain homeostasis, the body and hormones and reactions must continue and send out signals to keep the body in balance. Thus, reactions are triggered by hormones or other signals sent throughout the body.

Unit 6 Reflection

This unit was all about the bones in the human body- the skeletal system. We discussed the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of the skeletal system such as the types of bones, compact and spongy, and what those bones are made of. In addition, it was about the different types of joints that connect those bones and how they all work together to make up the function and structure of the skeletal system. To help with this, we had labs looking at the human skeleton and bone cells, and even a lab dissecting an owl pellet to organize the skeleton of a rat in the Owl Pellet Lab. I would like to learn more in depth about the differences between different animal skeletons to be able to understand the evolution of some species and I would like to learn more about the functions of less known bones in the human skeleton. I think I have gotten more advanced so to speak when doing my labs since now I try to inquire further as to details in the lab rather than just answering the questions I am required to answer. I have been a little sloppy in maintaining my New Year's goal to research further but I have looked up minor details.

20 Time Blog #1: Does Yellow Make You Happy?

Does yellow make people happy? Oftentimes when a person is asked his or her favorite color and why, he or she will say: because it's pretty, because it calms me, because it reminds me of family and so forth. But how much of an effect does this color have on a person? For me, during 20 Time,I hope to find out, in more depth, how the color of one's shirt affects a person's perception.  20 Time is where we get 20% of our class time to work on a pet project of ours, whether it is to raise awareness of a cause or to discover the answer to a question.I chose this project simply out of curiosity since I had just read an article on how the color of a person's plate can affect how much they consume. For this project, I will form an experiment with carefully formed questions to determine the reaction of the person the test subject, person wearing the different colored shirts, interacts with. Using the Likert Scale, I will record the responses to be able to compile data that will indicate if and how people feel differently towards different colors. Most significantly, my progress will be measured by the completeness of the questionnaire which I feel must ask the right questions so to speak. My goal at the end of this is to be able to determine how people perceive color and the effect it has, whether or not I get a chance to finish my experimentation. I have begun a drafted list of questions and will continue to perfect them in the weeks coming.

Owl Pellet Lab

In this lab we dissected an owl pellet to find the skeleton of the animal that the owl ate and recognize and compare that skeleton to the human skeleton. To do this we used forceps to break through the excess feathers and dirt in the pellet and to be able to extract the bones. Through this, we found that the animal the owl had eaten was a rat. We could determine this since the length of the skull was larger than 25 centimeters, significantly larger than a mouse's skull. In addition, the structure of the rat's skeleton was much unlike the structure of a bird's since it's head was shaped differently and it had teeth. These were clear signs that it was a rat since they correspond with the structures of a rat as well.

The rat's skeleton was similar to the skeleton of human's in that it has similar rib structure and vertebrae. The ulna and radius, fibula and tibia, of the rat are also similar to that of human's.
Some differences are the cranium, which is curved downward and has a more elongated mandible. In addition, the scapula of the rat is placed differently than that of humans' and the humerus has more of a role in the rat's movement so it appears to place more prominently. The humerus and scapula of our rat's skeleton was left connected, providing a better perspective on their connections.

Unit 5 Reflection

This unit was about the digestive system and how to maintain our body's homeostasis through our diets, exercise, and mental and physical awareness. We also learned about fuel metabolism and the different stages our body goes through while absorbing and digesting our food- fed state, starving state and fasting state. These states maintain glucose levels in our bodies through insulin and glucagon, adrenaline and noradrenaline and cortisol. Some strengths of mine during this unit were the digestive system's parts etc. because it went through and orderly and linear pattern but the hormones, specifically glucagon and insulin, were difficult for me
We did a digestive system lab where we learned about the length of our digestive system. This lab helped to explain to me the intricacy of our bodies and the course of food in the bodies. I want to learn more about the diseases involved with the hormones such as hypo and hyperthyroidism.  I did follow through with my New Years goal a little since I did research some diseases- hyper and hypothyroidism.


http://anatomyandbeyond.blogspot.com/2016/01/digestive-system-lab.html

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Digestive System Lab

1. In this lab I measured the lengths of different structures in my body: mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Then I tied them all together to form the length of the digestive system in my body. Astonishingly it formed 9.1575 meters.

2. The length of my digestive system is over 5 times my height. I think my digestive system is able to fit inside my abdomen because it is folded and packed tightly together.

3. On average, I think it takes a few hours for food to more through the entire digestive system. When I researched it, I found that it takes approximately 24 hours for food to go through. I think that because the food has to go pass over 9 meters, it takes this long for food to fully digest.

4. Digestion is different from absorption because digestion involves the mouth and the stomach working to break down the food in preparation for absorption. Absorption involves the small and large intestines with mostly chemical digestion. It's role is to provide nutrients for the body.

5. What triggers certain reactions in the digestive system?

DIGESTIVE ORGAN	COLOR and LENGTH (CM)
mouth	white/10.2
esophagus	red/43
stomach	green/18
small intestine	yarn/675.64
large intestine	gold/168.91
TOTAL	915.75

SMART Goals

An overarching goal I have for this semester, and year overall, is to not procrastinate and to get things done before switching to something else. I am motivated by this and so thus will not procrastinate on not procrastinating. To follow through with this I will finish homework and whatever else I need to do first before going on Facebook to talk to friends or whatever else I want to do. I plan to be finished with homework by 10:30 every day, especially if I do not have many extracurricular activities on that day.

Another goal I have for this semester is to dig more deeply into the topics the class pursues. For at least every other lesson we have, I will do further research on something that interests me in that lesson. I will keep a google doc of this to hold myself accountable as well. Since anatomy and physiology is heavily dependent on building on what has been learned I think this will be a helpful and interesting goal.