Mrs. C's Bio Blog

Based on what you learned in class about cloning, discss the topic using some of the questions below to guide your response.  Feel free to respond (agree or disagree) RESPECTFULLY to each other.

• Is human cloning “playing with nature?” If so, how does that compare with other reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertiliation or hormone treatments?
• If a clone orignates from an existing person, who is the parent?
• What are some of the social challenges a cloned child might face?
• Do the benefits of human cloning outweight the costs of human dignity?
• Should cloning research be regulated? How, and by whom?

Solar energy is a somewhat newer type of renewable energy source.  In this short blog, we will tell you what exactly solar panels are, what they do/how the work, and their “ups” and “downs”.  First, solar energy is obviously the conversion or “extraction” of light energy of light energy into electrical energy.  This is most common through using PV (Photo voltaic) cells, which are usually comprised of a thin silver film placed onto a semi conductor that has deposits of Iron substrate on it.

Now, solar energy may seem somewhat more modern, but it actually dates back to over 100 years ago!  Around the industrial revolution, which then it was used to heat up water and convert it into steam.  A nice thing about solar energy is that it causes or releases absolutely no harmful emissions into the atmosphere.  Another up side to solar power is that in a way it is “wireless”, by that I mean that it can be used in areas that power poles cannot reach; such as: The wilderness, satellites, and etc.  So in a nutshell, solar energy is a nice type of renewable energy we can hopefully one day use more.

http://www.solarenergy.com/

Compact florescent light bulbs were made because they are much better for the environment and use 75% less energy than a regular old-fashioned light bulb.  If every household switched one of their regular light bulbs with a compact florescent light bulb it’s equivalent to taking 7.5 million cars off the road.  CFL’s use an electric current that is driven through a tube, this generates invisible  light that excites a fluorescent coating on the inside of the tube, which then lets out the light you see.  The CFL’s use a little more energy in the beginning to start up but then go back to using 75% less energy.  CFL’s contain mercury so if the light bulb were to break you and any family member or pets are to leave the area for at least 15 minutes or more, making sure you have opened a window.  After that if on a hard surface floor you are to sweep up with stiff paper or cardboard and put in a glass jar with a metal lid.  Then take a piece of sticky tape and pick up the left over dust.  If on carpet, vacuum but then empty the vacuum bag and throw away immediately.  Compact florescent light bulbs have good and bad qualities; they save you money but can be dangerous if broken.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls

Solar panels are panels that you put on top of a roof that attracts solar energy and forms it into energy you can use for anything. The panels have silicon on the top that carries electrons; and when the sun hits it, it knocks them to the back where there are electrical contacts creating energy. They are becoming more and more popular in the everyday life. Solar panels are fairly expensive but once you start getting your utility bills you will see just how much you really are saving. There are many positive sides to solar panels such as there is no pollution released into the air, also that there is no none what so ever. (http://www.trustyguides.com/solar-panels1.html)

Hybrid cars have now become more poluar to the public.  As we “Go Green”, Hybrid cars are playing a big part in saving the enviornment. Hybrid cars are a normal, fuel-efficient car that has two motors– an electric motor and a gasoline powered motor. It also has a special system to capture breaking energy to store in an onboard battery.  The Hybrid cars are most popularly know as Toyota’s Prius and were invented in Japan and released publicly in 2001.

Clean coal is cleaner technology and they clean the coal. The most promising “clean coal” technology involves using the coal to make hydrogen from water, then burying the resultant carbon dioxide by-product and burning the hydrogen. Coal cleaning by ‘washing’ has been standard practice in developed countries for some time. It reduces emissions of ash and sulfur dioxide when the coal is burned.  Electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters can remove 99% of the fly ash from the flue gases – these technologies are in widespread use. ( www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf83.html) (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-clean-coal.htm)

More and more people are trying to do something called the local food movement. The local food movement is a movement that was started in order to get citizens to buy their food more locally (Howard Elliott, “Taking Control of What We Eat,“  08 Jul 2009, SIRS Issues Researcher). The way this works is by people buying produce and other necessary food products from local farmers and community stores instead of at major food stores.  Businesses also do this by creating partnerships with local producers.  This system has many benefits and detriments to it.

A Brief Insight on Population Control

If you are familiar with city life or any life on this planet, you are familiar with the concern of overpopulation. Overpopulation is what it sounds like; the growing of a population until the standard of living is affected negatively. When people are reminded of this population problem, their minds jump to China or Japan; however, this conflict is becoming global.  Overpopulation is, surely, something nobody desires because along with it comes crowding, squalid conditions, and greater chances of widespread disease. Thus, many countries are cracking down on this little quandary with many different population control measures. Many measures have been tossed around to keep populations low; such as, education on contraceptive usage and, more extremely, a limit on the number of births per couple. These ideas have been kicked around internationally, but each country holds their own views respectively. I now ask you, as many soon may, “How do we keep populations low? What should we do? Are we on the right path?” Population control is a tad controversial, but we must be able to find a true, stable solution.

( markwatson.com) ( impactpress.com ) ( colby.edu )

Wind Turbines are machines that use the power of the wind to create a renewable energy. The wind turbines are made up of five main parts, the blades, rotor, gearbox, generator, and the tower. The first part is the blades. The blades capture the power of the wind by making the rotor spin. The rotor spins the gearbox. The gearbox controls the speed at which the blades spin. The generator is spun by the gearbox and makes the energy. The whole machine is connected to the tower which holds the whole thing up in the air.  (http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/wind-power/wind-turbines/)

Clean coal is coal cleaned up and is environmentally friendly.  Coal refers to the idea of harnessing the black rocks energy while safely disposing of the carbon dioxide rather than sending it skyward.  The basic elements of clean coal are already used in small corners of industry.  The first step to making clean coal is for the factories to capture all the carbon dioxide.  The second step is to dispose of the gas safely.  Like maybe shooting it under ground.  Some places that they dispose of it is in Texas.  Howard Hertzog is a clean-coal specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is a technological optimist and political realist.  He is trying to find an easy way to slash the output of carbon dioxide that plants send out.  He says it will take a lot of money to do that.  Clean coal is said to be too expensive.  Earlier in the decade the government came out with a multibillion dollar plan to create a carbon-free coal-fired power plant, but after the price went above 1.8 billion the program got shut down.