Sting the Pain Away

Insects of all sorts are attracted to me, I sit for a few seconds on my porch and I realize twenty bugs have already stung me. That's when I wonder about there existence. I still don't know why mosquitoes exist but bees on the other hand have a more useful purpose besides moving nectar around.  I was recently stung by a bee and that's when I realized why? I decided to look into this and I found that Bee venom may be helpful to arthritis suffers. I found this extremely interesting and I decided to look more into it! 
It turns out that this didn't only interest me, at Georgetown University in Washington D.C, a one-year preliminary study of bee venom to treat multiple sclerosis will be conducted. This I found so amazing, since I would even be interested in implementing bee venom into my studies.  
Been venom contains a substance called adolapin, which is anti-inflammatory and pain-blocking. Bee venom is also said to increase blood circulation and reduce swelling.
Although I have not looked to much into this, there will be differently more post on this in the future, and more post in general to come! Sorry for not posting in a while school and life have kind of gotten in the way!

Comment Below If You Want Me To Discuss Something New Next Week! Thanks!

Bee

The Role of Vitamin D in Multiple Sclerosis

In Multiple Sclerosis (MS) there is a abundant amount of evidence that suggest that a higher intake of vitamin D, or higher levels of vitamin D may delay the onset of MS or improve the condition/state of the course. Studies showed that many MS patients have low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, especially during relapses. This may be because when patients fall under illness there Vitamin D levels will drop. Although low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are associated with relapses of MS. A clinical study even found that vitamin D intake reduced relapses and the rate they occurred in. It has also been shown that higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels have been associated with improved T cell function.

It has also been widely hypothesized that MS patients who move farther away from the equator experience a progressive increase of cases and relapses. In fact pupils who live near the equator and the tropics rarely ever develop MS.

These points suggest that vitamin D levels may play a role on the onset of MS. However it has not been shown that vitamin D supplements prevent the development of MS, or help lower relapse rates.Further observations will be posted later! 

Under Pressure

 

First I would like to apologize, my summer blog plan kind of failed. Because it is now July and I have not posted since. I have been really busy with school planning, research, eating,and breathing. Alot of it was also related to procrastionation but I seriously have been busy. I thought that my next few post would be related to the human brain and techniques for learning. I think this may be a good idea since school is going to start in a month. I also will be discussing school related topics/subjects and do a bit of a crash course type thing. I will also be posting new science discoveries, and of course research updates. I have been under alot of pressure, but hope to do alot more with this blog. Look out of for those school post/tips and thank you for waiting!

Summer Plans and Updates

Hello!
I have recently been extremely busy with school work, and research. But school is officially out, and that means summer is officially here! I have many plans/goals for this summer, so I would like to take this chance to update you guys!

Blog Update 
June- Daily Blog Posts (Except On Weekends)
         Monday- Questions (Ex. Why is Ice Slippery?)
         Tuesday- Science News
         Wednesday- Miscellaneous
         Thursday- MS Events/Fundraising Progress (This May Change)
         Friday- Research (Personal)
July- Weekly (Saturdays)
August- Every Other Week (Saturdays)

Just Ask
This summer on Mondays I will be doing blog posts on simple questions I find my self pondering on, but this summer if you have a question you can comment it and I will do a post about it!

Science News
On Tuesdays, I will be looking at new science discoveries, and new technology using science magazines! I will take my favorite ones and then I will blog about them!

Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous will be more of my typical blog posts, I will take a basic subject such as "Cancer" and I will just give you guys a basic in detailed lesson about it! These are usually things I do not know much about either so its also a learning experience! If you are interested in a subject please comment it on a post and I will post about it!

MS Events/ Fundraising Progress
I was recently nominated to be a MS ambassador/ and I am a activist! Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that deserves so much awareness! On Thursdays I will try my hardest to explain something/anything about MS and I will update you on what you can do to help the disease! Although I may have trouble updating on this topic every Thursday, this is a topic that is close to my heart and I will try my hardest!

Research

This summer I will be on a pretty intense research schedule, and I will continue MS research. I am really excited for the new year, and a fresh start. Although the idea process is pretty difficult I can not wait to get my hands on new articles, ask questions, and meet new people! This summer I will be updating this blog weekly with my research updates (Fridays)! This will give you guys the opportunity to see what exactly a high school researcher does! This will be different from the MS Event post, since those will be volunteer events!

Youtube?

I have been thinking about this for a really long time and one of my summer goals is to start a Youtube channel with my sister who also has a science blog! It would be very science based and its a chapter in our lives that we are hoping to open! It would be a lot of work and time consuming so we are still thinking about it,  once we have our decision made it will be posted! 

Thank You So Much, Stay Wired/Connected! 

PLANNING FOR THE LONG TERM: TAKING ACTION TODAY

If you have any free time, and are interested in reading please do! Also follow the National MS Blog!

http://www.msactivist.blogspot.com/

PLANNING FOR THE LONG TERM: TAKING ACTION TODAY

Tick Tock on the Clock

I have always had a strange obsession with clocks. Although I never really payed attention to the different types.

Clocks are made to give us precision through out the day. Clocks measure time. To learn more about time view a previous blog post. All clocks have a couple of requirements. They must first have a power source, a "time base", and finally they must have a way to display information.

There are many kinds of clocks. First the sundial, which was first used in 3500 B.C

  

The hour glass was the next innovation. Hourglasses were accurate, but required attention. They work the same way as water clocks which rely on gravity to move some object from a higher to a lover position on a regular fashion. 

Pendulums were a great advancement in technology, although they were expensive. This means that the whole town relied on one clock. 

Chronometers had increased the accuracy of time keeping and made it possible for men at sea to fix their position in the ocean. This technology also made advances in watches. 

Digital clocks were the next advancement: they assist in the operation of other devices such as movie recorders, and computers

Atomic clocks have increased the accuracy of time! They are also commonly found! 

Stay Curious xD!

Why Red Blood Cells look Like Donuts

I was looking at a slide of red blood cells under a microscope and I noticed something I never really caught, red blood cells look like donuts. Most cells do not have this shape to them so why do red blood cells look like donuts?
Well red blood cells don't really like donuts they actually look like "biconcave" disk. That means they are round but there side concave inwards.

The "biconcave" disk shape is created by a particular protein which is present in the outer membrane and holds it into shape. Red blood cells play the special role of carrying oxygen to all parts of your body. Red blood cell go through blood vessels to do so. The red blood cells have to be really flexible to squeeze through capillaries, capillaries can be the size of a strand of hair, this means that there smaller then the blood cells. Red blood cells have to "denuclei". They literally drop their nuclei and therefore the "biconcave" shape appears. Red blood cells don't need there nuclei to reproduce, they are reproduced in bone marrow after four months! They natural recycle!

Stay Curious xD!

BRAIN POWER!

Being some what of a  procrastinator makes me wonder if this has to do with some weird condition I may have in my brain. But NO Your Brain is the Boss of your body! The brain has many different parts that work together. There are five main parts :

• Cerebrum
• Cerebellum
• Brain Stem
• Pituitary
• Hypothalamus

Each part of the brain plays a different role.

Cerebrum

The largest part of your brain that functions for determining intelligence, determining personality, thinking, perceiving, language, sense,motor function, and planning and organization.  It covers the upper most part of the brain. 

Cerebellum

The Cerebellum is the hind part of the brain . It contains hundreds to millions of neurons, and relays on motor control. It is involved in  the functions of fine movement coordination,  balance and equilibrium,  and muscle tone. 

Brain Stem

The brain stem is the region that connects the cerebellum to the spine cord. Motor and sensory neurons travel through the brain stem. It accounts for breathing, blood pressure, digestion, heart rate, and other automatic functions.

Pituitary

The Pituitary is involved in hormone production. It is divided up into three glands which are all involved in the hormonal production. It helps with the functions of growth, blood pressure, pregnancy, breast milk production, sex organ, thyroid gland, metabolism, temperature regulation, and pain relief. 

Hypothalamus 

The Hypothalamus links the nervous system to the endocrine system. It is located below the thalamus, just above the brain stem. 

The brain is a beautiful thing and it helps spark our curiosity! I hope this blog post educated you a bit on the parts of the brain! 

Ear Infection.

Sitting in class a ringing noise began to come to my attention, and then a pop! A ear infection. I get ear infections more than the average person, and currently have one right now! But where does this painful infection come from?

Middle ear infections are the most common, and usually occur along with an upper respiratory infection such as a cold. During a cold for example the lining of the eustachian tube can swell and block the tube. This results in fluid build up in the middle ear, creating the perfect area for bacteria or viruses to grow into a infection. 

Pus develops during a ear infection when the body tried to fight it. Then more fluid collects and pushes against the ear drum. This causes pain and sometimes problems with hearing. Believe me is is painful! Although there is treatment! Antibiotic treatment may shorten some symptoms, but most of your awesome immune system can fight the infection!In severe cases, to much fluid can increase pressure on the eardrum until it ruptures, allowing fluid to drain out.

Stay Curious xD!

Lego's

Confession time: I still play with Lego's.  But hey! Lego's are awesome, and are for all ages! They are affordable, and you can literally build anything with them. People say "Duck Tape is the solution" I beg to differ. On weekends when I am bored I BUILD with Lego's. But how are Lego's made?

The concept is generally simple the Lego company takes melted plastic and puts it into Lego molds, after that the molds are sent down a large conveyor belt. This is how the plastic cools down. After that the Lego's are packaged!

If you are still interested in Lego's check out this video:

Also check out these sites:

 http://www.lego.com/

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego

Thanks for Reading!

Stay Curious xD

The Term Biology

I was ironically sitting in my biology honors class thinking about what biology is. Well that is what I am learning right? But I wanted to know what the actual term means and where is came from. The term "biology" was first used by Karl Burdach (1776-1847) to denote the study of man. Jean Babtiste Pierre Antoine de Monet Lamarck (1744-1829) gave the term a broader meaning in 1812. The broader meaning was the "integral character of science".  The term was coined together from special sciences such as chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botany-zoology.

Biology is the science that deals with living things (Greek bios "Life"). It was broadly dived into two areas zoology, the study of animals, and botany, the study of plants. Biology is now divided and sub divided into hundreds of sub categories involving function, structure, and classification of the forms of life. Some sub categories include anatomy, ecology, embryology, evolution, genetics, paleontology, and physiology. One of my current favorites is anatomy. 

Stay Curious xD

Lets Get Pumping!

Today in PE everyone was required to measure there heart beat. The beat of your heart is a result of the pumping of blood. I get that but how is blood pumped?
 The heart is a fundamental muscle! The average heart beats 72 times per minute, and around 1,900 lbs. of blood is pumped each day. That's a lot of work on one muscle, so how does a muscle the size of two fists do all this work?
The heart is located between the lugs and behind the breast bone. Two-thirds of the heart lies to the left side of the midline of the body and about one-third to the right side. The heart appears as a cone shaped hollow mass. The heart is a double pump, and is made up of cardiac muscles. It pumps the blood throughout out the body by following a repeated rhythmic contraction pattern. Timing is extremely important.  

The Heart in Action 

Blood is pumped by the hearty in two different circuits. The first circuits in the systemic circuit and the second circuit is the pulmonary circuit. The system circuit starts at the left atrium and passes the mitral valve down into the left ventricle. The ventricle will contract after the atria have started relaxing by the closing of the atrioventricular valves, so blood does not back wash. Pressure will then become higher in the left ventricle allowing ventricular systole's second phase to begin. It begins by forcing blood through the aortic semilunar valve up into the aorta so blood may reach the rest of the tissue in the body. After this the ventricles will become relaxed and pressure is now higher in the aorta then it is within the ventricles and it will cause back flow of blood. During this blood will slowly return back into the left atrium by ventricular diastole second phase.
Blood will travel through arteries then to arterioles and lastly to capillaries so it can begin a gas exchange of oxygenated blood to the tissues to unoxygenated blood back to the heart.
The next step is the pulmonary circuit. The pulmonary circuit will return the deoxygenated blood into the right atrium and the superior vena cava down the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle and blood will be forced up into the pulmonary trunk.
 It will then travel towards the lungs, the ateries then arterioles and capillaries once again but this time the capillaries with run along aveoli which are air sac's of the lungs that control the gas exchange between our atmosphere's. Basically so as you breath out you are going to be releasing the carbon dioxide from the tissues that were collected from those veins and transported via the arteries . As you breath in, oxygen will be inhaled back into the aveoli and will now allow oxygenated blood to return it back into the pulmonary venules. To the pulmonary veins so it can return back to the heart so the process can begin again.
Although this is a very complicated process it occurs every day, if the heart makes one mistake then a patient may result into having a serious heart condition. If you have any questions please comment below!



If you have a question, I have answers! Comment them below! Stay Curious xD

Time

I love the concept of time, I love clocks and everything that has to do with planning down to the second. But do I really know what time is? What is time, and how can it be defined?

These are two pretty important questions since we use time everyday. How many times do you look at your clock? Time can be defined as a dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present and into the future. Or at least that is how wiki answers defines it. Time more specifically can be defined as the measure of duration of events and the intervals between them. So what does that mean? Well lets break it down to measuring time, I think that is fairly important!

The 24 hour day is a fundamental starting point for time. A day consist of the obvious period of sunlight followed by night. Our bodies actually rely on the days cycle because we have a cycle specifically through sleep. Each morning we wake up to a new day! We use clocks, one of my favorite things, to divide the day into small increments. We use calenders and planners to help us group these increments together into large and even massive increments.

The measurement of time is broken up into around 25 primary increments. We start out with 1 picosecond, which is one-trillionth of a second. This is about the shortest period of time we can measure. We then move up to 1 nanosecond, a billionth of a second. then 1 microsecond, a millionth of a second. A millisecond, one thousandth of a second. 1 centisecond, one-hundredth of a second. 1 decisencond, one- tenth of a second, which is actually a blink of an eye. To 1 second, the average heart beats 1 second. 1 second soon becomes 60 seconds, which measures to 1 minute. 60 minutes becomes 1 hour, and 8 hours is the typical workday of most Americans. 24 hours, is one day, and the time for planet Earth to rotate one time on its axis. 7 days is one week, and 40 days is the longest a person can survive without food! 365.24 days is one year, and is how long it takes Earth to complete one orbit around the sun. 10 years is a decade, and 75 years is the average life span for a human.  The list goes on and on!

So as you can see time is pretty important, it helps us keep track of pretty much everything!
If you have a question, I have answers! Comment them below! Stay Curious xD


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