Though we're small in numbers but we have big powers!
Bio assignment due on 27JAN
Name of people who had completed will be bold.
Allie ; April ; Crystal ; Denise ; Indira ; Saranya ; Sheryl ; Jesslyn ; Siauxin ; Yunji ; Huiming ; Ruelia ; Peizhen ; Dingheng ; Weesiang ; Zhengguang ; Weixhan ; Weikai ; Issac ; Fengye
P/S: Click on your name, your post will appear.
Allie
Crystal
Sheryl
Jesslyn
Huiming
Lau Wee Siang
January 2010
February 2010
Blogskins.com
LSX
GROWTH
Now we can know the distance of earth to the other planets is become farther and farther. So we can calculate the speed of the universe growth is faster than light. It growth very fast.
EXCRETION/RESPIRATION
The substance and energy in the universe always is same, it never changes. So they do not need that.
REPRODUCTION
A lot of things we can not explain the universe in a reasonable way, so somebody suppose it in a simple way: any change can make the universe be divided, like cell. This reason explain it accordance with time, light speed and a lot of other things.
The adaptability of universe is not well. Because energy is not stable. When a planet was destroyed. The gamma-ray was rayed in Axis.
this ray will destroyed every thing that at the same line with its axis, even the earth. The universe is not a safe place.
So the universe most be alive, the extraordinary evidence from cosmology,biology and physics to show that the universe is not dead but rather uniquely alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DONE BY :FENGYE
But before I elaborate on the main point, let me introduce some facts about feathers. Feathers are important to birds as they provide warmth to the birds and it also helps them to mate and communicate with each other.
So, what are feathers made up of? The feathers are mostly made of keratin which is a tough but flexible protein that is manufactured by the skin cells. KERATIN is also a very light yet strong material. There are different types of feathers like Tail, Semiplume or Downy feathers.
So, are feathers alive? The answer given by many of the scientists are “NO”.
The feathers are dead tissues. They are only alive while developing as they have a blood supply. Feathers are produced by living cells located in small pit-like follicles in a bird's epidermis, its outer skin layer.
The feather is enlarged by the keratin that is protruding straight out from the skin follicle. The feather is dead as soon as it reaches a full size body because the blood supply to the shaft is cut off and the shaft base stiffens. It is also considered dead as it has neither innervations nor a blood supply. The feather is now a fully functional, but non-living structure.
So what happens to the feathers after a long time? They molt. A mature feather is not a living feather so damage or wear on a feather cannot be repaired.
So they go through this process – molting whereby they will replace the whole feather or a large portion of the feather with new feathers. Molting usually occurs when there is nothing major is going on in a bird’s life, like before or after migration or nesting. Molting also takes place systematically, like only a certain part of the feathers will molt first to ensure that the bird can still fly.
As feathers fall out, new ones called pin feathers take their place. They are the living feathers with a blood supply inside them. As the new pin feather matures, a thin sheath of keratin covering protects the pin feather. As the feather continues to mature, the blood supply will dry up and the keratin cover will fall off or be preened off to reveal a new feather.
Even though the scientist and the authors of the sources provided think they are non-living, I beg to differ. I think that they are living things. In a living thing, they should meet the 8 criterias: Movement, Excretion, Irritability/Sensibility, Growth, Reproduction, Adaptability and Nutrition.
Even though the feathers do not excrete or take in nutritions, they still move, they still grow and reproduce.
So, though the feathers do not take in nutrition or excrete, they meet the rest of the criteria. Like, they can move the feathers to enable them to fly, which meets the movement criteria. Birds can adjust the position of their feathers and posture depending on the stimulation of the nerves which shows that they have the irritability/sensibility and adaptability. The feathers also grow up to a certain size which meets the "Growth" criteria. When its time for molting, they reproduce the feathers, new feathers grow, which meets the "Reproduction criteria." Also, they have so many functions. Though the scientists say that the feathers are non-living things, they WERE once a living thing when there was blood supply to them.
Therefore, I think that feathers are living things.
Resoucrces
http://askabiologist.asu.edu/research/bird_feathers/
http://www.earthlife.net/birds/feathers.html
http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/cfeather.html
April(3)
Something is classified as a living or non-living thing according to
- Movement
- Excretion
- Respiration
- Nutrition
- Homeostasis
- Growth
- Reproduction
- Sensitivity
- Adaptability
which are known to be the characteristics of life. Things or objects with these characteristics are usually considered to be a living thing but there are some things which cannot be considered as a living thing just because they have some of these characteristics. For an example, a car is able to move and give off waste materials but it cannot reproduce or grow. From this we can know that when it comes to see whether something is a living or non-living thing, all the characteristics of life must be taken under consideration.
Hence now I am going to find out whether our muscles are actually a living thing or not.
Movement - When the nerves receive a message from the brain, it passes it to the muscles. Only when muscles receive that message, they move in order to help the bones move too.
Excretion - In the primary metabolic waste products, nitrogenous (nitrogen-containing) molecules are also considered to be one. One of those molecules is called creatinine which is derived primarily from a nitrogen-containing molecule known as creatine found in muscle cells.
Respiration - When the rate of maximum aerobic respiration is not fast enough to be able to produce enough energy to meet the demand, our muscles respire anaerobically.
Nutrition - Our muscles depend heavily on the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients we provide them for their health and performance. By making sure they receive the right amount of nutrients, we are helping to keep our muscles strong and healthy.
Homeostasis - Muscles help to protect organs in the body’s hollow places.
Growth - Our muscles grow when our body is resting.
Reproduction - Our muscles do not reproduce.
Sensitivity - Our muscles are sensitive at times.
Adaptability - Micro tears in our muscle tissue when we exercise. Thus, these tissues repair and regenerate themselves while our body takes rest. During this repair process our muscle adapts by becoming bigger to help our body produce more force making your workout easier.
Our muscles have all the characteristics except the fact that they cannot reproduce. Even so, I would like to conclude that our muscles can be considered to be a living thing. For example, some women cannot reproduce too but it does not mean they are considered as non-living things. Same goes for this. Therfore, our muscles are living things!
A picture about our muscles:
Sources: http://www.loc.gov,
http://stanford.wellsphere.com,
Done by:
Indira d/o Magenderen (13)
The Answer is yes.The Human lungs is a living thing.It fulfills the criteria of movement,respiration,nutrition,growth.
Human lung growth starts as a primitive lung bud in early embryonic life and undergoes several morphological stages which continue into postnatal life. Each stage of lung growth is a result of complex and tightly regulated events governed by physical, environmental, hormonal and genetic factors. Fetal lung liquid and fetal breathing movements are by far the most important determinants of lung growth.(Growth)
The air is taken in by the nose and travels down to the to the lungs and the lungs expand and cause the rib cage to therefore expand and this action is repeated on and on again when we respire or take in air.(Movement)
The primary function of the respiratory system is to supply the blood with oxygen in order for the blood to deliver oxygen to all parts of the body. The respiratory system does this through breathing. When we breathe, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This exchange of gases is the respiratory system's means of getting oxygen to the blood.
Respiration is achieved through the mouth, nose, trachea, lungs, and diaphragm. Oxygen enters the respiratory system through the mouth and the nose. The oxygen then passes through the larynx (where speech sounds are produced) and the trachea which is a tube that enters the chest cavity. In the chest cavity, the trachea splits into two smaller tubes called the bronchi. Each bronchus then divides again forming the bronchial tubes. The bronchial tubes lead directly into the lungs where they divide into many smaller tubes which connect to tiny sacs called alveoli. The average adult's lungs contain about 600 million of these spongy, air-filled sacs that are surrounded by capillaries. The inhaled oxygen passes into the alveoli and then diffuses through the capillaries into the arterial blood. Meanwhile, the waste-rich blood from the veins releases its carbon dioxide into the alveoli. The carbon dioxide follows the same path out of the lungs when you exhale.
The diaphragm's job is to help pump the carbon dioxide out of the lungs and pull the oxygen into the lungs. The diaphragm is a sheet of muscles that lies across the bottom of the chest cavity. As the diaphragm contracts and relaxes, breathing takes place. When the diaphragm contracts, oxygen is pulled into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes, carbon dioxide is pumped out of the lungs.(Respiration)
Food provides the body with energy (calories) from three types of sources - protein, fat, and carbohydrates. As the body converts these sources into energy, oxygen is used and carbon dioxide(CO2) is produced.(Nutrition)
By: Isaac
%5B1%5D.jpg)
YES it is considered a living thing because
- MOVEMENT
Our teeth are not permanatly set into the bone they do move. For example when we put braces they put pressure on our tooth and thus they regroup and our teeth shift. The teeth tend to move together during adolescence as the lips and facial muscles continue to get stronger and exert more pressure, after about the age of 50 the opposite happens. Our front teeth also start to fan out. our teeth pushes forward and forms gaps.
- GROWTH
When we are just born we do not have teeth as we grow our teeth grows too around our toddler ages our teeth drops and gets replaced with adult teeths.When we are around the age of 21 our wisdom teeth starts to grow.therefore our teeth do grow why do teeth sometimes grow "crooked"? The reason varies with each person, but scientists say that the way the jaws have developed in modern man can cause this problem. It seems that man's jaws today do not always provide enough room for his teeth. So they appear in a crooked position or become shifted during the period of growth.
- NUTRITION
our teeth needs nutrition too.The main nutrition it needs is calcium to bulid strong teethfor example when a woman bears too many children too quickly, she often begins to have dental problems. If she does not have enough calcium to meet those other needs of herself and the calcium needs of her baby, the calcium in her teeth will begin to be used up.Our teeth also need calcium to maintain Lack of calcium or vitamin D in the diet will result in poor enamel, which will encourage early decay.
Done by:saranya =D
A jellyfish has no head, brain, heart, eyes, nor ears. It has no bones OR bloodeither. It is 95% water!! Do you think that it's alive????
Movement:
Jellyfishes can't swim. They depend on the currents to transport them from
place to place. Some jellyfishes can tighten their bell and then make it bigger.
This pulsating lets them propel themselves upward through the water.
It's similar to letting a filled balloon empty itself.
Excretion:
A jellyfish has a simple digestive system.
It's eats using it's mouth and excrete using it's mouth too.
From this Picture, it shows that Jellyfishes DO reproduce... But only in a different way...
Conclusion: Jellyfishes are ALIVE!
http://www.westmeade.net/Library/jellyfish.htm#where
http://animals.about.com/od/cnidarians/a/tenfactsjellyfi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_fish
Done by: Denise!!!
YES !!
- They can REPRODUCE by forcing
Pre-existing proteins to become a
Prion.
- They can ADAPT in whatever living
Organism they are attached to.
- They can GROW.
- They can RESPIRE.
NO...
- They DO NOT EXCRETE
- They DO NOT EAT
- They DO NOT MOVE
On their own
Done by: Ruelia
We can determine whether an object is a living or a non-living thing by these eight characteristics:
Movement, Excretion, Respiration, Irritability, Growth, Reproduction, Adaptability and Nutrition. Most living things can fulfill all or most of the eight criteria.
So are viruses living or non-living??
What i found out was that:
When found outside of host cells, viruses exist as a protein coat or capsids, sometimes enclosed within a membrane.
Respiration- As they do not have their own metabolism, they cannot change food into chemical energy that the body can use and we all know that the process of changing food into chemical energy is respiration.
Nutrition- They do not have a need for food.
Reproduction- Viruses cannot reproduce by themselves. They must first attach themselves to the cell membrane and then inject a part of their DNA into the cells of the host organisms. As a result, they cannot reproduce normally without a host cell.
Growth- They cannot grow when alone. It must first inject its own DNA structure into the host organism's cell before new virus cells can grow.
Movement- Viruses are not motile, in other words, they cannot move on their own. They hitch rides in the body or anything that touches them.
Excretion- They do not produce their own waste.
From my views and research , i can conclude that viruses are non-living things!!
References:
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212089/virus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus#Life_properties
Done by: Wei Xhan
MINI FACTS ABOUT BONES
A bone in a body consists of both living tissues and non-living substances and is found in all vertebrates. It gives body the structure and protects internal organs. Within the bones, there are blood vessels nerves, collagen and living cells including osteoblasts which are cells to form the bone and osteoclasts which are cells that help to eat away old bones.
Like human beings do, bones also undergo the following processes.
NUTRITION
The growth, development and maintenance of healthy bones require many different nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D, phosphorous, magnesium and protein to make the bones hard and support body weight.
MOVEMENT
Bones can move because of the way they are joined together. The place where two or more bones meet is called a joint. The bones at a joint are held together by strong bands of tissue called ligaments which allow the bones to move. Some examples of such movable joints can be found at the shoulder where the ball and socket joints allow us to swing our arms in a circular motion and at the knee where the hinge joint allows the leg to move back and forth in one direction. It is also found at the neck where the pivot hinge allows the neck to twist and rotate slightly.
REPRODUCTION
Reproduction is the production of new individuals for the survival of the species.
An international team of biomedical engineers has demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to grow healthy new bone reliably in one part of the body and use it to repair damaged bone at a different location. This indicates the ‘production’ of these new individual organisms – bones through the biological process that can also be known as reproduction.
SENSITIVITY/ADAPABILITY
Bone is especially sensitive to the impact of weight and pull of muscle during exercise as well as other physical activities. Therefore it responds by building stronger, denser bones. Continual physical stress stimulates calcification and osteoblastic deposition of bone, producing stronger bones.
GROWTH
Things change over time, so are bones!
When you were a baby, you had tiny hands, tiny feet. Slowly, as you grew older, everything became bigger, including your bones.
A baby's body has about 300 bones at birth. Some of a baby’s bones are made of a soft and flexible material called cartilage. When one grows up, the cartilage grows and is slowly replaced by bone, with help from calcium. They eventually fuse together to form the 206 bones that adults have. The bones can continue to grow until one reach the age of about 21 years old.
EXCRETION
In bones, there are bone tissues and these tissues store several minerals, including calcium and phosphorus. When required, bone ‘excretes’ minerals into the blood to facilitate the balance of minerals in the body.
HOMEOTASIS
The skeletal system constantly remodels old bone tissue with new ones. The metabolism of bone tissue is a continuous process, as new tissue is formed to replace either old bone matter or injured tissue. The main work in the metabolism of bones is accomplished by osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Osteoclasts destroy old tissue and get rid the metabolism of minerals and collagen. On the other hand, the osteoblasts begin the process of bone formation and enrich the metabolism with minerals and collagen, so that there is enough calcium and minerals to form the bones which can grow properly and remain strong throughout our lives.
Bone homeostasis occurs when all the elements in the system works properly.
RESPIRATION
The bone tissues in the bones undergo tissue respiration which is the release of energy to enable it to grow and move and for other processes too.
In conclusion, bone is a LIVING THING since it fulfils all the criteria to be grouped under living things.
Done by: Lee Zhen Guang
Viruses consists two or three parts. All virus have genes made from either DNA or RNA. They also have a protein coat that protects these genes. Some even have envelope of fat that surrounds them when they are outside a cell.
All virus have genes, they do not have a cellular structure, which is often seen as the basic unit of life.
We are taught how to differentiate living things from non living things by the eight characteristics of life.
Movement: Virus do not move. When a virus is being swallowed or inhaled, it rides along whatever it is until it contacts the receptor on a cell that it likes.
Reproduction: Viruses do not reproduce on their own. Viruses do not have their own metabolism and requires a host cell to make new products. Therefore, they cannot naturally reproduce outside a host cell.
Growth: Viruses do not grow. They only grow and develop in their cells of their specific hosts.
Respiration and Nutrition: Viruses depends on their hosts for respiration and nutrition.
Hence, I can conclude that viruses are non-living things.
2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus#Life_properties
3.http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212089/virus.htm
4.http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:gD4wFg1INskJ:stm.nbed.nb.ca/rconnors/Virus%2520Notes.doc+do+viruses+grow+develop&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=sg
Done by: Jesslyn ^^
As what everyone is telling me, the eight main characteristics which classifies organism into living or non living things are, movement, excretion, respiration, irritabilty, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutritions. Do people consider things that hanging above the sky, living or non-living things? I will use the characteristics above to debate if "Clouds" are considered as living things. In addition, not everything must have the eight main characteristics to be categorise as living thing.
[Facts about CLOUDS]
Everyone knows that clouds are formed by evaporating the water from the land or the sea into water vapour. After that, they will condense and become tiny water droplets. When a billion of tiny water droplets are surrounded, they will become visible as clouds. The reason why the colour of the clouds is because they tend to deflect light efficiently, so that the intensity of the solar radiation will decrease, therefore, it will appear white in colour. In the other hand, when the clouds appear in black in colour, it absorbs the light and the solar radiation will increase due to the large spaces causes between the droplets. This causes the clouds to appear in black colour.
[Movement]
As what I have said, clouds are form by billions of tiny water droplets and because liquid is a form of matter, therefore, it has mass. When there are strong currents of wind blowing at the clouds, they will move towards the direction where the wind is blowing. Although clouds do not move by itself, with a help of the strong currents of wind, they able to move around. This is the meaning of movement for clouds!
[Excretion]
Clouds do excrete too. Unlike human, we used to discharge our waste out from our body as faeces. For clouds, tiny water droplets are gathered together and when they get heavier, it will fall as rain down to the ground again. From this, the water cycle we are familiar with will keep on repeating. The process of precipitation is therefore known as "excretion".
[Growth]
When humans ingest food, it will break down into smaller pieces in order to give us energy that enable to develop and grow bigger in size. The logic is the same for the clouds. As more water vapour is condensed into water droplets and surround to become a cloud, it will literally grow bigger in size. Therefore, all clouds are not of the same size.
[Adaptability]
Like what everybody is talking about, weather is unpredictable. It will rain or shine unpredictably, and therefore, living things have to adapt to unstable environment. Like human, clouds also have the ability to adapt to surrounding. They will either expose to the hot sun or facing a drop of surrounding temperature.
[Nutritions]
Living things need take in nutrients from variety of food in order to survive. It is important take in sufficient amount of nutrients to maintain a healthy diet. For clouds, the only nutrients to take in is water vapour. Interestingly, clouds take in "nutrients" which is water vapours in order to grow larger. In human's digestive system, the organs in our body is given different duties to obtain energy. In clouds, their processes to change the state of matter is their "organs", they condense water vapours into water droplets and obtain the "energy" to make grow larger.
In conclusion, I feels that CLOUDS are the LIVING THINGS ! ! :D
- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Bright_red_clouds_at_sun_rise.JPG
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud
- http://images.free-extras.com/pics/c/clouds-1253.jpg
- http://www.wxdude.com/page9.html
Is human hair a living thing or a non-living thing?
We need to base on the eight characteristics to determine whether
the object is living thing or non living:
-movement -excretion - respiration -irritability - growth
-reproduction -adaptability - nutrition
But not all the living thing need this eight characteristics.
I found out that
A hair is a specialized outgrowth of part of the skin called the epidermis. It has two distinct parts: the hair follicle and the hair shaft. It also comprises of three layers called the medulla, an inner core, an outer layer called the cuticle and a layer in between called the cortex.
Growth:
Human hair grows at different rates depending on the amount of natural light, which varies according to the time of the year: it grows a little bit faster the winter than in summer.
Nutrition :
A hair follicle is a tiny cup-shaped pit buried deep in the fat of the scalp. The follicle is the point from which the hair grows. It is well supplied with minute blood vessels, and the blood passes through them nourishes the growing region.
Adaptability :
Hair performs a variety of functions. Some are listed below:
Form an insulating coat on the body. Trap a layer of still air just outside the skin, and thereby reduce loss of heat by radiation.
Absorb harmful radiations from the sun.
Keep out coarse dust particles, as in eyelashes, hair in the nasal chambers and ear canals.
Eyebrows prevent water or perspiration from falling into eyes, due to their particular direction.
By : Huiming =)
Sometimes, it is difficult to determine which organism is classified under living or non living things.
The criteria for an organism to be classified as a living thing is base on the eight characteristic which is ,Movement,Excretion ,Respiration,Irritability ,Growth,Reproduction,Adaptability ,Nutrition. Living things have most or all of the eight criteria.
Does the lizard tail has a mind of its own when it's being shed off? The shed tail moves complexly, so is it considered as a living thing?
My aim is to conclude whether the lizard tail is a living thing or not.
Shedding its tail is a common anti-predator defense among lizards. When attacked, many lizards drops the wriggling tail and escapes. The predator often feasts on the tail while the lizard runs to safety.
Movement- The shed tails of the lizard wiggles. The movements of the shed tail is because of the far end of the tail, in a part of the spinal cord,at which it wiggles continuously.
Respiration- The shed tail does not convert nutrients into useful energy in a cell. Neither does it exchange carbon dioxide for fresher air.
Growth- The shed tail does not grow anymore as it is detached from the lizard. However, the lizard would grow a new tail afterwards. It will no longer grow either because
Nutrition- The shed tail no longer needs nutrients or no longer can obtain nutrients.
Excretion- The shed tail does not produce its own waste.
Therefore I concluded that the lizard tale is NOT a living thing~!
Reference.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090325170604.htm
Done by,
Crystal Chua :D
Living things, in terms of biology,is a characteristic which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matters, including capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death.
For somethings, it is quite difficult to say that if it is a living thing or not. But, with the help or definitions of this eight characteristics, we will be able to easily tell if it is a living thing or not, with existing evidence.
The eight characteristics are movement, excretion, respiration, irritability, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutrition.
IS HUMAN HEART A LIVING THING OR NOT?
The answer is yes, it is a living thing. It matches with some of the eight characteristics.
Movement: The heart have muscles to pump blood around the body. There is electric energy which stimulates the heart occurs in the sinoatrial node. Sinoatrial node is the impulse-generating tissue located in the right atrium. It is a group of cells modified as cardiac myocytes,like all muscle cells, have refractory periods,controlling the heart rate.
Growth and reproduction: As learn in science, cells do reproduce in certain methods. In this case, for myocytes, it is the fusing of myoblast where there are mutiple of nuclei. They grow uncontrollably.
Nutrition: Some of the key proteins are important for cell adhesion between myocytes and some are involved in adhesion-dependent cell-to-cell signal transduction that allows for a cascade of cell fusion events.
Here are some pictures for further understanding:
this is a real heart!!!
its inside???
this is a sinoatrial node .
Even deeper???
myocytes, the cells
In conclusion, human heart is a living thing.
done by : allie(1):D
resources:wikepedia- human heart
CANCER CELLS
Is cancer cell a living or a non-living thing?
There are eight characteristics to determine whether a thing is a living or a non-living thing. They are: Movement, Excretion, Respiration, Irritability, Growth, Reproduction, Adaptability and Nutrition. Not all living things have to possess all eight characteristics. Even if a plant does not move, it is still a living thing.
Movement: Cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel to other areas of the body, where they keep growing and can go on to form new tumors. When the cancer cells travel to other areas of the body, it is actually moving around.
Growth: Cancer cells have characteristics that can be linked to their ability to grow and divide uncontrollably.
Reproduction: Cancer cells do not stop reproducing after they have doubled for about 50 to 60 times.
Nutrition: If cancer cells are supplied with nutrients, they will divide themselves over and over again, time after time. This shows that if nutrients are provided, the cancer cell will keep on dividing.
Therefore, I would conclude that a cancer cell is a living thing.
Sources: Link1 Link2 Link3 Link4 Link5
Done by: Peizhen
Are nails living thing?
According to my research,i found out that all living things fulfill the following criteria: movement, excretion, respiration, irritability, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutrition.Those things that does not have these Characteristics are non-living things.
Fingernails are not living things.
But people might ask why is it considered a non-living thing and it can grow? That is because fingernails do not have blood cells and veins to provide the fingernails with nutrients. Besides that, fingernails are just like your hair, it is made up of a tough protein called Keratin and are produced from living skin cells in the fingers. That is why we will not bleed or feel pain when cutting fingernails and eventually it will go back. In addition; fingernails are proteins deposits that grow as needed. None of these features fufill any characteristics of a living thing.Therefore,i have proven that fingernails are non-living thing.
What is the purpose of having fingernails? Having fingernails give our fingers support, scratch itchy areas and gives us a better grip on objects. If we do not have fingernails growing on our finger tips, it would be soft to grip things. Furthermore, the nail acts as a protective plate and enhances sensation on our fingertips. As a result, fingernails are not presented to act as a counterforce to tip of the finger when an object is touched.
The anatomy of the fingernail.
At the base of the nail bed is the germinal matrix, which give rise to the nail. The dorsal fold that lies on the surface of the nil is the eponychium. The paronychium makes up the lateral borders. When the edges of the nail are subjected to minor trauma, hangnails are formed. The junction of the nail bed and fingertip skin is the hyponychium. The sterile matrix (the nail bed) adheres to the nail by adding squalors epithelial cells to the advancing nail, making it stronger thicker and more adherent.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_(anatomy)
http://www.answers.com/
DONE BY:WEIKAI
I'm doing my project based on this eight criteria to a living or non-living organism.
M- Movement
E- Excretion
R-Respiration
I- Irritability
G- Growth
R- Reproduction
A- Adaptability
N- Nutrition
An organism is classified as "Living" or "Non-Living" based on the eight criteria and normally, an organism which possesses most of the criteria are classified as "Living" and organism which does not posses most of the criteria are classified as "Non-living". But vegetables respire and they do not move or excrete, so do we classify them as non-living things?
I'm writing about ...
Whether if nail e.g Finger nail, toe nail still attached to a living organism's body part is a living thing.
Nails are made up of tough protein called keratin
Nail can grow and it needs nutrition to grow.
FACT :
- if a nail is dead, it can still regrow.
- Nails are being labeled into parts.
- Nails are like skin, they can be dried, infected, peel or break.
Maybe some of you might think that, the most important criteria for a living thing is to respire but i think the most important criteria is nutrition. Without nutrition, nothing can grow and you probably won't have the energy to respire.
Therefore, in my conclusion, I think nails are living things. Actually most of the living things around us seem dead, but if you look carefully and study them, you'll realized you're wrong.
Sources : Link1
Movement, excretion, respiration, irritability, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutrition. Something which has all those characteristics is classified as a living thing while those which do not have all those characteristics are classified as non-living things. But not every living thing must have all those characteristics to be known as a living thing. A human in coma would not be moving so should we classify him as a non-living thing? It is still a living thing. Therefore, I am going to debate whether a star is a living or non-living thing.
Movement →The stars may look fixed, but that is an illusion of time and space. They are so far away the human eye alone cannot detect their motions on the sky. If we could reduce several million years of their motion to a minute's time, we would see many of the brighter ones racing across the sky like meteors. There really is no such thing as a fixed star.
Growth→ Stars expand as they grow old. As the core runs out of hydrogen and then helium, the core contacts and the outer layers expand, cool, and become less bright. This is a red giant or a red super giant (depending on the initial mass of the star). It will eventually collapse and explode. Its fate is determined by the original mass of the star; it will become either a black dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.
Respiration→ A star is born when an enormous cloud of hydrogen gas collapses until it is hot enough to burn nuclear fuel.Ionized gas (Stellar wind) is ejected from the surface of a star (including the Sun). Older (evolved) stars give off stronger stellar winds than younger stars.
Nutrition→ Stars are fueled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to form helium deep in their interiors. The outflow of energy from the central regions of the star provides the pressure necessary to keep the star from collapsing under its own weight, and the energy by which it shines.
A picture of the wonderful stars! FACTS: OUR SUN IS A STAR!
Stars twinkle because the light we see coming from them travels through the atmosphere around the earth and there is turbulence in the earth's atmosphere.
The sky is beautiful!
Sources: Link1 , Link2 , Link3 , Link4
Done by : Ding Heng and I love the sky!
Telling the difference between living and non-living things is not always the easiest thing for some people. In science, there are general rules that scientists follow in order to determine if something is living or not. In order for something to be considered living it must observe all 8 of the following characteristics: movement, excretion, respiration, irritability, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutrition.
Fungi is a living thing because it is able to move, respire, grow, reproduce, adapt to surrounding and eat.
(Movement)
Fungi are the evolutionary champions of fast movement and use a variety of mechanisms to propel themselves into the air
(Respiration)
They do cellular respiration because they are Heterotrophy. In other words, they cannot produce their own food. Cellular respiration usually happens in the mitochondrion of the cells.
(Growth & Adaptability)
The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios.[48] Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues
(Nutrition)
Fungi are saprophytes. When they find a source of food, they decompose it and digest it. The enzymes break down larger organic molecules in the substrate into smaller molecules. These smaller molecules diffuse into the fungus, where they are used to allow growth and repair.
(Reproduction)
Fungi can reproduce in two ways. Firstly, they make asexually produce through fragmentation. This occurs when pieces of hyphae are broken off, which then grow into new mycelia. The second method is by spores. Spores are lightweight structures and windblown designed to be transported over long distances and by many mediums, such as on the bodies of insects and birds.
A picture of fungi cell (click it to see clearly) :
Done By : YUNJI 우영♥
Bacteria :
To identify whether an object or a thing is a living thing or a non-living thing, it must have the 8 characteristic which are movement, excretion, respiration, irritability, growth, reproduction, adaptability and nutrition.
Yes, bacteria is a living thing because it has the ability to move, respire, adapt to surrounding, reproduce, grow, have nutrients and they can also eat. Here are some of the evidence to prove that bacteria is a living thing.
Bacteria are living things because, of the following reasons:Some bacteria have flagella because those with flagella are able to move on its own whereas those which do not have, cannot move on its own. (MOVEMENT)
According to science, cells are able to reproduce so that they can survive, have off spring and also to spread the disease and prevent it from being killed and extinct. To reproduce, it will go through the process called Conjugation which means to join and exchange genetic materials with other bacteria. When it has finished with the exchange they go through the process of Binary Fission for the makeup of genetic bacteria. (REPRODUCTION)
Same as other organisms, bacteria have survival needs too. They need to eat and digest. And when they digest, they respire using oxygen too. (INGESTING & RESPIRATION)
Protecting themselves in the environment is also one of their needs. Different bacteria have different ways of survival but most bacteria break down and chemicals within their environment to obtain food. When bacteria feed on the decay matters and breaking down chemical, they are obtaining nutrients like protein. (NUTRIENTS)
Bacteria form Endospores that are very resistant and can protect a bacteria's genetic material from freezing, heating, and drying out. When the bacteria are landed at a suitable environment, the Endospores open up and the bacteria will be able to spread, grow and multiply. (GROWTH & ADAPTIBILITY)
SOME FACTS:
Bacteria are decomposers that fed on decaying matter and also break them down.
Bacteria can be both harmful and helpful. There are good and bad bacteria. Good bacteria are those which help us prevent other harmful bacteria from growing and they help us digest our food that we eat. Bad bacteria are those which cause us to fall ill.
Bacteria are Prokaryotic cells which mean they are cells without nucleus.
There is variety of different bacteria in life.
A picture illustrating a bacteria:
Link for this source: Bacteria
First of the first.
For those who have blogger accounts, kindly give it to me, to allow you access of the blog. So to save you the trouble from signing in and out of blogger accounts just to post.
While those who doesn't have and don't know how to use blogger....
Please go ... Www.blogger.com, log in using
Find out the password from me. Thanks lots eh.
& Remember, Biology project will be due in Day8, which is the 27January.
Good luck with that.