Category: 1st Semester

Who Ate the Cheese

 

Who Ate the Cheese?!

Introduction:

DNA isolation from blood, hair, skin cells, or other genetic evidence left at the scene of a crime can be compared with the DNA of a criminal suspect to determine guilt or innocence. This is due to the fact that every person has a different sequence. Scientists use a small number of sequences of DNA that are known to vary among individuals, and analyze those to get a possibility of a match.  DNA is isolated, cut using restriction enzymes and sorted by size by gel electrophoresis. DNA is placed in a gel and an electrical charge is applied to the gel. The positive charge is at the top and the negative charge is at the bottom. Because DNA has a slightly negative charge, the pieces of DNA will be attracted to the bottom. The smaller pieces move more quickly towards the bottom than the larger pieces. The DNA can then be analyzed.

Objectives:

In this simulation you will examine crime scene evidence to determine who is responsible for eating the Queen’s special imported Lindbergher Cheese (yes, the stinky cheese). You will model the process of electrophoresis and DNA fingerprinting.

ROYAL GUARD INCIDENT REPORT

Incident Data

Incident Type: Theft Complaint Status Pending DNA results
Processed by: Chief Wiggam Other Officers: Officer Li Gase

Property

Property Code: Rare cheese Owner’s Name Queen Elizabeth
Name: Lindbergher Value: $12,000

Burglary Data

Method of Entry: Unknown, no evidence of force on doors or windows.

Narrative: The cheese was allegedly stolen from the Queen’s sitting room the night before the grand ball. The cheese was listed as a gift from the Manchurian diplomat. Officer Li Gase dusted for fingerprints and found none on the table or doors, the maid claimed that they had been wiped clean earlier. The wheel of cheese was on a platform in the sitting room, and half of it had been eaten. We took pictures of the half eaten cheese and sent it to the lab for further tests. Edna N. Zime, the lab technician said that saliva samples could be taken from the teeth imprints of the cheese that was left behind.

Suspect Data

Suspect Number: 1
Name: Princess Dubbah Elix
Description of Suspicion: The princess was seen entering the sitting room earlier in the evening. She is well known for her love of cheese.

Suspect Number 2
Name: Electra Foresis
Description of Suspicion: Electra was recently involved in a relationship with the Manchurian diplomat that sources say ended badly. Her motive may have been to sabotage the diplomat’s gift to the Queen.

Suspect Number 3
Name: Ada Nine
Description of Suspicion: Ada was the maid in charge of cleaning the sitting room. She had access to the cheese.

Suspect Number 4
Name: Gene Tics
Description of Suspicion: Gene is the leader of the local Cheese-Makers Guild, he may not have wished for Queen Elizabeth to have cheese from anywhere but his own guild.

Crime Lab Data

Crime Lab Investigator R. Renee Lab Technician Edna N. Zime
List of Evidence Received Plastic bag with cheese crumbs List of Procedures Used DNA extraction
Polymerase Chain Reaction
DNA restriction Analysis

Narrative: After receiving the package with the plastic bag marked Crime Scene, the DNA was extracted. Because the sample was so mall, the DNA was amplified using the polymerase chain reaction. We isolated the DNA from the four suspects and compared them to the crime scene DNA using DNA restriction analysis.

Results: See attached DNA Results

DNA Evidence Evaluation:

1. Turn your paper strips (DNA sequences) so that the side with the bases is facing you. The restriction enzyme cuts at every point it finds C C G G, always cutting between the C and the G. Label the back of the slips with the suspect number so that you don’t get them confused after cutting. Use scissors to cut the DNA sequence at the C C G G points.

2. Count the number of base pairs (bp) in each piece of DNA that you created. Record the base pair number on the back side of the DNA fragment.

3. Make an enlarged chart like the one shown. Your teacher will give you paper for this. Use a ruler to ensure that the lengths are uniform.

4. Tape your DNA fragments to the chart, using the base pair numbers as a guideline for fragment placement.

5. Compare the crime scene DNA to the suspects and indicate on your chart, which suspect is guilty of eating the cheese.

 

 

 

ANALYSIS:

1. On your chart, label the positive (+) and the negative (-) ends. Circle the suspect’s DNA who matches the DNA at the crime scene and write the name of the suspect.

2. For each of the following tasks performed in the activity, describe what they are actually simulating.

Cutting the DNA into fragments:

 

Taping the DNA onto the large paper:

 

3. For each word below, describe how it relates to DNA Fingerprinting:

Polymerase Chain Reaction:

 

Gel Electrophoresis:

 

Restriction Enzyme:

 


BACK

What is Ecology PPT Questions

 

What is Ecology?
By Susan Lundy

 

1.  Definition:

2.      It ________________ how living organism affect each other and the world they live in.
3.      ____________________ is the place a plant or animal lives in.
4.      ____________________ is an organism’s total way of life (its job)
5.      ____________________ factors are the nonliving parts of an organism’s environment.
6.      4 Examples of abiotic factors are:

 

7.      _____________________ factors are all the living organisms that inhabit an environment.

8.      Some things that organism’s rely on each other are _________________, ______________________, __________________ or _________________

9.      What are the levels of simple organization from simplest to most complex?

10.      _________________________ have organized the interactions an organism takes part in to different levels according to ________________

11.     Level 1 Organism:

12.     Level 2 Population:

13.     Level 3 Biological Community:

14.     Level 4 Ecosystem:

15.     Level 5 Biosphere:

16.      Where can you find life?

 

Where the Hippos Roam

 

Where the Hippos Roam
Holt, Rinehart, Winston

Introduction:

    Millions of years ago, ancestors of modern crocodiles lurked in the shallow waters of lakes and other bodies of water. They hunted fish and other animals, much as their descendants do today. If you could travel back in time to visit one of those lakes, you might see the ancestors of today’s hippos there as well. Antelopes might browse along the edges of the lake, and rodents of various sizes might scurry back and forth. When paleontologists examine the fossil of a prehistoric organism, they may discover clues about the organism’s life. They may also answer questions about the environment it lived in: Was the area hot or cold? Was it humid or dry? Then, by putting all of these clues together, the paleontologists may be able to learn a little more about how organisms and environments change over time. Unfortunately, studying a fossil site is no easy task! Often, a paleontologist may find a few teeth scattered over a very large area. In such cases, keeping track of where the fossils were found is very important. 

    In this activity, you will use the data from a fossil site to create a map of fossil locations at that site. Then you will make some conclusions about the past environment, or paleoenvironment, at that location. The table below shows the locations of fossils that were found spread out over 22,500 m2. A team of paleontologists decided that this site, which measured 150 m x 150 m, was too large to work on all at once. Therefore, they decided to create a grid of 10 m squares.

    Starting in the northwest corner, they labeled the squares with the letters A-O from west to east. Then the team numbered the squares 1-15 from north to south. In this way, each fossil could be labeled with a letter and a number, depending on where it was found. For instance, the label A1 would signify the 10 m x 10 m square in the northwest corner of the site. Similarly, the label O15 would indicate the square in the southeast corner of the site.

Activity:

Location of Fossils
Layer Hippos Rodents Crocodiles *Bovids
A B11,C6,D3, I15,J10,L7, M6 C14,F7,G13, I3,L13,O2
B F2,J3,K1,K2 B10,B11,F13 H2,I7,K2, N5,N7 G14
C B3,C10,D1, H8,M9,N4 A5,A6,E2, E4,E14,H7, H8,H12,K4, M1,N15

* Bovids are antelopes and other similar animals

Problem:

  1. Create a map of the fossil site. The scale should be 1 cm = 10 m. Label the grid of squares with letters and numbers.
  2. Using letters, show where the fossils were found. (Put an H in each square where a hippo tooth was found; use R to indicate a rodent tooth, use C to show a crocodile tooth, and B for a bovid tooth.
  3. Use a different color for each layer of sediment, and make a key to show which colors are which. (Example: Layer A – red, Layer B – blue, Layer C – green)
  4. Based on the distribution of fossils in level B, what part of this site might have been covered by water? Devise a way to indicate that part on you map. (Example: Lightly shade with a color)

Questions:

  1. Explain why you chose to shade part of your map as once covered in water. (What fossil clues helped you.)

 

 

  1. Describe how the environment at this site changed through time.

 

 

  1. One member of the team wished to look for fossils of dry-climate plants at this site. Which layer or layers do you think would be most likely to yield fossils of this kind? Explain your answer.

 

 

  1. When the paleontologists were analyzing these data, they proposed several hypotheses to explain the changing climate. One of them suggested that tectonic uplift had occurred, causing the area to gain elevation over time. A second paleontologist disagreed, stating that the area probably lost elevation over time. Whom do you agree with? Explain your answer .

 

 

 

Water in Carrot Lab

 

How Much Water is in a carrot?

 

Introduction:

Life exists on Earth because of the abundance of liquid water. Water makes up anywhere from 70 to 90% of the body weight of living things. Living things are composed of atoms and molecules within aqueous solutions (solutions that have materials dissolved in water).  At most temperatures on the surface of the earth, water is a liquid. In this state, water is an excellent solvent, and because there is so much of it available on the earth’s surface, water is home (oceans, lakes and rivers) to much of life. Water has been referred to as the universal solvent. Water is also involved in many metabolic processes within organisms.

Water is a polar molecule and can bond both to itself and to other water molecules by weak attractions called hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonding is responsible for the unusual thermal properties of water including a high specific heat capacity and a high heat of vaporization.

Specific heat is defined as the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance 1°C. Since it takes much more energy that normal to break all the hydrogen bonds in liquid water, water resists rapid temperature fluctuations, adding stability to earth’s environments where liquid water is plentiful.

The heat of vaporization is defined as the energy needed to change the phase of a liquid to a gas. Again, because of the number and relative strength of water’s hydrogen bonds, it takes a great deal of energy to break a molecule free of its liquid partners. Heat of vaporization causes a cooling effect because as the warmer molecules evaporate from your skin they take the heat energy with them, leaving you cooler.

Objective:

Students will design and conduct an experiment to determine the amount of water present in a carrot.

Materials:

Some materials that will be available for you to use are plates, vegetable peelers, knives, graters, knee-hi stockings, foil, microwave, blow dryers, plastic bags, and paper towels.  Any other materials you use must be approved by the teacher first (No dehydrators!).

Procedure:

  1. Begin by weighing and recording the mass of the carrot.
  2. Estimate the water content present in your carrot.
  3. Develop a hypothesis for the amount of water in a carrot.
  4. Write the materials needed and procedure you will be using to extract the water.
  5. After having your hypothesis and procedure approved by the teacher, conduct the experiment.
  6. Be sure to include an introduction, procedure, data, data analysis, and a conclusion in your lab report.