Monday, January 17, 2011

Cloning Mimi!

In class we did an online activity having to do with cloning. The activity took us step-by-step showing how to clone a mouse called Mimi. Here's what we used and did:

Materials:

Mimi (Mouse we clone), Megdo (Egg cell donor), Momi (Surrogate mother to grow Mimi clone), Microscope, Petri dishes, Sharp pipette, Blunt pipette, Chemical to cell division

Procedures:

  1. Isolate donor cells from Mimi and Megdo
  2. Remove and discard the nucleus from the egg cell
  3. Transfer the somatic cell nucleus into the encleated egg cell
  4. Stimulate cell division
  5. Implant the embryo into Momi, the surrogate mother
  6. Deliver the baby mouse clone of Mimi

All the steps for this were really simple, but they taught me a lot. After isolating the donor cells from Mimi and Megdo, then removing and discarding the nucleus from the egg cell I moved on to step 3. During this time it told me that the new DNA and the egg cell need some time to adjust with one another. Basically this is supposed to take a couple hours for the DNA to "re-boot" or "reprogram" so that it behaves like the DNA of an egg cells, but thankfully they speed up the time to a couple seconds.

Then I got to do some technology based mitosis and stimulated the egg cell. I got to use this real interesting liquid chemical called "Divided-a-Lot". (I know, they're so creative!) Now, usually after doing so the cell divides, creating a ball of 16 cells. Once again which naturally takes up to several hours took the program no more than several seconds.  So then I put the embryo in the womb of Momi, and the embryo continued to increase. It began to differentiate its cells into various tissue types which went on for 19 more days. Then a baby was born! :) It looked just like Mimi because its genetic material came from Mimi. It was called Mini Mimi -aha!-

When the activity was done it showed that the testing worked obviously. The most interesting thing about this activity was that it was actually based on scientists who did the actual experiment in 1998, at the University of Hawaii. This procedure was based on the research protocol that was used as a giant landmark in experiments involving cloning. This was a totally cool experiment. I didn't really understand the whole cloning thing until I went step-by-step and did it. I would encourage anyone go do this activity! :)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Class of 2011! :)

So recently I read this article (located at http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html) talking about things that High School students WISH they'd known while in school. I was kind of blown away. Most of the time all you hear from adults is the typical speech about school. You'll never go anywhere without graduating high school and college is all that parents like to shove into our tiny little heads. As if they weren't filled with the paranoia of failing already! The honesty is this author's paper has opened up my mind a little. Here I was already trying to choose a job that would help me be "set for life" instead of trying to figure out what I really want out of life.

Yes, I completely understand that if I want to be financial stable and don't have the natural talents of "Shakespeare", as the author would say,  then I have to do good in school. Now-a-days, with our nation in a horrible economical situation as is, you really can't get a job without having some kind of education. My parents have already rammed me about how if my grades continue the way the are I'm not going to go as far as flipping burgers, or working at Wal-Mart for the rest of my life. It never really bothered me as much as it does right now though. Maybe that'll be all I want out of life, who knows? Who are they to tell me what I should and should not do for the rest of my life? This article has inspired me to go after I want, really want, not just what others "believe" is right for me. Maybe working at Wal-Mart is all I'll ever want (Seriously doubt it, but still) I want to do what I want, and be happy. Honestly, I can understand why my parents push me so much at time, I get it. Parents always want their kids to do better then they have in their life. I guess, I just wish they would lighten up on me a little and let me figure things out on my own. How am I supposed to figure out what I want out of life if all I'm ever taught is to go by what everyone is telling me?

Now, I'm not saying that this article has like, changed my life or anything. In fact, considering that I'm one of the biggest procrastinators you'll ever meet, didn't really help my whole "I do what I want" speech. That's kind of a big disaster in the making.

"I do what I want" + procrastination = ONE LAZY DESI GETTING BUTT CHEWED :P

I've seen my parents struggle with a whole lot financial problems, and I don't want to ever be in their situation. I already know I want to go to college, and major in something I really enjoy. I was really paranoid about what to do after High School before this article. I was worried about making the wrong decisions for my life, and choosing something based on financial growth instead of what my heart was telling me. That's all I've ever known because that's all I've ever really been told. I'm just glad someone had the pleasure of writing such a honest article. I was starting to believe that my fate was already set for me. Now, I think I might actually take the time to sit back and ENJOY High School. I might live a little more, hang out with friends, and just find out who I really am. You know what they say, these are the best times of our lives! :)