RNA

RNA

     In my last blog post I talked about DNA but today we will talk about the secret weapon of DNA: RNA.

     RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is responsible for a lot of different jobs in a cell. Most of these jobs involve the making of proteins. Instructions for how to make proteins are encoded into your DNA, but DNA can’t communicate on its own with the organelles (cell organs) that produce them. RNA takes the “recipes” for proteins from the DNA, carries them over to the ribosome and translates the recipes so that the ribosome knows what to do with them. Instead of thymine RNA has uracil.

 

     While DNA is like a spiral staircase RNA is a spiral staircase sawed in half. Both DNA and RNA are long chains of nucleotides, or pairs of nucleic acid bases. DNA is double-stranded and contains a sugar molecule called deoxyribose. RNA is single-stranded and does not contain deoxyribose; it contains the sugar ribose instead. RNA is transcribed from DNA and is necessary for the creation of proteins in cells. In addition, RNA can have a much larger variety of nucleic acid bases. This gives RNA a wider variety of shapes and functions. DNA is made mostly of just four bases, and it serves one particular function. most living things have RNA and DNA but some living things only have RNA.

 

     Now for the different types of RNA. The different types are mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA. the job of mRNA or messenger RNA is to carry the protein recipes of that the DNA made to the ribosomes. Basically DNA is the engineer, RNA is the messenger and the ribosomes are the factory. Oh wait, the ribosomes can't understand what the RNA is saying. Duh duh duhhhhhhhh. The world is going to end. Nooooooooooooooooooo. Wait, we brought a translator. Yay. TRNA for the win!!! The tRNA or translator RNA is basically a translator. Now for the rRNA or the ribosome RNA. It just got bored of staying in a nucleus so it moved to the ribosomes. Ribosomes are actually part RNA. The rRNA is the one that makes proteins.

 

It would be funny if this bog was longer than my DNA one. Oh wait.....

 

This has been Epicraptor and I hope you learned something.

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DNA/RNA info

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DNA

DNA

 

Deoxyribonucleic acid is what DNA stands for. Quite a mouthful isn't it? Hey Epicraptor here and I am going to talk about DNA. Everybody has a unique DNA. DNA is located in the chromosomes which are present inside the nucleus.It's arranged in a spiral shape called a double helix. The sides of the ladder are made of sugar and phosphate molecules and the rungs are made up of nitrogen base pairs. The base pairs are cytosine, thymine, adenine and guanine. Since the DNA chain is so long, the base pairs can arrange themselves in millions of sequences. The base pairs have a specific code for arranging themselves. Thymine can only pair with adenine and cytosine and guanine can only pair up together. So why is DNA so important? Because DNA is basically a blue print for you. DNA contains information for an organism's growth and function.

As stated in my previous mitosis blog chromosomes reproduce by mitosis.When chromosomes are duplicated before mitosis, the amount of DNA inside the nucleus is doubled. The two sides of DNA helix unwind and separate from each other. Each side then becomes a pattern of which a completely new side forms.The new DNA has bases that are exactly identical to those of the original DNA and are in the same order. In 1952 scientist Rosalind Franklin discovered that DNA is two chains of molecules in a spiral shape. In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick made the first DNA model.

You may or may not have seen a crime in a movie where the Crime scene investigators find some DNA left behind. DNA can be found in blood, sweat, hair strands and fingerprints. Since no two people in the world have the same DNA, crime investigators try to analyze the DNA. The DNA found at the crime scene is then matched with the suspects DNA. If it is a match then the suspect can be arrested for the crime.

This has been Epicraptor and I hope you learned more about DNA today.

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Cell division and Mitosis

Hey everyone! Epicraptor here ready to discuss mitosis. Cell division is the division of a dying cell to form two new cells. Mitosis is when the nuclei divide into two new identical nuclei. Mitosis ensures that each cell offspring will have a complete set of chromosomes like the parent cell. Chromosomes are two DNA molecules held together by a circular structure called a centromere. Every human cell has 46 chromosomes. Mitosis has four steps, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase.

A chromosome

During the prophase chromosomes are visible. Structures called centrioles appear on opposite ends of the cell. Thread-like spindle fibers begin to stretch across.

Prophase

In metaphase the chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell. Each centromere attaches to two different spindle fibers.

Metaphase

In Anaphase the centromeres divide. Each half of the chromosomes separate and move to opposite ends of the cell.

Anaphase

The last phase is telophase. In telophase Spindle fibers start to disappear. Chromosomes uncoil and it becomes harder to see them. Each mass of chromosomes develops it's own nuclear membrane to make a new nucleus.

Telophase



A cell about to divide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ninja Kick!

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If you have a brainpop account, watch this.

The T-rex had a predator!

 

The Tyrannosaurus rex  was one of the most fearsome predators. Everyone knows what a T-rex is. I think? Anyways scientists have wondered why its ancestors remained relatively small for millions of years. Now, the discovery of a new meat eater may offer some answers. This newfound predator may have preyed on T. rex’s ancestors. That should have kept them small and on the run. Scientists call the new dino Siats meekerorum. Like the T-rex, Siats walked on two legs, but Siats was an Allosaurs. S. meekerorum ruled what is now western North America about 98.5 million years ago.  Some predator usually dominates every ecosystem. Such an apex, or top predator usually is so tough that no other creature attempts to tackle it. And as long as the top predator remains healthy, no other creature will prey on it. (Think of an apex predator as the schoolyard’s biggest, meanest bully.)Zanno and her team estimate that Siats weighed more than 3,900 kilograms (8,600 pounds). Most of the fossil remains they found came from an individual that likely measured more than 9 meters (about 30 feet) long. But it also was only a juvenile when it died. Its towering size makes Siats the third-largest known predator to ever prowl western North America.

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More Info

Viruses

Viruses

 

Hello everybody. Today we will talk about something you can't see. It isn't alive either. It kills more people than all human wars combined. If you said viruses your are correct. Viruses have been portrayed in many movies. Although they can't turn people into zombies, doesn't mean they aren't deadly.

Very detailed picture of viruses.(NOT really)

 

 Viruses are nonliving particles that cause many diseases. Unfortunately the human body is a home for viruses. Viruses are to small to be seen with the naked eye, even smaller than a cell. Viruses reproduce by taking hold off one of your cells. It then releases a strand of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein called a capsid. In case you didn't know DNA is like a blueprint for your body that is in anything that is alive. The virus uses your cell like a factory to make lots more viruses. The bad part is a lot of times the virus ends up killing the cell. That's how you get sick. The viruses that aren't that evil still use our cells but don't kill him. Most animals and people are home to harmless viruses. The viruses that make you sick are called pathogenic viruses. The virus that infects the most people in the world is the common cold. Others are more deadly - viruses like hepatitis Ebola and HIV.

How Viruses reproduce



 One bacteria can make thousands of copies of themselves. You must be thinking "HOW ARE WE NOT DEAD YET". Two words: immune system. Are immune system may be a bunch of white cells that eat everything that poses a threat to us but they are constantly saving our lives. "Cough" Pacman "cough". Viruses were killing many people but thanks to a man named Edward Jenner we made a vaccine. A vaccine  releases a dead or weak version of a virus to your immune system. Your immune system then learns how to fight the virus. Without vaccines viruses would be much more deadlier.

How are immune system works.

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Anti-biotic resistance.

Antibiotics VS Bacteria!

Who will win?

This is WAR!!!

Hello everyone. It's the one and only Epicraptor here again ready to discuss more about bacteria. Most of the time people think of bacteria as horrible creatures that cause disease but they can also be beneficial. Without them we wouldn't even be able to digest some foods. Speaking of food, certain foods are made by bacteria. Examples are cheese, yogurt and butter. Pasteurization is the process of killing all microorganisms in milk. Without it, every time we drink milk we would get sick.

 

 

Bacteria aren't only good for us, there good for plants as well. Without them plants wouldn't be able to conduct photosynthesis. Bacteria take out the nitrogen in the soil so the plants can receive it.

On the other hand bacteria can be very harmful. They can cause disease and kill millions of people every year. Strep throat, pneumonia and tuberculosis are just some of the many diseases bacteria cause. Thankfully there is medicine called antibiotics to save us.... kind of. Back when they were first invented antibiotics crushed most bacteria to a pulp. So useful that doctors decided to give them to people even when they weren't sick. Animals on farms were on a steady diet of antibiotics. Soon bacteria got used to antibiotics that they evolved. Some times when a bacteria mutates it becomes immune to certain antibiotics. It then reproduces and then you have an entire colony of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Bacteria are mutating faster than we can make new antibiotics. This has lead to the creation of super-bugs like MRSA which are resistant to most common antibiotics. MRSA has only become a threat because of our mistakes.

MRSA

 

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Cheese pic  

Butter pic 

MRSA pic 

Bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are microscopic creatures that can vary in shape and sizes. The most common are spiral, spherical or rod shaped bacteria. All bacteria are one celled and are prokaryotic cells which means they don't have a membrane bound nucleus. Most bacteria don't have complex organelles.

 

They were the first life on Earth and are the most abundant lifeforms since there is 5 nonillion of them. 5 nonillion is a 5 followed by 30 zeros. Bacteria can live in food, water, air and even our bodies. Bacteria in your digestive track break down molecules our bodies can't break down by itself. Speaking of food, bacteria can either obtain food by photosynthesis which is what plants use or by hunting other microorganisms. Bacteria can also be evil. They are responsible for strep throat, food poisoning and a lot of other diseases. Luckily drugs called antibiotics can be taken to kill the bacteria.

 

Some can't move but others move by using tiny hairs called cilia or whip-like hair called flagella. Most bacteria reproduce asexually in a process called fission. Fission produces two cells with the same genetic material as the parent cell. Some bacteria exchange genetic material in a process that is closer to sexual reproduction. Some bacteria can reproduce very quickly. Sometimes as fast as once every 20 minutes.

Fission

There is no way life would exist without bacteria. They are among the oldest lifeforms on the planet. No one knows the exact order of events but it is thought that they evolved roughly 3.5 billion years ago, roughly the same time as other microorganisms called archeabacteria. for several billion years they were the only life on Earth. Back then there was very little oxygen in the atmosphere but bacteria changed that. Through photosynthesis they slowly filled our atmosphere with the oxygen we breathe. After all these years life on Earth's parents are still around. You can find archea in the most extreme places on the planet like hot springs, salt lakes and deep ocean vents with no sunlight.

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 bacteria pic 1

bacteria pic 2 

Fission gif