Nature VS. Nurture

Although studies show that both ways can be logical, the logics of one's environment seem to be a better explanation than genes. Yes, a person can be born with the genes to be smart or be athletic, but if that person is not brought up the right way, then his talents will never really show. If someone is brought up smart but is not pushed to excel in school, then that child will become lazy and will not perceive himself to be smart in front of his peers. As hard as it is to not be racist, this is somewhat true. Many asian parents do in fact push their child to excel in school, and will set consequences for failing to reach these goals. As the stereotype says, many asian children excel in school, but that child may not have been born with the gene to be smart. Some American and African American parents also push their child to excced school, but for the most part, it is the asian community.
If a child has parents who are funny, most likely the child will have some sense of humor when he grows up. If a child has parents who drink, smoke, or something else, then unfortuantely that child will have a higher chance of smoking or drinking when he grows up than a child whose parents never did anything like that. Even for religion, if a parent is Buddhist, their child doesn't have to become Buddhist or is born with a "Buddhist" gene, that would be absurd. A child can determine their own religion, whether it is the same as their parents or not.
Ultimately, however, a child decides his own goals to be what he wants, even if he or she was not born with athleticism, since there are many ways that child can train to become one if he or she has the drive to. Children will always carry some genes from their parents that will carry on to the next generation, but it is up to the child to decide if he or she wants to make changes to be what they want to be, and to develop in a way that will determine their future descendants.

Heart Rates and Blood Pressure

My normal blood pressure when testing it in class was a 140/60. My heart rate was at a 91. I think the reason for my blood pressure being a little high that day was because I was worried about a score on my math test, hence a slight increase.
When reclining, my blood pressure went down to a 130/70, but my heart rate went up to a 95. the reason for the decrease in blood pressure is because the blood isn't pumping as hard to send blood everywhere, like upward, but doesn't need to pump as hard going sideways. The increase in heart rate is still an enigma, and my heart rate seems to be pretty high throughout the tests for some reason.
In the ice water bath test, my blood pressure went to a 110/40, and the  heart rate went down 1 to a 94. The reason for the decrease, I really don't know, because I thought that it was supposed to increase because the heart would need to pump more blood to try and heat up the hand that was cold. Something wrong may have happened during the test.
The test after the physical activity was the craziest because of my asthma. My blood pressure went to a 140/90, which was actually quite near my normal blood pressure. The heart rate on the other hand, shot up to a 145, which was probably because of the asthma. This was obviously due to the workout, and the heart needed to continuously pump blood to all parts of the bood to replenish any energy lost after physical activity.
My heart rate after the caffinated beverage was a 75. The cause of the substantial drop may have been due to many variables. First, I was not worrying about anything anymore since I got my math test back, and it was also nighttime, which is usually the calmest time of day for me. As for the reason of the heart rate, it lowered because the blood was enhanced with more sugar, so it did not need to send as much blood to get the same amount of energy.
My mom's heart rate was a 63. She is pretty healthy for her age, and she has very little physical exercise. It is a good thing she was not angry with me at the time, or it may have been close to 100!!!
My second cousin's daughter, who is 10, had a heart rate of 87. I did not test her, but I called my cousin to test it for me and that is what he came up with. She does not have any sports, but she has a ton of extra-curricular activities that could cause her to be very stressed, like piano, school homework, japanese school, and chinese school. She has a ton of activities, but she is still fairly calm which explains her slightly high but stable blood pressure.

Single-celled organisms

The cell above is called caulerpa. Interestingly, this is a single-celled organism, and is quite a large one at that. This may be one of the largest single-celled organisms on the earth. It grows in the sea and divides itself into compartments, the little round balls being part of the whole single-celled plant. These fluid-filled sacs carry nutrients, which is how it can still sustain itself while being so large. It contains a nuclear membrane, with the nuclear pores and nucleolous and chloroplasts. It has all the other common organelles that plants cells have, like vesicles, ribosomes, golgi, endoplasmic reticulum, and vacuoles. It also has cytoplasm, microtubules, and a cell wall. The really interesting thing is that the whole thing is amazingly just one cell.

Sickle-Cell Anemia
Sickle-Cell Anemia is a disease that is passed through red blood cells. The cells, which are normally shaped like discs, are distorted and have a more crescent shape. The distortion is cause by the hemoglobin inside the cell, which is mutated and happens especially when there is low oxygen. These distorted cells deliver less oxygen to the body's tissues, which in turn can cause pain to the person who has it. This person may experience pain episodes for up to hours, and they can be as often as daily or one a year.

Food and Nutrition

Recomended servings (per day)
2000 calories
50g of protein
300 g of carbs
not really any fat recommended
300mg of cholesterol
25g of fiber
2400mg of sodium

Here are the totals:
Monday: 1688 Calories(84%)
87g of Protein (174%)
182g of Carbs(61%)
63g of fat
118mg of Cholesterol (39%)
2g of fiber(8%)
1184mg of sodium (49%)

Tuesday: 832 Calories(42%)
31g of protein (62%)
81g of carbs(27%)
33g of fat
450 mg of cholesterol(28%)
2g of fiber (8%)
711mg of sodium (30%)

Wednesday:1688 Calories(84%)
60g of Protein(120%)
144g of carbs(48%)
116g of fat
384mg of cholesterol(128%)
5g of fiber(20%)
3575mg of sodiun (149%)


These totals actually surprised me, I thought I was taking in more than I should be, but apparently I am not. The program would not let me put in my height and weight or BMI without paying, so it set it to the standard amounts. I might need more than I take in or less, I don't reall know. I am comfortable with my dietary intake because I really want to lose a little weight. My BMI isn't over at 23.44, but I would like to get it down near 21. This would make me feel better about myself and it would keep my weight a little more stable. THese three days are actually not a good representation of my diet. On Monday at dinner, my parents treated me out to some all-u-can-eat Korean BBQ for my b-day, so that day was actually more than what I would've taken in on a given day. On Wednesday, I did not eat lunch because I was building the gingerbread thing, so it would have been more that day. What I would like to improve, as I said in the first part, is the amount of fiber I need to take in. I am taking in way too little fiber and would like to get closer to the recommended amount. Apart with that, I think taking in a little less fat and cholesterol will help to lower my wieght. Some ways I can cut down on oils but up some of the more important stuff like protein and carbs is to eat almonds instead of candy. I don't usuually snack between meals, but it would help if I ate almonds when I was hungry instead of chips or candy. Another way is to make the 2% milk I drink 1%. That would make a big difference since I drink milk almost every day. The final way is to take in a little more brown rice than I usually do. Brown rice is much healthier than white rice, at the sacrifice of taste. It isn't really a big difference, but taking in more would keep me healthier since it is technically a whole grain.

MACROMOLECULES

Nucleic Acids
Asthma is caused by the slight mutation of DNA and RNA. It is also genetic, so the reason why I have asthma could be from one of parent's sides, since they both do not have asthma. Unfortunately, there is no cure for asthma so one of the few ways it can be eliminated is to outgrow it.

Lipids
This week, on monday and Tuesday, I played basketball. As we ran our drills, I began to sweat. The sweat contained lipid substances and helped cool my body down. The practice became easier near the end, so by the time practiced finished, all of it dried off or absorbed into my shirt. My dad always tells me to change shirts since sweat drying can get me sick, so when I forgot to, he got pretty mad at me and lectured me about after telling me a ton of times. THe next day, I started coughing and got a little under the weather.


Proteins
So this weekend, my mom is making me get a haircut, shich I do not like,  but has to be done. It is usually itchy after getting my hair cut especially when I cannot go back home to take a bath and wash all the loose hairs out. So I will be cutting off a large amount of the proteins on my head so that it is not long and then after a few weeks it will grow back.


Carbohydrates
Every night for dinner, I always eat rice and then some sort of side dish. A few months ago, my mom swithced from white rice to brown rice because it was healthier, but it doesn't taste as good as white rice. We do not eat all brown rice, but a mix of white and brown, and then eventually we will switch from a mix to all brown rice.

Beavioral Ecology

pheremones

agonistic behaviors

Imprinting and Migation