Jellyfish

Jellyfish are in the Scyphozoa Class and the phylum Cnidaria. Because there are more than 100 types of jellyfish, there is no single Latin name. They are made up of more than 95% water and have a soft, delicate body. They lack a skeletal structure or outer shell and are composed of an outer layer which is the epidermis, which protects the body surface. Jellyfish are able to reproduce both sexually and asexually, during different parts of their life cycle. Male jellyfish release sperm into the water, which then travels into the mouth of a female jellyfish, allowing for the fertilization of the ova. There are many different species of jellyfish that are found all around the ocean, in the deep sea and at surface level. Jellyfish outdate dinosaurs and sharks and it is believed that they have been around for more than 650 million years. More specifically, the Box Jellyfish is highly venomous and have enough poison to kill a person. They live in shallow waters and along beaches, but currents can carry them further away. They are considered to be the most venomous marine animal. The Latin name for this particular jellyfish is Chironex fleckeri.

Cloning

This weeks blog is about cloning pets. Currently, scientists say that in approximately three years cloning our pets will be fully possible. Gene banking facilities such as Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC)have developed, saying simply that this is what people want. Six months ago a tabby cat named CC (CopyCat) was cloned and they say it portrays all the emotions of a human being such as awe, inspiration, hope and anger. This soon to be possibility has brought up many issues. The Humane Society "condemns all commercial cloning of 'companion animals'", saying that it has no social value and my actually lead to increased animal suffering. They bring up the argument that we already have overpopulation in this matter and this will only increase the problem. 
Honestly, I fully disagree with the matter of cloning animals. I believe that death is a part of nature and we all deal with it as some point in life, whether with an animal, relative or friend. I don't believe that there is any reason to assume your pet, if cloned, would end up having the same personality of your original animal. Yes, it will look identical, but it's simply not the same animal. I think this process only causes people to hold onto something that they simply need to move past. I believe that we should use science to help keep us healthy and make us healthier, but once nature has taken it's course, that is the end and I don't believe we should try to correct it per say, by creating an identical animal.

Renewable Energy

According to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics energy changes form and moves from place to place, but the total amount does not change. Therefore, you would think that if the total amount never changes we would never have to worry about conserving energy. Unfortunately, when we use up energy only a small amount of reusable energy is created in the process. Most cars only give out about 40% or less useful energy and the old steam locomotives barely got 5 or 6 useful work out of 100 units of wood or coal energy. If you take a look at the picture, you will notice only 41% of useful energy leaves the engine. Engineers are supposedly trying to come up with a more efficient engine that will convert more energy into work rather than waste heat.

Therefore, it is possible to reuse energy. We need to come up with a way of creating more useable energy from the energy we use up from day to day. By increasing the output of energy in the form of work rather than heat energy, we will have more reusable energy.

Food Rules

I borrowed a couple of foods from my roommate to read the ingredients and found that in Rice Roni there are 30 ingredients and of those, more than half are chemical ingredients. The other food I looked at was Special K Cereal Bars, which have 41 ingredients and all but 10 were chemicals.

Because of all of the chemicals that are put in foods today it has become increasingly difficult for American's to eat healthy. I personally find it difficult to eat healthy at times, but because I am aware of the terrible things that are being put into foods, I try very hard to stay away from processed foods and eat only foods that I cook. I grew up in a household where we had family dinners and breakfast everyday and the only food you would find in the refrigerator or pantry were real foods with the occasional junk food. So once I moved out I found it easy to continue my eating habits that were instilled in me by my parents. From time to time I have weeks where I will get lazy and eat poorly rather than taking the time to make food, but the result of eating this way literally makes me sick, which puts me right back into the regimen of eating healthy once again.

Hello

Hey guys hows it going. My name is Courtney Koch and this is my third semester at Sierra. Next year will be my last and I hope to transfer to Pepperdine University. I love the beach so it would be the perfect college town for me. I am really excited to take biology this semester and I have heard a lot of great things about this particular class from several of my friends. So here's to a great semester see you all in class :)