Straining to Understand Viruses. Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site.
Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students examine the differences among the strains of often-deadly viruses and create research-based visual displays about the origins of different strains, transmission, symptoms, treatments and historic impact of specific viruses. Author(s): Alison Zimbalist, The New York Times Learning Network Suggested Time Allowance: 45 minutes Objectives:Students will: 1.
Define “virus” and understand the characteristics of viruses. 2. Resources / Materials:-pens/pencils -paper -classroom blackboard -biology textbook or other text that discusses the characteristics of viruses -copies of “Encephalitis Outbreak Teaches an Old Lesson” (one per student) -research materials (Internet access, encyclopedias, books on epidemics) Activities / Procedures:1. 2. 3. 4. Extension Activities:1. 2. 3. 4. Antibiotic Overuse May Increase Superbug Evolution Rate.
Multiple drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria seen under an electron microscope.
Photo: CDC By flooding our environment with antibiotics, people may alter a little-appreciated but profound aspect of bacterial evolution: the very pace at which it occurs. Bacteria may evolve more rapidly and more radically than just a few decades ago. This proposition is still a hypothesis, but it’s an intriguing one. While drug resistance is a well-known consequence of antibiotic use, a global acceleration of bacterial mutability could make drug resistance more common and shape pathogens in unpredictable ways. “Human activities might be altering the fundamental tempo of bacterial evolution,” write geneticists Michael Gillings of Australia’s Macquarie University and Hatch Stokes of the University of Technology in a June Trends in Ecology and Evolution paper.
Gillings and Stokes start by describing what’s widely known: The world is inundated by antibiotics. That much is obvious. Creepy or Cool? Portraits Derived From the DNA in Hair and Gum Found in Public Places. Evolution in an RNA world. [Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2009] - PubMed result. Cladogram species. Rediscovering Biology - Case Studies: The Genetics of Resistance to HIV Infection. This case uses the example of HIV, to explore the relationships between viruses, cells and the immune system, and the role of genes in disease resistance.
An animation explains PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and electrophoresis and their practical use as a genetic test. We will see how mutations in an HIV receptor confer relative reslstance to infection. We will find out how often this mutation occurs in the general population, and see data about additional mechanisms of HIV resistance. Before beginning this case study, you may want to review these related materials: • HIV and AIDS Video • HIV and AIDS Online Text • Human Evolution Online Text • Genomics Video • Genomics Online Text. 10 Vestigial Traits You Didn't Know You Had. Male Chromosomes Are Not Dying Soon, Study Finds : News. Update Date: Jan 11, 2014 05:31 PM EST A new study has challenged the notion that Y chromosomes are largely unimportant and will no longer exist in the next 5 million years.
(Photo : Image Editor/Flickr) A new study has challenged the notion that Y chromosomes are largely unimportant and will no longer exist in the next 5 million years. The study has based its findings on a comparison of Y chromosomes in eight African and eight European men. “The Y chromosome has lost 90 percent of the genes it once shared with the X chromosome, and some scientists have speculated that the Y chromosome will disappear in less than 5 million years,” said evolutionary biologist Melissa A. The study also acknowledged that few mammals have completely lost their Y chromosome. “Our study demonstrates that the genes that have been maintained, and those that migrated from the X to the Y, are important, and the human Y is going to stick around for a long while,” Sayres added.
“Melissa’s results are quite stunning. Chromosome Telomeres shorten by poverty article. Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease.