Water and pH videos

If you don't have access to the class wiki yet, here are the water and pH videos for you to watch.

Summer Assignment 8.25

This will be the final week of the summer assignment this year. Great job with all the comments, I hope you found some of the articles I linked to interesting. There are a few things I have for you to do this week.

• To get credit for this week's entry, comment about what your favorite post was over the summer, and what you are most looking forward to learning more about this year.
• If you are registered for Dr. H's class (Block 1 or 2), please visit this website and request access. If you have used PB Works before, you can use your previous account information and will not have to confirm your email. If you are new to PB Works, you DO NOT need to use your school email account to request access. After I accept you, you will receive a confirmation email. 
• If you are registered for Miss Drust's class (Block 3), she will provide you with the course website.
• Once you have access to the wiki, feel free to have a look around. It is still a work in progress, so there is not too much there yet. There are some things on the front page for you to do.

Summer Assignment 8.18

Back to the Ebola virus this week. Slightly different assignment this week though.

• First, listen to this podcast on Ebola (direct download the mp3 file). Generally a very good introduction to the virus, but as someone who worked in a virus lab before moving into teaching, there are a few inaccuracies that caught my ear. 
• Pay special attention towards the end of the episode when they discuss the experimental drug ZMapp and the ethical questions of how and whether to use untested drugs for Ebola, and whom to use them on.
• Read this article about the ethics of unproven treatments for Ebola.

What is your opinion? Should untested drugs be given to sick individuals in cases such as this? What type of informed consent can we reasonably expect from someone with a disease that has such a high mortality rate? What about the fact that the drug was given first to the American patients, then to the Africans? The podcast does a good job highlighting the fact that this was really a no-win situation.

Summer Assignment 8.11

• Lots of news about depression going around right now after the death of Robin Williams. One of the better descriptions of what depression is like, along with some tips on how NOT to help someone going through depression, can be found in this webcomic. Warning: There is some "adult" language in the comic, so if you are offended, be warned.
• Why typos in your own writing are so hard to find, while typos in others work stick out.
• This should put some perspective on having to log in to the school's internet filter a few times a day.

Summer Assignment 8.4

• Ebola virus has been in the news quite a bit lately, and being the virus fan that I am, I can't let the opportunity pass. But instead of the usual stuff here are some good reasons not to worry too much about it.

• It's not a global pandemic.
• Even the patients coming to the US are not that big of a deal.

•  I wouldn't normally link to a Cosmo post, but since this one has a picture of flesh-eating beetles, I can't resist. Oh, and it is also the great story of an artist turned scientist/science educator.

Summer Assignment 7.28

• Newest viral discovery may be surprisingly common. So why did it take so long to find?
• Really big insect found in China.
• Do non-human animals create art?

Summer Assignment 7.22

Just one story this week; a longer piece on why we have blood types by one of my favorite science writers Carl Zimmer. You probably (hopefully) remember something about blood types from previous classes, and may even remember how to do the genetic crosses to figure them out. But have we ever thought about why we have different blood types? I know I never had until I read this article. Lots of interesting stuff in here, and overall it highlights a very important fact of evolution: If it exists, it most likely has an adaptive advantage.

Summer Assignment 7.17

First official post of the 2014 Summer Assignment. Rules are simple:

1. Look at the list of links I provide.
2. Pick a few (or all) to read.
3. Make an intelligent comment here that shows you read and thought about at least one.
4. Gain points.

• Could viruses be at the root of the entire Tree of Life on the Earth? I hope so, becuase viruses are awesome.
• Well, maybe not all viruses. This is actually pretty scary, and will likely rekindle debate as to what should be done with the remaining stocks
• Europa is near the top of the list for places to look for extra-terrestrial life. New data show that life might be even more likely in the vast ocean under a layer of ice. "In fact, if you shook this small moon of Jupiter, you might hear a sloshing sound." Of course, if you shook this small moon, you might be this guy.

In the coming weeks, I will try to get posts up earlier in the week, hopefully around Tuesday-early Wednesday. For this one, you will have all next week to post a comment and get full credit.

Summer Assignment 2014

Welcome to the AP Biology summer blog for 2014. I hope to get the first official post (that you will have to comment on) in the next few days. In the meantime, some things you can do:

1. Become a follower of the blog. There are two ways to do this, both can be found a little ways down on the right hand sidebar. If you follow via email, Blogger will send you notifications of new posts. There is also the option to subscribe to an RSS feed for both posts and comments.

2. Follow me on Twitter (@DrHMTHS). There is a button to the right to do this quickly. I will be posting on Twitter when new posts are up. If you do not have a Twitter account, it is probably a good idea to go ahead and get one; we will be using it in my class next year.

3. Check out the Podcast list to the right. All of these are excellent, and are a great way to keep up with current science topics, and they are very entertaining as well.

4. If you know of a time frame which you will be unable to comment due to vacation, follow this link to complete the form to let us know before you leave for vacation. We will make arrangements with you as far as making the missed weeks up. If you do not let us know ahead of time, the missed weeks will count as zeros.