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.