Summer Assignment 2017

Welcome to the AP Biology summer blog for 2017. The summer assignment will work as follows:

• Once a week, I will post a few links to current science articles that I find interesting/entertaining
• You pick a few, or all, of the links and read through them
• Post a comment on the blog post about the article(s) that you read. Comments can be anything, as long as it demonstrates that you have read the article and put some thought into your response
• If your comment occurs within the week of posting, you will receive maximum points for that week
• Comments are moderated, so it may take a few days for your comment to show up

I hope to get the first official post (that you will have to comment on) up on the week of July 10; the final post will be the week of August 28. 

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. 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.

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, tell me 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.

That's it. See you all next week.

Summer Assignment 8.18

• I had no idea that mathematicians were actively working on what shapes I could use to tile my bathroom.  There are now 15 different pentagons that I can use, after a new one was discovered. Here are the options, the new one is the yellow one in the bottom right hand corner. 

  

  Photograph: Ed Pegg/Wikipedia

• Polio may be eradicated during our lifetime. Roadblocks to this are more social than scientific.
• Neural activity in a fruit fly larva can be mapped at near single-neuron resolution. Mice are next; possibly humans somewhere down the line?
• Possible first flower discovered.

Summer Assignment 8.11

• Follow-up on the four-legged snake from last week. It may have been removed from Brazil illegally. Also raises the question of the role/responsibility of scientists to check on the history of the samples they are studying.
• Look up! (Or don't. There may be zombies up there.)
• The basic science behind colors. This one is a bit more chemistry/physics related, but is still pretty interesting.

Summer Assignment 8.4

• No new dinosaur this week, but a pretty cool new snake species. With legs.
• Ants work together with mathematical precision.
• Leave that bird on the ground alone. Unless its ugly. Then you can put it back.
• Promising results for the latest Ebola vaccine. Definitely something to keep an eye on for the next few months.