GATTACA

Gattaca is a movie that we watched in class.  This movie was very interesting.  Its about a boy named Vincent who brother name is Anton.  When the parents wanted to have a perfect child, they used the eugenics theory of a perfect child.  They took all of the bad genes out of Anton and gave him more genes.  I remember the doctor asking the parents if they want to take out this disease of Anton.  Aton was a way more healthier child then Vincent.  Anton and Vincent would always have a swimming contest who could swim the farthest. They called it chicken.  One day when they Vincent beats his brother Anton.  After Vincent won, he decides to leave, after he leaves he decides to rip his picture, I am really not sure why he did this but he did.  Once Vincent leaves he wants to research his dream and go to space.  He runs into many problems because the people who controls who goes to space wont allow him to go because he has many problems.  This movie is based off of the theory of eugenics, forming the perfect child.  When he goes he mets this guy named Jerone who is a guy who had perfect genes, but he doesn't really use them because he was hit my a car and became paralyzed. So they transform Vincent into Jerone so that Vincent can go to space.  Vincents had to do many things to look like Jerone, but they finally did it.  One day when VIncent goes to work aka Jerone there is a murder that occurs.  Vincents real hair was found and now he is a suspect but they can't find Vincent because he looks like Jerone.  This movie is very confusing but it is really interesting.  It made me understand the world of how eugenics works.  In my opinion eugenics ruins families just like it did to Vincent and his family.  Anton Vincents brother really didn't get along because their parents focused more on Anton because he was a perfect child and Vincent had a few problems.  I remember when the doctor asked the parents that they could take out this gene because it had a diesea in it.  Vincent is a strong person because he didn't let anyone tell him he can't.  Vincent never got busted with the polices because him a Jerone had a good plan of getting around them.  Vincent was a hard working man with a lot of help from his buddy.  He got to go to space, thats what he always wanted to do.  I think this movie is very interesting, it helped me understand the world of eugenics.  I truly enjoyed this movie it wasn't just about one person giving his DNA to another person I think it also a life lesson, let nobody tell you you can't just like Vincent does in this movie.

DNA LAB!

In class we built our own DNA.  First we mixed a gram of wheat germ with 25 milliliters of warm water.  Wheat germ is a little brown substance that is soft.  Then we mixed the two substances together for about three minutes. After the substance was mixed it turned a brown color, then we had one fourth of teaspoon of detergent. After the detergent was in the test tube we mixed it for about five minutes.  After we mixed the detergent with the substance we added 14 milliliters of alcohol to the test tube.  Make sure when you pour the alcohol in the test tube you tilt the test tube and pour the alcohol solution in slowly so the that they don't mix.  So it looks like that there is a light brown yellow substance in the bottom of the test tube and a clear substance on the top of the test tube.  Now this gets really interesting.  But make sure that you don't mix after you pour the alcohol. As you wait and stare at the test tube for a couple minutes a clear filmy substance starts to form.  It is really weird how it starts to form it comes form the bottom and starts moving up.  While you keep watching in like ten minutes more and more of this starts to float up to the top.  It was funny because Cody started screaming when the substance started floating up.  The clear substance is DNA.  I am not really sure how it was formed but it was DNA.  As a group we grabbed a stick and poked at the DNA.  As you grabbed it with the stick more and more DNA would come up.  We made our own DNA! In this lab I truly learned how to make our own DNA.  This lab was very interesting and fun because I made something that I never thought I could or would make.

This is how our test tube looked like. The clear white substance floating to the top is DNA created and being created.  It doesn't look to interesting but once you see it forming its really cool and interesting.

DNA model

The pictures are pictures of the DNA models we have created in class.  DNA is a very important structure in the human body.  DNA gives characteristics to any living creature.  Building these structures were fun and interesting.  As a class we each built little models of DNA and connected them into one, it was a huge model.  We also drew a model on the white boards, that made me understand more like what DNA is and what the sugar bonds and hydrogen bonds are. Building these DNA models truly helped me understand the structure of DNA. The first picture is labeled with all the parts of DNA. I truly understand all parts of DNA and how they connect together to form it.