Reflective Blog On My Blogs

Reflective Blog about Blogs

Throughout this whole semester I have grown significantly in my understanding in science, with microbes to be more specific. I have only done a few argument works with these blogs just because I don’t like to dispute with people. I would much rather give them an in depth discussion on what the article or story is talking about. I have honed in my analysis skills to a very high status, only because I feel like I can give my absolute best if I am picking apart the text to use what is said to my advantage. If I was to analyze my own blogs I would be harsh, only because there is almost always something that needs to be tweaked or fixed to make the analysis stronger. While writing this I realized I do use argument, every single day. Even if I’m using analysis, I have to take a side and show the reader why I think it is important to know this information in specific. So I can say that yes, with my high status of analytical work, I have had success with doing valid arguments. I feel like my main idea gets to the point, but not right away. I can’t simply just say, here is the topic, and here is why I chose it. There is so much more to it. You have to write and rewrite if it doesn't sound good. You have to connect with the audience. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they write. I am in no position say that it id a bad thing to simplify things, I just personally can’t do that. I have so much to say and want the reader to know why I said it. In my writing there is almost every rhetorical concept included. Probably not all at once, but in each piece there is one concept shown. I try to use logos a lot just because you can’t argue with proven fact, and when you do the right research, you won’t be wrong. My perception on microbes has changed drastically. I had no idea what they were and it took up until I was a sophomore in college to learn about them. They are fantastic organisms and they hold many keys to our well being to survival. I would have to say the coolest thing I learned from other peer’s blogs is that we all have our own preference. We each like to look up things that interest us and we chose to write about it. I especially liked how we got to interact and comment on the other blogs and have an intimate conversation about the microbe in specific. It was really cool to have that kind of relationship with the classmates and get to know what they think about the subject. So all in all, I have had a wonderful time in this class and I’m glad I signed up for it. My brain is packed full of knowledge and because of it I have chosen a second career path to go along with my Music degree, I will minor in biology and have a second opportunity to teach kids the things I like and find interesting. 

Original date for this blog was 9/16/2014

Redo # 2

This article, the main idea is very clear. Richard A. Lovett gives an excellent intake on how there has been many studies as well as discussions about the possibilities that there can be life on mars…

Colorful cave deposits thought to be just minerals are actually waste materials from unknown microorganisms, some scientists say. A cave scientist, Penelope Boston, in New Mexico states that "We're finding that you need to look at things you might write off as not being biological—they might be biological." Which I feel is very true, because all of these new findings are biological. Another scientist, actually a Geomicrobiologist named Diana Northup at the University of New Mexico, said that there are findings in Hawaii, New Mexico and the Portuguese Azores islands. In Hawaii the substances have a “lovely blue-green ooze” and in New Mexico they are a “Gold, crunchy looking mineral”, and in the Azores “amazing pink hexagons.” By studying these substances here on earth, it could link it to places such as mars, or eve further than that. A geochemist informs the reader that Northup’s discoveries in the caves can add “growing body” that the lava tubes could be the best places to look at on other planets. Northup mentions that with all the work done in the caves here on earth, the inside is substantially different than the outside. That could also be the case on mars as well

Nothing is unclear; Lovett did a great job at simplifying everything so I can understand what is being talked about.

I could only find that there is ethos and pathos available. Ethos simply because I felt safe with he information given, and could trust Lovett’s writing. I could trust his writing because I personally know one of his resources and I trust her as well. Pathos is here, because it goes about finding life on other planets which can be a very emotional finding for everyone. I know if they found life on other planets I would be scared, intrigued, and happy and alert all at the same time.

This does seem biased in the way that it’s in favor of finding life elsewhere. There was no indication stating that they didn’t want to discover new life on other planets.

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091120-caves-lava-tubes-microbes-poop.html

 

Computer Wielding Microbes!

Original Due Date for Blog #11 was 4/9/2014

Blog re due #1

Microbes are Computer Geniuses? 

In this article I think the man idea comes across very effectively and immediately made me want to read the whole article.

Nikhil Swaminathan, author of the article, researched how microorganisms can be used I ways we can’t even imagine. They can be used as computer harboring problem solvers. In a study done in North Carolina a biologist named Karmella Haynes successfully transplanted a silicon-based electronic machine that allows the microbes to solve intense mathematical problems that humans cannot. Theses problems entail things such as the “burned pancake problem”. It’s a puzzle about how to properly stack different flapjacks that are burned on one side and the perfectly cooked ones on the other. Using the fewest number of flips possible to not only arrange them so that the largest are at the bottom but to where they are golden side up. By showing a computer that can solve problems as this, could they be used to detect changes in live systems like cancer in the body or the spread of contaminants in a lake? Some researchers in Missouri Western State University inserted DNA plasmids in a single-celled organism called Escherichia Coli, ones that can cause food poisoning. They modeled a two pancake flip into two segments at random, and also added the Salmonella bacterium that is capable of flipping genetic fragments. The organisms were given a certain amount of time to see if they could complete the task in a fast manner. Only the ones with proper segment orientation survived. With this the researchers could tell which cells had correctly solved the problem because the ones who couldn’t have died.

For me I think hat everything that was said was addressed in a way that is very comprehensive. You don’t have to look things up to understand them, because the answers are all around in the text itself.

Some rhetorical concepts shown are in ethos and pathos. It’s shown through ethos because the author wrote everything in a way we can trust what he is telling us. He used reasonable resources to tell us how microorganisms can be used to solve problems we simply cannot do on our own. It has pathos because everything that is being said is connecting to the readers in an emotional level. By going about how we can’t solve these problems ourselves, seeking answers to something we can’t even see without the proper technology. It just shows how even we as humans need help from things that are “insignificant” to us.

This selection was very biased since it did only talk about one topic throughout the whole article, but I think it was very effective and proved its point!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-computer-puts-microbe/