Biofuels ^_^

Ethanol is a volatile liquid and has a slight odor. Ethanol was mainly used for drinking alcohol and is colorless. It's also used in thermometers, as solvents, and as fuel of course. The United States became the world's largest producer of ethanol fuel. In 2011 most cars, trucks, and minivans mainly use ethanol as fuel now. The RFA (Renewable Fuels Association) reported 204 ethanol distilleries in operation and another 9 under construction. Most of the ethanol was created from corn. One of the main problems of ethanol is the amount of land needed to grow all the corn to acquire materials to being the process of making ethanol. I'm just ready for someone to find a renewable resource that gives us the same power as gas in our cars. Water is a great choice but I don't think we would be able to gain much power. There is a huge spike in electric cars and many people are buying into that portion of car. Many different types of materials are being used as fuels like cellulose, sugar, corn (of course) even human waste. This just goes to show people are out there willing and ready to make the world a better place so we don't have to depend on fossil fuels because sooner or later we will run out and it won't be a nice day for anyone if we haven't found a new source of fuel.

Mitochondrial Eveeeee

Mitochondrial Eve is said to the woman every body stemmed from and is related to by their mother's side of the family. People will eventually mate and become more diverse. We have all picked up different traits based on our location we grew up in and that is one of the answers to how we have come to be different from one another. Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived 200,000 years ago. Her location was determined to most likely be in East Africa. Variations of mitochondrial DNA can be used to date back to Mitochondrial Eve because the mutations in mitochondrial DNA happen about every 3,500 years.

Doggie Parks

Dog parks are great to have in a community. These parks serve as a designated area where people can go and all have on thing in common, a dog. The dogs can run around and enjoy their new founded playground and meet new dog friends. People can meet others with similar dog interests and develop relationships. Overall I see dog parks as having the ability to create relationships which would help the community become a better and friendly place. I wish to soon be able to own a dog of my own... A Siberian Husky. I also do appreciate the cities for trying to build a place for Man's Best Friend.

Burgess Shale....?

The Burgess Shale was founded by Charles Walcott in 1909. The Burgess Shale is signifiant because of its ability to preserve soft body fossils. It's located in the Canadian Rockies. The Burgess Shale is one of the most celebrated fossil fields.
 

The Burgess Shale played a huge role in the Cambrian Explosion. The Cambrian Explosion was a rapid increase and appearance of different types of organisms, which later became the fossils found at Burgess Shale. There is still much debate about the Cambrian Explosion and how it came to be. The Cambrian Explosion serves as a main source of evidence for Darwin and the theory of evolution. Lots of fossils get destroyed by erosion and metamorphism which are some of the difficulties archeologists come in contact with. These fossils serve as huge evidence for new discoveries and theories. Yes, the Cambrian Explosion still possesses unanswered questions and the Burgess Shale is still being used today to find those answers. But what would life be if there were answers to every question?

Amphioxus!!!

Amphioxus is important to the evolutionary view of the developing vertebrates. It's also known as Lancelet. They have translucent fish like bodies. Amphioxus is believed to be the most simple animal that has the basic characteristics of vertebrae, possessing a nerve chord along their back. Amphioxus is very strange because it has gills, but uses them for eating. It has no sensory organs, brain nor skeleton. Unlike other vertebrates, Amphioxus has a notochord which is basically compacted cells toughened up in the shape of a rod. The notochord protects the nerve chord unlike other vertebrates that use bone.

Hitchiti Ginger =D

We went hiking through the Hitchiti Forest and got to take in the great nature. There are controlled burns in the forest to observe  and study the ecosystem and how it works. Me and a couple of others took a crazy route to go up the river. I wish we could've taken pictures and a video but a couple of people fell into the river. There were two plants in particular that we emphasized and it was sassafras and wild ginger. The wild ginger is low growing and they prefer the shady areas under the giant oak and pines in the area.

The other plant we emphasized was sassafras. It was very interesting because it had multiple different types of leaves growing from the same stem. Sassafras can also grow to be a medium sized tree. I'm still waiting on Dr. Rood's answer on how sassafras and genetically grow 3 different leaves at once.

Dr. Rood also found this nice hole that seemed to be a rotting trunk but we could stick our arms in there and explore. I definitely didn't want to be bitten by anything so I decided not to. But here is a great picture of me hugging a tree at Hitchiti =)

Jackson Springs!

     Jackson Springs Park is located within the three oldest suburbs in the city of Macon. The park used to be apart of Baconsfield park and had an in tact zoo. The park was split up for commercial development. We had rock hammers and picks. We also used a magnifying glass to examine the quartz and different elements of rocks we found. There were a lot of granite and quartz. We found some feldspar and other rocks that had mica and hornblende crystals as well. Some people decided to go through the tunnel and come around back to the group. I couldn't do this due to unsuitable footwear, but I still had a fun time bashing rocks and examining them =) We found a nice salamander to play with as well.