K+-+EQ1

toc EQ1 - How does something so small affect an organism, community, or planet? =J-Ren=

A Virus, it's puny and yet it can make people cower in fear of getting infected by a deadly disease this does prove that you don't have to be big to be deadly. Take a look at small Pox it is extremely small. Even though it has been eradicated from the face of this earth it still left a major effect on people killing tons of people around the world. Think of it as a play ground bully, there is always one in the Playground picking on all the other kids. Only this bully is tiny and is fit to kill. No matter what you do it will always find a victim and make the victim feel horrible and can end lives. Small Pox was a massive problem and no matter what you did stay away from it, it would always find a way to get to you and this can effect a community as it's scary that something that small can be that good at killing.

= =  =Zachary=

Virus' are tiny that you would need a microscope to see it. Virus' are non-living since they don't interact with the environment and need another cell to reproduce. They can effect an organism by entering it, injecting genetic material into a cell, make more copies of themselves and burst the cell open releasing the new virus so they can make more copies. It may start out as one virus however, as they grow, that number will increase and more cells are being destroyed and soon it would interrupt the tissues that the cells were in and in turn would affect the organs that the tissues worked for and the organ interrupted would affect the system part of it and would affect the organism. This is not the end of the story.

In some cases, the virus would have been hidden and inactive. The one virus would have spread to many cell's before they form. It is like a lightning bolt hitting a electricity pole knocking out power to many homes except it happens about 100x slower but, it is fast when it happens. This might be triggered by something that scientists don't know.

Another thing that can make you ill is bacteria. It is again small that you need a microscope. Bacteria also invade your body however, they don't do the same things to make you ill like virus'. They instead feed on your body and they can also be resistant to some antibiotics and they can multiply every 20 minutes if conditions are right. Thankfully, conditions are rarely ideal for them to reproduce.

Despite all the negatives about virus' and bacteria they can be helpful in healing people. They can help in vaccines to prevent diseases from happening around our world and can be used to make medicines. The shell of an empty virus can inject small doses of drug instead of putting in a needle and effecting everything. Also, bacteria live in your stomach and feed off of the food you eat and help on the digestion process. They can also make foods like cheese, yogurt.

Diseases can spread throughout the planet. These things can travel from one to the other organism. For example, the black death was caused first by one virus like this and then it made more,and due to lack of sanitation, it spread like wildfire. It was first caught by a flea. Than the flea bit or got onto a rat and probably contaminated their food or had some sort of contact. Once it got to a person, it made even more. The virus would have caught another flea, and the flea probably went to another rat and the rat went to another person and the person spread it onto more people and that made a great plague that plagued Europe for a long time. If the same thing happened but in the modern world without proper sanitation and health care, it would probably effect the world. Connie Wow, Zachary! That is a very good answer! You just about covered everthing! However, there is one thing I'm not clear about. You said,"Virus' are non-living since they don't interact with the environment." I think you mean viruses are non-living because they don't react to their surroundings, right?

Mrs. B: Very nice summary of what we have talked about so far and great job adding some additional information like the Black Plague. I just want to clarify a couple of points you make. First, hidden viruses don't spread to other cells until they become active again. They just hide in the genetic material of the cell. Second, the black death is caused by a bacteria, not a virus. What is is you picture? How does it relate to your post?

www.flickr.com/photos/47353092@N00/1003382511 Back To Top = = =Anthony= **Something so tiny can affect an organism, community and planet because it’s a chain reaction. It’s kind of like dominos, if you take one out it wouldn’t work. B **acteria are tiny living cells that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Without them there wouldn’t be certain types of food like cheese and yoghurt… Without out these foods that provide calcium we would all be short people. If we were short people, maybe (I’m only saying maybe) animals would take advantage of our height and kill us all. Soon the world will be took control over by some animal. That really affects the planet. Also, without bacteria nothing will decompose objects which leaves a mess everywhere. Viruses are tiny non-living pests that also cannot be seen with the naked eye. Without viruses, our cells would be all healthy and stuff and soon doctors won’t be necessary anymore. In conclusion, every tiny thing which we might not even notice, plays an important role in our lives, without them it would really affect organisms, communities and planets. www.flickr.com/photos/47353092@N00/519944432 Picture of what bacteria looks like.

Mrs. B: Perhaps you could mention a few ways that the organism, community planet could be affected in a little less far-fetched manner? Are there things happening now in todays' world? I do like how you mention how they can helpful, like with cheese and yogurt. Perhaps you could go into a little more detail about that? What kind of bacteria are these in your picture and how do they relate to your post?

Back To Top =Luke= Even though viruses and bacteria may seem REALLY small(much smaller than a cell), they have a huge impact on the whole world. The first impression people get when the hear the word "virus" or "bacteria" is deadly, menacing organisms that injects with some poisonous syrum and slowly kills you just for the fun of it. Bacteria and viruses can actually benefit our lives and be helpful, most viruses and bacteria are either harmless or helpful to life around us. Bacteria is nature's decomposers, they "eat" away the dead cells on a dead plant or animal and slowly decomposes it. Without these helpful bacteria, we would be running into stinkin' dead bodies of people sixty years ago, disgusting. Bacteria can also clean up chemical leaks and oil spills that pollutes the environment and poses danger to mankind, bacteria is also responsible for preserving and proccessing whole foods so they can keep longer. Viruses can also be helpful in some way too, since most viruses are actually quite harmless to us. The one and only purpose of a virus is to reproduce again and again and again and again, their purpose is not to fill up our cells and blow em' up. Right now scientists are considering "reprogramming" viruses and possibly come up with a cure for bacterial disease that can't be killed, scientists are also experimenting around with viruses and it actually works on killing bacterias.The sad side to viruses and bacteria is, yes, they can cause deadly infectious diseases and these spreads really fast. If not stopped or treated, these disease can just spread and spread until a whole community is diagnosed with this disease. That's why we have doctors, antibiotics, vaccines, and life insurance. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chochodardon/2353827622/

Mrs. B: Yes, its good to make sure your life insurance is in place. Do 13 year olds think about stuff like that? Good post with all the ways that bacteria and viruses can be helpful or harmless. We definitely wouldn't want dead bodies from 60 years ago piling up...let alone from 1000 years ago or more. What is your picture and how does it relate?

= = =BELLE= Viruses are very small, and they cannot be sehttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/2353827622_da89024fca.jpg?v=0en with a naked eye. They are even smaller than our cells, but just because they are small, doesn't mean that they can't affect anything big. For example, the archaebacteria changed our earth from when it was at an extreme environment to the earth we're living in now. They can also be harmful, if one virus gets a disease, it will reproduce and make more viruses with that disease. Then, the disease will spread like wild fire, soon, almost everybody around will be infected. Bacteria is another thing that can make you sick. It is also small like viruses, but they are living unlike viruses. They can also be harmful or helpful. Some bacteria live in your stomach and help you digest some foods that you yourself cannot digest. Have you ever wondered where does yogurt, cheese, kimchee and other foods come from? Well here's the answer, they are made by bacteria. Some bacteria feed on your body and they can reproduce every 20 minutes if the environment is right. Also, many bacterium are resistant to antibiotics. Viruses and bacteria can spread very quickly, so if one virus/bacteria has a disease, it will spread like wild fire and make many people, possibly around the world ill. They are very small, but this doesn't mean you can ignore them, they can affect a lot. // == //[|www.flickr.com/photos/47353092@N00/510676658] Connie Good job Belle! You said many bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. I do not think that that many are resistant to anitbiotics, because antibiotics can kill 99% of the bacteria, and only 1% is left. These can reproduce and produce more resistant bacteria, but most bacteria can still be killed using antibiotics. Many bacterial diseases are cured using anitbiotics, so I think that anitbiotics are still quite useful against bacteria. (This is just an idea, I'm not that sure about it.)

Mrs. B: Connie, you are right. There are only usually only a small percentage of any one type of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, but there are some strains of bacteria that are resistant to many types of antibiotics also, like MRSA. These types are scary! Belle, you have written a very good summary, but most of this has been talked about already. I think you need to provide some more detail in order to add to the conversation. Also, you need to explain how your picture relates.

Back To Top// =RACHEL. C= // Something as small as bacteria, virus and protozoan made the earth so it can contain more complex life forms. These tiny life forms can’t be seen, unless with a microscope. Bacteria are structured pretty simply, and can be either harmful of helpful to us. For example, bacteria have helped and changed this whole planet from a place where life forms can’t even exist, to a planet that we live in now. But sometimes, bacteria can cause diseased like, strep throat, food poisoning and more. Bacteria and protozoa are both unicellular microscopic organisms that can transmit diseases from an organism to another by coughing, sneezing or a bite from an infected mosquito/animal. Viruses are non-living particles that invade your cells and reproduces. So the planet is just like a forest of trees, and when one of the trees catches fire (virus, bacteria, protozoan), the fire will soon start burning down the whole entire forest and there won’t be anything left. So if a person in an office catches a disease, soon the whole office of people might get the disease too, and when the people inside the office walk out, the disease caused by viruses, bacteria and protozoans will slowly affect the whole building, then finally the planet. This would definitely cause the whole community to crash and the planet will soon not be able to function properly and fall too. In conclusion, these things might seem small and harmless, but they might be the reason that caused and affected the planet.

The reason that I picked this picture is because, bacteria make up food like cheese, yogurt, apple cider, olives and more. So, this is another reason that bacteria can be helpful to us. http://www.kontrastblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/nanos_cheese_product2.jpg

Mrs B: Nice summary of what we have been learning in class, but most of it has been discussed already. Since many people are saying that once one virus/bacteria attacks one organism then soon the whole planet will be "dead", I need to push back a little. Is this really what happens? How many cases of a illness actually spread like "wild fire"? Certainly there have been plagues in history and we are worried about a new potential global epidemic, but most of the time this doesn't happen. Why?

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// =Connie= // Viruses and bacteria are examples of microscopic forms that can affect an organism, community or planet greatly. They can both cause diseases, and can reproduce very rapidly. If an organism has only a few disease causing virus or bacteria, they can reproduce, and pretty soon, the entire organism will be sick. The infected person can sneeze and cough on another person, and that person will be infected too. Pretty soon, the entire community will be sick. With the way people travel nowadays, these germs can spread very quickly. With just a twelve-hour flight, a person infected with a deadly virus can make its way over a large ocean, and infect people from another continent. That can lead to a huge epidemic, and the entire world will be affected. You may think this is a bit exaggerated, but germs can spread very easily. A person may breathe in viruses and bacteria that have been coughed into the air by an infected person (that is why it is important to cover your mouth when you cough), or they touch a contaminated object (that is why it is important to wash your hands). Do not just look on the bad side. Viruses and bacteria can also affect the world in good ways. Bacteria can help with cleaning up oil spills and gas leaks, thus helping the community. They can also be used for environmental recycling. Bacteria can break down large chemicals in dead organisms into small chemicals that plants can use. That not only helps the plant, but the consumers that eat the plants. As Zachary had already mentioned, the empty protein shell of a virus can be used to as little containers for drugs. Scientists can take advantage of the fact that since viruses have a certain protein coat shape, they can only infect certain cells. So if you have a problem with your heart, doctors can put drugs into the empty shells of heart viruses and put them into your body. That way, only your heart will access these drugs, instead of your entire body. This is a picture of a bacteria splitting using binary fission. If the conditions are right, this bacteria can split every 20 minutes. This is also a reason how bacteria can spread so quickly from an organism, to a community, to a planet.

www.flickr.com/photos/59901756@N00/2703679489

Mrs. B: Nicely done! I highlighted some text in blue because it is very new information for others to read. With our very global economy comes some risk of spreading disease. Has anyone noticed how they take your temperature when you go through immigration at the Shanghai airport? They are looking for people with fevers to try to prevent the spread of deadly diseases like Avian flu.

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// =Jeff= //Viruses can cause a lot of harm because of how easy it is to transmit from one person to another, such as the 1918 influenza epidemic, which killed more people than WWI. Also, viruses are impossible to kill by things except your own body. Also, now because of the ease of flying round, viruses can be transmitted much, much easier than before, in the 600s AD.

HIV-2

Mrs. B: Good to have some new topics! Needs a little more discussion and fix your picture (Explain also how is it relevant?)// =Kate= //I agree with Anthony when he said that its like a chain reaction, and how its kind of like dominoes. You knock down the first one, you eventually knock down them all. Something tiny can affect everything on a big scale. For example, if there was a mutated bacteria that managed to survive an anti-biotic and reproduced, all those that the mutated bacteria made would all reproduce again and again until the anti-biotic wouldn't work and the cure would be gone, which could be very dangerous. Not all are harmful though. the bacteria are everywhere and if we didn't have some of them in our digestive systems, we wouldn't be able to break down some foods that we eat. Also we use some bacteria to clean up oil spills and decompose some things, and if we didn't have them, the world would be pretty messy and gross. I like how Belle said that some foods like yoghurt and cheese are also made up of bacteria, foods that many people like to eat. Some viruses and bacteria are harmful, but there are also a lot that help us and we need them to survive. Without them, who knows if we'd still be around?

[] I chose this picture because something small can affect the entire planet. If you even just tap one domino, its just like mutating one bacteria that reproduces insanely fast. Before you know it, all the dominoes will be knocked down just like all the mutating bacteria will have covered the planet and caused unknown deadly diseases.

Mrs. B: Nice summary of many things are learning about. Can you add something new...some detail? Back To Top//

=Emilie= // Viruses and bacteria alike affect organisms because they affect an organism’s health. Most viruses cause infectious diseases when they use your cells to replicate, therefore causing the organism to get sick. Sometimes it causes the organism to die. There is no cure for viral induced diseases, but there is some available medication to treat the symptoms. Some bacteria also cause sickness but some help fight against it. There are cures to some bacteria induced diseases but not all. These cures are called antibiotics. But some sicknesses, such as malaria, have no cure which affects an organism because many of these can kill you. This affects the community because many people die a day because of malaria, especially children. Also crops can be affected by diseases, causing shortage in food. This affects the planet because the world doesn’t overflow with people. But this is gradually changing because more people are being born than dying a day because we have found some cures too many of these diseases like the Bubonic Plague. I chose the following picture because it shows an example of how a virus or bacteria can affect the planet. This map shows places in the world where malaria is most common. Since there is no known cure, many people die of malaria, which is how it affects the planet.

Mrs. B: Very nice detail about Malaria (which is caused by a protozoa...do you know which one?). I love the picture you chose. It really shows where Malaria is a problem. Its not a coincidence that it is mostly around the hot regions near the equator, as Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes which thrive in hot, moist environments.//

=Jonathan= //Normally people think that what is big is always better or stronger or can affect more. But not in the case of bacteria and viruses. These are scary. Under ideal conditions, bacteria can double in a matter of minutes while a virus can multiply itself hundreds of times over the course of between a few hours and a few days. Like people before said, it can actually affect the world more than a single nation can.

Since these bacteria and viruses are so small and can multiply impossibly quick, it can easily change the world. How? You see, if conditions on earth were ideal, some of the more harmful bacteria such as TB or Tetanus could multiply very fast and it could start a plague of dynamic proportions. Imagine a disease where the bacteria causing it multiplies every half hour or so. It would overrun the world. Same with viruses,which was proved bya the Black Plague in the Middle Ages and the Spanish flu in the 19th and 20th century. Also, even if we managed to find a cure, these bacteria, being very simple, would mutate in a matter of days, rendering the cure useless.

Having covered the bad kind, now lets talk about the good kind. As Anthony said, they provide us with some very important foods, but not only that, they also provide methane for cooking, help clean up oil spills and are present in many kinds of medicines and vitamins. Without these cures and supplements, we humans would be weaker and more prone to other physical dangers, which may spell extinction for us if we are overrun. Some bacteria also produce oxygen, which we need so without them, we would die.

All in all, we should realize that even the tiniest bacteria or virus has the power to affect a community and the world.

This is an example of a virus, which has the ability to affect organisms, communities and the world.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 140%; color: rgb(255, 100, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 165, 0);">  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Image: ' [|�73�]<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HIV Particle <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">' <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">www.flickr.com/photos/47353092@N00/588732155 [[#htmldiff12]]<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back to top Change 0 of 0

Mrs. B: Good summary of what we have learned so far. I'm sure there are many other plagues in our history, like the Spanish Flu. Organizations like the CDC and World Health Organization work very hard prevent an epidemic like that from happening again (i.e. SARS, Avian Influenza, etc.)

// =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Royce = "Viruses are very small, and they cannot be seen with a naked eye. They are even smaller than our cells, but just because they are small, doesn't mean that they can't affect anything big."-Belle I totally agree with this line by Belle, and I think many other people have said the exact same thing. Small organisms of this world can affect the Earth in both positive and negative ways. They make our food, as other people have said before, such as tofu, soy sauce, pickles, yogurt and other foods. They kill us, through horrible diseases such as: AIDS, MRSA, SARS, typhoid, etc. Many people know this, and are using antibacterial products to kill him. This overuse of antibiotics such as penicillin have accelerated the natural property of "natural selection." Which is when the strongest survive, and the rest die off. Let me explain how this happens, someone uses a very effective antibacterial cream, which kills a relative 99.9% of bacteria from the area. But what happens to the 0.1% that wasn't killed? Well it multiplies, so when you use the cream again, perhaps only 92% gets killed, but sooner or later, with repetitive use of the cream (or antibiotics) the bacteria is now immune to the affects of the cream. Imagine this happening to deadly bacteria, actually it isn't imagining anymore, it is in real life. MRSA- or as it is called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, immune to Beta-lactam antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. It is immune to many antibiotics, and has only a few cures. They are mostly found in hospitals, which is really bad since in hospitals, many people often lie with open wounds or weakened immune systems. MRSA is a rising epidemic, and is now spreading from hospitals to communities. Here is a picture of MRSA right here: Picture from: []\ Back to Top

=Ethan=

Viruses and bacteria can affect the larger organism by causing diseases. Diseases are caused by viruses destroying cells or bacteria multiplying out of control. These diseases can be spread to other organisms. and can affect an entire community, which can affect large areas of the planet. For example, the black plague started in asian communities. Infected bodies were thrown over the walls of Venice, Italy, and fleeing merchant brought in north into the rest of Europe. It spread along trade routes, and soon, before the epidemic ended, had killed half the population of Europe. The bacteria that caused the black plague. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hukuzatuna/2539168777/

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