Science & Technology

The Father of Genetics, Gregor Mendel, was a priest, and then he became a biologist, but why? 

Gregor Mendel had just finished work in the convent for his next Mass and stopped by his church garden, admiring the pea plants. He decided to figure out why some were yellow and why some were green. Eventually, he ended up studying the biology behind it in 1865, but I will discuss that soon.  

Gregor Mendel was a very holy man. He was born on July 20, 1822, and died on January 6, 1884, at age 61. He was born and died in the Austrian Kingdom, but what is now modern-day Austria and the Czech Republic. Being a biologist wasn’t easy, but he wasn’t just a biologist; he was also a meteorologist. In 1865 along with his famous discoveries in genetics, and 20 years before 1845, the biologist and meteorologist became a monk, but he didn’t plan to ever do so. 

Now, I will explain the biology that, coincidentally, 6th Grade was learning at a simpler level. Gregor Mendel discovered that, for example, if you have a dad with blue eyes and your mom has blue eyes as well, you will have two matching genes. However, if your mom or dad have different eye colors, such as blue and brown, the brown eyes will be inherited because that gene is more dominant than the blue eye gene by 3/4ths. This leads us to the following article by sixth-grade journalists on genetics. Please read their article for more information on dog genetics.

Have you ever heard of dog genetics? A dog Gene is a selection of DNA that creates puppies. In this article, I will discuss how dog genetics make up dogs, how these genes are made, and how the dog uses these genes to create puppies. 

There are over 400,000 genes in one dog to make these genes. The mother gives one chromosome and the father gives one chromosome together; these make up the genetic material to create a dog. These can either be homozygous or heterozygous. When something is homozygous, it means that the gene version is the same. When something is heterozygous, that means that the gene versions are different. This affects the dog's color, the shape of their face, and more. In a dog, about 4,000 genes are the same as one of its siblings; for example, one dog could be black, and the other dog could be brown, even though they have the same mother.

These genes are made by being given to one when they are born. Each dog is given 39 pairs of chromosomes so that basically means there are 72 individual chromosomes. These chromosomes are each given randomly by the mother and the father, so there is a 50/50 chance that the dog could be black if the father is black, or there's a 50/50 chance that the dog is brown because the mom is brown. Genes can also be mutated which means that color could skip a generation; for example, what dog could have puppies and have blue eyes when one of those puppies has another set of puppies, also known as a litter, the dogs could have brown eyes because their dad does. But when that litter grows up and has puppies, the puppies could have blue eyes even though both dogs have brown eyes. This means that the gene was mutated in the past litter. 

To get a real-life look at how genetics causes different dog characteristics, my friends Avery, Christina, and I decided to compare the differences in our own pet dogs, Boots, Tucker, and Lily:

Boots Genetics: 

My dog’s name is Boots. She is a Golden Mountain. This means she is a Golden Retriever and Bernese Mountain. Her mom is a Bernese Mountain Dog, which means her mom kept the babies well, and her dad fertilized them. Her genes were passed down to all of her babies. Boots has the colors of a Bernese Mountain dog and the body shape of a Golden Retriever like her dad. 

She also has a mutation as well. 

For example her mom has a rusty brown color and her dad is more golden brown. Therefore in this case Boots has a rusty brown. This means she got this from her mom. She has many more but we just don’t know all of them! Boots also has traits like her mom like protective and loyal. She also has some from with her dad, like friendly and eager. This combined makes Boots. 

Tucker’s Dog Genetics

Tucker Is 1 and 1/2 years old. He is a chocolate lab. Tucker is a chocolate Lab, which means that his mom was a chocolate lab and his dad was a chocolate lab. He might have some mutation. His mom has brown eyes, and his dad has green eyes. This means that Tucker has a mutation. A mutation is when a gene is almost skipped in one's generation.  For example, if my mom has brown hair, her dad has blonde hair, and  I have blonde hair, this means that my mom was skipped in the generation or the trait of blonde hair. Tucker is also a darker brown than his mom. His mom has a light brown, and his dad has a darker chocolate brown. Tucker has a more chocolaty brown than his mom, who has a light brown.  Lastly, Tucker is a very athletic dog; his sister, on the other hand, is more of a lazier dog, and this means that he is just more athletic and has that trait, as his sister is not. Overall, Tucker is a great dog.

Lily’s Dog Genetics

Lily is a mini Goldendoodle and is roughly ten months old. Since Lily is a mini Goldendoodle and part Golden Retriever and a poodle. As you may know, many golden doodles are very athletic. Since Lily is a mixed dog, her mom is a Golden Retriever, and her dad is a poodle, this makes her a hypoallergenic Goldendoodle. Lily's hair is coarse and thick, as well as curly. Her dad, since he is a poodle, has curly hair and thickness. Her mom is a Golden Retriever, which gives her a golden color. Lastly, she has brown eyes, and her dad and mom have brown eyes. This means that she has Almost 100% brown eyes. Overall, Lily is energetic and loves to play.

Overall, you learned about dog genetics and how they work. We also learned about Lily, who is a Goldendoodle; Tucker, who is a chocolate lab; and Boots, who is a golden Mountain Dog. All of these dogs are joyful and love to play. 

Think about this when you're watching a cartoon: someone drew an entire image, painted it, edited it to its very best, checked with multiple people in the animation pipeline, and it played for a 1/24 of a second, and you probably weren’t even watching the cartoon! But what about when cameras weren’t invented yet? Well, I know four ways they made animation: 

1: The first kind is simple. You can put a string of 24 frames for each second on a wall and move fast on a bike or car or your legs while simultaneously staring at the wall. Then, when it's fast enough, it creates the illusion of movement or life. “Hey *puff* look, it's moving! It’s a horse- “(crashes into a tree) 

2: You can take those same pictures and put them in a stack and flip through them quickly, and it will actually look like it's moving. That's the thing in the corner of the anamorph books where humans become animals. It was a weird series. This is mostly considerably to be the easiest of the group and just requires a pencil, a lot of paper, some time, and okay drawing skills. A simple one is a bouncing ball where you draw a couple of frames for the fall, some for the bounce, and some on the trip up.

3. if you draw on two separate pieces of paper with one line on each for 1 frame. When they slide, the halves move to form the figure moving. Almost any animation can be made using this type of animation. Someone was able to recreate every panel of Dog Man using this.

4:The last kind is very weird. You get a piece of clay and create a figure, and people think by now, “Then you're gonna take a picture then change it, therefore starting and stopping,” but no, the cameras weren’t invented yet. You then create a character in a slightly different pose, and after you make 16 in a loop, you find a round table. Ask Arthur, the aardvark of the round table, I guess? Then flicker lights on and off and spin the table (ask the bike guy to ride his bike to energize the table to spin) and if you do it right, then the result is mesmerizing, and now you know a 4 syllable word that begins with z: zoetrope. It was also used as an intro for season 2 of a show which is what made it popular. I  mean, it was so much easier than using this hunk of junk. 

Have you ever wondered how plants grow? Well, the key is photosynthesis. Let's break down the words first before we go into photosynthesis. Photo means light, and synthesis means to build. Put these together you get “to build light” but light isn't the only thing these amazing biological creatures build, they not only go up, but down, into the dirt. Today, we will be looking at the process of photosynthesis and taking a deep dive into how these creatures grow.

Photosynthesis has three paths: water, sun, and carbon dioxide. These eventually come together to make sugar and oxygen. Alright, let's clear our desks because the next parts will be a bit overwhelming. 

Let's start with the Sun. The Sun passes light down to the plant and the plant absorbs it via chlorophyll, this turns the light into chemical energy. While this happens, carbon dioxide goes through tiny pores called stomata. At the same time, water is being collected through the roots. The chemical energy, carbon dioxide, and water make sugar and oxygen. When this happens, the carbon dioxide breaks down the sugar to make energy, while the oxygen is ejected through the stomata. The energy created makes the plant grow.

Through photosynthesis plants gain the energy required to grow into trees! But you may be wondering, if a plant starts out as a seed that does not have roots or leaves, how does it sprout/germinate? Well all a seed needs to germinate is water, oxygen, and the proper temperature to germinate. Then once the roots reach into the dirt and the leaves look to the sun, it can continue the normal process of photosynthesis.

Believe it or not, there are actually three primary phases of growth. The first phase is called meristematic. This usually makes the sapling and marks the start of the plant's journey. 

The second phase is elongation. During this phase it starts to grow wood and as its name suggests it starts to elongate into a taller tree and make longer and stronger branches. Fun fact: trees develop wood in this phase to make a steady and strong foundation and structure to support the long branches.

The third phase is maturation. During this phase, the plant produces mature cells. At this phase, fruit is usually (if not already) growing to reproduce.

Though, you might wonder how the plant makes bark or wood. First, we need to look at the material plants make before wood. This is called xylem. Wood is made during the second phase of growth, this is when the plant starts to grow thicker, and wider. Anyways, during this phase, the plant makes a second wall with the xylem cells, and with the help of programmed death from the xylem cells, they produce wood.

Now, let’s see how these fascinating creatures reproduce. Many different trees have many different ways of reproducing. But let’s just focus on the apple tree and the pine tree. Let's start with the apple tree. The apple tree uses fruits as a way of reproducing. These fruits grow on the branches and eventually fall. The hope is that an animal would come by and eat it, eating the seeds, and these seeds would be in the fruit somewhere. In this case, the apple core. Once the seeds are in the animal (it doesn't grow inside the animal), the animal would travel away before leaving their stool (otherwise known as poop) on the ground and leaving the seed inside to grow into another tree. 

Pine trees have a different way of reproducing. They use pine cones; as you know, these things get everywhere. Did you know that pine cones have genders? I'm not kidding; this is how they reproduce. Male pine cones produce pollen, and female pine cones house the seeds. Male pine cones have the hope that their pollen will go through the wind and reach the female pine cones in another tree and pollinate them. This will make the pine seeds fall off and onto the ground. But their journey does not end there; they are transported by animals through defecation, wind, water, people, and even fire! Fire heats up the seeds, making the right conditions for growth!

And there you have it! Photosynthesis. You could consider yourself an expert, you can test your family or friends about your knowledge!