Homework

Topic 1 - Antibiotic Resistance:

Based on what you have learned in this section, discuss how some microbes that produce infections in humans have become resistant to antibiotics. Find one example of microbial resistance (within the last five years) that has produced illness in humans. Please make sure to cite your source (books, magazines, internet, etc)!

Topic 2 - Weird Organisms!

The living organisms that exist upon the earth exhibit a wide array of physical, chemical, and behavioral variation. Each feature of an organism is an adaptation acquired by that species through evolution, which uniquely suits an organism to survival within a given set of environmental conditions.

Find an example of the weirdest, wildest, most bizarre or interesting species you can. Discuss those features that uniquely suit this organism to survival within a given set of environmental conditions. When considering the features of an organism, include its observable physical characteristics (which can be seen by the naked eye), as well as the molecular, metabolic, or chemical characteristics of the organism that can occur at the level of (or within) cells. You can draw examples from the textbook or search the Web for the organism of your choice. If you can find it on the web, include a link to a picture or description of your organism. My only requirement is, with the huge diversity of organisms available, I do not expect to see the same organism twice. Include links or references if appropriate.

Student discussion: Antibiotic Resistance

Topic one:

Antibiotic resistance infect americans every year, causing tons of deaths. The CDC states that there are 12 resistant pathogens, that pose a serious risk to humans health. One of those 12 are found in the food we eat this would be salmonella, which 39 percent of this was found in chicken. In 2011 a warning was issued to the public stating that "Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets... These organisms can cause food borne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to treating people could become ineffective." alot of animals are given antibiotics to make them grow extreamly fast to reproduce or to become a big enough size to kill for the consumer. This was definitely a misuse in antibiotics.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/23/agricultural-antibiotic-overuse.aspx

Topic Two: Weird Organisms!

The organism i chose is the cymothoa exigua, this creepy parasite is one that you would never know exist. The cymothoa exigua is a tounge eating louse, this parasite is found in fish. These parasite's start off by swimming into the fish's gills, usually they will stay here until they grow and become mature these parasites grow to about a inch in length. Once that phase is over it changes it's sex from male to female and slowly attach's itself to the tounge. Once she is attached to the tounge she will call it home. She will then bite the tounge and mount herself into a stable position and suck the life out of the tounge sucking the blood until that organ is destroyed, then she becomes the new tounge. This isn't enough to kill the fish, but i cant forget to mention this thing still reproduces, if there are any males still hanging around in the gills it will crawl up into the mouth and mate with the female to repeat the cycle. Studies show that this parasite is not harmful to humans.

Work cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua