Friday ... winners and swallowtails

Today was Selected Topics in Science Friday.  We finished our planarian lab up looking at the results on the overhead projector using my computer and a USB microscope.  We also discussed how planaria are environmentally sensitive to pollution and can be used as an indicator species to detect pollution in springs and streams.  I will return them to the stream tomorrow.

We also did some work with the food labels we had left over from our biochem poker game ... a discussion of serving size,  saturated fats and calories followed.  Finally, we looked and read about the Rabbs fringed -limbed treefrog (it was recently featured in National Geographic magazine).  Our discussion led to other species that have become extinct and why.  We did some research on the extinct passenger pigeon that once lived in North American by the billions but became extinct when the last one died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914 ... habitat destruction and over hunting.

http://www.zooatlanta.org/home/animals/amphibians/rabbs_fringe_limbed_treefrog

Biochem Poker winners below from Selected Topics ... congrats to all!  Winning hands included ATP (adenosine and three phosphates), four-unit protein (four amino acids) and more.

Still a lot of tiger swallowtails visiting our wildflower beds.  I have enjoyed them over the last month.