Get Over It

I'd like to thank the "nice gentleman" who found it necessary to honk at me as he almost drove into my passenger side door this morning on my way to work. I'm sure it made him feel like a real man to set up there in his lofty SUV perch and make his point with honks and gestures. Classy...really classy.

Daily Recap: Monday, 3/9

Investigating Technologies:
We are getting close to finishing up the final harbor rotation of this quarter. Portfolios and projects need to be completed by Thursday.

Anatomy and Physiology:
Today was a review/preparation day for the respiratory system exam scheduled for tomorrow. Teh major announcement of the day was the 3rd quarter portfolios will be OPTIONAL, since a lot of us will be gone to the state tournament on Thursday.

Biology:
1. We took quiz 3.6, primarily dealing with patterns of evolution.
2. A new Bio-Bulletin was distributed. Individual progress reports were printed on the backs of these. They will need to be signed and returned as part of students' third quarter portfolios.
3. Speaking of portfolios, the remainder of the period was work time to get started assembling these. Please note that students can choose whether they want their portfolio to go on their 3rd quarter or 4th quarter grade. If it's going to go on the 3rd quarter grade, then I need it by Wednesday. If it's going on the 4th quarter grade, then I don't need it until after spring break.
4. There will be two evolution tests this week. The district summative assessment will be tomorrow, and my test will be on Thursday. Any student that is absent on Thursday can either take the test Wednesday before school, or can take a temporary incomplete on their report card and then complete the test after spring break. If our girls basketball team is not playing on Friday, the test can be made up at school Friday morning before 10::00.

Obama Lifts Stem-Cell Ban

President Barack Obama today signed an executive order that will allow federal money to be used for embryonic stem cell research. This order essentially overturns a ban placed on the use of federal dollars for this type of research during the Bush administration. Embryonic stem cells are taken from a human embryo when it is about 9 days old (at this stage its called a blastocyst) and is a ball of a few dozen cells. At the center of this ball of cells are embryonic stem cells which have not yet differentiated. To put it in simple terms, these cells are all identical and haven't yet decided what they want to be when they "grow up". Some of these cells will become muscle cells, some heart cells, some nerve cells, some skin cells, etc. This is why we call them stem cells.

In order for these cells to be used in research, scientists must "harvest" them from a blastocyst. Opponents of this type of research argue that since a blastocyst is a human embryo at its earliest stage of development, to destroy it is essentially to destroy human life. Science advocates claim that, since these embryos are the "left overs" from in-vitro fertilization procedures and would never be implanted in a human womb anyways, then they might as well be put to legitimate use. And since these cells have the potential to become any cell type in the body, their uses in the treatment of a wide range of diseases is very promising.

The policy adopted by the Bush administration was that federal money could be used to fund existing lines of embryonic stem cells. The idea here is that the "damage" had already been done, so they might as well continue to use them. What was banned under Bush was the funding of new lines of embryonic stem cells, which prevented federal funds from funding the destruction of more embryos. Keep in mind that this research was never made illegal...it just wasn't publicly funded.

Obama's order to lift this ban will allow the National Institute of Health to establish federal guidelines for embryonic stem cell research. It is being widely praised by pro-science advocates as a return to "science over ideology" in government. On a personal note, I've made references here before that I support the current administration's efforts to return science to a legitimate place in public policy. However, to equate opposition to embryonic stem cell research (which is based on a fundamental belief as to when human life actually begins) with a denial of global warming (which is based on a consumerism and the influence of the Big Oil lobby) isn't just or equitable. It would do the pro-stem cell folks some good if they could practice a bit of humility in accepting why people may have such a strong aversion to this type of research.

And on the other side, why is it that religious groups (such as my own Catholic church) are so vocal when it comes to opposing this type of research, yet remain relatively silent on the ethics of the in-vitro fertilization practices that result in the hundreds of thousands of embryos destined to never be implanted and given the opportunity to grow into a person?

Countdown to Discovery

The countdown to Wednesday's launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS 119) began yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two-week mission will be primarily focused on adding the last set of solar panels to the International Space Station, and will feature up to four spacewalks. In addition, one of Discovery's crew members (Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata) will remain on the International Space Station at the completion of the mission, and one of the ISS crew members (Sandra Magnus) will be hitching a ride home on Discovery after being in space since November 14th.

You Deserve This...

A HUGE congratulations to the EHS girls' basketball team and their coaching staff for winning last week's class 4A sub-state tournament on their home court. Following an opening round win against Spring Hill, the Lady Cards upset K.C. Piper and St. James Academy to win a berth in next week's state tournament in Salina.