Cool Crawfish Blog

Hola senores y senoras. Today we're going to talk about everyone's favorite Louisianan delight--the crawfish! They are found in bodies of water. Some species are found in fresh water while others are
found in swamps, ditches, and rice paddies. Most of them can not tolerate polluted water. They feed on dead animals and plants. Crayfish breathe through feather like gills. There is a species of crayfish that is blue called the blue Crayfish. There are ones that are also red and white. Now that we've got some context about crayfish, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened up a crayfish to show you its external and internal anatomy.

Now that you've seen the final product, check out this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/OAoMy0rRtqA

Cool Frog Dissection Lab

Hey kids, what's green and hops around? A frog! Frogs are the most popular of amphibians. They live both on air land and in the water and are capable of living in the most diverse habitats ranging from hot to warm, wet to dry. Using lungs to breathe on air and gills to breathe underwater. Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica. Frogs are carnivores, eating insects primarily. Larger frogs however can eat small snakes, baby mice, or even other smaller frogs! Now that we've got some context about frogs, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened up a frog to show you its external and internal anatomy.

 

Now that you've seen the final result of our expedition into this frog, watch this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/RpM3lMmFyfk

Cool Clam Dissection Blog

Hello, Dallas. It's the enraged Zucchinis again, here with another installment of our dissection series and today we've got a treat for you. Today we explore the wonderful, stupendous, amazing...clam. That's right, but before we open it up and take a peek inside, let's have some background information. The clam can be found on the seabed of fresh as well as salty bodies of water. Clams are known as filter feeders, which means they pump water through their bodies, trapping small organisms in their gills, such as plankton, which they can consume. As the water passes through the siphon of the clam, carbon dioxide and wastes are removed from the body of the clam, and the water is expelled through the siphon. Incidentally, there is a particularly interesting type of clam that is appropriately named the giant clam, for its four foot size. This clam is said to have an average life span of about 100 years. Now that we've got some context about clams, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened a clam up to show you their external and internal anatomy.

Now that you've seen the final product, watch this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/XO6XXeP8gJ0

Cool Starfish Dissection Lab

Hello boys and girls. Gather around. Today we're going to talk about dissecting starfish. But before we make any cuts, here's some contextual information about the starfish. Starfish are found on the sea beds of all oceans, typically about 20,000 feet below the surface of the water. They feed on invertebrates in the area, such as clams, oysters, sand dollars, and mussels. Some starfish may also feed on decomposing plants and animals or even coral. Starfish breathe through the tube feet in their arms by diffusing oxygen through their skin. Starfish also have eyes at the ends of each arm, but it is unknown what their purpose is. Now that  we've got some context, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened up a starfish to show you its external and internal anatomy.

Now that you've seen the final product, watch this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/We7AZPCmNNI

Cool Lake Perch Dissection Blog

Hello Americans. Welcome to our Cool Lake Perch Dissection Blog (cue airhorns). Today you're going to learn everything some things about dissecting Lake Perch fish. But first, some background knowledge on our friend, the Lake Perch. The Lake Perch is a freshwater fish found predominantly in freshwater lakes and ponds in the Northern Hemisphere, though some species have been introduced to Oceania. Just like me at a Buffalo Wild Wings, it is carnivorous; unlike me at Buffalo Wild Wings, it feeds not on wings but on smaller fish/crustaceans and insect larvae. Like most of its fish brethren it breathes through gills on the sides of its body, but unlike most of their fish brethren, some species of the Perch spawn their eggs by draping long strings of eggs over plants or other structures underwater. Now that we've got some context about the lake perch, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened up a lake perch to show you its external and internal anatomy.

Now that you've seen the final product, check out this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/RpM3lMmFyfk

Cool Worm Dissection Blog

Hey kids, today we're going to talk about everyone's favorite little critter. You see them when it rains and when you're in the garden. It's the earthworm! Worms live in land and water and can be found in almost every habitat on earth. They can eat and process all sorts of wastes and soil and they are some of the only creatures that can do that. Worms breathe through their skin, air dissolves on the mucus and through this process works can breathe. If worms dry out they will suffocate. Each earthworm is both male and female, they produce eggs and sperm. Now that we've got some context about worms, let's talk dissection. Take a look at the pictures below where we've opened up a worm to show you its external and internal anatomy.

 

Now that you've seen the final product, watch this video to see how we did it!

https://youtu.be/9x-6YoYwsiE

Cool Gel Electrophoresis Lab

Intro: 

During the lab, we take DNA samples containing combinations of restriction enzymes and run them through a gel electrophoresis. The overall goal of the lab is to analyze the DNA bands in the gel to approximate the sizes of the DNA fragments and being able to construct a plasmid map that correctly places enzymes in the appropriate location with respect to the gel's data. 

The Gel Process:

Once given a premade gel mold, we load our five DNA samples in 5 of the 6 slots after placing it in the water. The first slot contains Lambda which is the control DNA and is free of restriction enzymes. This will be our template for determining the sizes of the DNA fragments. The second slot is left empty. The third contains restriction enzyme PST1, the fourth contains PST1/ SSP1, the fifth contains PST1/ HPA1, and the final slot contains all three restriction enzymes. 

Once we let the process run and the DNA fragments run towards the positive end because they are negatively charged, we get a gel that looks like this. 

Using the lambda as the template, and using other people's gel for further measurement, we are able to accurately label the DNA fragments with the appropriate size. The smaller fragments are further from the starting point because they are smaller in size and can travel further than the larger fragments. We start to see pattern in each gel slot and all of the slots add up the the same number of base pairs, 4100 bp. With all of this data, we can now construct our plasmid map. 

Mapping the Plasmid:

After a good ol' round of gel electrophoresis, there's nothing better than mapping out your plasmid and its restriction enzyme cuts. Seriously though, pay attention because this is pretty slick. First we examine the second gel lane, which was cut up by none other than PstI. From this lane our circular DNA is cut into two pieces, approximately 600 and 3500 base pairs long when compared to the lambda pieces, which means that PstI, must have cut the plasmid twice as such...

Then we examine the third lane, wherein our friendly neighborhood plasmid was cut by both PstI and HpaI. We get fragments that are 600, 500, and 3000 base pairs long, which means that our 4100bp fragment from the second lane was cut into two pieces by HpaI. We get the following result...

Then we check out the fourth lane where we used PstI and SspI to cut the plasmid. We get fragments that are 600, 1300, and 2200 base pairs long, which means our 3000bp fragment from lane two was cut into two fragments by SspI. Here's our plasmid now...

Lastly, when we use all three restriction enzymes to cut up the plasmid at the same time, as in lane five, we get the following cuts...

So there you have it, a hypothetical outline of how our restriction enzymes work on our plasmids based on our gel electrophoresis. Next time you want to commit a crime, remember that technology like this is legit, and it gets people incarcerated on the regular.