Micro-Life Cells: Cells are the building blocks of all animals and plants. Some simple organisms are made up of only one cell, while others are made up of millions or different ones! There are many kinds, and each perform a special job. Emerging Disease: An emerging disease is one that is new or recently discovered. Sometimes diseases come back after a large drop of it. They are then known as re-emerging diseases. Big Idea Thesis By Amelia & Courtney Since the beginning of time infectious diseases have been a problem. Epidemics of many diseases have decreased many populations and killed many people. For a long time people were not able to find cures to something as simple as the flu. Now things have changed. People now know that if you even wash your hands you can protect yourself from infectious diseases. Antibiotics have developed and they can cure diseases. As new diseases emerge doctors work very hard to try and find a cure. Some diseases can not be cured but you can almost always find a way to protect yourself. With diseases like Mad Cow Disease you can avoid beef and with Malaria and West Nile Virus you can use bug spray. Many diseases can be avoided you just have to find out the facts. 

 Eukaryotic cells are commonly found in higher plants and animals. They have special properties and jobs to fit their owner’s demands. Organisms can contain one to billions of these cells. They are more complicated then Procaryotic cells and bacteria. In activity 38 studied the two cells and compared them to find the similarities and differences between the two. As we learned in Activity 40, an important part of cells is the cell membrane. It keeps all of the harmful things out, and the important parts of the cell inside. In Activity 29 we tested the similarities or yeast and human cells to see if they respire, which they do.
 Prokaryotic cells include bacteria, viruse, and protists. They are much simpler in structure than Eukaryotic cells, and there are many different kinds. One kind of protest are slime molds. The slime mold resembles a slug and moves extremely slow. Usually individual cells live alone, but if the conditions are bad they will form together. They normally feed on fungi, bacteria, decaying vegetation, and other slime molds. It moves towards the light, or wherever the weather and food supply is right. Over time the number of people infected by a disease rises, plateaus and then decreases as a result in treatment or, in some cases, death. People need to be careful when they are sick so that they do not infect others with the disease. Some diseases can be spread by just sneezing or sharing a water bottle while others can only be spread by blood contact. Cover your mouth when you sneeze, and do not share needles with anyone. In Activities 30 and 31 we demonstrated going to different places and exchanging “saliva” (really water). Some people had the disease and they spread it to other people like me who spread it to other people. We also watched a video about the flu and how it can be spread by a simple sneeze. Diseases can be spread very easily. Protect yourself and others. Vectors and Carriers are the key points to a spreading disease. In Activities 32 and 33 we learned that carriers are people that are infected with the disease but show no symptoms. Vectors are an organism other than people that spread a disease but are not infected by it themselves. In Activity 32 we acted like epidemiologists, a person who tracks the carriers of a disease, and tried to find the carrier(s) of a mysterious illness affecting a middle school. In Activity 33 we watched a video on the Bubonic Plague, a disease that affected San Francisco in the early 1900’s. We learned about how they quarantined many people but in the end realized that fleas were spreading it. Vectors and carriers very important things to keep in mind when dealing with infectious diseases. 

 Sometimes people act illogically when it comes to diseases. Hundreds of years ago no one knew about germ theory and they treated sick people like outcasts. In the case of Leprosy (Activity 34), people in the Middle Ages were exiled from society if they were found with the disease. Recently in the past few hundred years, people like Florence Nightingale and Ignaz Semmelwiess have contributed to germ theory. They made people realize that you can’t get rid of a disease by exiling people that have it. Now instead of exiling people they give them medicine. Sometimes people act illogically towards a disease and it take one or many revelations to show them how to act. In science class we did pod casts on infectious diseases of our choice. Malaria is a deadly disease that kills over a million people a year. It can be prevented by using bug spray and wearing protective clothing. Though many people think it is not a problem it is remerging and vaccines can not be made because the parasites are constantly mutating. Although Mad Cow Disease, or the human version vCJD, is deadly it is extremely rare. Only one in a million people are actually infected. You can go years, even decades without even knowing you have it. At first symptoms are not too bad, but they can progress to memory loss and uncontrollable muscle spasms. Once you start having symptoms usually they only live about another 12-14 months. There is no cure, but by taking medications they can try to ease the pain. There are some very deadly diseases out there that need to be kept under a close watch.
 Diseases can be spread very easily so you need to know how to protect yourself and others. All living organisms are made up of cells, and very in amount and kinds. Two kinds of cells are Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic. Prokaryotic cells are found in plants and humans, while Eukaryotic cells include bacteria, viruses, and protists. Vectors and carriers are important to a spreading disease. Sometimes people don’t realize what to do about a disease and it takes important discoveries to turn them in the right direction. Many diseases can be deadly and they need to be kept under close watch.
The World of Micro-Life