Red Blood Cells

Red blood cells are vitally important. As stated on The University of Michigan's Health System website, they are the biggest and arguably most important part of the blood system. They travel to the lungs and carry oxygen, which attaches to the hemoglobin inside the red blood cells, to the rest of the body while also removing waste. The University of Rochester's Medical Center page describes red blood cells as, "round, with a flattish, indented center, like doughnuts without a hole," they travel throughout the blood stream and work non-stop to supply our bodies with the vital oxygen they need, however red blood cells don't live forever. The Franklin Institute estimates that the average life cycle for red blood cells is around one hundred and twenty days, but the body is constantly producing more so thankfully we don't run out. Seeing that red blood cells are, well, "blood cells", that means they form connective tissues. Mr. Orre taught several functions for connective tissues, one example being how that connective tissues act as a major transport system in the body. Red blood cells are considered cells, however the New World Encyclopedia tells that red blood cells do not have a nucleus or DNA and many other typical eukaryotic organelles, like mitochondria. They do not reproduce themselves because they are produced in the red bone marrow then distributed to the rest of the body. 

Works Cited for "Red Blood Cells" Post

“Red Blood Cell.” New World Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Red_blood_cell>.

“Red Blood Cell (Erythrocyte).” University of Michigan Health System. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. <http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/tv7033>.

“Red Blood Cells.” The Franklin Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. <https://www.fi.edu/heart/red-blood-cells>.

“What Are Red Blood Cells?” University of Rochester Medical Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. <https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=160&ContentID=34>.

Carbohydrates!

Sweetness Lab Photo

Sweetness Lab Reflection

In today's lab my lab group and I analyzed the physical properties, like color and texture, of different carbohydrates. We also tasted each carbohydrate and rated the sweetness on a scale of one to two hundred. A trend that I noticed during the lab was that the carbohydrates with less rings in it's structure, tended to have more of a sweet taste than those with more rings. The sweetest carbohydrate (in my opinion) was the fructose, with is a monosaccharide, while the least sweet carbohydrates were starch and cellulose, which are both polysaccharides. Many of the carbohydrates we tasted are components of the foods I eat regularly. Starch for example is found in foods like bread, and potatoes, while sucrose is found in ever fruit and vegetable. I consume fructose every day because fructose is found in fruits and honey and I use honey to sweeten the tea that I drink regularly. According to
The Colorado State University's website, humans are able to taste these sweet flavors thanks to taste receptor cells that exsist on our taste buds, sweet flavors are identified by the taste receptors usually on the tip of the tongue recognizing nutrients that contain high energy, like sucrose. Without our sweet taste receptors, we wouldn't have tasked anything in the lab!

Works Cited

"Sweetness" Works Cited

“Colorado State University.” Physiology of Taste. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2015. <http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/taste.html>. This is sweetness lab post