Cellular Respiration and ATP

It's about that time again for yet another blog. As you are all aware of, this week we're talking about the process of Cellular Respiration and the production of ATP. There are two major types of Respiration: Aerobic and Anaerobic. The amount that Aerobic respiration yields is 36 ATP and the amount that Anaerobic respiration yields (in the combined efforts of Lactic acid and Ethanol fermentation) is a total of 4 ATP. Clearly, in the absence of oxygen there is less ATP produced. As humans require oxygen, we would not survive on Anearobic alone; we must have Aerobic respiration to live. Although we require O2 to live, some human muscle cells can still produce ATP under conditions that are Anaerobic. With that in mind though, because there is so little ATP produced, those muscle cells would run out quite easily and can therefore lead to Lactic acid buildup. Thus, we need Aerobic Respiration to fuel more ATP production. I would think that "warm-blooded " animals would produce more ATP than "cold-blooded" animals in order to heat their blood to a higher temperature. What are your ideas on this?

Problems with Deforestation

This weeks topic of Photosynthesis and Global warming are indeed apart of one another. In our Biology book researchers found that the nutrients in certain ecosystems are gained through the plants. When plants and trees aren't present, the whole ecosystem suffers. Not only does the ecosystem suffer, but the earth as a whole suffers. Since less trees are using up CO2, it is concentrating in our atmosphere. This is dangerous because the CO2 absorbs heat radiation and bounces it back towards the Earth and thus is a prime contributer to Global warming. Outside of burning fossil fuels, deforestation is the greatest source of Global warming.

The American Way...

Recently, the movie Wall-e illustrated the fact that we American's are eating ourselves to death...literally. It makes perfect sense that our can-do spirit and independent ways have lead us to over-indulge in pretty much everything we can get our hands on. The ancient Historian Libby once said, " In recent years, our wealth has made us greedy." In Wall-e we see the danger of a culture falling into consumerism. Although we can pinpoint that there is a problem we don't have the power to create a collective effort that will change the culture. Certain groups of people can become healthier but as a whole the nation is so caught up in it's fast-paced, no time for exercise, fast food eating ways.
We are a nation built on addictions and the food industry keeps feeding those addictions with no regard to the publics health.
So, what can we as citizens do for our health? Enough of us are beginning to call for changes from the food industry and slowly we have seen the positive affects. For example, there is more of an awareness of food labels and we are becoming more knowledgable of nutrition facts. We're also having children now and not only want them to grow up in good health but the nature of cancers and other diseases are affecting us at the root of our families. Do we want to see our children grow up? I do. It is time to take back our lives! If not now, then when?

Anti-aging cosmetics that age?

I have always wondered what the miracle of anti-aging creams and cosmetics were. Since the industry thrives on consumers, I decided to check this out. One of the questions I have had about these products are obviously the ingredients. I have heard that anything with the wax paraben in it is actually an aging agent. Is that the case? If not, why are so many products being marketed as "paraben free?" So, if that is the case why is it in so many consumer anti-aging products nationwide and why do we women eat it up like it's factual? Here is a link to a product on the market today: http://www.murad.com/age-reform-night-regimen.jsp