Conversations - use this space to communicate about this project
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December 1, 2009 | 7:14 AM |
Dr. Eric Ribbens
(Scientist/Mentor)
A small question You said you used a caffine (sic) pill. Any other ingredients in that pill? |
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November 30, 2009 | 7:36 AM |
Dr. Kevin Folta
(Scientist/Mentor)
Caffeine-teresting! This is an interesting question. Although caffeine is clearly a psychoactive compound (plants have no "pycho" that we know of) and works in the central nervous system (that plants lack) plants do make it. At least my coffee tells me so. Your hypothesis frames a good question- if they make the stuff, are they sensitive to it? The experimental system is the embibed corn kernel and the measurement is respiration. That's pretty good, as many aspects of the seedling's biochemistry could be affected and would ultimately reflect in a change in respiration. In my lab you might measure all of the genes that are expressed in the caffeine and control seeds and compare them. That's another way to see the differences. Respiration is an excellent choice for ease of measurement. The caffeine pill is a much better choice than the soda. You'd never be able to control for unintended consequences of carmel color, pH, etc (unless you used caffeine-free soda as a control- but the real test is better). Please check the last line of experimental design- I think you have O2 and CO2 backwards. Someone is thinking about photosynthesis. Your results look really good and I'm very happy to see that you have implemented appropraite statistical treatments to your analyses!! Very good. The Materials and Methods section is well written so that I can repeat the experiment if I wanted to. This also is really nice. The Discussion is good too, but does not go far enough explaining why. It tells me "what" but does not go from there. The goal here should be to take your data and explain why caffeine increases respiration. Any ideas? It does affect Ca+2 in cells and cyclic nucleotides (modifications of the ATP and GTP) in animal systems. Plants are sensitive to these factors as well, so maybe that is it... Why do some plants make caffeine? Does it have a physiological role? How to plants metabolize caffeine? These are good points for Discussion. If you can't find these answers and you make a really good effort to find them, it is okay to speculate. Just make sure that you say "It is exciting to speculate that... " and give your answer. Your experiment and report are excellent so far. Keep up the good work. Plus, I hope you keep plant science in your range of possible career choices. This field is really exciting and there are tons of opportunities! I mean, what can be better than coming up with better ways to feed more people, with better food, using fewer resources? Sustainable production integrating applied and basic science is the cutting edge and you guys are on it! Best wishes, Kevin Folta |
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November 30, 2009 | 4:19 AM |
PS team
Review Comments Hello team, During the next week you might be fortunate to see professional scientists or graduate students review your projects and post helpful comments just for you. In a scientific community it is very important to discuss your research and findings with other scientists. The mentors have been invited to lift up the good points in your research and points that need clarification. Similar to any scientific community, the mentors/reviewers will also suggest elements still in need of testing and/or alternative explanations. We hope you appreciate this very special opportunity for customized feedback on your work which is intended to feed your growth as a student of scientific thinking. Sincerely, The PlantingScience team |
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November 27, 2009 | 8:09 AM |
rkan
(Team Member)
I just added I add to the journal titled methods, materials, data. I added the discussion part. I also add a journal titled results which has the graphs, data and the calculations. Remmey |
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November 15, 2009 | 1:49 AM |
Dr. S
(Scientist/Mentor)
good job on substituting caffeine pills for diluted soda - - but you may want to re-evaluated your design after you've done this weeks lab in class to eliminate an alternative explanation for your results. |
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November 10, 2009 | 11:58 PM |
rkan
(Team Member)
I just added a journal I just add a journal, which includes our methods, materials and the data that we gathered on 11/10/09. Remmey K. |
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November 4, 2009 | 12:51 PM |
jrobins5
(Team Member)
Revision to our project We will probably have to use different concentrations of how much caffine pills are used to be testable. |
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November 4, 2009 | 1:54 AM |
lizabeth1234
(Student, Zoelaracie - WSHS_F09_P07 · -1)
thanks:) well post more, hopefuly today, if you want to see how much weve done so far |
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October 28, 2009 | 3:08 AM |
Dr. S
(Scientist/Mentor)
"brainstorming" Group 2. Would one of you upload a journal entry describing what previous work directed you toward this idea and some of the discussions you had. Then consider some alternative explanations that may come into play. It sounds like you are really comparing different commercially available drinks rather than caffine itself. For instance, there will be different amounts of sugar, different flavorings, etc., all of which will provide a different chemical background to your treatments. How can you modify this to project to eliminate factors other than caffiene? (your discussions should be summarized and also uploaded to your journal page. Dr. S |
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October 27, 2009 | 3:23 AM |
farmal
(Team Member)
hi Hello I'm Jeff |
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October 26, 2009 | 7:59 AM |
PS team
Introduction I am pleased to welcome you to this community of Plant Researchers. Your team has a unique opportunity to design your own research project while mentoring a team of high school students who will be working on their own project. The students from Woodstock, GA will be creating team research web pages similar to yours. After you have become acquainted with your own team (on this page) and the team from Woodstock (on their page), we will introduce you to a scientist. Please post some of your possible research ideas here to get a conversation rolling with your Emporia team. Best wishes as you embark on this scientific journey. Have fun! Sincerely, The PlantingScience team |
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October 23, 2009 | 2:19 AM |
rkan
(Team Member)
Hello to our scientist mentor. Hi, I'm Remmey |
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October 23, 2009 | 1:28 AM |
mssel
(Team Member)
HI Hello |
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