In the first section of this page, you will write a daily summary of that day's class.  For example in  your chapter 2 blog, your first entry should be titled 9/3/10.  You should then write a one or two paragraph summary of that day's lecture, outlining the major points.  In the second section, you are required to add two items (link to a website, video, animation, student-created slide show, student-created PowerPoint presentation) and one journal article pertaining to a topic in this chapter.  A one-paragraph summary must accompany each item describing the main idea and how it applies to the lecture topic.  Please see the PBWorks help guide for assistance embedding video and other items directly in the page.  I will also produce a how-to video on using tables to wrap text around items and other useful tips.  Please see the syllabus for organization and grading details.

A.  Daily Blog

9/24/10

Chapter 5 was kind of introduced near the end of the class. It started with a cell poll about a fish and its plasma membrane. The correct answer was to add more cholesterol and shorten the tails of the phospholipids thus allowing the membrane to be fluid enough in a cold environment. The temperature, tail length, amount of cholesterol, and some others affect the fluidity of the plasma membrane of the cells

10/1/10

Today's cell poll was: which has a higher rate of passive diffusion: Urea or Diethylurea. Luckily I remembered seeing something like this in the reading so I answered diethylurea. That was the correct answer. Next we discussed Concentration gradients. Dr. Weber intorduced it to us by first stating the laws of Thermodynamics. Energy can never be destroyed, only transformed from one form into another. Disorder in the universe is constantly increasing. So we went on about passive transport which includes diffusion and facilitated diffusion. Passive does not require energy because the molecules flow down their concentration gradient. Diffusion is when the molecules pass through the selectively permeable membrane to get to the other side( kinda like a chicken). Facilitated diffusion is when bigger polar molecules pass through the membrane with the aid of channel or carrier proteins. Active transport requires energy in the form of ATP to transport molecules against their gradient. This requires the use of carrier proteins.

B.  Useful Materials

Items: 

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/cmb/cells/pmemb/passive.html 

Here's a site that helps explain passive transport and the factors that control it. It also has links that lead to the three types of passive transport in biological systems.

A video on the plasma membrane of cells. Though the video title says active transport it more on the plasma membrane. It doesn't go into detail but it touches upon the fluid mosaic model, the lipid bilayer, glycolipids and glycoproteins.

Article: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20882228 

This article is about an amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, that can sense gradients of cAMP.