Story of the Seed- Lab Report

Introduction
In our project scenario of story of the seed we hypothesized that different acidity levels would affect the germination and growth of broccoli seeds. As well as, In our indoor experiment for the Story of The Seed, we tested broccoli with the usage of different amounts of various vinegars which included malt and apple cider along with that, we added different measure of vinegar. For both the water and vinegars the different measures are 1/2, 1/4 and full.  In our project we tested the hypothesis of, if different acidity levels affect the growth of plants, then giving vinegar to broccoli will affect the growth and germination of the broccoli seeds.  To test this hypothesis we watered broccoli seeds with different levels of malt and apple cider vinegar.  We also watered 3 broccoli seeds with only water for our constant variable. The overall result was that the broccoli that only had water was able to germinate. The vinegars had essentially sterilized the growth of the broccoli.

Methods 

     To start our project the materials you will need will be broccoli seeds, apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar, water, beakers, a measuring cup, and scale. Our project started by taking 15 planter pots in each pot we put approximately the same amount of dirt in each pot, and we measured it out by using the scale. After, we planted 3 broccoli seeds in each pot. From there we labeled each pot by the type of liquid we put into each pot. Therefore the first three pots were labeled water in yellow sticky notes. The pots with water were our control group. The next group was the malt vinegar group. Each pot was labeled with malt vinegar, and how much vinegar was put into each pot, so for the first one we put 100 percent malt vinegar. The next pot was 50 percent malt vinegar and 50 percent water. After the pot was 25 percent malt vinegar, and the rest being 75 percent water. The same goes for the apple cider vinegar the first pot 100 percent apple cider vinegar. The next 50 percent apple cider vinegar and the other 50 percent water. The last pot being 25 percent apple cider vinegar, and 75 percent vinegar. We watered the plants a total of 1 inches of liquid, or 25.4 millimeters of liquid After we labeled all the pots and marked them correctly according to how much vinegar, water, and most importantly what type of vinegar it was. We watered the broccoli plants once a week.  After we waited to see how long it would take for the broccoli to grow. After 5 days our first broccoli grew. The first sprouted was from the control group. After about two weeks we were able to conclude the data from the experiment.

Results and Data Analyses
After 13 days, watering the plants every other day, and monitoring them we concluded that vinegar being added or substituted for water lowered the germination rate significantly. Not only did none of the seeds who received straight vinegar germinate, but only 2/6 of the control group germinated. It is not impossible that the plants needed more time, but unlikely.

Conclusions 

     In conclusion through our experiment 2 out of the 15 seeds we planted grew. The two plants that grew were from the control group. We can conclude that the control group was much healthier. Our total was 2/30 seeds germinating, which sends pretty clear results about the detrimental effect the vinegar had on the germination process.   

 In conclusion through our experiment 2 out of the 15 seeds we planted grew. The two plants that grew were from the control group. This shows that water is the best living conditions that broccoli can live in. Although since only two seeds sprouted out of three from the control group at the same time we can also conclude that further research should be done. We could achieve this by extending the period of time for the broccoli to grow, or we could wait until each broccoli plant is completely grown , and taste how each plant tastes, so we can determine which one grew better and tastes better. Also from our experiment we feel that if we had more of a broader time frame we could make distinct conclusions to our experiment. For example we could have waited until each plant grew and then make conclusions based on the height of each plant, and the width of each plant to further show which plants were growing better. Although I do think that we can still draw the conclusion that because 2 out of our 15 plants grew we can safely say that broccoli grows best in water rather than in malt vinegar, or apple cider vinegar.

     

Food Inc. Question Essay - Duaa Khan

Food Inc.
The Dollar Menu
Should access to healthy food be a right for everyone?

It is incredibly vital that anyone and everyone should be able to access healthy foods without any complications holding them back. We should absolutely be able to acquire nutritious foods on the tip of our fingers. Gratifying nutrition is an essential element of leading a full on healthy lifestyle. Additionally, healthy foods will be able to help reduce your risk of chronic diseases (like heart disease and various cancers). Which ultimately expands our lifespan. Along with physical activity, your diet can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. So that we stay fit as much as we possibly can with the help of a well-balanced diet. Therefore, having access to healthy foods is a must and should be provided in all grocery stores no matter the cost. Clearly there should be no compromise to our health and luscious vegetables and fruits should be provided without the extent of using preservatives which over all wrecks our health. 

First off, eating healthy is how we get all of our mandatory nourishments in. Eating the most nutritious foods allows us to get all of our vitamins in such as vitamins A, C, D, E and more. They help us to recover from injuries and over all they make our bodies much more strong in a way of rebuilding muscle or mending a broken bone. If we don’t eat any of these minerals and vitamins our body become more and more weak and it progress to finally crumble. We need to take this into account and ultimately put our health first rather than our taste buds with can live without junk food. Even for people at a healthy weight, a poor diet is associated with major health risks that can cause illness and even death. These include heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and certain types of cancer. By making smart food choices, you can help protect yourself from these health problems.

Second of all, having a well balanced diet allows for a variety of horrid diseases to become less fatal. Having a healthy diet will essentially become a sheiks from the hazardous illnesses. Clearly stated from the perspective of Medical News Today, “Heart attacks and colon cancer are two of the most reported. 10-16% of cases of breast and colon cancer and heart attacks are said to be caused by obesity.” This is critically vital because eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke. Eating foods such as vegetables that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake. Of course, with the help of physical activities, it it incredibly mandatory that we take our diets seriously as it can absolutely affect our lifespan. 

However, some may people should not be able to have the access to healthy food. This is because food processors want people to buy cheap food which is not all healthy but is the only solution. In order to make more money, they trick consumers into thinking the processed food is actually healthy. In which it clearly isn’t as the meat or vegetables/fruits have been affected by preservatives and are GMO.

As a final point, eating wholesome foods and having a balanced diets allows for energy you need to keep active throughout the day. —that can help. More and more research shows these diets are heart protective and help to promote healthy eating overall, including how we choose to cook and prepare our foods. Nutrients you need for growth and repair, helping you to stay strong and healthy and help to prevent diet-related illness, such as some cancers. Eating a healthy diet that includes lots of fruit, vegetables, whole grains and a moderate amount of unsaturated fats, meat and dairy can help you maintain a steady weight. Having a good variety of these foods every day leaves less room for foods that are high in fat and sugar - a leading cause of weight gain.

Food Inc. - Audrey Malone

Animals Should Have a Right to a Quality of Life

By Audrey Malone

   In the film Food Inc. It asked the focus question: Do animals deserve to have the right to a quality of life? I believe animals should because for years, animals have been tortured in the food industry. They have been treated like an object that can just be thrown around from the brutal slaughter house to the conveyor belts. Animals that are stuck in these food industry ways have no way of escaping and are being abused everyday. Therefore because animals are living creatures and can feel pain, animals should be able to have a certain humane quality of life. They deserve a certain quality of life because they can feel pain and are alive, the food industry abuses animals, and supporting local farmers that produce meat can help give those animals a better life before slaughter.

     To begin, animals like most all living creatures can feel pain. It states in the article Animals Can Feel Pain A Biologist Explains How we Know, “In the first, nerves in the skin sense something harmful, and communicate that information to the spinal cord… [and] there, motor neurons activate movements that make us rapidly jerk away from the threat. This is the physical recognition of harm — called ‘nociception.’ And nearly all animals, even those with very simple nervous systems, experience it.” This quote shows that because animals can feel pain, and with the cruel ways that humans slaughter animals in warehouses for food, as other living creatures we should try to minimize that pain for them. Although we can’t stop people from eating meat we should try our best to give the animals that we are eating the best possible life before slaughter.

     The next, the way animals are slaughtered in slaughterhouses are not ethnically correct. For example in the article This is What Humane Slaughter Looks Like. Is it Good Enough? It states that, “[in]...the 1958 Humane Slaughter Act, intended to prevent the "needless suffering” of livestock during slaughter.” This shows that although a law was passed to help animals many of the ways that animals are slaughtered by, may not abide to these rules. Therefore the food industries killing methods need to be more closely monitored. To prove this is true it states in the article Animal Cruelty is The Price we Pay for Cheap Meat that, “...no training could prepare her(Sarah)  for the sensory assault of 10,000 pigs in close quarters: the stench of their shit, piled three feet high in the slanted trenches below; the blood on sows’ snouts cut by cages so tight they can’t turn around or lie sideways; the racking cries of broken-legged pigs, hauled into alleys by dead-eyed workers and left there to die of exposure.” This quotes shows that one of the workers Sarah who worked in one food industry was shocked to discover the cruel way these animals in this case pigs were being treated while being slaughtered. This quote also shows how corrupt some of these food industrys can be if left looked over. 

     After, although it may seem all bad news for animals victim to certain areas of the food industry, there's a way to help. For example, supporting local farmers, and researching where you buy meat from is a helpful, and easy way to not only support killing animals in a humane fashion, but also supporting local farmers. It states in the article 3 Reasons to Shop Local Farmers, “Locally grown food is good for the environment and for sustainability because good farmers ensure that the land is well kept with minimal, if any, usage of chemicals and fertilizers. These practices can sequester carbon, and they can also help ensure proper natural habitats for wildlife.” This quote shows the benefits, and the importance of shopping local. Shopping local has great benefits for the person eating the food, and gives animals a better more fulfilling life.

     All in all, animals deserve to have a good life before slaughter, as much as any other living creature does because the food industry abuses them, they are still living animals that can feel pain, and by shopping local it supports the animals as much as it supports us. Animals, although humans may see their lives less valuable to our own they are still living breathing animals and deserve a healthy life before slaughter. We as humans should be thankful in what the animals bring to us, so let’s show them some respect on our part and truly show them how important they really are.

Bibliography 

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/23/14325172/animals-feel-pain-biologist

https://modernfarmer.com/2013/04/this-is-what-humane-slaughter-looks-like-is-it-good-enough/

https://www.rollingstone.com/interactive/feature-belly-beast-meat-factory-farms-animal-activists/

https://humanefacts.org/humane-slaughter/

https://www.nutiva.com/kitchen/3-reasons-to-shop-local-support-farmers/

https://www.independentwestand.org/what-happens-when-you-shop-local/

food inc network-Isha Lewis

Food Inc.

Should companies be able to own DNA contained in plant seeds?

The Seed to supermarket

    The documentary Food Inc specializes in telling us a variety about our food and what's in it. It also tells us that companies can genetically alter seeds. These are called GMO(genetically modified organisms) and what's happening.

    I believe that when it comes to a certain choice, companies shouldn't own DNA contained in plant seeds. Although GMO's can help the seed last longer and be pest and disease resistance, however humans are not and the GMO's in the seeds can backtrack fast and have serious consequences.
   Monsanto's company has been trying to shut down other companies that save seeds on a year-to-year basis and encourages others to buy the new expensive seeds. The year-to-year saving seeds have been practically a tradition in the farming companies for centuries and have been the start of making the seeds for what it is now.  It's also expensive and if farmers start using this new 'trend' then not everybody will be ablate afford the seeds
   GMO's may help us in saving corn from disease, however we've been able to take care of seeds up to now and if we keep taking care of it, it probably won't happen. It also screams  'hey come buy our new and improved seeds that could possibly cause you to have cancer,' and putting other businesses in a a competition making it hard to have people buy seeds and stay in business, especially with the imposing contracts that keeps farmers from saving seed on a year-to-year basis.
   Monsanto has gotten a lawsuit, but the question will probably still stand. Should companies be able to own DNA contained in plant seeds? And If there are so many pros and cons, what will be the decision?

Food INC-Elena MacGougan

Fast Foods to all Foods
Do all animals have the right to a certain quality of life?

The documentary, Food INC shared a biased opinion towards how most food, animals, and workers are treated.  The documentary brings up the question if animals deserve a certain quality of life. I personally absolutely agree with the fact that animals have rights and should be treated as living beings, not objects.
Animals like cows, pigs, and chickens are breed to be eaten and sold to big food corporations.  Within raising the animals there are major problems that are very upsetting regarding how the animals are treated.  Animals are able to feel pain and even though they might not be as smart as us, it doesn’t entitle them to a poor quality of life.
Animals raised for slaughter should live a worthy and good life before served as food for humans.  From the moment they are born to be ready to be killed are in terrible living conditions. Cows in knee high manure, which leads to manure on the food we eat.  Chickens genetically modified to be bigger and meaty, can’t walk more than a couple of steps before having to collapse under their own weight.  To add, pigs, cows, and chickens are put in crowded barns and really only fed corn.  These animals that you expect to be grazing on a nice open grassy field are actually fed GMO corn which can lead to the meat containing e-coli. All this is hidden from the public even after multiple people have died from getting e-coli from bad meat.  Big food producers keep big disgusting facts about our food from the public because if we knew everything, these companies would be shut down. But don’t we deserve to know?

Food Network Focus Question - Alia Latimer

Should DNA be allowed to be patented?

In the Documentary Food INC there are several issues that are brought to our attention each more shocking than the last. he most alarming in my opinion was the fact that farmers were aloud to patent living things. In my opinion this should not be allowed, for what seemingly should be obvious reasons, starting with the just the pure absurdity.
To Start, there is the issue of living things multiplying by themselves. If you have a new model of sewing machine there wont be another unless you or someone else makes another. However with most living creatures, that isn't necessarily true. Living things are unpredictable and messy. They can easily create cross breeds and multiply, so one farmer often winds up contaminating another farmer's crop. A farmer might not seal the seeds, but they could easily grow on their property because seeds are made to spread.
Some might argue that it should be allowed since researchers worked hard to create these specimens, and they deserve to safely profit from their findings. The scientists work hard to achieve a certain result, and that work should be rewarded,  which I agree with, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately, unlike the machinery man develops, evolution was not founded in a lab.  So although I do understand their side, and acknowledge that with the proper containment precautions, such as making the specimen infertile it may be possible, it all just comes down to the fact that living things just weren't meant to be patented.

Bio- Duaa Khan

My name is Duaa Khan, and I was born in Santa Clara and moved to San Jose, California. I am 14 years old and I am currently in high school. My favorite subjects include English and French. On my free time I like to draw and write for fun. I also have been involved with my school with things like joining clubs and helping my school garden.
I’ve done gardening a few times over the course of my lifetime, however I’ve never gotten into it due to the lack of time I have. But, in my backyard, I’ve grown peppers, tomatoes, carrots and many more lushes veggies few times. Most people think of gardening as being disgusting because of the large amounts of dirt, but I rightfully disagree. I believe gardening is a great way to learn with a hands-on experience. Plus, they are edible! It’s great that we are able to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in our yards because they have no preservatives and are non GMO so basically they are 100% organic! In my yard we also have an assortment of fruit trees which include, cherries, peaches, plums, pomegranates and a variety of apples. A popular one being Granny Smith. Our apple tree can actually grow up to five different breeds of apples in a single tree! In my opinion, is truly remarkable. The plant is actually a hybrid and had been modified by scientists so that each branch is able to grow several types of species. We planted the trees about five years ago and now they are enormous and healthy as can be. In my font yard we grow an array of flowers. We have daffodils and roses! Even though both plants look completely different, they are absolutely stunning. Although I don’t garden a lot, I still like to observe each plant until it becomes full grown. Plus, it is pretty interesting to see the overall growth of each plant and how they eventually develop. Gardening is a great way to have a green thumb and start to be more involved with fresh greens. Not only that but, it’s always beneficial to learn about each species of plants and learn how they grow in temperature differences.

Bio// Audrey Malone

     Hi, my name is Audrey Malone,  I’ve lived in California all my life, and I enjoy biology because it ties in to one of my favorite types of science, botany. Although I don’t have a garden my mom and I keep many succulents in our house in our window. I hope that out experiment will have a good outcome because I do want the broccoli to survive the vinegar. I’ve always wanted to grow broccoli, so maybe if all goes well, and the broccoli survives I’ll get some broccoli plants out of this.I do wish I had more of a green thumb, but maybe through this project I will be able to pick up some gardening stills as well, hopefully. Growing up my great grandparents immigrated to America and worked as farmers in Texas on strawberry fields, grape vines, most fruit fields for many years. They also made hybrid fruit so growing up we always had different combinations of fruit. My favorite was always the apple nectarines. Therefore I have had experience tasting different types of fruit (like most humans), but I have had lack of experience physically growing the fruit.

Bio - Elena

Hi, my name is Elena MacGougan. I am originally from Calgary Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦 but moved to California when I was 4.  All my family lives in Canada so visiting them is great.
 I have never really been into gardening but my family and I have grown tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and strawberries before.  I remember going out into the backyard to pick the tomatoes which was fun and they tasted really good.  Gardening is fun but my time is limited and my family usually ends up killing plants, so I never really got into it. 
The one person that I would think of that enjoys gardening and knows the most about it would be my grandma.  I know she grows many flowers and several plants in her backyard. Although the thing is, is that she lives in Canada. The weather usually is very cold weather most of the time, followed by a lot of snow.  This weather usually is pretty harsh for plants but they end up blooming in the spring.  She also loves to cook.  Every time I go to visit we would never eat out, she will always cook a homemade meal.