The food web in Wilson Bay is extremely healthy compared to previous data. We found many things that previously were unable  to survive in Wilson Bay; such as brown shrimp, spot fish, croakers, southern flounder, blue crabs, pin fish, and for the first time an independent living oyster since Sturgeon City converted from a wastewater treatment plant.

This is the oyster 

This is a huge accomplishment because it shows that the benthic community is finally starting to be able to support life. We also learned that without a good benthic community your keystone animals cannot survive. Another thing that we learned about was taxonomy. Taxonomy is the study and classification of species.

The classification of  taxonomy goes in the following order; Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, and Common name. Everything on Earth that is living has a place in the Taxonomy chart from domain to common name.

          This week we learned all about the different activities that biomedical science deals with. We spent a lot of time with animals and the different functions of the organs. The heart pumps blood after it is oxygenated by the lungs. The liver is a filter that helps store lots of vitamins and filters toxins from blood. The kidneys filter the smaller particles that turn out to be urine and are removed from the body.

          We also learned about the way the blood makes it through the heart here is the order.

Enter through the superior and inferior vena cave

Right atrium

Right atrio ventricular valve

Right ventricle

Right semi lunar valve

Pulmonary artery

LUNGS

Pulmonary vein

Left atrium

Left atrio ventricular valve

Left ventricle

Left semi lunar valve

Aorta

Body

Swine  Dissection.

This week we also dissected a fetal pig. We first made an incision in the chest careful not to cut through the internal organs. Then we began to remove them one by one until we had a vast majority of them out of the pig. We then began to observe them and see if we could identify there uses in the pigs. Then we disposed of them and continued on learning the functions.

We also did a food analysis that shows the chemicals used in determining the internal molecules in foods. We could detect Proteins, Sugars, Starches, Fats, and Vitamin C.

Egg Drop

We dropped eggs off the biotower and tried to get it into our boxes without breaking it.  With our boxes we had to put whatever items we could think of so it wouldn’t break.  Using the lightest strongest materials seemed to work.  In the egg drop that won, pillow stuffing was used:  its light but stong.  At the altitude the egg was being drop, we had to come up with a drop box that could withstand the force the egg was emmiting without letting the egg crack.  Only one group didn’t break their egg on the first 3 tries. Another group managed to break 2, crack 1 and preserve their fourth egg.   

Some materials we used in the boxes were:

-Cotton Balls

-Balloons

-Marshmellows

-Pillows

-Sheets

-pillow stuffing.

Blood Alcohol

We had four petri dishes to test four blood samples; each group tested one blood sample.  After pouring 10 mL of each sample of blood and 5 mL of alcohol indicator in  the dishes, we let the dishes sit for 20 minutes at room temperature. The indicator reagent(not the simulated blood) will change if alcohol was present. We used a color code to estimate the blood alcohol content of each simulated blood sample and we recorded our information.  Results showed that one sample had a 1%-4% alcohol content and the fourth sample had a 10% alcohol blood content.

Indicator Reagent Color Code

Blood Alcohol %/Color

0.0/yellow(no change)

0.01-0.04/yellow-green

0.05-0.09/green

0.10-higher/green-blue to blue

Group/Start Time/Observations/End Time/Results

#1/12:56/yellow/1:16/no effects

#2/12:57/yellow/1:17/no effects

#3/12:58/yellow-green/1:18/not noticeable

#4/12:59/blue/1:19/drunk

Blood Alchol(%/mg%)/Low-tolerance drinker/High-Tolerance drinker/Drinks*ounces

.02-.05/20-50/No noticeable effects/No noticeable effects/1-2

.05-.010/50-100/Slight effects/None to slight effects/3-4

.10-.15/100-150/Under the influence/Slight effects/5-6

.15-.20/150-200/Drunk/Under the influence/7-8

.20-.25/200-250/Drunk to very drunk/Influenced to drunk/9-10

.25-.30/250-300/Very drunk/Drunk to very drunk/11-12

.30-.40/300-400/Stuporous to comatose/Very drunk to stuporous/13-14

 Sturgeon City BioMed has been one of the best experences of the summer.It has made me look at the world in a new way by allowing me to explore my own enviorment.

team building

on monday we did team building exercises to get to know each other

tornatic thunder

we all made a card board boat and raced them

BAC

we tested simulated blood to see the alchol content

This is Amanda, one of my newest friends I have met at Sturgeon City.

This was a very exciting week here at Sturgeon City. I enjoyed this experience very much. The science acadmey taught me many things about our environment here in Onslow County and how wildlife is effected throughout the county. We analyzed and observed creatures and water quality which was an educational experience to me. Although I was not here for much, I enjoyed meeting new friends as well as come across old friends from the past as well. This was an experience that I will gladly inform my peers and classmates about at school. People who are interested in the various topics that Sturgeon City offers should know about the information that is taught at these camp. Again I enjoyed this very much.

Salty Ornaments

Salt Marsh

We put on our waders and explored the salt marsh using a sane net and dip nets.  We discussed the ecological side of the marsh.  We discovered:

• American eel
• shrimp 
  • pink
  • white                             
  • brown
• anchovy                                        
• gamboozia
• crab
• spider
• mosquitoes

Ornaments

     During this week we made ornaments.  On the outside the metal etching seems very simple, but in reality, it is complicated.  The main process that occurred was oxidation reduction, which is the process of electrons moving from atom to atom.  This occurs in everyday life through batteries, platng for jewelry, and in plants and animals through photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

     Now the process that we went through to make our ornaments was that we first were all given a piece of zinc plated iron.  Then we completely covered the pieces with masking tape.  With a pencil or pen, we sketched a design on to the masking tape, which we cut out with a scapel.  It was then placed in hydrochloric acid, where the actual oxidation occurred.  After a few minutes, it was taken out and rinsed off.  Then with a cotton swab, nitrate solution was dabbed onto the area exposed to the hydrochloric acid, thus causing the iron to have a copper color.

We would like to thank all the leaders and all of those who made this institute possible.

We collected water samples from seven different locations around Sturgeon City and brought them back  to New Bridge. In our classroom we tested the samples for levels of Nitrate and Phosphorus. The results came back and there was no evidence of Nitrate in any of the seven samples. However, when we tested for Phospherus, the dry ben had one less ppm (part per million) than the other six samples which had two. Our group concluded that most water looks about the same, but chemically they can have differences.

The next thing we did was making our boats. We were only allowed to use cardboard, cauking, tape, glue, spraypaint, and sail material. The boats could only be two feet in width and had to be able to float. We all worked very hard on them and finally had our boat race on Thursday. During our race, we witnessed two boats and a box get caught on each other during the race while Perfection sailed on its own course.  Eventually all of the boats caught on each other gave way and the box sailed on to win against the other three boats. We all enjoyed this unique opportunity to see our boats in the water sailing onwards. Afterwards we learned that not all of the caulking and paint held all the water out. Breze’s side filled with water and Perfection caught water through the front of it. Aragutang had a good start but randomly sunk. The most dry boat out of them all was Tornadic Thunder. If we were to fix our boats and sail again, we would hopefully have better results the next time.

This is the entire engineering and physics group. This was the day that we tested the towers that you see here to see how much sand they could hold.

 This was my group working on building our tower. It was SSOOOooooo frustrating.

This is our tower exploding. Whoever took this pic has excellent timing.

This is me and Cody getting glue off of our fingers and figuring out what to do with our glider.

This is me carrying our glider up to the top of the bio tower so that we can fly it.

This is me spray painting our boat. The spray paint acted as a waterproof protectant for the cardboard.

The boat on the left is my groups. It went the farthest down the bay but it lost by speed to the red boat. 8-(

On Monday, before we started building, we went into the Salt Marsh at Sturgeon City.  I’ve been in a few times before, but it’s always fun. We were given several dip nets to try sand catch organisms.

This is our group on Tuesday working on our glider at Wilson Bay Park.  In this picture we’re cutting Bass Wood and trying to figure out a design for the frame of our glider.  Cody, Chandler, Jeseca, Anthony, and I were all in one group.  A Southwest Group!

This is our entire Engineering Group with each of our four towers. My group’s tower is on the far left.  The Winning tower is the tower next to ours.