On the news you will hear things like, "A women was raped and killed today, her body was left in an ally." or "A little boy was kidnapped and killed." Then the next day someone is put behind bars. But years later they are let out for wrongful convictions. What does this mean? Well it means that some people are put in jail for a crime that they didn't do, but there is evidence that might suggest that they did it. Why does this happen? Well while people are worrying and freaking out about the criminal being on the loose, the police are trying to get someone behind bars to subside the concern. The person that gets thrown in jail is not always guilty of the crime they are said to have committed. This is because the police are pressured to get someone in jail which is not always fair to everyone. This happened to Anthony Johnson who was wrongfully convicted for second degree murder of a women, his girlfriend.
On October 19, 1984, a young women named Angela Bond was found dead with a fork and knife in her body. She was sexually assaulted and then killed. Under questioning was her 27-year-old boyfriend, Anthony Johnson. He was arrested and charged with the murder of Ms. Bond in December 1984. Johnson went to court on February 1986, his lawyer renounced making an opening statement. The prosecution relied on the police claim that Johnson had made a statement about the types of weapons used to murder the victim, information only the killer would know, even though the statement wasn't recorded until a report was written two months after he was arrested. There was supposed evidence found, a 90% chance that the hair in a shower cap at the crime scene belonged to Johnson. But Johnson wore a shower cap routinely at his job at the Medical Center. The defense also attempted to portray Matthew Brown as the killer of Bond, when the defense called brown, he refused to testify and asserted his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Johnson testified in his own defense, saying that he was innocent and said that he didn't have special knowledge about the murder weapons. He was convicted of second-degree murder on February 25, 1986, and sentenced to life in prison. In 2004, Johnson enlisted the assistance of the Innocence Project of New Orleans which filed a petition for DNA testing and began re-investigating the case. On March 26, 2006, the DNA tests excluded Johnson as the source of DNA under the victim's fingernails. On February 21, 2007, Johnson was granted a new trial because of the DNA results. The key element was that the witness's statement about Johnson taking out the trash on the day of the murder was wrong, he took out the trash the day before. On February 21, 2007, Johnson was released on bond during the appeal. In October 2007, there was a new trial that was won. But in June 2009, the Court ordered the case back to the trial court for an evidential hearing. Following that hearing, on July 22, 2009 a new trial was ordered. After the retrial, prosecutors linked the DNA recovered from Bond's fingernails to Matthew Brown. The state dismissed the charges against Johnson on September 15, 2010. He spent 22 years in jail for something he didn't do.
I choose this story because I found it crazy that this guy had to stay in jail for 22 years for a crime he didn't commit. The fact that the police and court accused him of being guilty with a lack of solid evidence was a little ridiculous. I think that we have a great justice system especially with the introduction of DNA testing to help solve crimes, but sometimes the people who work for the justice system do things to give it a bad reputation. While reading this story, I constantly felt frustrated because the police didn't seem to pay attention to the little details. I also felt bad for Anthony Johnson, he was accused of murdering his girlfriend and then was told that he gave a statement saying he knew about the murder weapons even though he didn't, it seemed quite unfair to me. Although our justice system is great, it also has many flaws.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Conception to Birth
Have you ever stopped to think what was happening in your mother's stomach as you were growing to be the person you are today? It is so amazingly unbelievable how fast a fetus develops into a recognizable human being.
In the Ted Talk video I watched Alexander Tsiaras talked about the amazing development of a fetus. When the baby first starts to develop everything is made of collagen, but the only placed collagen changes is in the eye, it becomes transparent. The starting cells of the new fetus split every 12-15 hours. There are over 1 million cells made per second to form everything. After 8 weeks the heart is matured, organs are formed by folding, also at 36 days the vertebrae is formed. At 44 days it is able to be recognized. The baby turns as it comes out, turning in circles to wiggle its way out. Tsiaras says that the complexity of building the human body, in one system, is absolutely astonishing. He also asks a very interesting question, "How does it not mess up, how does the body always do it correctly?" But the most interesting point that i think he made was, "How does the women's body know how to build itself and carry around another human body that's building itself too?"
As I was watching this video, I was amazed at everything he talked about. I knew how birth worked and how the fetus formed, but I never knew that it was so complex and so amazing. One thing that Tsiaras talked about that i found extremely fascinating was when he made the point, "How does the women's body know how to build itself and carry around another human body that's building itself too?" I found this part interesting because when you stop and think about this question, its an absolutely crazy but astounding. The thought of a baby forming inside a women's body becoming more and more like a human everyday, while the mom still functions perfectly fine. I find this amazing. One other thing that I found interesting was how quickly everything forms, by 36 days the baby has a vertebrae and by 44 days it looks like a human being. This is super cool. The thought of a baby forming in a women's body so quickly and perfectly is amazing.
In the Ted Talk video I watched Alexander Tsiaras talked about the amazing development of a fetus. When the baby first starts to develop everything is made of collagen, but the only placed collagen changes is in the eye, it becomes transparent. The starting cells of the new fetus split every 12-15 hours. There are over 1 million cells made per second to form everything. After 8 weeks the heart is matured, organs are formed by folding, also at 36 days the vertebrae is formed. At 44 days it is able to be recognized. The baby turns as it comes out, turning in circles to wiggle its way out. Tsiaras says that the complexity of building the human body, in one system, is absolutely astonishing. He also asks a very interesting question, "How does it not mess up, how does the body always do it correctly?" But the most interesting point that i think he made was, "How does the women's body know how to build itself and carry around another human body that's building itself too?"
As I was watching this video, I was amazed at everything he talked about. I knew how birth worked and how the fetus formed, but I never knew that it was so complex and so amazing. One thing that Tsiaras talked about that i found extremely fascinating was when he made the point, "How does the women's body know how to build itself and carry around another human body that's building itself too?" I found this part interesting because when you stop and think about this question, its an absolutely crazy but astounding. The thought of a baby forming inside a women's body becoming more and more like a human everyday, while the mom still functions perfectly fine. I find this amazing. One other thing that I found interesting was how quickly everything forms, by 36 days the baby has a vertebrae and by 44 days it looks like a human being. This is super cool. The thought of a baby forming in a women's body so quickly and perfectly is amazing.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Lucy the Chimpanzee
Recently we listened to a podcast about two scientists who adopted a chimpanzee. They wanted to do a science experiment to see how human they could make the chimp by raising it as if it was a human. The results to this experiment were quite amazing and very interesting. But the end result was not as happy as the rest of the experiment.
In 1964 two scientists, name Maurice and Jane, adopted a new born chimpanzee and named her Lucy. They adopted her for an experiment, they wanted to see how human like they could make a chimpanzee. Maurice and Jane treated her as if she was a baby human, put her in a crib, fed her from a bottle, and made her wear little girl clothes. By age one Lucy was very humanized and by age 4 Lucy was learning how to sign to people. Lucy learned to lie to people just like humans do. Whenever a visitor would come over she would go into the kitchen and make a pot of tea for everyone, but she would do it very casually as if it was a routine or second nature. If Jane got hurt or became sick or was sad, Lucy would take care of her until she was better. One thing that was very unusual and quite interesting is that Lucy would masturbate, she would make herself a gin and tonic and look at Play Girl. The interesting part was the planning and fantasizing that went into it, it was very human like. Then came the time that Lucy was introduced to a male chimpanzee, she was scared of him.
As Lucy grew older she became very strong and aggressive, she tore up the house and Jane didn't know what to do. She was eventually shipped to a natural reserve in Gambia, Africa accompanied by a physiology graduate Janis Carter. Janis was one of the only people that could handle Lucy. After a few month Maurice and Jane left Lucy at the reserve with Janis. When her parents left, Lucy wouldn't eat, she lost hair, and got skin infections. After about a year Lucy was introduced to other abandoned chimps, her emotions would rub off on the other chimps. Then all the chimps were released on an abandoned island. Janis stayed on the island with the chimps but the chimps were to attached to her and to her human resources, so she locked herself in a cage so the chimps would leave her alone and after about a year they did. Lucy still wouldn't eat anything on her own, she would only eat it if it was handed to her. Eventually Lucy learned to be a chimpanzee on her own. Janis left, but came back a year later to visit Lucy. Lucy, of course, recognized her right away, she went and gave her a hug. Janis then left again. But a year later came back only to find Lucy dead, skinned by poachers. She was probably killed because she wasn't afraid to approach humans.
The story of Lucy was very touching... she was an amazing chimpanzee that helped lead science to new discoveries. Although the science experiment was amazing with great results, it cause Lucy to become to human which resulted in her having to figure out how to become a chimpanzee on her own because she never had to be one; it also resulted in her death because she was to comfortable around humans. I think that this experiment could have been done a little bit better, by figuring out how to make the end much better with a better result. But over all the discoveries that Lucy led us to were remarkable.
In 1964 two scientists, name Maurice and Jane, adopted a new born chimpanzee and named her Lucy. They adopted her for an experiment, they wanted to see how human like they could make a chimpanzee. Maurice and Jane treated her as if she was a baby human, put her in a crib, fed her from a bottle, and made her wear little girl clothes. By age one Lucy was very humanized and by age 4 Lucy was learning how to sign to people. Lucy learned to lie to people just like humans do. Whenever a visitor would come over she would go into the kitchen and make a pot of tea for everyone, but she would do it very casually as if it was a routine or second nature. If Jane got hurt or became sick or was sad, Lucy would take care of her until she was better. One thing that was very unusual and quite interesting is that Lucy would masturbate, she would make herself a gin and tonic and look at Play Girl. The interesting part was the planning and fantasizing that went into it, it was very human like. Then came the time that Lucy was introduced to a male chimpanzee, she was scared of him.
As Lucy grew older she became very strong and aggressive, she tore up the house and Jane didn't know what to do. She was eventually shipped to a natural reserve in Gambia, Africa accompanied by a physiology graduate Janis Carter. Janis was one of the only people that could handle Lucy. After a few month Maurice and Jane left Lucy at the reserve with Janis. When her parents left, Lucy wouldn't eat, she lost hair, and got skin infections. After about a year Lucy was introduced to other abandoned chimps, her emotions would rub off on the other chimps. Then all the chimps were released on an abandoned island. Janis stayed on the island with the chimps but the chimps were to attached to her and to her human resources, so she locked herself in a cage so the chimps would leave her alone and after about a year they did. Lucy still wouldn't eat anything on her own, she would only eat it if it was handed to her. Eventually Lucy learned to be a chimpanzee on her own. Janis left, but came back a year later to visit Lucy. Lucy, of course, recognized her right away, she went and gave her a hug. Janis then left again. But a year later came back only to find Lucy dead, skinned by poachers. She was probably killed because she wasn't afraid to approach humans.
The story of Lucy was very touching... she was an amazing chimpanzee that helped lead science to new discoveries. Although the science experiment was amazing with great results, it cause Lucy to become to human which resulted in her having to figure out how to become a chimpanzee on her own because she never had to be one; it also resulted in her death because she was to comfortable around humans. I think that this experiment could have been done a little bit better, by figuring out how to make the end much better with a better result. But over all the discoveries that Lucy led us to were remarkable.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Who am I?
Who am I?
My name is Bryn and this is my biology blog. I am an athlete, swimming is my favorite thing in the whole world. I love to laugh and I am a very lively person.
The Purpose?
The purpose of this blog is to show and share my biology information, work, and projects. It is also so my teacher can see what i know and have learned.
What will i be blogging?
All that i have learned in biology and every project, mini project, any work that I am proud of.
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