Virtual Anatomy

Internal anatomy

First I started off by making a rough plan so I know what stages to go through in my process to finishing the brief.

This is something I have not done thus far in my university career and it has made ever project a struggle.

(lol how long ago did i write this, i think it happened again, AHEM 🙂 )

Target Audience

Instead of doing a lot of work and then trying to cut what I’d done down into a suitable form I thought it best to designate a target audience straight from the start, so that the work has a direction to focus on once I’ve narrowed down my ideas.

I have decided to work this project towards students studying for the GSCE’s, so ages 14 to 16.

With this in mind I began to look at the GCSE curriculum so I would get an ever better idea on what to cover in this brief.

Overview

There are 3 GCSE exam bodies each with their own set of topics to be taught to students headings are taken from the BBC Bitesize as it is an ideal resourse to help me reach my desired audience and to help them know just what they need to know.

1)      AQA

a)      Human Biology

b)      Evolution and environment

 

2)      Edexcel

a)      Evolution and environment

b)      Genes

c)      Nerves and Hormones

d)      Health and Infections

 

3)      OCR

a)      Genetics

b)      Disease

c)      Evolution nerves and hormones

 

To help me decide I decided to chose one of the three exam curriculums at random using 3 pieces of paper.

 I drew the AQA Curriculum from the selection. Also discovering there was an extra section, I laid out the AQA Biology into headings and expanded them crossing off any I wasn’t interested in doing,  

 

4)   AQA

a)     Human Biology

i)       Defending Against infection                     (X)

ii)      Diet and Exercise                                      (X)

iii)    Drugs and health                                      (X)

iv)    Hormones                                                 (X)

v)      The nervous system                                  (X)

b)    Evolution and environment

i)      Evolution                                                                                       

ii)     Humans and the environment                  (X) 

iii)   Organisms in their environment              (X) 

iv)   Reproduction and Cloning 

 

5)   AQA Additional

i)        Cells

ii)      Plants                                                        (X)

iii)    Food chains and Cycles                             (X)

iv)    Enzymes and Digestion

v)      Homeostasis

vi)    Cell Division and Inheritance

 

After which I was left with 6 that a thought may be interesting and from this 6 remaining choices I made more headings and looked into them with more detail.

 

 

Evolution

Evolution is a theory created by Charles Darwin that tries to explain how life has progressed and is progressing through time

What they would need to know for success

Charles Darwin: who he is, what he thought, how he thought it, why he thought it. 

Timeline of Evolution: starting with bacteria, cells, algae etc. 

Natural selection: how there can be so many variations of the same type of animal because what the different variations need to survive differs depending on the creatures location. The genes that help a species survive are passed on to the next generation of that animal, meaning they are more successful and the weaker genes eventually die out.

After expanding this research topic I had realised that it is no longer relevant to the brief

  

Reproduction and Cloning

What they would need to know for success

Sexual reproduction: Organisms have sex cells called gametes. In human beings, the male sex cells are called sperm and the female sex cells are called eggs or ova.

Sexual reproduction happens when a male gamete and a female gamete join. This is called fertilisation. Sexual reproduction allows genetic information to mix. This way sexual reproduction leads to variety in the offspring.

Asexual reproduction: Asexual reproduction only needs one parent and as there is no mixing of genetic information. They are clones.

Genetic information passed from parent to offspring is contained in genes carried by chromosomes in the nucleus. Sexual reproduction produces offspring that resemble their parents, but are not identical to them. Asexual reproduction produces offspring – clones – which are genetically identical to their parents.

A gene is a section of DNA that carries the code for a particular protein. Different genes control the development of different characteristics of an organism. Many genes are needed to carry all the genetic information for a whole organism.

Human beings have 46 chromosomes that carry about 30,000 genes in each cell

Cloning in animals

First way:  A developing embryo is removed from a pregnant animal, before they become specialised. The cells are separated and grown then transplanted into host mothers.

 

Second way: have a male and female animal of the same species and take an egg cell from the female and remove its nucleus, then take a body cell from the male animal and place its nucleus inside the egg, this will fuse them together. Then place the new egg inside a third animal and when it grows and gives birth, the baby animal will be a clone of the male animal who the body cell was taken from.

Genetic engineering: this produces a unique set of genes; these genes can be swapped across species

How it works

Certain enzymes cut pieces of DNA from one organism, and join them into a gap in the DNA of another organism. This means that the new organism with the inserted genes has the genetic information for one or more new characteristics.

 

Cells

What they would need to know for success 

Red Blood Cells: Red blood cells perform the most important duty of blood cells, they travel around the body supplying oxygen and removing waste. They are red because the haemoglobin they contain is red. When blood passes through the lungs, oxygen attaches to the haemoglobin and when travelling around the body’s capillary network, the haemoglobin releases the oxygen to the cells that need it. The empty haemoglobin bonds with waste gases, transporting it away back to the lungs so when we breathe out it can be removed from the body. Over time, red blood cells get worn out and die. Your bones are continually producing new blood cells, replenishing your supply. The blood itself is re-circulated until it becomes un-useful; blood is only replaced if there is a shortage. 

White Blood Cells: White blood cells are a part of the immune system and help our bodies fight infection. They circulate in the blood so that they can be transported to an area where an infection has developed. There are the six main types of white blood cell

• Neutrophils
• Eosinophils
• Basophils
• Monocytes
• Lymphocytes 

 

Most white blood cells are formed in the bone marrow.

Neutrophils are the body’s most common form of white blood cell and form the main defences against bacteria.

Muscle: Your muscles are made up of bunches of elongated, rod-shaped cells called muscle fibres. Each of your muscle cells is packed full of thinner fibres called myofibrils. These fibres slide against each other when a muscle contracts.

In a relaxed muscle, thick and thin myofibrils overlap each other a tiny bit.

When a muscle cell is stimulated these myofibrils slide past each other until they completely overlap

 

 

Enzymes and Digestion

What they would need to know for success

What is an Enzyme: Enzymes are proteins that are folded into complex shapes to allow smaller molecules to fit into them, because of this they are used as catalysts that speed up the rate of reaction if the local temperature and PH conditions are met. The name for the molecules that fit into the enzyme are called “Substrate molecules” and where they fit into is called the “active site”, when 2 Substrate molecules meet they form a larger production because of the reaction with the enzyme.    

Denaturing: since Enzymes are not alive, when they lose their ability to perform the task they were meant for instead of saying they were “killed” it is said they were “Denatured”

Temperature and PH
The PH (amount of alkali or Acid) can make enzymes work faster or slower, and heat is also a key factor here too, normally warmer temperatures increase the rate of reaction in enzymes, however temperatures too warm or too low, as well as PH to more or little will cause denaturing to occur. The optimum temperature for enzymes to work in is around 40*C

Aerobic respiration: Respiration is a chemical process where Mitochondria within a cells cytoplasm break down glucose mixed with oxygen and release energy water and carbon dioxide. A single one of these is called a mitochondrion.

Glucose + Oxygen    →    carbon dioxide + water (+ energy)

This energy can be used to allow muscles to expand and contract

And to maintain a constant body temperature in mammals and Birds

3 kinds of Digestive Enzyme

Amylase: turn starch into sugar, they are produced in the saliva glands the pancreas and the small intestine.

Protease: turn proteins into starch, these enzymes are produced in the stomach the pancreas and the small intestine.

Lipase: turn lipids into fatty acids and glycerol and are produced in the pancreas and small intestine. 

Stomach enzymes work best in acidic conditions so the stomach produces hydrochloric acid

Small intestine enzymes work best in alkaline conditions to the gall bladder produces the alkaline liquid, bile, to neutralise the acid from the stomach and make the conditions alkaline.

 

Homeostasis

What they would need to know for success

Waste Removal: the removal of waste substances from the body is part of the homeostasis, Carbon dioxide is removed from the body each time we breathe out, carbon dioxide is the result of respiration, and high levels of carbon dioxide in the body can damage cells. Urea is another important chemical that must be removed, created from excess amino acids when they are broken down by the liver, they are stored in the bladder temporarily along with excess water, and this becomes urine.

How blood glucose is maintained: the pancreas is responsible for the monitoring of glucose levels in the blood, if the blood glucose level is too high the pancreas releases a hormone called insulin which helps the glucose get transferred into cells and out of the blood, carbohydrates are responsible for the changes in blood sugar, eating sweet foods or pasta rice, bread and potatoes raises blood glucose levels.

Diabetes: Diabetes is a disease that a person can get when their body can no longer properly control the amount of glucose in the blood. In “type 1” Diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to get the glucose into the cells of the body and out of the blood. Too much glucose in the blood stream can be fatal. There are two ways to treat diabetes. One way is to carefully monitor the amount of carbohydrates taken with each meal as these are broken down into glucose. The second way is too regulate the insulin levels from the outside by injecting insulin directly into the blood stream, allowing the cells to get the energy they need to respire and keeping the blood sugar levels normal.

Doctors Frederic Banting and Charles Best: these two doctors discovered Insulin in 1921 and tested it on diabetic dogs, after successful results they moved on to testing with humans in 1922 and results were also successful, they even managed to revive humans in a coma using insulin. 

Temperature Regulation: because the enzymes that work inside the human body work best in a temperature of 37*C the thermoregulatory centre in the brain maintains this temperature as best it can based on nerve impulses received from the skin and from the rest of the brain. To help cool the skin cool down we sweat, sweating is accomplished by secreting water through the skin, when this water is evaporated it takes some heat with it, also the capillaries close to the skin dilate and become wider allowing more blood to flow and more heat to be lost. When we vital ions such as Sodium and chloride are lost and must be replenished with food and drink or cells may become damage. Being too cold is also bad for the body, in this instance the body has a tendency to shiver. Shivering is rapid muscle contraction which results in energy released in the form of heat, when the body is cold the pause and capillaries in the skin contract to tighten water and heat loss through the skin.  

 

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to make matter simpler again I just wrote down the names of the topics that were left on paper and mudling them up and picking 1, i chose Cells, YAAAYYYYY _._ not. well i did find learning about cells a pain at school, so i can maybe help others not have such a lame time with mai 3d skillz? 

well in school when i learnt about cells i never really understood what the individual cells did (that might be me drifting off but lets stay on topic), so in my project i aim to specifically point out what it is that these cells do and how they go about doing it, putting in why they do what they do, and where they do it.

to help this i may have to explain the system they are part in light detail to get the point across. 

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I picked a slection of important cells that are required knowledge for GCSE exams and modelled them.

Muscle Cell, Plant Cell, White Blood cell, Red Blood Cell, Egg Cell, Sperm Cell.

 

Muscle Cell(s)

the Muscle Cell turned out really nice, with the sampler info node attached to the texture 🙂

 

Egg Cell

(the sampler info node didnt work to well on the Egg and i dont know why, it may have somthing to do with the colours on the ramp, i did try a few other combinations but this one was the best one, It also has an unnoticable glow on its texture)

 

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Virtual anatomy referal redo completed, awaiting confirmation of result

New blog here in .doc

New Final Piece: here

New making of doc: here

after the modernism essay was finally handed in and moving back up to manchester i had just over 1 week to produce this piece, and i really love it. this will be the only piece of work i dare show anybody else if they adk to see hat ive been up to this year (not proud of that, but just how I feel on the subject)

hope you like it, as much i as do 😀