Friday 6 May 2016

HOW PROTOZOA MOVE - FLAGELLATES, CILIATES AND RHIZOPODS

 As you know protozoa are unicellular, heterotrophic living things often found in water, damp places or in other organisms, because some are parasites. They are eukaryotic cells and are classified by the way they move.
Watch this collection of short videos where you can see protozoa moving in different ways. The first one is an amoeba that moves by stretching its membrane in different directions. Its elongated membrane is called a pseudopod which literally means `false legs´.
            AMOEBA ARE RHIZOPODS
Paramecium is surrounded by tiny hairs called cilia, that they use to move. Paramecium are therefore ciliates.
PARAMECIUM ARE CILIATES
 This second video has been taken with a powerful 3D microscope and here you can see the cilia better.
CILIATES
In the next video you can see two flagellates. These protozoa move with a tail called a flagellum.
  THESE ARE FLAGELLATES

Thursday 5 May 2016

New renewable energy sources - Algae to biofuel!


 ESO1 students. We've been talking about algae in the class this week. This is a really interesting video you can watch. It's about how you can obtain an efficient biofuel from algae. If you would like to do a topic on this for extra marks you can write the main points discussed in this documentary. Make sure you focus on the interesting facts and information explained in the video.

 ESO 2 students. We have often talked about energy sources in the science class. We have mentioned how non-renewable energy sources are quickly disappearing and how important it is to find new clean, renewable energy sources. This is a surprising and interesting way of obtaining a sustainable and relatively cheap biofuel. You can do a topic based on this video in which you can explain the process by which this fuel is obtained, what natural chemical processes are involved and why it's such a cheap, efficient energy source. Why is this biomass good to use for biofuel? What are the advantages? Is it similar to petrol? Are there any disadvantages? Can this biofuel substitute petrol? It's always interesting when you add a personal opinion to your project.
 This video is interesting too!