Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Biology: Homeostasis...the final verdict

We spent this past lesson analyzing our data using Excel. Each kid entered and analyzed one of the 5 sets of data we collected. Then we discussed our results. Most of our results fit in with what we know about how the body maintains homeostasis. Following exercise our heart rate and breathing rates increased in order to bring in more oxygen and sugar, and at the same time rid our cells of accumulating waste products.

Our data on body temperature were somewhat contradictory. While on average body temperature decreased, subjects sweated more and their skin color reddened over time, both of which are ways our body regulates increasing body temperature. We all agreed that measuring body temperature is difficult and subject to a lot of error. But there's hope...

Following our analysis we read an article about the CorTemp temperature pill that can record body temperature and heart rate data continuously and wirelessly transmit this data to an external device for graphing and archiving. The pill has seen many applications in the real world for athletics, for the military, for monitoring of animal vitals, and my personal favorite...for helping food companies test exactly how much heat a hot dog can tolerate before it becomes overdone.

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