Making biodiesel and bioethenal

Making biodiesel fuel:
Biodiesel is basically diesel fuel that you can make yourself. It is biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, and it will work in any diesel engine without any engine modifications. You make Biodiesel out of animal or vegetable oils such as soybean, canola, or used restaurant fryer grease.Many can make their own biodiesel fuel for $1 per gallon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL-M2IzYGuU
This video gives helpful step by step instructions about how to make biodiesel at home!

Making bioethanol fuel:
Lots of people make a fuss about how ethanol costs more per gallon and is less efficient to produce than gasoline. One thing is certain: Ethanol production does have a lot of variables: everything from the feedstock (bio-material required to make ethanol fuel), all the way to the equipment used to distill it. One way you can control both of these variables, however, is to make your own ethanol.
Making your own ethanol can be fun, cost-effective and better for the environment. There are many positives to making your own bioethenal. Your engine will run cleaner and there will be a reduction in the amount of toxic emissions that burning gasoline produces. It's a relatively simple process: All you need is some form of feedstock, a way to ferment it and a way to distill it. Basically that's it. Of course, there's also a certain level of danger involved in producing your own ethanol as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmFwSogNAEc
This video discusses how to make bioethanol!

Mitochondrial Eve

­In 1987, a group of genet­icists examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) taken from 147 people across all of today's major racial groups. These researchers found that the lineage of all people alive today falls on one of two branches in humanity's family tree. One of these branches consists of nothing but African lineage, the other contains all other groups, including some African lineage.
­Even more impressive, the geneticists concluded that every person on Earth right now can trace his or her lineage back to a single common female ancestor who lived around 200,000 years ago. Because one entire branch of human lineage is of African origin and the other contains African lineage as well, the study's authors concluded Africa is the place where this woman lived. The scientists named this common female ancestor Mitochondrial Eve.

Amphioxus

Amphioxus is a noun for a small translucent lancet-shaped burrowing marine animal; primitive forerunner of the vertebrates.

Amphioxus are usually found buried in sand in shallow parts of termperate or tropical seas . In Asia, they are harvested commercially as food  for humans and domesticated animals . They are an important object of study in zoology as they provide indications about the origins of the vertebrates.. Lancelets serve as an intriguing comparison point for tracing how vertebrates have evolved and adapted. Although they supposedly split from vertebrates more than 520 million years ago, their genomes hold clues about evolution, particularly how vertebrates have employed old genes for new functions.

Macon Dog Park

Let's be real, we all love dogs BUT we all hate shit...hahah jking. The poop actually makes the land very fertile! The Macon Dog Park is a safe and natural environment where dogs and their owners can enjoy the outdoors without the restriction of leashes and doggie haters! My friend Jessica Carrier and I went one week to the Macon Dog Park and had a great time with her dog Doodles! We took him to the beautiful creek for a little dip and then let him run wild, making friends with the other doggies! I loveeeee animals! :)

Darwin's Dilemma

“Darwin’s dilemma” refers to Charles Darwin’s bafflement that the fossil record contradicted what his theory of evolution predicted. In his classic book On the Origin of Species, Darwin declared that if his theory of evolution were true “it is indisputable that before the lowest Cambrian stratum was deposited… the world swarmed with living creatures.” Yet Darwin admitted that the fossil record below the Cambrian strata seemed to be deprived of such creatures. Instead “species belonging to several of the main divisions of the animal kingdom suddenly appear in the lowest known fossiliferous rocks”—without any evidence of prior ancestral forms. Darwin frankly acknowledged that this lack of ancestral forms was “a valid argument” against his theory. But he hoped that time—and more research—would provide the evidence that was lacking. Researches now acknowledge how Darwin’s dilemma has been aggravated—not resolved—by the last century of fossil discoveries, starting with the strange and wonderful creatures uncovered a century ago in the Burgess shale in British Columbia, Canada.

Hitchiti Experimental Forest

The Hitchiti Experimental Forest occupies 4,735 acres of land in Jones County, Georgia about 18 miles northeast of Macon. It lies on the east bank of the Ocmulgee River in the lower piedmont. The areas first known inhabitants were the Hitchiti Indians.  In 1946 the Federal Government established the Hitchiti Experimental Forest that now makes up the Brender Demonstration Forest. Today the Forest is an active research facility of the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station.

We saw lots of diverse vegetation on our hike including Wild Ginger and Sassafras!

Wild Ginger!

Sassafras!

Piedmont Region

      The Georgia Piedmont lies between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Upper Coastal Plain. It is part of a larger area,

called the southern Piedmont and located in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, that is about 1,400 kilometers long and 100 to 300 kilometers wide. It runs in a northeast-to-southwest direction, following the main axis of the mountains, faults, and coastline of the southeastern United States. The southern Piedmont extends from Alabama and Georgia northeastward through South Carolina and North Carolina.

      Geologists continue to study the origins of the rocks in the Piedmont province.The area is large and includes rocks ranging widely in age. The dynamic changes over time in this area are complex, but research has revealed the broad patterns of origin and development and specific structures in zones of special interest. The plateau of the Piedmont region has been formed largely on the edges of steeply upturned and altered rocks. Topographically, the Piedmont is made up of low hills and narrow valleys. The worn-down rocks of the Piedmont region pass below the sedimentary rocks of the Atlantic Coastal Plain for more than 150 miles from the fall line.