Biosolids


Biosolids, in case you didn't know (Blogger didn't have this term in its dictionary) are human waste products from places like sewage treatment plants. Now I know what you are thinking, but you must understand that most of what we believe is highly based on western influence.

Composting biosolids is quite possible. The feedstock industry would greatly benefit, as biosolids make great cold-weather composting, in addition to being high in nitrogen. Umm... Composting of biosolids has been rather successful in Canada, contrary to the initial bio-blog question. In particular, the city of Edmonton produces about 80,000 tonnes of compost a year using biosolids.
Biosolid compost has even been mixed with soil to produce "fabricated soil", which is supposedly supposed to help support plant growth, and improve the aesthetic qualities of the soil itself (haha).

However, as with many other things, old ways die hard. Many people depend on our view of human waste as a nuisance to be simply dumped away. And here`s another surprise -the root of it all is money. A garbage man working for 80$ an hour would never in his life trade in such a hefty income for such minimal labour (I wouldn`t either!) And if the people at the bottom can make so much, imagine the wealth of the heads of the sanitation departments! They are huge, and powerful. Also on their side is that the only way people will ever learn about Biosolids being used as compost is via an obscure reference in a biology unit. Since most people do not know what is happening, they could care less.

However.. I sincerely believe that as long as there are people who care about the world around them, mankind will find itself on the right path (eventually). After all, think about all we have
accomplished in the past!



Above: example of Soil infused with Biosolid Compost


References:
http://www.compost.org/Biosolids_Composting_FAQ.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/combioman.pdf
http://www.mun.ca/research/2005report/results/sewer_mgmt.php

Picture References:
http://www.journalofcommerce.com/images/archivesid/22509/600.jpg

Viruses: The Ultimate Level of Biotechnology (Maybe...)


Hey, its me again. This next Bio Blog is about biotechnology. I know I COULD just talk about artificial hearts, computer chips inserted between people's eyebrows or even that Robocop movie from who knows how long ago, but where is the fun in that? I know i would probably get me a better mark if I kept to the norm, but its only so often that i get the urge to care about even a part of the tireless army of units I MUST complete (for some reason), and so I will not relent to common sense. All for the best, too. I hate that guy.

what?

Haha. hang out with me more often; I make up my own words sometimes too!

Anyway.. So let me first start by explaining a bit about what viruses are.
They are acellular (they don't have cells), NON-living particles. They are not considered to be living because they do not perform all of the life processes associated with other living beings, such as the ability to transform energy or undergo division. I know what you're thinking now, -"then how can they do so much and act so... lifelike!?"

Then how can the-

You uhh, don't have to repeat what I said.
Anyway, viruses basically attach themselves onto a living cell and deliver their viral genome. The host cell’s building blocks to copy viral genomes and synthesize viral proteins. These genomes and proteins then self-assemble and exit the host cell as new infected particles.

That's all very great inf
ormation, but what does it have to do with Biotechnology?

Well, my first clue came when I saw a picture of a virus.



So, yea.. did anyone else notice that its a perfectly symmetrical geometric shape on stilts? It's hard enough to find straight corners in nature (all that I can think of is a spiderweb right now) let alone a plethora of dice from the Dungeons and Dragons Board Game bent on cellular destruction (which was probably the actual intent of the game in the first place). This actually leads me to my second point. What do viruses do? It seems like their only purpose to it destroy life. Furthermore, they aren't really alive themselves, so their multiplication does not seem balance out. With organisms like bacteria, other species are destroyed in order for them to multiply. They themselves are alive, however, so the balance of life is always maintained. To me (and, hopefully, you aswell) , this seems a lot like a force whose purpose is to counteract nature, as if apart from it. It also bears striking similarity to the computer virus. Computer viruses were made by humans using computers themselves. Couldn't the same be at least partly true for their namesake? Perhaps viruses were created using DNA from living organisms in order to (potentially) destroy all life?

Furthermore, the origin and evolution of viruses remains only at supposition, with almost nothing known about how they came to be.

Wow, there's certainly a lot of 'supposition' here aswell.


Well, its either this or I copy/paste from 20 articles about how cool fake hearts are, but then someone died after like a week but it was still considered a success and then an even better heart was made and somewhere along the line they realized that they should really operate outside because it's closer to the graveyard anyway but they still kept going because dead people aren't good at complaining, then after like fifty people they ironed out the process of giving people hearts but then realized viruses like HIV are a much bigger problem. (exhale)

Go Figure.

Well... i guess i can't argue with you there.

Good. i cant argue with me either. Too many fistfights.
Finally, while this isn't exactly on topic, I did uncover a lot about viruses NOT REALLY EXISTING! Yea, I know, right? Sounds crazy, and I couldn't really understand it enough to reference it, but here's the link http://www.neue-medizin.com/lanka2.htm

Interesting stuff, so what's your summary?

Summary?
Sorry, my good (wo)man. Only an idea I had in my head. If I had any more, I'd write it down. What can I say? -Words happened.


Hmm.. alright. i guess you've given me a lot to think about.

Oh, and by the way... incase you didn't catch the salt of all of that, i was insinuating that viruses were a product of biotechnology gone wrong, or something.

Ah.


http://www.neue-medizin.com/lanka2.htm

http://human-infections.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_a_virus
http://people.ku.edu/~jbrown/virus.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_viruses_exist

Picture Sources:
http://www.fallingpixel.com/products/6024/mains/virus01.JPG
 
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