Gigapan trees 1

For my Gigapan assignment, I will be observing trees by the Upper Lake of Sweet Briar College's campus over the next few weeks. In this area, there are many types of trees including the Blue Ash, Chestnut Oak, and a Shumard Oak. As it gets closer and closer to fall, well actually it is fall already, the leaves on the trees will begin to change colors. Therefore, over the course of the next few weeks I will be observing and blogging about these three species of trees and how they are changing. No one knows exactly why trees change colors in the fall, but most scientists say it involves the glucose intake during photosynthesis. In the trees that change to red and purple, the glucose seems to get trapped after photosynthesis. Also, the cool temperatures of fall cause the glucose to change colors causing the reds and purples that we see. The brown colors of other trees is caused by wastes leftover in the leaves. Other factors of leaf color changing include the length of the nights and the intensity of sunlight. This causes the veins in the leaves to close off while cells form around the base of the leaves. This traps the sugars, such as glucose, inside the leaves causing it to change color. Eventually, this will also cause the leaves to fall off the tree. Some scientists also say that leaf color changing involves the anthocyanin pigments. They say that these pigments is what tints the leaves red, purple, and/or crimson. The yellows and gold colors come from the cartenoids, which are present year-round. Therefore, these colors never actually go away during the year. Right now, each of my three trees have not changed color and are still green.

Corn Currency

As an athlete, I'm prone to looking at food labels of pretty much anything and everything I eat. I look at the calorie amount, protein amount, and the different ingredients put into my food. One particular ingredient that I find on basically everything is some type of corn by-product. Therefore, for my assignment I'm going to be using corn and all of its different by-products as currency. I never realized how many different things can come out of this vegetable. There's popcorn, corn syrup, alcohol, baking powder, waffle and pancake mixes, tortillas, and I even found toothpaste listed on one site. Corn can be used as currency because we already use it for so many other things. This got me imagining a world using corn kernels instead of dollars and coins as currency. The funny thing is, I can actually see myself going to Walmart with a shopping list and giving the clerk a handful of kernels to pay for my groceries. Corn is already a major part of all of our diets, why not make it a part of our everyday life and use it as money as well. Whenever I have to pay for something, I always feel as if I'm just throwing money away. With corn, however, I wouldn't get that feeling because I know it can go to use as something else. Whether it ends up in somebody else's food or toothpaste, I know it is being put to good use. The other great thing about corn is that there is such an abundance of it. There will always be a high demand for corn whether it's by consumers or companies wanting to put it in their products. It can never be harmful to the environment or to humans. It is considered a vegetable so it's beneficial to your health. It is also non-pollutant, therefore, beneficial to the environment. Corn is also greatly accepted by society today because of its benefits and its uses. There wouldn't be a problem with it not being accepted by society as a currency. Corn kernels also last forever, much longer than dollar bills. This is because of their hard exterior. I'm sure everyone has accidently bitten into a kernel when eating popcorn. Instead of your teeth breaking the kernel, the kernel is more likely to break your teeth. Since they are pretty much indestructible by humans, it would be impossible to counterfeit them. Actually, there wouldn't be a need to counterfeit them since there's already an abundance of them. So I propose that we forget about spending hundreds of dollars to print money that is worthless, and use corn and its by-products as a source of currency. The fact that it last longer and its health benefits contribute to its biological value. Also, since we use it in everything and there will always be a need for it contributes to its societal value. All of these facts put together make corn a valuable source of currency.