GD CORE 2: Bones 1 (A-G)

DNA’s minimalism refers to the fact that DNA engineers the bone structures of animals and humans so they are the minimal size and minimal amount needed for that creature. The fact that birds like a hummingbird can fly, or a dolphin jump can jump 22 feet, or an Olympian perform gymnastics without breaking their bones shows that DNA engineered bones are engineered correctly for each stage of life for living things. (This is tricky. You have to deduce things and look carefully at every detail. It will be this way in many of the questions all through these gold digs.)

To send one pound of supplies to the orbiting ISS costs about:

Algorithms code for increasing size of every bone as the animal or person grows. The DNA also provides for increasing sizes of different areas of each bone as more stresses are encountered!

The vertebrae bones of your spine has a curve in it that reduces stress on it when you walk, run or jump. It acts a little like a spring. Some of these 33 vertebrae in your spine are called lumbar vertebrae. The thick lumbar vertebrae are critical for your neck’s support when you jump!

You can see clumps of DNA with a light microscope but you cannot see the individual rungs of DNA. One of the things this DNA engineers is the hole in the center of each vertebra called a vertebral foramen, (Think!)

How many nerves are in your spiral cord? (These nerves are protected inside the bone of the vertebrae because they run through the bone through a hole which is one example of a foramen.)

The body of the vertebrae is the round, solid part of the vertebrae. These “bodies” provides a cushion for each vertebrae disc as well as give extra strength for your backbone. (See pictures below of the vertebrae discs if you cannot figure this out).

What animal has a skull that looks like the skull below?

The pores in the skull below make it lighter so the animal doesn’t have such a heavy skull. These are called sinus processes.

The skeleton below with the large keel in the sternum area of the chest is from:

These wide, flat “boxes” are solar panels for the Apollo Moon Lander.

One of the blue-throated hummingbird’s migrations includes an astonishing 500-mile trek across the Gulf of Mexico. Its bones and the fat on its body are precisely weighed to the hundredth of a gram.

A real problem with being in Space for any extended period of time is that your bones begin to diminish in width and mass because of the lack of stress on them. Because of this, astronauts visiting the ISS exercise almost every day. (Different bears don’t have this problem. They can hibernate for 5 months at a time and not lose any bone density at all. )