Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Fourteenth Goldfish



http://goo.gl/HYFrWD

http://goo.gl/VUQBDF

1.  Watch the book trailer for The Fourteenth Goldfish.  
2.  Read the articles on animal regeneration and watch the video about the 'immortal jellyfish' (Turritopsis nutricula or Turritopsis dohrnii).
3.  How do the articles and the video connect to the book?  Use details from the book, articles, and video - in your response.  

To assist you - Open the link below and watch the lesson on writing a response using evidence from the text -
http://goo.gl/s8UytM

18 comments:

  1. I think that the book - The Fourteenth Goldfish and the websites relate because the book and both of the sites talk about regeneration and the immortal jellyfish. -Lucas

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, and Mrs. O'Hara, how long does it have to be? Is mine long enough? I'll repost if it needs more detail or if it needs to be longer

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think that the book "The Fourteenth Goldfish" and those websites are related to each other, because they both have something to do with regenerating and immortality.
    In the book, the grandfather goes back to his teenage years, when these jellyfish go to their old years then revert back to their younger years as well. That is regeneration. They are practically immortal unless they die of natural causes or other death other than old age, just like how the grandfather is, unless he doesn't take the anti-aging thing that he developed. It relates to them as well because animals can regrow their body parts, that is related to regeneration, but not necessarily like the jellyfish does and the grandfather does.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry for the long comment.

    This is how the book The Fourteenth Goldfish and those websites are related to each other:

    The book is about how Ellie`s grandfather found the key to immortality. He kind of used the same species of jellyfish that they mention in the article “'Immortal Jellyfish' Lives Forever By Continually Reverting To First Stage Of Life” just instead “The typical T. nutricia is small, a few millimeters.(p.?)” “But the T. nutricia specimen was huge, more 300 millimeters.(p.?)”
    In the article, scientists want to accomplish what Ellie`s grandfather has. “Can humans learn a thing or two from these jellyfish?” Like Ellie’s Grandfather Melvin their response is “‘The immortal medusa is the most miraculous species in the entire animal kingdom,’ Kubota told the New York Times. ‘I believe it will be easy to solve the mystery of immortality and apply ultimate life to human beings.’” While others say “‘It is difficult to foresee how much and how fast ... [the jellyfish] can be useful to fight diseases,’ he explained to the Times. And besides, ‘Increasing human longevity has no meaning, it is ecological nonsense. What we may expect and work on is to improve the quality of life in our final stages.’”

    They also mention some animals that can regenerate themselves in the book, like the article Pictures: 5 Animals That Regrow Body Parts. It kind of ties in with the book because it talks about immortality. If we cut our hand off right now we wouldn’t get it back like if you die you cannot come back to life. With these animals it’s kind of like their arms or tails or whatever it is is immortal. I can’t really explain. Its like how the T. nutricia regenerates its cells. Well they kind of regenerate their cells. “The creature absorbs its cells, then transforms them into cells of any other type.” The animals mentioned in the regenerating animals one, use other techniques to regrow their body parts. Some have a central nerve ring intact while others “‘If they’re paralyzed in the back they can recover the functions of their legs … They can make all new neurons and new connections that allow them to use their legs again.’” It’s amazing. You can cut of their leg and it would grow another leg good as new. It’s kind of what Ellie`s grandfather found out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry I forgot the page numbers.
    "The typical T. nutricia is small, a few millimeters.(p.26)",
    “But the T. nutricia specimen was huge, more 300 millimeters.(p.26)”

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think the book relates to the sites because they both center around the same idea: immortality. And jellyfish.

    The jellyfish is almost a main character in the book, since it is what started off the whole story. Main character gets goldfish, her mom tells her strange boy is her grandfather, and she finds out it's the jellyfish that caused it, the same creature in the website.
    Allie's (is that her name?) grandfather probably sounded like the scientists featured in the articles and video. "Can humans learn a thing or two from these jellyfish?" Apparently, yes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, the articles and the video do connect to the book because there are animals out there that can regenerate certain body parts, and their is an "immortal jellyfish" that can go back fairly close to the beginning of the life cycle. Also, the book talks about how you can cut a worm in half, but each body part will just regenerate a new head. I was not sure whether or not this was true, but the first article says that "it has been observed for centuries that if you cut a worm in half it will regenerate to become two worms." And their is a type of jelly fish that lives forever. So, basically, their are many, many ways in which the articles relate to the book.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The article connects to the book because in the book the grandfather explains a lot about the jellyfish and how it regenerates it somewhat relates to the article and the video. Also like the grandfather turning into a teenager, the jellyfish on the other hand goes back into polyp colony and is biologically immortal. “If they’re paralyzed in the back they can recover the functions of their legs … They can make all new neurons and new connections that allow them to use their legs again, which is really one of the most incredible examples of recovery.” Statement from James Monaghan about the axolotl.


    This is regeneration is similar to the jellyfish and its interesting ways.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So far what connects to the book is that the people in the video were trying to figure out if the jellyfish would make them immortal or not, but in the book grampa Melvin in the book figured out it would work because he experimented it on rats and he injected it into his self. (This possibly isn’t real because it’s a fiction book).

    The jellyfish is a lot like the flatworm because the jellyfish transforms its cells back to basically a new jellyfish and the flatworm turns into two worms with two different minds when split in half. Its also like the other four animals because the four animals can regrow body parts like their arms and other things. An axolotl can regrow new limbs, brian pieces, their heart and lower jaw, the deer can regrow new antlers, a sea squirt can slow down aging and starfishes can regrow new arms.

    -Kieran

    ReplyDelete
  12. Those two websites connect with the book "The Fourteenth Goldfish" because the keep on talking about immortality and regeneration. The people on the video are talking about how the jellyfish is "Immortal". They say that the Jellyfish can turn back into a younger version of themselves by reproducing. Its a lot like another regenerating animal the flat worm. When cut in half the flat worm makes two of its self's. So if you had one flatworm and kept on splitting it you could have a tiny army!


    There are more than just one regenerating animal. Most geckos (like mine) can grow their tail back if someone tugs on it to hard. There are other animals to.

    One final thing one "immortal" animal that was not talked about is a Lobster. A lobster never ages until it dies so a lobster can live forever if kept in a safe environment with food and water!

    ~Ronan

    ReplyDelete
  13. The video and websites relate to the book because they both talk about regeneration and immortality.

    The article about the everlasting immortal jellyfish connects to the book because Ellie’s grandfather found a way to become immortal and to prevent ageing. He used the GREAT AND POWERFUL “Immortal Jelly” (Turritopsis nutricula), like the one in the article. The jellyfish has its first stage of life: A polyp colony. The jellyfish lives its life how it should. Then its time of death comes, because all living things with die. But the jellyfish reverts its age and becomes a polyp colony once more. So thats why people call this jellyfish the great and powerful “Immortal Jellyfish”.

    The NG (National Geographic) article about 5 animals that can regenerate connects to the book because the book and the article both relate to regeneration. On one page, (I forgot which…) it talks about how you can cut a flatworm into 2 pieces and they will regenerate and become 2 worms. And you could keep cutting and cutting and cutting until you have more worms than you can count.

    The video relates to the book because, first of all, it’s the author of the book. She tells us her inspiration for the book, like how she related her dad for Ellie's grandfather, like how both of them were scientist. She relates her middle school voice for Ellie’s. She asks why some things aren’t possible, like why people like Ellie and Jennifer need 40 pounds of hairspray to hold 1 curl.

    ~ Arabella

    ReplyDelete
  14. I also thought of facts I learned from the past. I remembered that octopuses can regenerate their tentacles and a type of lizard can remove its arm to scare predators off. Luckily its arm regenerates.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think that the articles and the video connect to the book in the way that, in the book, Melvin goes back into his teenage years. The jelly fish do the same, because after they mature, and mate, they go back to the polyp colony, and reverses its aging process. They are immortal, and if Melvin keeps on using the jelly fish, then he can be immortal.

    They also both talk about regeneration, like how Melvin was talking about the worms, and the articles it talks about the Axolotl, and the deer. They talk about how they can all regenerate body parts, and how that is kind of like immortality.

    It is like immortality, in the sense that if when we are older, and we can’t move as fast, or jump as high, it is like growing back body parts, just like how the parts of the Axolotl’s brain can grow back, to help it, you know, have a brain.

    Thats all

    :P
    ~Eileen

    ReplyDelete
  16. The articles relate to the book because they all talk about regeneration and immortality. Also, in the second article, it talks about how some people (like Ellie's grandfather) think it might be possible to use the jellyfish to make people immortal. ""The immortal medusa is the most miraculous species in the entire animal kingdom,” Kubota told the New York Times. "I believe it will be easy to solve the mystery of immortality and apply ultimate life to human beings."" However, some people (like Raj) don't think so. ""I don't think you're going to find any secrets in these creatures," Maria Pia Miglietta, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, told National Geographic in 2009." The second article relates to the book a bit more because it talks more about the jellyfish instead of regeneration.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The sites connect to the book with one main word: Regeneration.
    Melvin and the jellyfish are technically regenerating. Both are regenerating their body, turning it back to a younger and healthier from. The Axolotl regenerates it's limbs, it's brain, it's heart, it's tail, lots of body parts. When it regenerates a body parts, it regenerates a newer, "younger" body part. Same with the reindeer's antlers, and with the sea star, like it said, "when the sea star is down to one arm, as long as it has it's central nerve ring intact, it can grow entirely a new body" a new, younger, body.
    With a flatworm, if you cut one in half, each half will regenerate a newer, younger, body. So all together, everything ties together with mainly,
    REGENERATION

    ReplyDelete
  18. Well, in my opinion, I really do think that the book “The fourteenth goldfish” does connect to the videos/ links Mrs. O’hara showed us. I think that because, just like a lot of people said in their responses, was that they both talk quite a bit about immortality/eternal life/regeneration.

    In the book “The fourteenth goldfish,” the grandfather of Ellie (she’s the the main character) is studying these types of jellyfish (Turritopsis nutricula/Turritopsis dohrnii) that can live forever. These types of Jellyfish kind of reproduce, and can turn into a younger version of themselves. The grandfather tested the stuff from the jellyfish on some rodents (squirrel, rats) and then on himself! He tuned into a teenager and has to attend school again! Anyways, the point is that he kind regenerated into a younger version of himself. With that type of science, he could live forever! He could be a immortal!

    In the videos the people talk about this special kind of jellyfish and how its immortal, and how it can regenerate. They debated whether or not it could make people immortal. Also on the website, there were articles on how deers antlers can grow back, how starfishes legs (and sometimes whole body) can grow back, and how flatworms can grow back their bodies if you cut it in half. (which is weird and cool at the same time) Also how the Mexican axolotl can grow its limbs, tail, parts of their brain, heart, and lower jaw back!

    So basically everything relates together (connects) because immortality/eternal life/regeneration ties in with everything!

    ReplyDelete