Melanie's Cells: A Short Story

I learned several things I did not know before this video, for instance the different stages things form in a baby. The first thing that stood out to me was at twenty five days the heart chamber assembles. Another interesting fact about the embryo’s heart is it beats twice as fast as the mothers. However, at thirty two days the embryo grows arms and legs. Additionally, another interesting piece of information was at fifty two days the baby starts developing their retina, nose, and fingers. In all reality the embryo looks like a tiny human at the age of nine weeks inside of the mother’s stomach.

“The first weeks after birth have a special significance for the child’s development and are referred to as “symbiotic life”. The word symbiosis means “a life together” and it describes the special situation of two living beings who need each other because each of them gives and receives something absolutely necessary for the continuation and the quality of each of their lives.” – Understanding the Human Being ch. 3

This is the story of a cell, a young cell. This cell’s goal was to have the most powerful mitochondria of any other cell she knew. The mitochondria gave energy. She knew if she had a strong mitochondria, her being would be powerful and strong.

Henrietta Lacks was a young African American woman. Doctors experimented on her in order to form the HeLa cells, which was an immortal cell line, obtained from her body, and used in scientific research. She was born in Roanoke, Virginia, and known by the name of Loretta Pleasant. When her mother died, she changed her name to Henrietta Lacks, and was sent to live with her grandfather in an old slave quarters. She roomed with her cousin, Day Lacks, who later fathered her two children, Lawrence and Elsie.

Even though most people think the scientific terms, fetus or embryo, is talking about the cells or tissues, the terms really refer to the stages of development. This means that the fetus is not just a small piece of tissue, but a human life. “The beginning of a single human being from a biological viewpoint is a simple, straightforward matter—- the beginning is conception.” (Bowes).

Merriam Webster defines an abstraction as “a general idea or quality rather than an actual person.” Humans are immensely complex creatures who cannot be confined to stereotypes, classifications or labels. Each person is equipped with their own set of traits, talents and capabilities that make them who they are. Viewing a person as simply an abstraction restricts them to a category stating who and what they are allowed to be effectively taking away the uniqueness each and every person has a right to. Both the scientific community and the media are guilty of viewing Henrietta in this way, these individuals exploited her cells without expressed consent for their own personal gain, told her story only when it was convenient for them, and never

When an embryo should be considered an actual human has a variety of answers, “some have sought to reject that the early human embryo is a human being, according to one view, the cells that comprise the early embryo are a bundle of homogeneous cells that exist in the same membrane but do not form a human organism because the cells do not function in a coordinated way to regulate and preserve a single life”.(Siegel)

At the moment of conception, each human being is given its own set of forty-six chromosomes and its own unique DNA. At just five weeks of development, the lungs, jaw, nose, and brain, alongside every other essential organ has began to form and the heart has been beating at a steady rate of eighty-five beats per minute. In just a week, bones will begin to form, muscles will be able to contract, and the embryo will contain everything present in an adult human (“Abortion Facts”). An individual, beautiful life has now began, sprouting from the tiniest of seeds.

Physical development of the human begins at conception when the egg is fertilized by the sperm. Once the ovum is fertilized, the process of mitosis begins, allowing the cells to split and form the human being. Through this process, each parent contributes 23 chromosomes, which are present in every cell of our bodies, and are made up of DNA and genes (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). The genes that we inherit from our parents determine our physical features, such as hair and eye color, and height. Furthermore, the combination of various genes within the body at the time of conception may result in the individual carrying unexpected traits and illnesses (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).

With every advance come greater restrictions, a greater sensitivity to society. It is only recently that there has been a differentiation between a fetus and a

this time, the baby's heart is beating, major organs are formed and maturing, facial features are

Page 1 Child Growth and Development: "Life's Greatest Miracle" Paragraph In the video Life's Greatest Miracle, I was informed about how children are conceived, how they develop in the mothers body, and how amazing child birth can be. In the beginning it takes you through the steps of how sperm travels as for looking for an egg to fertilize. Although, in just one teaspoon of sperm there can be over 300 million sperm cells, only around 40% of them are usable. The other 60% can be deformed such as having two tales. The sperm can reach the Fallopian tube within 30 minutes, but it can be a 2 day swim just for sperm to reach an accepting egg. After the sperm that was strong enough to make it through the rough travel have met up with an egg, they

Episode one tells the story of the first 8 weeks when a single cell, no bigger than a speck of dust, transforms into the most sophisticated organism on the planet, a human fetus. The clock starts with the moment of conception, but days after our story can take the most unexpected turn.

Nick ryve’s was normal at least he thought he was but he was in injected with prehistoric DNA by his father. By his father a famous scientist but nick was small at the time. But the prehistoric cells over his life were attacking his cells. And he would get surge of emotions or strength and speed. And as his body felt weird and out of order what did he know. He was just a 14yr old boy and it seems like everyone knew he was not normal he felt like an outcast. His only friends were his neighbor jasik and his best friend Vladimir tod but I call him Vlad. Ugh I hear my clock going of beep, beep I hit the off button so it will shut up. I get out of my bed I fold the covers. I put on some jeans and a shirt. And brush my teeth drank some yoo-hoo ate some

Life starts out as a fetus in the mother’s womb. This process lasts about 40 weeks. The 40 weeks are broken up into three trimesters. It begins with a stage called conception. This is when the sperm cell fertilizes the egg creating a zygote (the developing individual produced from such a cell). The zygote divides into many cells which is then rooted in the uterus. This is called a fetus