Enkephalin on My Wrist

[Sean Nash]

"DNA makes RNA and RNA makes proteins and proteins make us."
~Francis Crick

In the space below... add your comments, questions, discussions, etc., regarding your sharing of the:

"genetic bracelet"
"painkilling keychain"
"mRNA accessories"
"enkephalin jewelry"
"tiny polypeptide string

...with three other people.

Be sure to record the things you say to your interviewees, such as
questions, setup for the discussion, etc. Record at least some of their
responses followed by a basic summary of the information you gave to
them about your strand. It will be interesting to see what kinds of
things each of you ended up "taking with you" from this lesson last
week. Also pay particular attention to any questions you get later in
the discussion as well... after you get into the content of the talk.
Even better... any question you might get, but cannot immediately
answer, but have to look up for the next time you see them.

Enjoy... and feel free to have fun in conversation. Record images, etc. and bring them back here if you wish.
;-)

[Sean Nash]

Also... in case this comes up during your discussion, here is a the chart:

[Marcy Withrow]

First I started out with the question "What do you think this is, it has to do with Genetics" My responses were almost on the mark, except for one of my interviewees, Sam, who thought it was a worm. I interviewed my parents and my step dad thought it was a gene, which was pretty darn close. But, I told him that he was wrong, because in all technicalities it is really a protein. After I asked them what they thought it was, I gave them the “cheat sheet” with all the amino acids on it. Once again I asked them what they thought it was. All my people looked at me in frustration.

Sam was even flipping out because she knew what was on the cheat sheet. We had just learned about these things last year in our freshman biology class. So, I had to tell her they were amino acids. Then she screamed “Oh yeah! I knew that!” After I gave everyone the cheat sheet and showed them it was an amino acid, they finally figured out that this bracelet must be some sort of protein.

Since they knew it was a protein I decided to tell them the story about why we need the protein, Enkephalin. I went into detail about the lesson we learned in class with heroine and morphine, how those drugs can destroy the receptor that gives us this protein. They all found that fact very interesting, like I did when I first heard it. I enjoyed sharing the information with my parents and best friend. I’m glad I could take new information with me and share it with others.

[Aziz Siddikov]

First question I asked was "What do u think this can be? Give me any ideas that you have, any detail that you can see and think is important". Everybody that i asked sad that it was "afcouse it is braslet! what else it can be". So then i asked them what else accept braslet it can be. First person that i asked sad that it kind of looks like worm or layers of dirt in the ground.

And about details that they gave. Everybody sad they made from beads ( which could have told me even my 2 years old brother), but anyways it was "important detail". Another thing that got persons attention was the only black bead. My host dad decided count them. He was sure that the order has to do with it's function (and he right). Anyways he was the only one that gave good answers.

At that moment i had to give another hint to make sure that they are in right direction. I sad what it has to do with biology and gave them the "cheat sheet". All of them accept one ( my host father) sad that they don't have any idea what those things are. My host dad asked if it is "something like medicine" and i sad that he is very close.

Later (after letting him think about that for good 30 minutes) I decided to tell him what is that and explain how we got that answer. I explained him why the protein Enkephalin is important. And why using drugs like opium, heroin, and morphine can damage the receptors that are responsible for the producing of Enkephalin. I enjoyed sharing new information with my friends, teachers and host family.

[Shandis Cruz]

When I first began my search to find an interviewee I tried to think of questions that wouldn't lead them directly to the answer- I didn't want to force their thoughts in a specific direction. My interviews took place at the dinner table, there were such a wide variety of people I couldn't resist, not to mention the fact that my younger sister pointed out my "unattractive pattern and color choice" on my bracelet! Ha. If she only new!

With that said I began. I asked, "What do you think this bracelet represents, in terms of Biology- Genetics?" You would think that I was at an auction, with all of the rapid responses I received! (with the showing of the chart) The answers are as follows:
Sister: What your body is made of?
Dad & Grandma: Genes?
Mom: Something to do with DNA?
Grandpa: Different kinds of genes?
Uncle: A protein!

My Uncle pretty much cracked the code as soon as he saw the chart, granted, he is a chemist and loves biology and every thing science. Anyway, I proceed to tell them about what our class discussion was over, I even tried to tell them the Indian story, but my sister caught my bluff and didn't buy one bit of it! I also told them what this particular protein was responsible for, which they all thought was very interesting. All in all, it was pretty cool to see what their responses were based on the information that I had given them.

[Hunter Ewart]

Well my deision on this interview was to stop 3 friends in the hallway before school. The first thing i done was handed them the braclett and asked them what do you think this represents in regards to genetics? I did get a respone with some kind of brain power behind it. They asked if it was a chromosome but the others stared at me with blank faces. A response from the blank face was did a kindergardener make it? I said no it actually means something. I still got the in lost look from them. So i finally gave them the chart and i think that confused them even more then the braclett did. They asked if they were suposed to be able to pronounce the words? You would be amazed at how little people do know about there genetics and biology for that matter.

[Ali Bargu]

After my reaction myself on this bracelet i was wondering what other people say to it. So i did:

The first person looked at me with big eyes and asked me: "Are you kidding me? Am I supposed to put that on and see what happens?" I tolt him that there is a sense behind it and he should describe it and find the answer. Even after giving him the table with the Amino-Acid chains he did was not even close. His last guess was "Is this something from AVON?

The second person figured it out really fast. The moment she saw the table, she put the stones together and even told me the name of the protein we are looking for... (Alrighhttt she studied Forensics, so there is a advantage for her :))

The third person remembered that the table is something with biology and he could even come up with the term "codon". But the background knowledge was lacking so it was not possible for this person to figure it out till I told him. He was not surprised. He remembered.

[Sean Grinstead]

The first thing i did was ask one of my friends, "what do you think this is?", and he responded, "Is it an indian bracelet" Then i showed him the paper and then he responded, " Is it a chromosome?" and i said "Not exactly. Its in sets of three and each bead has a corresponding letter from the paper, in this specific order. He was stuck on chromosome so I told him what it was.
I said " this is a enkephalin protein and it is the protein that handles pain in your body. When someone does opiate drugs, it fits in where this protein normally does and your body stops making it. and that is why a person is addicted to to it. the person physiologically needs it, even when they keep telling themselves they don't need it your body actually needs it to function correctly

[Ivory Baldwin]

The first question i started out with was "What do you think this is" and the reaction i got from the people i was asking and others around where.. A FriendShip Bracelet.
But Then they really start to get in to stuff that relates to biology.

Timmy Woodruff said is it a DNA STRAND?
Mr Knight said the same.. is it a DNA STRAND?
Hannah Rush ( Who missed class last time) said is it a STRAND THAT REPRESENTS GENES?

Timmy was the first person i asked he actually hit on point right from the beginning he first said "it was a DNA STRAND" and that was without the code paper and then i gave him the code paper and he thought that each color of a bead stands for a letter, and he noticed that there were four letters and four different colors. I told him that the beads stand for some kind of code, and then i asked him if he could figure out any parts on the beads. He said the brown bead stands for G and three of the brown beads stand for glycine. After Than i went on to explain the Codon to him and how there are 21 beads on the strand and how the letters make up protien chains??
Mr Knight was the second person i asked his first guess was "does it have to do with gentics" and just as timmy he said it could be a DNA STRAND. Then i gave him the code paper and he just went on and named a bunch of the protines on in. He didnt really know what it is but he did notice the highlighted codons so i asked him if the beads could respresent one of the condons and he said the black on was the stop codon which was right. after that i went on to explain to him about the chart and how the bead is a coded for a protien strand.
The last person i asked was hannah, i used her and one of the people i tested because she was not in class last time. I started off with the same question i asked everyone and with out the code paper hannah thought it was a DNA thing or an strand that represents genes i then told her the bracelet codes for something. and then gave her the code sheet and asked if the sheet could help her at all. She seen that across the top and side there were four letters just like punate squares. she went on to say there was no patters and that there was only one black. and just like timmy she knew that each letter stood for a color on the strand. sense hannah has had biology she got further than the others ive asked she counted the beads and said that three beads make up a code on the chart. She said the black is the stop codon, just as everyone else had said. I Then went on to explain everything we did in class and described what this whole bracelet meant.

[Shelby Hawkins]

Just for fun, I interviewed my 5 y.o. brother first. He always has something interesting to say, and I think he is pretty smart for his age! He doesn't guess to far off on some aspects of the chart. Also keep in mind that he was falling asleep watching COPS when I interviewed him, so there is definitely a theme to his answers.

1.) What does this bracelet mean?
Each bead means stolen cars because I'm watching a show about stolen cars.
2.) What do the beads stand for?
The black one means the t.v.
The white one means the wii remotes
The brown one means the couch
The red one means the rocking chair
I thought his answers to this question were really interesting. I didn't realize until later that he didn't pick the objects randomly, he matched them by color. Our tv is black, wii remotes are white, our couch is tan and the rocking chair is red. He took the bracelet and applied it's colors to the world he knew, my house.

3.) What does the chart mean?
The chart means white, brown, black and red. It tells you what to do with the bracelet.
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Interview 2: (who knows its for my bio class)
Answer to question 1/2: They can be like genes or a chemical code
Answer to question 3: The chart also has some kind of chemical on it
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Interview 3:
Answer to question 1/2 : At first they had no clue, and then when I told them it was for bio they still didn't! The chart from our ning confused them a little, because they were trying to match the colors of the bracelet to the colors on the chart. They said "After looking at the table , I could guess that you break the bracelet down from left to right in groups of three. The bead colors look like red,white,tan black. Maybe the black is actually green? Maybe the white is actually represented by the purple? Then you could decipher the code?"

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I explained to them what Enkephalin was, how it's made, and what it does in our body. Then I showed them how the chart is the code for the RNA that made it. (right?)

[Ally S]

My question was simply this:

"What do you think this bracelet represents, & how could it possibly relate to you?"

Well, no one i asked had a clue. They all just thought it was an oddly patterened set of beads connected by means of a string.

When I told them it had to do with genetics, I got funny looks from every single person. Here were some of their vocal responses to the truth:

"You're crazy, Ally." ; "What?! That's insane." ; "It looks like something an indian would tie in his hair."

But when the chart came into play, it became a little more obvious to these people what the bracelet & it's pattern meant.

"Does this represent a strand of DNA?" (i got this repeat reaction, just in different words).


I guess the chart helped a lot.

[Miranda Lynn Stanton]

I stopped people in the hallway and asked them what this bracelet and chart had to do with biology and genetics. This is what they told me:
Person one- it is a chromosome.
Person two- it is a bracelet with colored beads on it.
Person three- it is for biology. Pattern on the bracelet means something.

[Terra Younger]

I asked my three family members about my odd braclet... We were all inside my dads truck riding somewhere... I don't remember... But the question that I asked was: "What do you think this bracelt means if I told yo it has to do with biology, genetics specifically...?"

My dad: Uhhh, is it like blood type? (Keep in mind that I asked what my parents blood types were earlier)

My mom: Is it like the genes you get from your mom and dad?
-Like what do you mean mom?
My mom: Like one bead is eye color, one is hair color, one is height... etc.

My little brother, Trenton: Ugh, Mrs. Nash said something about this 'cause I over heard her saying something to someone... Hmm. I guess that its a genetic sequence...

-- Then I showed them the chart... & they still get it...

That's when I explained the whole lecture to them. & I told them that it coded for a protein, enkephalin. Then I explained what that did and they were throughly impressed.