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Global warming is a significant risk to society. If agricultural, economic, social, and political practices go unchecked we would be left with many consequences. One consequence may be the rise of sea level. Over the next several decades, sea level will probably rise 10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches). This may not sound like much, but it may cause extensive damage (erosion to coastlines).As well as increase in the chances of catastrophic floods.

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Aspirin(Salicylic Acid)-Aspirin is a popular treatment for pain, inflammation, and fever. It works by inhibiting an enzyme known as cyclooxygenase. It was first synthesized in 1890 by a man named Felix Hoffmann. Modelled after polyphenol salicylic acid — a compound found in a handful of plants including Salix alba (white willow), Spirea spp. (wintergreens), and Betula spp. (birch).

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Do you know where your drugs come from? Most of the drugs we use today came from plants originally.

Plant chemicals (phytochemicals) are responsible for some of the most important medical advancements of our time.
Some examples include:

Antibiotics

Chemotherapy

Pain management

Hallucinogenics

Here are some of the most common drugs that were derived from, or inspired by compounds found in plants.

Aspirin is a popular treatment for pain, inflammation, and fever. It works by inhibiting an enzyme known as cyclooxygenase (COX).

The COX-1 enzyme converts arachidonic acid to thromboxanes and prostaglandins which are responsible for sustaining inflammation and blood clotting.

The compound was first synthesized in 1890 by a man named Felix Hoffmann.

Aspirin is modelled after the naturally occurring polyphenol salicylic acid - a compound found in a handful of plants including Salix alba (white willow), Spirea spp. (wintergreens), and Betula spp. (birch).

All of these plants were traditionally used for conditions involving injury, pain, and inflammation.

The difference Aspirin has to its naturally occurring counterpart is the addition of an acetyl chemical group, which gives Aspirin its antifibrinolytic effects and improved bioavailability.

Quinine is used as a malaria and babesiosis medication. It remains one of the primary treatments for malaria to this day under the brand name Quinalaquin, and the generic name Quinine.

It's an alkaloid taken from the Cinchona calisaya tree from South America. It was a popular herb used by the local Quechua tribes of the Amazon rainforest, which eventually caught the attention of the Jesuits who brought it to Europe.

Although the drug can be synthesised, the most economically viable method of production is to extract it from the cinchona tree. Unfortunately, there are many side effects to this medication, including permanent kidney damage.

Opiates are a class of chemicals that target the opioid receptors in the human body that regulate pain and temperature control.

Most opiates are classified as benzylisoquinoline alkaloids which can be either naturally occurring, or synthetic.

These alkaloids were discovered from the Opium poppy (Papaveraceae somniferum), starting with codeine and morphine. In 1874, a chemist named C.R Alder Wright synthesised a similar compound called diamorphine, more commonly referred to as heroin.

For the first 23 years of this discovery, nothing was done.

It wasn't until Felix Hoffmann (the creator of aspirin), re-synthesised it that it caught the attention of Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where it was commercialised as a pain management drug.

Heroin has since been banned in most countries due to high addiction rates and drug abuse, however, opiates in general are still widely used in modern medicine. Morphine, codeine, methadone, and Fentanyl are all used to provide varying potencies of pain management.

Myriocin (aka ISP-1 or thermozymocidin), is an antibiotic and immunosuppressant derived from the sterile (non-spore-producing) fungus Mycelia sterilia and entomopathogenic (bug-eating) fungus Isaria sinclairii.

Scientists modified myriocin to produce a compound known as fingolimod (compound FTY720), which is used to treat autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis.

Penicillin was the very first class of antibiotics ever discovered. It's made from a mould known as Penicillium chrysogenum. It was known for years that this mould was able to kill off bacteria, including Streptococcus and Staphylococcus strains that were responsible for substantial loss of human life around that time. A Scottish scientist named Alexander Fleming finally isolated the active constituent in 1928.

Unfortunately, Alexander was a poor communicator, and couldn't attract any serious attention from the media or his peers on his finding. It wasn't until 1940 that penicillin was mass produced and incorporated into conventional medicine.

Although there are many penicillins, they're all classified as beta-lactam antibiotics. They work by blocking a key process during cell division (peptidoglycan cross-link formation), causing the cell to eject its insides, effectively killing the bacteria. This is most effective in gram-positive bacteria.

Digoxin is a heart medication used for heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmias (such as atrial flutter, or atrial fibrillation). It was isolated from the foxglove plant (Digitalis lanata) in 1930, however, the first mention of foxglove derivatives for cardiac related conditions goes all the way back to 1785. It was used to treat a condition known as dropsy, which is an accumulation of fluid under the skin, often as a result of chronic heart failure.

The use of digoxin changed how we treated cardiovascular disease for many years, but has since fallen out of favour due to some of its more dangerous side effects. In fact, in 2003 a nurse named Charles Cullen killed 40 of his patients with overdoses of digoxin and other heart medications.

Digoxin works by inhibiting sodium, potassium, ATP channels in the heart. This causes sodium levels to build up inside the cells of the heart, which then causes calcium to increase inside the cell as well. This heightened calcium allows stronger contraction of the heart, while expending less energy. It also has an effect on the vagus nerve, which is used to control the heart rhythm.

Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia).When making the medicine, the yew tree was killed. As demand for the drug increased, the drug became involved in an ecological controversy. The need for the medication was scrutinised in light of the extensive damage it was causing to yew populations in North America. Researchers began seeking more sustainable ways to obtain this compound.

The drug is now made using semisynthetic methods obtained from liquid plant cultures. Although the plant tissue is still needed to make the medicine, it poses no threat to wild yew populations because manufactures now rely on sterile lab-grown cultures of the plant.

Paclitaxel works by inhibiting a compound called tubulin inside the cells.

Tubulin is needed during cell division, by inhibiting this compound, Paclitaxel is able to prevent cell division in the body.

Since cancer often involves rapidly dividing cells, the drug is used to target these rapidly dividing cells more specifically, slowing the growth of cancer.

Unfortunately, there are also a wide range of side effects, mostly as a result of the inhibition of rapidly dividing cells.

Side-effects include:

Vincristine and vinblastine are alkaloids taken from the Madagascar periwinkle plant (Catharanthus roseus).

Both are intravenous chemotherapeutic agents used for cancers like Hodgkin's disease and neuroblastoma. Vinblastine was isolated first in 1958, with vincristine to follow in 1961.

Similarly to Paclitaxel, these alkaloids work by preventing cells from dividing by blocking tubulin. This has a marked effect on cancers, which are often characteristic in how rapidly they divide. As a result of this action, both have fairly strong side effects including hair loss, constipation, nausea & vomiting, neutropenia (low white blood cells), and lung damage.

Lysergic acid was made in 1938 by a man named Albert Hofmann in Switzerland.

It's made from a naturally occurring alkaloid called ergotamine found in the fungus called ergot (Claviceps purpurea). It can now be manufactured synthetically.

Hofmann didn't identify the psychoactivity of the extract for another 5 years. Soon after his discovery, it was picked up by psychologists a treatment for psychiatric illnesses, and by the United States government in an attempt to use mind control (for which it was unsuccessful).

LSD works by stimulating various types of serotonin receptors (5HT2A, and 5HT2B), as well as the dopamine D2 receptors in the brain.

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9 Famous Examples of Drugs That Came From Plants

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Do you know where your drugs come from? Most of the drugs we use today came from plants originally. Plant chemicals (phytochemicals) are responsible for some of the most important medical advancements of our time. Some examples include: Antibiotics Chemotherapy Pain management Hallucinogenics Here are some of the most common drugs that were derived from, or inspired by compounds found in plants.

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The Third Agriculture Revolution  ( Green Revolution) occurred during the 1940s and the late 1980s. It increased Agricultural production  worldwide.Followed with the Invention of high -yield such as rice(shown in the diagram below),technology(pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides), and irrigation infrastructure.

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One of the many Long-term  impacts The Neolithic Revolution had on humans, was population growth. Population growth played both a positive and negative effect, during the era. An increase in population led to more interactions between humans. This became a factor of it's downfall, due to many diseases spreading rapidly among humans.

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Tundra is a biome typified by permafrost, permanently frozen ground, that is found in polar regions and isolated patches at the tops of mountains. There are three main factors that threaten the biome.
1.Climate Change-Arctic temperatures have risen three to five degrees over the past 50 years. Warm temperatures defrost the permafrost, leaving room for non-tundra plants to invade.
2. Air Pollution-Air pollution has also led to a persistent 'arctic haze' that contributes to acid rain and settles on the ground, hastening snowmelt.
3.Human Development-Large reserves of oil, natural gas, diamonds and other minerals have been found beneath the tundra, leading to the construction of roads, mines and drilling operations.

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Gymnosperms- The Pinaceae are trees or shrubs. In Georgia only three families of Gymnosperms are present, however Pinaceae are the most diverse. Pinaceae have needle-like leaves and female strobili that resemble  "Pine Cones". Pines are among the most economically important plants in Georgia. Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda), [widely planted for timber and is much more common in the state now than it was before] Longleaf Pine tolerates fire much better than other native pines found in Georgia, but once all the large trees were destroyed during the 1800s and early 1900s, fire suppression and conversion of most of the coastal plain to agriculture or plantations of other faster-growing pine species has left Longleaf Pine habitat as only tiny scattered remnant fragments.

Source:
http://science.kennesaw.edu/jmcneal7/plantsys/gymnosperms.html

http://www.treesforme.com/ga_pinaceae.html

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I chose this video because it gives a detailed presentation on how photosynthesis works. In the video the two steps of photosynthesis are broken down, and demonstrate each step taken in order to complete the cycle. It takes six turns of The Calvin Cycle to make glucose(C6H1206). The glucose will later be used for either energy or cellulose(used to build cell walls).

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Plants play a various important role in our ecological system. It may not seem like it at first, but it's one of the most important factors in order for survival. Plants are not only a source of food for many animals, but provide shelter. They are also known for being our main source of oxygen. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from both  the sun and animals, and releases oxygen.

The photo below is an example of how plants provide shelter to animals. The reason I chose this phot was because, it is one of the many common examples, we see everyday. Without realizing that many animals depend on plants for shelter, and a food source as well. Without plants animals would less likely survive in society.