Sunday, October 28, 2007

Sunflowers

Sunflowers in the bud stage show signs of heliotropism. At break of day, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they move to track the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This movement is performed by motor cells in the pulvinus, a bendable segment of the stem just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the blooming stage is reached.Sunflowers in the blossoming stage are not heliotropic anymore. The stem has frozen, normally in an eastward orientation. The stem and leaves lose their green color.The wild sunflower naturally does not turn toward the sun; its flowering heads may face many directions when mature. However, the leaves typically exhibit some heliotropism.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Animals

Animals are a main set of organisms, classified as the empire Metazoa. In general they are multi­cellular, receptive to their surroundings, and provide for by consuming other organisms or parts of them. Their body plan becomes fixed when they develop, generally early on in their growth as embryos, though some feel a process of metamorphosis later on.

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animal, of which Metazoa is the plural, and is resulting from anima, sense vital breath or soul. In each day colloquial usage, the word regularly refers to non-human animals. The biological meaning of the word refers to all members of the empire Animalia. Therefore, as the word "animal" is used in a biological circumstance, humans are included.