Know anything about planaria? (Or AP bio science projects)

[Julia]

So, for my AP bio project this year, we're required to do a science fair project. Project is due in early February.

My original plan (that I came up with sophomore year) was to take 3 sets of planaria, and feed one a mix of meats and vegetables, one just meat, and one just vegetables. Then I'd chop them in half and see which half regenerated fastest.

However, I've since decided that that's boring! I have several new plans, and I'm curious- does anyone know which would work best?

Plan A- Drug the planaria! I'd take several groups, expose them to nicotine, caffeine, aspirin, and alchohol. Next comes the chopping. Which ones die, which ones regenerate faster, and which regenerate slower? Does Caffeine really stunt your growth? Would be more fun to do with baby/young mice, but I'm fairly sure that my school's local PETA nutters would be after me.

Plan B- Make PETA angry! Replicate the planaria-maze experiment. Essentially, you train group A to run a maze successfully by using lights and shocks as negative reinforcement, and food as positive. You then chop up group A (killing them, not letting them regenerate), and feed them to group B. You then feed untrained, but stressed, planaria to group C. See what group finishes the maze faster! Is memory encoded in planaria cells? Might take too long to complete, as this supposedly takes months, and the fair is in February.
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=826389 <-- planaria maze experiment original

Plan C- The boring/unoriginal one. Just put them in different temperatures and give some different food sources. Which one regenerates faster? Due to the lack of druggie/cannibal worms, this is my least favorite.

Plan D- Do something completely different with slightly less animal abuse.

... I'm also fairly interested in making a two headed planaria, but I can't think of any practical scientific use for them.

Does anyone know what conditions planaria like? I was going to keep them (about 50 black planaria, each up to 1/2 inch) in a 5 gallon tank. I did not intend to put in any water filter or heater, but if they need it, that's fine I guess. They would be in my basement, which is damp and about 65 degrees. During the experiment, they'd be in individual petri dishes. I am planning on using artificial pond water and feeding them the usual chopped liver (assuming I don't go with the cannibal worm experiment).

Anything else I should know? Got any decent alternatives to flatworm torture? Photos of your old projects? I'd appreciate it if you'd post them here! Thanks.

[skeptical scientist]

I voted A. B actually sounds the coolest, but not if it takes too long to complete. Also, getting your local PETA group mad at you sounds like fun too, so you shouldn't rule out experiments based on worries about their response.

[Julia]

I could do it, if I order the planaria tonight. It also has, in my mind, the highest likelihood of being a complete failure.

Also, training planaria to run through a maze involves building a maze.

[zenten]

I think B has already been done by someone, so in the interest of both science and coolness I say A.

[Saru]

I've heard that no one since the first study has been able to duplicate B's supposed memory-encoded results. I suspect that there was some bias.

Therefore I vote A, because you're more likely to get an actual result.

[Julia]

Mhmn, I've been looking around some more, and I've figured that most people can't get a similar result.
Actually, it was disproven by lab mice. They fed the brains of unstressed mice, the brains of stressed mice, and the brains of mice who did a maze to some other mice. The mice that were stressed ran fastest, followed by brains of mice who did the maze, and last was unstressed. So, the new theory is that extra stress hormones help.

So, any advice on keeping my worms alive?

[skeptical scientist]

I could do it, if I order the planaria tonight. It also has, in my mind, the highest likelihood of being a complete failure.

Also, training planaria to run through a maze involves building a maze.

It won't be a complete failure unless you can't train the original batch at all. Either you will demonstrate the effect, or you will demonstrate the absence of the effect. If you successfully replicate the original results after dealing with some of the objections mentioned in the linked study, that's real progress. If not, then you can criticize the original experiment, and explain why yours is superior. It's a win-win.

[Gelsamel]

Anything that pisses PETA off heaps is awesome.

[Solt]

I could do it, if I order the planaria tonight. It also has, in my mind, the highest likelihood of being a complete failure.

Also, training planaria to run through a maze involves building a maze.

It won't be a complete failure unless you can't train the original batch at all. Either you will demonstrate the effect, or you will demonstrate the absence of the effect. If you successfully replicate the original results after dealing with some of the objections mentioned in the linked study, that's real progress. If not, then you can criticize the original experiment, and explain why yours is superior. It's a win-win.

Not to be cynical, but I don't think that people at a high school science fair would be interested in Real Science. It's boring unless it gets results.

In any case, it seems like a loooong stretch that memories could be transfered by eating brain cells. If that were possible, the computer scientists and neurologists would have a field day.


I think the drugs one sounds interesting, but I'm guessing that results found with planaria probably won't be too relevant to humans- thus, you should also try things that are not necessarily drugs to humans. You never know how the worm physiology will react. Maybe you'll find a new garden poison!

[Gelsamel]

Not to be cynical, but I don't think that people at a high school science fair would be interested in Real Science. It's boring unless it gets results.

Yeah that's true. Noone wants real sience at a science fair, they want paper-maché volcanoes with baking soda, red dye and vinegar.

[ArchangelShrike]

Not to be cynical, but I don't think that people at a high school science fair would be interested in Real Science. It's boring unless it gets results.

Yeah that's true. Noone wants real sience at a science fair, they want paper-maché volcanoes with baking soda, red dye and vinegar.

Yup. That's why there's the ISEF held annually, with a shot at a $50,000 college scholarship. I knew some people that went to this, and got very good results there. Here's the bad news: our school was a rich school, had a Ph.D. (biology) running a Research Science section especially for these kids to do their projects, and most of these kids had been doing it since at least their sophomore year. A couple of them that went all did DNA projects on different Native Hawaiian plants and animals, and recieved somewhere around 30-40k total in scholarships I think.

That said, go for A. But if you can change it up, the Doctor that teaches at the school I used to go to always wanted to find out more on what happens when you boil chicken feet and apply it to a wound. Apparently the collagen/c*something will attach itself to open wounds and help to close it up faster. Just find some emo** kids and have them cut themselves, with the control group getting no drugs/alcohol/weed whatsoever, one group with bandaids, another with antibiotics and bandages, and a third with chicken feet solution. Could be helpful in real life later

**: Just kidding on the emo kids. But someone needs to get cut, or something needs to get injured in order to see the effect...

[Julia]

I can always find a few freshmen and use them as test subjects!

No, that would be mean. However, there are 520 of them this year (my graduating class is only 400), so they are EVERYWHERE. I'm sure nobody would notice if a few went missing. Right?
I think I am going to go with the drugged planaria, just because the cannibal planaria probably won't replicate the original planaria experiment... not that that's a bad thing scientifically, but it might be bad for my grade.

[Ptera]

I voted for drugging the worms!

I would recommend trying several different concentrations of the drugs in question, because there is a "best dose" for every organism and application. I also second the idea of using random household chemicals as well as the available drugs, but that might make your experiment too unwieldy.

[Solt]

Not to be cynical, but I don't think that people at a high school science fair would be interested in Real Science. It's boring unless it gets results.

Yeah that's true. Noone wants real sience at a science fair, they want paper-maché volcanoes with baking soda, red dye and vinegar.

Yup. That's why there's the ISEF held annually, with a shot at a $50,000 college scholarship.

That's not a high school science fair. It's a science fair in which high schoolers participate, and I myself did "Real Science" when I was in high school, but it was for a program that involved lots of real scientists.

But if the most competent judge is your Bio teacher and conceivably at least a few of the judges might be people without science training, yea...

However, if the Original Poster really is interested in science, I would highly encourage him to find a program like the one Archangel pointed out. There are many groups that will place you with a scientist "mentor" and provide you with funds to carry out research then have you present the results at a conference after about a year.

[Julia]

Her, not him.

I doubt I could get any money for cutting worms up, not like I'd need any, anyway. My entire project costs less than $50, and that's using specialty products.

[Schmendreck]

Not to be cynical, but I don't think that people at a high school science fair would be interested in Real Science. It's boring unless it gets results.

Yeah that's true. Noone wants real sience at a science fair, they want paper-maché volcanoes with baking soda, red dye and vinegar.

Yup. That's why there's the ISEF held annually, with a shot at a $50,000 college scholarship. I knew some people that went to this, and got very good results there. Here's the bad news: our school was a rich school, had a Ph.D. (biology) running a Research Science section especially for these kids to do their projects, and most of these kids had been doing it since at least their sophomore year. A couple of them that went all did DNA projects on different Native Hawaiian plants and animals, and recieved somewhere around 30-40k total in scholarships I think.

Im entering this soon, I have to write my paper, which i should be doing now. Anyhow, don't try to enter unless your doing really serious science. I guarantee, that everyone there has worked quite awhile on their projects and will have serious scientific work to present. Its really not that likely that you'll actually win a scholarship anyway and its a buttload of work.