What knowledge have you connected with past knowledge?

The second half of the semester has proven to be more relevent to topics that we experience on a daily basis and therefore our real life base of knowledge. I have learned about enzymes which as I am more aware of them realize they are all around us. My friend was drinking an energy drink which contained D-ribose, we use enzymatic cleansers in the hospital where I work to remove biological residues (lipase was one), and they are utilizing enzymes to neutralize an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While I, without additional research, don't know what each of these enzymes provides I have a greater understanding of their importance. I learned the internal mechanisms and causes of a family disease, diabetes, and how all the systems affect each other. Although I had a good understanding of the big picture, how food affects the body, mood, etc of someone with diabetes, I did not understand the way the metabolism worked and how the different organs and organelles of the cells participated. I also learned through my biochemical connections presentation how delicate these systems are and how one dysfunction (ie - GLUT4) can cause major problems.