Blogs

Writing perfect paragraphs each week helped me finalize a piece of writing for my peers to review. I was nervous at first to post my writing for others to see and comment on, but I slowly became more comfortable with it after seeing how helpful the comments were. As the semester went on, I got better at writing helpful comments rather than just complimenting everyone’s paragraphs. I noticed that most of the class had trouble with making the perfect paragraphs flow nicely with transition statements. It was interesting to see that there were some common factors that we all could have improved on. I liked the perfect paragraphs because I could see what I needed to improve on before turning in the assignments for some classes. I was able to use the revised paragraphs to hand in; I basically had free peer editing for my papers which was valuable. Revising my paragraphs also helped me understand and solidify my knowledge on a particular topic as some of the paragraphs were taken from notes in my classes. This was a very useful study technique throughout the semester. In the future, I will write out the material that I struggle with as if it is telling a story because I learned that this tactic was very useful for studying and understanding complicated concepts.

When we were first assigned to make about 6 drafts per week, I was a little intimidated. I was not sure if I would be able to write that much, especially since none of my other classes required much writing. At first I would work on exercises for the Writing in Biology for my draft entries as well as my Life After Biology seminar. I also would make draft entries for my Cellular and Molecular Biology class. With writing assignments, I often do not spend much time creating drafts or editing my work. Doing draft entries prevented me from procrastinating on most of my assignments. I think making several drafts allows us to reevaluate our work and make improvements over time. It can be challenging to see mistakes or room for improvement. Some weeks it was challenging for me to make enough drafts since sometimes I felt that my work came out well. Overall, I thought doing draft entries made me a better writer and helped me organize my thoughts and projects more efficiently.

The weekly drafts assignment asked for blog posts throughout the week. At first it seemed that the weekly posts would be a lot to handle, making daily posts about science can cover a wide ground. I thought it was going to be especially difficult because I was not taking biology related classes this semester. However, the posts helped me review other classes that I had previously taken and remember important details that I otherwise would not have had to remember. The assignment helped showcase the need to be able to write an effective paragraph in a short amount of time. This was not a daily essay, but a way to mark what had happened. This helped show how helpful it is to take notes from classes that are usually bulleted or sentences that don’t always have a complete flow and reorient them into a more condensed paragraph with clearer meaning. It is helpful to rewrite the notes this way because it gives a review and better understanding of the subject when you are the one who has to write about a something that was taught/told to you.

    For the research I am working on, I am analyzing the physical behaviors of actin and microtubules when cross-linked in various combinations and ratios. I analyze actin cross-linked to itself interacting with microtubules, microtubules cross-linked to themselves interacting with actin, actin and microtubules cross-linked to each other interacting, and actin and microtubules interacting with each other with no cross-linkers. I analyze how these differing combinations influence the behaviors of the actin and microtubules. The ratio of cross-linker used varies from 0.02 to 0.08.    

    In my analysis, I utilize FFTs (Fast Fourier Transform) of the microtubules and actin, and I analyze the data graphically and numerically using Excel and the data analysis application KaleidaGraph.

As concluded in the review, fish locomotion plays a role in ocean dynamics, especially in large scale movements like migrations, which contributes to the mixing of nutrients and temperature. Therefore, studies in fish kinematics can serve to conservation efforts by providing estimates for the fishing industry in order to avoid overfishing. Regarding the use of robot models for studying fish locomotion, they are useful for controlling certain parameters in an experimental setting, but do not portray the whole picture of such movements. In order to understand locomotion, researchers should take a holistic approach that considers often neglected factors like behaviors that enhance such movements.

The Giant kingfisher bat (Pteropus alcedinidus) is a member of the Pteropodidae family, of the order Chiroptera (bats). Members of this family are commonly referred to as megabats or fruit bats, and are characterized by their relatively large size. Like most bats in the Pteropodidae family, the Giant kingfisher bat has lost the ability to echolocate, and relies instead on its sight for locating food. Its diet consists mainly of fish that live in the mangroves and coast of the Malay Archipelago, but usually supplements it with fruit during the weeks previous to the mating season.

The Giant kingfisher bat (Pteropus alcedinidus) is a member of the Pteropodidae family, of the order Chiroptera (bats). Members of this family are commonly referred to as megabats or fruit bats, and are characterized by their relatively large size. Like most bats in the Pteropodidae family, the Giant kingfisher bat has lost the ability to echolocate, and relies instead on its sight for locating food. Its diet consists mainly of fish that live in the mangroves and coast of the Malay Archipelago, but usually supplements it with fruit during the weeks previous to the mating season.

This species is unique among bats because it is the only one that dives into the water for catching its prey. Its unusual beak-shaped snout, which resembles the beak of a kingfisher, provides streamlining and minimizes the impact against the surface to avoid displacing water and scaring away fish. Unlike most mammals, which have seven cervical vertebrae, the Giant kingfisher bat has five cervical vertebrae and they are surrounded by thick layers of soft tissue. This gives the bat a shorter neck with a shock absorption mechanism that greatly reduces the risk of injury when penetrating the water.

Pteropus alcedinidus has also developed a series of adaptations for navigating underwater during short periods of time. Its nostrils and reduced ears close underwater, and due to having its eyes protected by a full nictating membrane it mostly relies on its highly sensitive long whiskers for detecting its prey or other obstacles. Nonetheless, this species has good vision on land and uses it for detecting potential prey and fruit instead of echolocation, which has been lost in favor of smaller ears that provide better streamlining.

In order to catch fish, the Giant kingfisher bat soars over the water taking advantage of the high aspect ratio of its wings to save energy. When it localizes its prey, the bat plunges into the water and uses its sensitive whiskers to catch it. In order to move towards the surface, special fibers in the patagium or wing membrane of the bat get harder and serve as a paddle to displace water more efficiently. The unusually high number of mitochondria in its cells, along with a highly vascularized tissue, enable the bat to power its muscles to rise to the surface and fly into the sky once again.

    I was initially a little apprehensive about writing 6 drafts each week. I understood the purpose of this assignment, to give the students practice writing for the life sciences and help us organize said writing. This seemed like a lot of work though and I was concerned I would not be able to find topics to write about. I also often have difficulty beginning a report, rather than actually finishing it, and so I was concerned I would not know where to start with these drafts. However, as the semester went on I began summarize my notes in draft form. I believe this helped me organize my thoughts better and therefore understand the material better as well. This gave me a lot of practice writing, even if it was not necessarily for any particular report, and I began more comfortable in my writing skill.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that is changing the average environments in which we live. Change effects different regions of the world in different ways and to different extents. In general, Maine is seeing an increase in temperature during all four seasons of the year. Figure F shows the increase in average temperature from 1970 up to 2017. Winter, indicated by the blue line, has seen an increase of above 4°F, this is the biggest warming season. Fall has increased by just under 4 °F and the spring and summer have increased the least, however summer, the season with the smallest increase, has still seen a rise of just under 1°F (Seasonal Warming Trends. 2018). There is a significant trend indicating a change in temperature in the state of Maine. The current average temperature of winter in Caribou is 23.5°F, so an increase of 10°F would result in an average winter above freezing. If this pattern continues with an increase of about .085°F per year, in just over 118 years this increase would be enough to raise the average winter to above freezing. This is significant when considering the annual temperature anomalies in Figure T because this shows the temperatures will only continue to warm. There are significantly more years warmer than average.

If the trend of an increasingly warm winter continues, which is proven by both Figure G and Figure T, then eventually Caribou will not see temperatures below freezing on average. This will have drastic effects on the seasons and the precipitation, more flooding will occur as there is less snow and the length of seasons will change. Warmer temperatures will cause many problems such as drastic changing of ecosystems, so the wildlife currently inhabiting northern Maine will not be suitable for the environment. They will begin to migrate north to follow the cooler weather and wildlife from the south will migrate north to Caribou in order to also follow cooler temperatures. The ecosystems throughout the country will be out of balance and this can have drastic impacts on industry and the ecosystems.