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The law of definite proportions is a law of science that says that a chemical compound is always made up of the exact same proportion of elements by mass. So, if a compound is made by combining 1/4 from one chemical and the remaining 3/4 from another chemical, these proportions will always hold true, regardless of the number of chemicals added.

Protein is another macronutrient necessary to promote the health of the body. The body’s growth, repairing of cells,  and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs are all essential functions of the protein, therefore adequate amounts of protein in the diet is necessary to the optimal function of the body. My current food intake indicates a relatively steady amount of protein in my diet, at approximately 21 percent of the total calories I consume in one day. Overall, based on the two days of documenting my food intake, the main sources of protein are chicken, eggs, fish, and pork. The fish, unfortunately, was fried with batter, making a great source of protein that comes along with unnecessary amounts of fat, so in future meals I know to choose fish that’s steamed or cooked differently.The chicken is chicken breast and the pork was a lean piece of boneless pork chop, both relatively healthy options of protein, low in fat and sodium showing that the quality of the protein intake is quite well. Although those options of poultry and chicken are great, I could aim to expand my options and include beans, and nuts to obtain all the essential amino acids. Red meats, like beef, are excluded from being categorized as a healthy protein for it is much higher in saturated fats4. Harvard School of Public Health reported that the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease increased with increased consumptions of red meats, supported with evidence from a study that shows the risk of dying from cardiovascular increasing by 13 percent with every additional 3-ounce serving of red meat4.

We found a paper that dealt with spider web production in terms of web mass and temperatures affect on it. They used 20 female spiders and randomly assigned them to one of their 4 temperature groups. They kept them at the temperature for six days (Barghusen et al). Fruit flies were dropped into the web with an relatively complex apparatus, beyond the scope of our project. They created a gradient of temperatures by putting two aluminum pans on a hot plate. The pans were positioned in such a way that the entire pan wouldn’t get hot. The different temperature regions were indicated by marking on the pan, not barriers that the spider could not cross. They found that web mass was much lighter in the colder conditions. We used some of their methods and ideas to design our own experiment, particularly their enclosure design.  

This study will serve to identify a key aspect of the crab spider’s vision and whether or not the intensity of blue light affects the spider’s ability to match the color provided. It is known that the spider is able to change from yellow to white, but it is not known if it has a preference of those colors, or if it will change slightly if neither color is presented. The color yellow is seen by the eye as a reflection of white light with the absence of blue, meaning it did not  absorb the red and green light. We wondered if the spider’s ability to see yellow was based on the absence of blue light, and if so, how other colors that matched an absence of reflected light would affect the spider’s ability to change color. We do not expect a color change match, but are looking for variation in color change for different color environments.

 

When defining our sample area, we chose areas of water that seemed to be as similar as possible. At the campus pond, we stood roughly one foot from the water, near an abundant source of vegetation including shrubbery and a tree. When we went to the Sylvan creek, we tried our best to find a location that matched the campus pond as best as possible. Eventually we found a spot that was surrounded by vegetation including shrubs, grasses, and trees, similar to those seen at the campus pond.  To collect our samples from the two locations, we used a plankton net. The net was tossed roughly three meters into the water and reeled in. This process was repeated three times in order to gather as large of a sample as possible. Once this process was complete, the contents collected in the container attached to the net was transferred to a falcon tube and brought back to the lab in order to observe them underneath a microscope.

When defining our sample area, we chose areas of water that seemed to be as similar as possible. At the campus pond, we stood roughly one foot from the water, near an abundant source of vegetation including shrubbery and a tree. When we went to the Sylvan creek, we tried our best to find a location that matched the campus pond as best as possible. Eventually we found a spot that was surrounded by vegetation including shrubs, grasses, and trees, similar to those seen at the campus pond.  To collect our samples from the two locations, we used a plankton net. The net was tossed roughly three meters into the water and reeled in. This process was repeated three times in order to gather as large of a sample as possible. Once this process was complete, the contents collected in the container attached to the net was transferred to a falcon tube and brought back to the lab in order to observe them underneath a microscope.

Spider webs are extremely thin, the largest silk fibers being only 5-10 μm. Some can be as thin as only 50 nm, making spider webs very difficult to measure. We found a publication that explains the use of light microscopy to accurately and precisely measure the width of spider webs. Webs are extremely strong, comparable to steel and also super flexible. However, because of the microscopic size, the different principles of silk have not been greatly investigated. In this review they used a polarized light microscope to illuminate the spider webs and images were taken that were then used for comparisons and measurements.

Idealistically, a world free of congenital diseases would be a miraculous one, but the means needed to create such a world are far too severe to partake in. First, people have to decide what congenital diseases the world will be better without, and then comes the question of who is allowed or not allowed to reproduce. And does anyone have the right to restrict the ability of someone else’s reproductive success? In the past, the United States was home to a world of eugenics. According to the nature.com article on Eugenics, the American movement took place in the early 1900’s. In theory, the idea of selecting more desirable traits to rid of certain diseases sounds like a relatively good idea, until you take into consideration the means at which this would be accomplished. The eugenics movement involved many cases of involuntary sterilization and institutionalization. During this movement, we lacked the vast knowledge of genetics and genomes, so they believed certain qualities such as alcoholism, “criminality”, “feeblemindedness”, and epilepsy were traits that possessed a great genetic basis, which is not wholly the case. Also, if these were the traits thought to be undesired, which there are likely many good reasons one might not want to possess them, one can only imagine what type of traits might be considered undesirable now.

Nastic movements are important mechanisms in plants that act as defense against herbivory, blah blah. A nastic movement in the Mimosa pudica plant, or sensitive plant, is thigmonasty. This mechanosensory response is stimulated by touch or movement of the plant and causes the plant leaves to collapse on themselves. In order to understand how nastic movements are affected by its surroundings, this experiements will test thigmonasty in Mimosa pudica plants under 5 difference conditions. Four of the environments will have varying amounts of water and sunlight given to the plants during its growth period to understand how irregular conditions affect the nastic movements. A fifth environment will test the nastic movements of the plants under normal growing conditions. The nastic movements will be observed by timing the response closure time and reopening time of the leaves after touching the leaves with a cotton swab. Following data collection of each time interval ten times, overlapping graphs will be made to easily identified how the nastic movements times have been affected by each irregular environment compared to the control group.

The groups of three spiders in their enclosures will then be put in their respective temperature environments. 3 enclosures containing spiders will be placed inside in a room temperature environment. These spiders will be in a styrofoam box kept at 20°C for the duration of the project. 3 other enclosures will be placed in the cooler environment. A layer of ice below the enclosures will maintain a cold temperature for the styrofoam box used for the cool condition. A thin, flat layer of cardboard will separate the enclosures from the ice below them. A hole in this layer of cardboard will serve as a place to periodically add more ice to maintain a constant temperature. The previous ice will melt and drain out the bottom via a small hole. The last 3 enclosures will be heated by a heat lamp at roughly 25°C. Each enclosure housing for the three conditions will be comprised of the same styrofoam box for insulation purposes and fixed with a thermometer to ensure a consistent temperature of the course of the five days. All 9 spiders will be allowed to make webs during this period of time. The spiders will be given food/water and the ice will be switched as needed. After 5 days, each plastic cup will be weighed.