curbano's blog

Methods and procedures play a huge role in scientific writing and research. Most of the information and knowledge we have obtained through history is because of scientific research and the ability to replicate that research. Experiments are an important aspect of science that allows us to obtain new knowledge and understand the world around us. In order for an hypothesis/experiment to be accepted, it must be able to be replicated. In order to do this, scientists must include a clear procedure of how they achieved their results. Within an experiment, there are variables that are changed as well as variables that must be controlled. The goal of this project is to practice writing informative and descriptive methods so others can understand and replicate an experiment. While we are not designing an experiment, we will be creating a multi-panel figure of a spider web found on the UMass campus as well as writing the methods we did to capture and create the figure. Once the methods are complete, each student will receive another student’s methods from their own and follow the procedure to hopefully create the exact same multi-panel figure as that student. The original multi-panel figure and the replicated multi-panel figure will be compared to see how accurate and descriptive the original methods were. This exercise allow students to see where they may need to be more descriptive in their methods and improve their scientific writing overall.

Different types of white blood cells on eight other blood smears were analyzed and identified. We looked at these under the microscope starting with 4X magnification and moving to 10X & 40X. Our goal here was to identify as many different white blood cells as possible in each smear. We also needed to correctly create and read a hematocrit/PCV test. To make one to be observed first put hematocrit capillaries from the blood sample you want into an eppendorf tube. W tried to fill it at least half way. We did Blood C and B while our partners did Blood A. When it was filled, we put an index finger over the top of the tube and plugged the bottom with putty to seal it. We then put both tubes into the centrifuge for five minutes at 14,000 rpm. After five minutes was up, we measured the amount of red blood cells, buffy coat, and total amount of material inside of the tube in centimeters. By measuring this we calculated the hematocrit/ PVC count for the blood type. We calculated it by taking the amount of red blood cells in centimeters and dividing it by the total amount of material in the tube. This allowed us to diagnose the animals who provided the blood with healthy or unhealthy.   

In this day and age, we have access to an endless amount of information at our fingertips. While the Internet has a large amount of resources available for us to see, not everything we read online is trustworthy. In class today, we looked at a variety of different websites and determined whether or not they were reliable sources. My group was given a link to the Sierra Club Home Page, which is a non profit organization. Many of the articles or posts on the website did not have clear resources or references cited. Additionally, the appearance of the website was disorganized and had a lot of advertisements. The website appears to be very political and it seems like the creators are aiming to have as many people join and spread their movement. While the organization seemed to be supportive of the outdoors as well as science, the articles were clearly biased and did not have a reliable authors. Another group showed us the website for the Science Journal, which seemed much more trustworthy. The articles on Science had peer-reviewed articles and had references cited throughout the website. It is always important to examine sources on the website before using them to find facts because anyone can create a website and post things for the whole world to see.

Birdsong is used to communicate with other birds, similar to the way humans communicate. Birdsong is taught the same way humans learn language: they learn from their parents and it is passed down. In addition, there are different dialects for different regions. Also, children birds and humans both hear their mistakes as their learn their languages. Depending on the environment in which a bird lives, the pitch and type of song the bird sings may be different. A bird’s song is meant to be heard for as far as possible so the recipient can hear it clearly. As a result, some birds may have high pitched songs while others may have low pitched songs, depending on their environment and who they are trying to communicate with. For example, deserts are much more open than forests, so birds in the desert usually use “the buzz” while birds in the forest may use low pitched songs so it won’t be lost amongst the trees and ground. Males try to show off their skill and compete for mates through their songs. Males will usually create much more complex songs in hopes of impressing a female and making them their mate.

Getting Ready:

This morning I woke up to my alarm that went off at 8:30 AM. I picked up my phone to turn off the alarm and rolled out of bed. I sat up and got out of my bed and went to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. Afterwards, I went into the kitchen and put bread in the toaster. While waiting for my food, I went to my room to put on an outfit for the day. Once my toast was ready, I spread peanut butter on it and ate it. I then made sure my backpack was all packed up and I was ready for my day.

Transportation:

Once I had all my stuff together in my backpack, I walked down the 5 flights of stairs and unlocked my bike from the bike rack outside of North A. I then rode my bike to the ILC and locked it up at a bike rack there. I walked to the room S110 After physics, I rode my bike to my Cellular and Molecular Biology class at Morrill II. I walked to room 131 for my class.

School:

In physics today we worked on a velocity and position lab. We used the IOLab carts to study changes in velocity and position. We worked in our teams and we finished most of our lab. In cellular and molecular biology, we learned about protein folding and structure. I took notes during the class and answered some iClicker questions.

Whale ecotourism is a growing economic sector of many countries and coastal cities. Many of these large, aquatic mammals are threatened or endangered, according to standards set by both the United State’s Endangered Species Act and international legislation. Bringing these factors into account, it has become of interest to some conservationists the effect of boat traffic and especially whale-watching traffic on the welfare of these unique creatures. Boat strikes are the most concerning interaction between human vessels and whales, but there is plenty of evidence pointing towards other effects on their welfare besides physical injury and death. Presence of vessels can negatively affect whale behavior. The loud noises from vessels can block whale calls, ultimately affecting whales from communicating or mating effectively. Additionally, strikes can harm or even kill whales.

After looking at the different aspects of the review article and research article given to us, it appears to me that review articles give a much more in depth account on a field of research while research articles are based on original, more specific research. The research article about jumping spiders was much shorter than the review article about spider-ant associations. It makes sense that an original research paper would be shorter than a review article that contains an extensive summary of all the work regarding a specific topic. The review article also had significantly more references than the research article. While both articles contained level one headings, only the review article contained level two headings. Furthermore, the review article numbered their level one and two headings while the research article only used words for their headings. I was surprised that the research article did not contain much data. On the other hand, the review article had tables to show information as well as photos. There were diagrams explaining the experiment, but did not show the results in tables or figures. The two articles both contain a lot of information for readers to absorb, but the presentation of the articles varies.

It is debatable whether or not the quote “love conquers all” is true or not. In some ways, I believe that the statement is true. In other ways, I completely disagree with the quote. The quote itself is very broad and vague, so it is hard to make a full conclusion. There are many types of loves in life. Humans can love one another, whether it is in a romantic, platonic, or somewhere in between. Furthermore, we can love things, such as cars or power. While I do believe love is a powerful force, sometimes love is not enough. Love drives us to do many things in life, whether it is good or bad. However, if love is leading us to do something bad, can we still consider it love? When people are passionate about or love something, they often will sacrifice anything for what they love. In the end, however, I believe that when people love one another and join forces for a single cause or thing they love, it can change the world. I think that is one way that “love conquers all.” We often see the idea of “love conquers all” portrayed in movies and books. For example, Disney often glorifies the idea and power of romantic love. The glorification of love can be misleading and dangerous. While love can be healthy and beautiful, there is also abusive and toxic love.

In class today, each student received their own spider in a plastic container to observe and write about. At first glance, the spider did not move much, so I observed its appearance.  My spider was a tan color with a variety of markings on its body. The first segment of the spider was tan and had eight legs coming out of it. The spider’s legs were tan with markings on its joints. At each joint, there were two black markings with a white marking in between. While the second segment of the spider was also tan, it had some darker, brown markings as well. Additionally, the spider had a black dot the very end of the second segment. Compared to the first segment, the second segment was much longer and wider.

We are observing spiders in class and each student has their own spider to observe and right about. My spider has long, thin legs that appear to be a tanish color. The legs also have a black slash, white slash, then another black slash on each joint. I counted 16 joints total, each leg having 2 joints each. When I pick up the container, the spider moves around much more than when I sit it down. After the spider moves around, it always seems to go back to hanging upside down from the cap of the container. The second segment of the spider is much bigger than the first segment. The first segment is a tanish color and us where all the legs attach to. The second segment is a similar tanish color but has darker markings on it. At the very end of the second segment, there is a black dot. At the front of the second segment, there are white dots on either side of it. I wonder what these dots are and what purpose they serve. In the container I also see what looks like the remains of a web. The front two legs look like they are longer than the other legs. The longer legs also seems to have a lot more movement. The spider is not moving as much as it was originally. When I pick up the container, the spider tries to move to remain upside down. It was periodically walking around the container and it looked like it might have been working on forming a web.