smomalley's blog

In psychology we talked about child witnesses in different criminal trials. It was commonly thought that children would never lie, they're too inocent. However, researchers have discovered that children are extremely susceptible to persuasion. When being questioned in a crimial trial, children are asked highly leading questions by the investigators. The use of leading quesions over a period of time causes the child to create a story around these quesitions, and believe the invented story actually happened. The children don't think they're lying, they truely believe that the story they have created actually happened in real life. Many children studied added details to their stories that were never brought up by the interviewer. A similar study was also done without using leading questions, but by simply asking one question every week for ten weeks. Before the end of the ten weeks, the kids had believed that this quesiton was something that had actually happend to them. For example, one of the questions was: have you ever gotten your finger stuck in a mouse trap and had to go to the hospital? One boy told this story with great detail including how it happened, where it happened, who went to the hospital with him. 

Nerve cells send and recieve messages through a series of elecrical and chemical signals. The electrical signals are propogated by the opening or closing of ion channels on the neuron. The movement of charged ions across the membrane changes the neurons membrane potential. The resting membrane potential is aroung -64mV. In order for a neuron to send a signal to the next neuron the electrical threshold must be met to create an action potential. The threshold is around -40mV. When the threshold is met, the action potential must take place. This opens ion channels all the way down the axon to propel the electrical change throughout the neuron. Once the signal reaches the axon hillock, it causes the release of vessicles from the axon across the synapse containing neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters bind to the dendrite and send the signal along its way. 

Plasmids are a very valuble tool for biologists. Plasmids are circular strands of DNA that are found in bacteria. Plasmids must contain an origin of replication (where DNA polymerase binds), a multiple cloning site (where you can add any gene you want), and a selectable marker (usually an antibiotic resistant gene). These plasmids can be inserted into any cell. If you want a cell to contain a certain gene, you place that gene in the plasmid, then place the plasmid in the cell. The selectable marker is usually an antibiotic resistant gene because this allows you to select for cells that contain the plasmid. You place the cells you believe to have taken up the plasmid on a plate with an antibiotic of your choosing. Only the cells containing the plasmid, with antibiotic gene and the gene of your choosing, will be able to grow on this plate. 

As we get closer to flu season it is important to think about getting the flu shot. The strain of the flu changes every year and therefore the vaccine changes to keep up with the changing proteins on the virus. The vaccine is so important for so many reasons. I myself used to forget or not bother to get the yearly vaccine, but now I make sure to get it every year to protect myself and everyone around me. Individuals who are immunocompromised cannot get vaccines because that will result in sickness. These immunocompromised individuals can be protected if the majority of individuals around them are vaccinated. If the majority of a population is vaccinated, the virus has a hard time infultrating the population, and it is virtually impossible for an outbreak. Therefore everyone should keep up with their flu vaccines to prevent contraction of the virus for themselves, as well as immunocompromised individuals who cannot recieve the vaccine and rely on others for protection. 

The find an example of phytophagy on campus, I tried to find a tree that was distinct and easy to locate. I used a tree that was right next to an intersection of two roads, and was not near other trees so that it was obvious which tree it was. I tried to make the leaf I photographed obvious by leaving paint on the leaf so that it would stand out among the other leaves on the tree. I used incskape and included the exact X and Y coodinates, and the width and height of the pictures so that the person replicating could have the same dimentions in their figures. I also included the zoom and the fartherest landmarks on the map so that the maps could have the same zoom and boundaries included. There are differences between the original and the replicate that can be explained by different times of day, different weather, different perspective of the pictures. The formatting differences can be explained by using different computer programs to make the figures.
 

A lab technique in genetics is insitu-hybridization. Insitu-hybridization is used to locate a specific gene in an organism. This technique uses a label to find an mRNA sequence because the mRNA does not leave the cell. The DNA is the same in every cell in the body, so highlighting the DNA would not tell you which cells express a certain gene. The proteins created by the mRNA sequence leave the cells, so this would not acurately tell you which cells are responsible for expressing that gene. Scientists use this method to locate tissues that produce a certain gene, this can be used for different medicines in research. There are other methods that can locate gene expresion, such as using immune cells with radioactive labels. This method does not target the exact cell that the gene is produced in, because the immune cells link onto the protein produced. Both are very useful methods of locating genes and gene expression of protiens.

Neurons are located throughout the entire body, sending electrical signals to trasnmit information to different organs, muscles, or tissues. These electrical signals are produced by the movement of different ions across the membrane of the neuron. Ions have different charges associated with them. Ions usually require different channels or pumps to move across the membrane. The sodium/potassium pump is essential to the movemen of sodium and potassium, obviously. There are various other channels or pumps that are utilized to transfer ions across the membrane. There are "leak channels" that allow ions to flow through the membrane and stay around their equilibrium. When there is enough ion movement to bring the membrane potential about about -40mV, then an action potential takes place. The action potential propogates charge down the neuron's membrane and sends the electrical signal. This happens in the central nervous system, as well as the peripheral nervous system.
 

We use our sight to get information from our surroundings and process it. Our eye sight develops over time to become clearer and more acurate with colors. Babies, when they are a few months old, have 20/800 vision, which is terrible. The fraction means that if an object is 20 feet away, it looks like it is 800 feet away. Pretty early in development, babies are able to recognize faces because of a facial pettern. They mostly see light and shaddows with very blurred color, but they see the pattern of a face, and see best from about six inches away. The faces of their caregivers are the ones babies recognize first because they see them so often. Over time babies gain better eye sight and can see clear shapes and colors at about 1 years old, but will not develop adult-like vision until about 4-6 years old. 

Figure 2 contains two sets of three images. There are a few minor differeences between the two figures. Image A differs in the distance the photo was taken, the boundaries of the image, and size of the image. Image B differs in the size of the image, the boundaries of the image, and the zoom of the image. Image C differs in the boundaries of the image, the zoom of the image. Images B and C on the right include the arrows from google maps, while images B and C on the left do not. The figure differs overall in the labels used, and the sizing of the images to fit the figure. The figure on the left uses red capitalized letters to label the different imges, the figure on the right uses lowercase black letters with a white box underneath to label the images. Figure A on the left is shorter compared to figure A on the right; figure B and C on the left are taller than figures B and C on the right.

These differentces are most likely caused by the methods section. The methods most likely did not describe how far from the tree the photos were taken, or the boundaries seen in the images. The methods also most likely did not include the sizing of the images used in the figure. Figure A on the right is brighter than figure a on the left, which could be cuased by taking the picutres at a different time of day.

Figure 2 "figures from previous semsesters"

The differences between the figures

- the figures on the left uses red uppercase letter labels while the figures on the right use a white box behind a black lower case letter.

- figure A, B, and C on the left are more zoomed in than the coresponding figures on the right 

- Figures b and c on the left include the google maps arows and orange figure while figrues B and C on the left do not

- figure A on the lefft is cropped more than figure a on the right

- all of the figures are made to different sizes in between the figures