Writing in Biology - Section 1 | BIOL312Section1;Fall2019; Brewer

GMOs

GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are all around us, but the stigma that people have surrounded them with are misinforming the public. There is this idea that consuming or handling a genetically modified produce item could hurt you or affect your health in some way. Crops have been naturally and artificially evolving for thousands of years, and just because the most recent forms of most are due to human interference, does not mean that they are more likely to hurt you. The process through which food can be genetically modified has helped us as a society become healthier as a whole, making sure we all get the most nutrients possible. It has also led to new technologies that are still being developed but will be extremely beneficial to medicine long term.

More Leaves

With this assignment in the back of my mind, I am constantly looking for more and more plants on campus that provide evidence of phytophagy. As I was walking to the gym earlier today, I noticed another tree with many leaves that had holes in them and brown discoloring. It seems like every leaf on that tree had been chewed on by insects and had a brown discoloring around the entire leaf. The more I look and stare at a plant, it seems like almost every plant I see shows some evidence of phytophagy on this campus. This specific leaf that I took a picture of was near the bottom of the tree where leaves began to grow. The tree itself was located to the right of the main entrance of Boyden Gym near the first row of parking in the lot. The holes on the leaf werent perfectly round so that shows that something was eating it and in this case it was definitely insects.

writing assignment

For the article on the behavior of slime mold in a labyrinth, the article only had level one headings, which divided the paper into separate topics that the author wanted to cover. The article on monophagous leaf-mining larvae, on the other hand, had a level one headings that divided the paper into a traditional introduction, method, result, and Discussion, but also further divided each section into level two headings, each covering a slightly different part of the experiment that was done.

Each section of the shorter article was structured in such a way that each section talked about a new idea on the topic, as well as different details that were disparate entities but come together into a single coherent idea. However, the structure of each individual section was not to necessarily have an introduction, main point, and conclusion, but to describe the idea of what the section is about in detail, using as much paragraph as necessary to communicate the information. The role of each section is to add to the previous section so as to help explore the questions that were introduced in the first paragraph of the introduction and helps to lead to the conclusion that the author makes in the end. In this instance, where each sentence is so short that a few sections only have one paragraph, the first paragraph of each section introduced a new idea, some of which are further clarified or continued, in the case of methods, by the paragraph following the first paragraph.

The other article divides each section into a subsection which expands on the sub-topic. Same as the last paragraph, each section itself is not organized into an introductory main point and conclusion, but uses paragraph as sort of sub-sub section to easily divide the topics that are brought up in the paper. The role that each section play is to separate the paper into expected chunks of scientific literature. Each subsection further divides the section and describes a part of the experiment in detail. As with the other paper, the first paragraph is not an introduction to the section but rather just the first paragraph to the main point. The exception to this is the discussion and the introduction, where the first paragraph does introduce the main point of the paper.

For the shorter paper, there is a topic sentence, and there is a logical flow of ideas. However, the way that the idea is organized is a bit disjointed due to the simplistic, almost conversational way and serious parts where the paper is written in a more traditionally in a formal way. This way of switching between different kinds of writing styles is jarring and makes the paper hard to read. However, this way of writing is comparatively easier to understanding for people who are not familiar with the topic.

The other paper, on the other hand, does have a topic sentence except for the paragraphs in methods and the style stays consistent throughout the paper. However, the style of overly technical writing may be hard to read for people who are not familiar with the topic. In addition, the paper seems to be very wordy compared to other articles. The ideas flow in a logical way that is commonly accepted b the scientific community. The ideas are organized so that the ideas flow from one to another.

Draft 5

The CRISPR-Cas9 system of gene editing seems to be quite a promising treatment for genetic disorders among humans. There are still many roadblocks in the way of this method becoming an actual treatment method anytime soon. Firstly, the accuracy of affected DNA sequences is not entirely precise. Off target edits utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 have plummeted, certainly, but are still not accurate enough for actual human treatment. Additionally, new research has shown that the human body initiates immune responses towards Cas9. This greatly lowers the efficacy of CRISPR-Cas9 treatment, and may delay this treatment's entry into medical treatment even further. With all the fervor currently about this method of gene editing, it is important to assess the challenges associated with CRISPR-Cas9 and to ensure that these treatments are safe and effective when brought to market.

Draft #5

Professor Sarah Pallas gave a seminar lecture earlier this week I believe on Monday, and I unfortuately did not attend, but coworkers of mine did and described to me the study she presented to discuss. She works in zoology and neuroscience, and so her topic was the canibalistic behaviors of hamsters. In short, female hamsters often eat their mates, cohabitating hamsters will eat each other, and mothers often eat their young. As a biology major who has studied the evolution and psychology, this had me baffled; A mother hamster eats her offspring. Evolutionarily, typically organisms form behaviors that benefit their own survival and the survival of their progeny. In complex organisms, children will be prioritized: A mother will give her life for a baby. Paternally its a different story because its not such a guarentee that the offspring is genetically theirs. Anyway, so the offspring should be valued above self because that is the ultimate goal of life. If the progeny don't survive, then the individual's genetics will never live beyond their own live, and all lives being finite, it will not pass on its genes to the species population. This all goes completely out the window when considering the canibalism of a mother eating her kids. She has put in her physical energy into these beings for them to expand her genetic outreach in the species and live past her own generation, but she turns around and consumes her fruit to be of seemingly no evolutionary benefit. Its much more worth your time to find food than grow a child for dinner. I begin to wonder the short-term benefits of this that may drive this behavior. A food source, less competition for one offspring if the others are killed, and thats it. The take aways are significant: no futured genetic line. Without offspring it diminishes the point to continue living to simply staying alive for oneself. This would be worth it if the mother had significant fertility remaining, but the offspring that are on the cusp of pubescence are going to be more fertile and have far more chance to reproduce than an already-parent would, and considering that the offspring would pass on the genes of the parents to yet another generation seems like the children should be spared when food is scarce. This question of "Why" extends far beyond hamsters though, considering the news articles and horror stories written about human behaviors of parents killing their own kids. One specific one comes to mind: Casey Anthony. This case involved the extreme addiction of the mother to drugs, alcohol, and partying, so much that it came before her daughter's life. This psychology, unfortunately, happens a lot. Addiction can overrule many a benefitial behavior and there are endless examples party to that statement. This case with the hamster however is driven by the need to basic survival, not a rewiring of the brain to demand one thing over the hard-wired other, but an organized behavior built-in. Its very interesting, and I still don't get why it happens, so I should have gone to the seminar.

Comparing Scientific Literature Paragraph

Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch and Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth share relatively similar level 1 headings. Although Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella gives a more descriptive title than the other document. In addition, Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch has more traditional level 2 headings, outlining the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth, however, has level 2 headings that reflect the progression of thought rather than following the traditional scientific paper set up.

The first paragraph in each section plays a key role in setting up what is about to be discussed in the coming section. As for the structure of Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch each section had varying lengths. The results section of that article seems significantly longer than other sections, suggesting the importance of detail and explanation needed when reporting results. In contrast, every section of Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth is uniform in length and level of detail. Each paragraph appears to have some form of a topic sentence that helps transition the flow of ideas to a new topic. For instance, in the slime mold paper Nakagaki states, “The plasmodium is interesting in terms of the size of the organism and its individuality.” (798). This topic sentence gives a broad statement in order to invoke interest in the following section while also informing the reader about the switch in topic. In general, each of these papers organize their ideas in slightly different ways but essentially follow the same central idea of discussing similar ideas in a logical progression. Both authors make sure that the ideas flow into each other and continually support their overall argument.

Comparing Scientific Literature Drafts

Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch and Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth share relatively similar level 1 headings. Although Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella gives a more descriptive title than the other document. In addition, Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch has more traditional level 2 headings, outlining the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth, however, has level 2 headings that reflect the progression of thought rather than following the traditional scientific paper set up.

The first paragraph in each section plays a key role in setting up what is about to be discussed in the coming section. The authors often use it to incite interest and provide a preview of what will be explained or argued in the following section. As for the structure of Monophagous Leaf-Mining Larvae of Stigmella (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) on Birch each section had varying lengths. The results section of that article seems significantly longer than other sections, suggesting the importance of detail and explanation needed when reporting results. In contrast, every section of Smart Behavior of True Slime Mold in a Labyrinth is uniform in length and level of descriptive detail.

Each paragraph appears to have some form of a topic sentence that helps transition the logical flow of ideas to a new topic. For instance, in the slime mold paper Nakagaki states, “The plasmodium is interesting in terms of the size of the organism and its individuality.” (798). This topic sentence gives a broad statement in order to invoke interest in the following section while also informing the reader about the switch in topic from the previous paragraph. In general, each of these papers organize their ideas in slightly different ways but essentially following the same central idea of discussing similar ideas in a logical progression. Both authors make sure that the ideas flow into each and continually support their overall argument.

Writing Assignment Perfect Paragraph

The documents both start with the title of the paper followed by the names of the authors. Though both abstracts are found at the start of each paper, the slime mold paper labels the abstract as such while the leaf-mining paper does not. The leaf-mining paper is structured like classic primary literature, featuring level 1 headings for the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references sections, as well as various level 2 headings within each section. However, the slime mold paper is organized by topic using only level 1 headers, as it is a review article rather than primary literature.

The abstracts of both papers are short paragraphs describing the object of and reason for the study. The introduction to the leaf-mining paper opens with an explanation as to why the subject of the study was chosen, followed by a series of explanatory paragraphs concerning the reasons for the study. The first section of the slime mold paper describes the conceptual question at hand and addresses the underlying reasons for the multiple studies and experiments referenced throughout the paper.

Methods Draft 1 part 2

Using a laptop, a folder called “Figure” was created on the desktop. The “Detailed Campus Map” PDF was downloaded from https://www.umass.edu/visitorsctr/campusmaps and saved to the “Figure” folder as “campus_map”. The “campus_map” PDF was uploaded to https://www.pdf2go.com/split-pdf where the legend page was deleted and the map page re-downloaded. The map page was saved to the “Figure” folder under the name “campus_map”. A copy of the map file was made and named “sylvan_map”. The “sylvan_map” file was uploaded to https://pdfresizer.com/crop and cropped such that the “Sylvan Residential Area” text appeared in the centre. Additionally, the cropped image’s margin included: the grey area below the “Sylvan Residential Area” text; the part of Eastman Lane leading past North Apartments A & B and up to the Sylvan area; most of North A and some of North B; parking lot 44 to the right of the Sylvan area; and both parking lots numbered 47 next to Cashin and behind MacNamara. The file was then saved to the “Figure” folder as “sylvan_map_resize”. Both the “campus_map” file and “sylvan_map_resize” file were converted to PNG format at https://pdf2png.com/, redownloaded, and saved to the “Figure” folder. The close-up and contextual pictures were downloaded from email and saved to the “Figure” folder as “close-up” and “contextual”, respectively.

Draft 4

The pharmaceutcal industry is a very widely hated industry among Americans, as they are seen as greedy, evil, and heartless organizations hell bent on making the biggest prophet they can. And while yes, it is true that these copanies are simply in the business for profitability and their responsibilities to investors and shareholders, there are some justifications for the seemingly outrageous pricing of drugs-in the context of the American healthcare system at least. To bring a single drug to market, through all the trials and tests mandated by the FDA, costs around $2.7 billion. Pharmaceutcial companies are not at liberty to be generous, philanthropic, or kind-hearted in this kind of a cut-throat market that the current system has imposed. If we truly want change in the pharmaceutical space, we need to have a real discussion on what we can change about the current healthcare systems, not pointing fingers at the companies themselves.

Writing in Biology - Section 1