Writing in Biology - Section 1

In order for any scientific work to become valid it must be replicated by other scientists who must be able to redeem the same results as the original experiment. The Methods Project that I was assigned in my junior writing class in Fall of 2019 is a way for students to practice descriptive scientific writing. After doing this project the student should be able to describe their method of completing a task to such an extent that another student should be able to follow that method and replicate that task. The task in this project was to create a multi panel figure that displayed evidence of phytophagy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Although the students are mostly juniors in college, their ability to write a proper methods section in a scientific paper is unknown.

To obtain a photo of a map, I used openstreetmap.com. Screenshot the map of campus to include Lot 45 in the upper left and the corner of Mass Ave. and N. Pleasant St. in the lower right on a square scale for width and height. Save it then drag the map picture into the inkscape window and set the width and height to 750 pixels and aligned the top left corner of the map picture to the bottom left corner of the close up phytophagy picture. Labeling this image “c” with the same method as used for the previous two photos but instead make the font black, I then made a scale bar using the width of the fingers in the first photo of close up phytophagy as a size estimate. 

To obtain a photo of a map, openstreetmap.com was used. After locating the UMass Amherst campus with north on the top of the image and south at the bottom, I screenshot the map to include Lot 45 in the upper left and the corner of Mass Ave. and N. Pleasant St. in the lower right on a square scale for width and height. Once saved, I dragged the map picture into the inkscape window and set the width and height to 750 pixels and aligned the top left corner of the map picture to the bottom left corner of the close up phytophagy picture. Labeling this image “c” with the same method as used for the previous two photos but instead make the font black, I then made a scale bar using the width of the fingers in the first photo of close up phytophagy as a size estimate. 

Paper is obsolete. This has yet to be completely accepted as a truth, but it is indeed a whole and total truth. For anything that uses or requires paper as a means of containing information and data, it is not longer needed. Paper is used for so much, from books to tests to paperwork to reciepts. While many low level corporations and small, simple organizations use paper more often because the number of sheets is not unmanagable fr storage and keeping track of, the fact remains the paper has hugely negative affects on the environment because of production. Logging has destroyed millions of acres of land and few of those are ever considered for restoration or rehabilitation after logging. After getting the wood, the process of forming paper has large amounts of waste and emissions, although the emission sare mostly steam. Besides those factors, the cost of paper alone in camparison to the cost of data storage platforms and hardwares that exist are much smaller, especially when storage is easily accessible across laptops, computers, platforms, and locations, for example google drive, drop box, and microsoft team. Paper being used as a "formality" or "necessary hard copy" is simply an out-of-date way of thinking and modern technology has easily bypassed the abilities of paper in ever possible use. 

To determine whether the vegetation patterns at higher elevations and altitudes resemble that of the vegetation patterns are higher latitudes, we counted the number of individual Vaccinium vacillans in 11 random 4x4 meter plots in three sites. One site was of an elevation of 400 meters. Another site was at 60 meters but still located in the same general latitude as the 400-meter site. The last site was at a higher latitude than the two previous mentioned sites. Our results showed that the number of individuals at a site of higher elevation closely resembled the number of individuals at a higher latitude site. The site that was at a lower elevation showed more numbers of individuals than either the higher latitude site or the higher elevation site. We concluded that vegetation patterns at higher elevations did resemble vegetation patterns at higher latitudes. These results suggest that this is ubiquitous in other regions.  

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. 

Within the cell, the movement of proteins is very regulated. Each protein must have specific signal sequences in order to get sent to where they are supposed to go. Proteins that have a nucleus signal sequence will get imported in from the cytoplasm, and the signal sequence is not cleaved off once the protein enters the nucleus. Nuclear import is a process that involves the importin enzyme and the protein also folds as it enters the nucleus. First, importin binds to the cargo protein and moves through the nuclear protein channel into the nucleus. Once inside, GEF substitues GDP for GTP in the GTPase complex which binds to the cargo protein and importin, stimulating the release of the cargo protein. The rest of the complex then exits the cell through a separate channel. Once back in the cytoplasm, GAP substitutes GTP for GDP which initiates the release of the GTPase from importin. The cycle can then start again. 

House crickets are insects that you can generally find anywhere outside. They have a simple eye, with one lens, as well as separate compound eyes, which have multiple lenses. Each cricket has a pair of palps near the mouth, as well as a long pair of antennae. On the dorsal side of the cricket are two pairs of wings, the hind wings and the fore wings. By rubbing these wings together, crickets can make chirping sounds due to the varying textures on the wings, but only male crickets can chirp. Another difference between male and female crickets is that only females have an ovipositor that projects from the tip of their abdomen. The ovipositor is used by the female to deposit eggs an is located between two cerci, paired appendages on the hind end of both male and female crickets. 

In Figure 2 panel B, there are more people in Harvest as well as outside the store.  A “Contemporary Indian Cuisine” sign was on display in Figure 1. In Figure 2, more walls visible on the sides of the panel as well as more ceiling of the Campus Center visible with a ceiling light included in the upper right portion of the panel.  The lights of Harvest have a glow to them in Figure 1 while Figure 2 does not have the blurred lines of the lights. Figure 1 contains a narrow blue arrow while Figure 2 contains a wide white arrow.  

In panel C of Figure 2, has less salad in the left salad container.  Pea snacks on display on top of the salad bar in Figure 2. The fruit to the left of the salad bar is not the same between figures.  The orientation of the tongs are different between each panel. Figure 1 has apples while Figure 2 has some fruit that is orange. There is a glare of light on the white counter of Figure 1 as well as a similar glare of light on the sneeze guard of the salad bar.  In Figure 2, the base of the salad bar is larger. Figure 2 panel C has a blue arrow pointing to the left container of lettuce. The C label in Figure 1 is narrow compared to the C of Figure 2. A black line extending the length of the right side of the panel in Figure 2.