Writing in Biology

Part A both figures holds the widest discrepancy between the two figures. Figure 1A shows a flower with a bloom pointed at a 45° angle with respect to the ceiling of the conservatory. Figure 2A depicts a bloom at a 90° angle with respect to the ceiling of the conservatory. Part B of both figures displays a little discrepancy between both figures. Part C both figures varies slightly with respect to the outlining of the states within the United States, and the highlighted portion of florida. Figure 1C displays a map in which the states of the United States are outlined with borderlines, and the state of Florida is highlighted in red. Figure 2C does not contain state borders within the United States, and the state of Florida is colored grey along with the rest of the United States. Additionally, differences in font are noted for the figure labels in each figure.

The goal of the Methods Project is to explore the importance of explicit, detailed and concise writing when composing a scientific paper. Scientific writing must reflect these qualities in order for replication of experiments and analyses to take place by other interested scientists. The methods project demonstrates how the smallest omission of important information can lead to large differences in results of an experiment. The figure created for the methods project details Calliandra haematocephala, the Powder Puff Tree, and its indigenous locations throughout the world. The exhibit of the Powder Puff Tree at the University of Massachusetts is very easy to spot, and contains only one tree with a very small number of blooms. For these reasons, this tree was believed to be a one of the best options on campus to complete this project with accurate replication. The limited number of blooms offered little room to choose an incorrect flower, and the corner placement of the tree in the conservatory made it very simple to photograph the tree from the same angle. Additionally, the limited amount of countries the tree is found to be indigenous in limits the amount of error in missing a country on the map portion of the figure. Controlling for these factors allows for a more accurate and analogous replication for the figure of Calliandra haematocephala.

The original and replicate figures created of Calliandra haematocephala possess qualitative differences despite having the same methods followed in order to create them. Figure 1A and 2A are photos of different blooms on the tree, resulting in a large visual difference in the figure. Figures 1B and 2B are of the trunk and branches of the tree, and appear to be the most alike between all three components of the figure with only very slight differences in branches captured. Figures 1C and 2C also contain distinct differences. The borderlines for the states within the United States of America are outlined, and Florida is filled in red in figure 1C. Figure 2C does not possess borderlines for the states of the United States, and the state of Florida and the United States is a gray color. Additionally, different fonts were used to label each figure.

In panel A, the major difference between the two figures is that the flower at the center of Fig. 1a is not present in the Fig. 2a. In Fig. 1a, the leaves of the plant are shown sharply, with defined edges. In Fig. 2a, the leaves are slightly blurred at the edge, resulting in a less clean looking image. The flower in Fig. 1b has a formed circular shape, whereas the flower in Fig. 2b is less shapely, with petals sticking out at edges.

I found this article to be very intriguing, I personally have an interest in pediatric health in relations to gene expression, so this article definitely sparked my interest. The mindset and goals of the researchers was very inspiring, they are doing all that they can to increase the life-span of these newborns without burdening the babies or their families. Researchers offered counseling and consent to the parents of the newborn and conducted the research under regulations and ethical guidelines. You can tell there was a very strong moral stance taken with this project. Due to the outcome of the diagnostic testing, parents can now make better decisions about genetic counseling, reproductive choices, and future family planning. The results have also attributed to avoiding expensive and pointless clinical care for the newborns, and the university is overseeing preconception screenings that will detect autosomal recessive disease genes in couples who want to start a family. I hope to see more groundbreaking research such as this in the future of science and medicine.

In scientific writing, a methods section is one of the most important parts of a research paper, because it allows the project to be recreated. Recreation of a scientific project is the first step towards turning an experiment into a theory or a scientific law. In this project, the main goal was to design a figure about a plant and include a methods section along with it that would allow another person to recreate the figure with a high degree of accuracy. The figure that was recreated included photos of a plant and its geographical range. The plant that was used is a Blc Momilani ‘The Gypsy’ and it was selected because of its ease of access. The most important variable to control in making this figure was it being simple and reasonable for the other student to recreate. The greenhouse where the plant is found is open for most of the day and the plants are well taken care of, which provides a good environment for a plant that needs to be photographed. If the plant was found and photographed outdoors, there was a risk that it could have died or been removed by the time the other student could have attempted to recreate the figure.

The plant photographed was Camellia japonica. It was located in the Durfee Conservatory and Garden at UMass Amherst. The room in which it was found is called the bonsai/camellia house, and was accessed through the westernmost entrance facing the Morrill buildings. Camellia japonica is located on the rightmost side, second to last in the row. The plant itself is approximately half a meter tall, with a single pink flower and moss covered soil.

Article: Mashed Up Memory: How Alcohol Speeds Memory Loss in Men

In this article, the claim is that middle aged men were found to have accelerated memory loss when they drank 2.5 drinks per day. The article said that women were found to not have the same memory loss affect, but were found to have decline in organizational and planning skills. The study was performed by researchers at University College, in London, over 10 years with 5,054 men and 2,099 women. The study described did the first memory test when participants turned 56, and then two more over the next 10 years.

Study 1: Effects of alcohol-induced working memory decline on alcohol consumption and adverse consequences of use.

There were 41 participants, 57.3% of which were men, with a mean age of 39.2 with three sessions of testing which were done in lab. The subjects were found through a previous study on smoking and so were all smokers and drank >5 drinks for men and >4 for women at least twice a month.  The subjects working memory, past 30-day alcohol consumption and consequence of alcohol use was all measured at baseline. After each administration of either a placebo or alcohol, working memory was again measured. They found that as subjects drank more, their working memory declined with it, showing a correlation.

I read a really cool science article the other day. It was about a kid who got into a car accident and had a brain damage. When he woke up at the hospital, he spoke fluent spanish when he had no idea how to speak it before the injury. He was fluent in English ever since being a young kid. This isn't the first time that this incident happened and I thought it was very cool how our brain can be injured and cause humans to speak another language. Which made me think that maybe we are all capable of speaking another language whether we know it or not which doesn't make too much sense but it surely is proven to be true with science.

    I went to the conservatory located near Morrill I N. It is in between that building and berk. It was my first time there so it was actually kind of cool seeing lots of plants there. It was like a greenhouse filled with plants. I used a small wooden door that had a sign that said "open 10-4 pm". The first room I entered was small and cool in temperature yet warmer than outside as it was very windy and chilly. The next room was very warm and it was like a tropical grassland as my glasses fogged up by its warm temperature. The plant I found was in the first room I entered which was on the cooler side, as soon as I entered I looked to the right to find this lovely pink flower with yellow seed-looking things in the middle of it. It reminded me a bit of the traditional korean flower as it is pink and has some stuff in the middle as well. I found it interesting that a beautiful flower like that was in the colder room instead of the warmer room near it with a small bridge in it. I saw some coy fish in the little pond that they had in the other room, however my plant was in the room before going into the room with the pond.