Writing in Biology

Bob is wearing a red sox jersey.

Bob must be from Boston. Bob must be a red sox fan.

- observation: a person is wearing glasses 

- inference: that person has poor eyesight 

You can observe that someone is running across campus. An inference would be that they are late to class and running there.

Yonath, Steitz, and Ramakrishnan dedicated over 20 years to discovering the structure of the ribosome. Using X-ray crystallography provided tremendous hurdles for Yonath when trying to figure out the atomic structure of the ribosome, which is a complex structure containing two subunits each with thousands of nucleotides of RNA and 32 and 46 proteins respectively. However, using ribosomes taken from bacteria living under tremendously harsh conditions in the dead sea, a high-salt environment, helped to provide the stabilization needed to  obtain a detailed mapping of the atomic structure. Still problems persisted, and it was Steitz who used both images generated by Yonath and electron microscopy from Joachim Frank that provided the information needed. After years of collecting additional data, and the structure of the small subunit of the ribosome from Ramakrishnan, it was finally possible to map the functionality of the ribosome at the atomic level.

Singer is a utilitarian, so he believes that people should follow actions that bring the most good to the world. Therefore, Singer argues that the quality of a child’s life is paramount when it comes to parents deciding if their child should live or die. For example, Singer brings up the disease spina bifida, a disease that, “the lives of the worst affected children are so miserable that it is wrong to resort to surgery to keep them alive” (188). In this situation, the parents would not want the child to live because the child would be in such awful pain. Consequently, there is no reason to keep a child with this condition alive. When it comes to children with a less debilitating disease, Singer proposes how infants are replaceable.

Following his utilitarian views, Singer argues that it could be better to kill a child with a non-major disability if it meant replacing it with a normal child who will be capable of experiencing and giving more happiness. Singer writes that society treats fetuses as replaceable and considers birth as the moment when the being has moral standing. However, he disagrees with this view, saying that if society is going to treat fetuses as replaceable, then society should also treat newborn infants as replaceable too. Ultimately, since infants are replaceable and their value is extrinsic of themselves, it is wrong to equate them to normal human beings in terms of moral standing.

I used Google Docs. I put an “A” at the top and pressed the Tab button 7 times. I put a “B.” I inserted the image of the full plant in between the A and the B leaving some space in between. I inserted the image of the close-up of the flower on the right side of the B. The size of that image was about half the length of the first image. I put a “C” to line up right under the “B.” I inserted the PNG image of the map to line up right under the second image and next to the first image with some space in between. I adjusted the pictures to line up with each other accordingly.

This article discusses the use of whole genome sequencing to help asses and improve the speed of genomic diagnostics for critically ill newborns, with the hope of reducing any long, in-conclusive testing for the clinical care needed for the child. The research took place at the University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.

Gene diagnostics is a very time-consuming process, and not all symptoms or features of genetic syndromes are present at a child’s birth, so to limit the rate of suffering, disease, and death, whole genome sequencing was introduced as possible solution. The sequence simultaneously tests for the presence of mutations for all known gene diseases and chromosomal variants. With the rapid genomic testing, results can be concluded in a span of 12 days compared to 6 months. As a result of this, researchers were able to diagnosis 30% of the critically ill newborns. As testing grows more popular, researchers will add more of a variety of patients in their study, analyzing their full genomes.

The heart is located at the center of the circulatory system and delivers blood to every part of your body. Before deoxygenated blood coming from veins fills the right atrium, it is assumed that the pressure in the right atrium is 0mmHg at diastole. The blood flowing though the right atrium passively fills the right ventricle as it passes the open atrioventricular (AV) valve. This stage is called diastole because the heart is relaxed and not contracting yet. Systole (contraction) begins when the pressure in the right atrium increases by a small increment to push the rest of its contents into the right ventricle. This causes the pressure in the right ventricle to exceed the pressure of the atrium above it and the AV valve to close shut. The valves close tightly with the aid of the chordae tendineae and papillary muscles. The right ventricle pressure begins to rise. The aortic pressure is the determinant of our blood pressure and has a normal range of 80-120 mmHg. As the ventricle builds up in pressure by isometric contraction, it surpasses the aortic pressure and the aortic valve opens. As the right ventricular pressure begins to decrease after it ejected blood into the aorta, it reaches a pressure below 80 mmHg and the aortic valve closes. The ventricle will cease systole and go into diastole. The ventricle ejects 70 mL of blood into the aorta. The right ventricle's pressure will decrease to a point lower than the pressure in the right atrium, the AV valve will open and the right ventricle will be filled passively once again. This similar process occurs on the left side of the heart as the left atrium fills with oxygenated blood that came from the lungs. This blood vessel network is crucial to survival and any deviation from it can cause serious heart disorders.

The organism to be pictured resides in the Durfee Conservatory, chich is located between University Health Services and Morill II. The exact address is 210 Stockbridge Road and it is open to the public 10am to 4pm, Monday through Friday. The entranced used was the one closest to Morill II and it had a wooden sign outside of it that read "Durfee Conservatory Visitors Welcome". Once inside the organism to be pictured is directly to the left in a square pot. The name of the plant is Camellia Japonica Jarvis Red, once the plant is located return to the door and place your left hip on the shelves grounded to the wall then take a picture at eye level or approximately five and a half feet of the ground, being sure to capture the as much of the plant as possible and being sure that the two blooming flowers are visible. Then square your shoulders to the side of the plant facing Morill II and locate the lower of the two flowers on the plant. Clear away the branches in order to see the flower head on and take your second picture. Make sure that the flower takes up the majority of the screen and that individual structures of the flowers can be identifiable. 

- it is very humid and moist when you walk in
- most things aren’t labeled in the first section of the conservatory and instead there’s a map at several places that contains “coordinates”
- there are a lot of trees and flowerless shrubs/bushes
- everything is green
- theres a small bridge with a small pond with a little bit of fish
- there are 2 benches on the left side
- you can’t see the outside
- it’s actually very clean and organized here
- second section contains a funny looking tree that is called “powderpuff tree”
- the cattleya was located in the 3rd section on the right side
- it is a very small plant with only three pale yellow flowers
- isn’t eye-catching, leaves are bigger than the flower itself