Writing in Biology

Females will typically be won by males through battles over territory, however, males have also been seen to court young females by dancing for them in the water. They dance by doing flips, and spinning through the water and flashing their mane up and down above the water surface. There is also a behavior that males do that researchers have called the “wet noodle”. It involves the males sticking half of their body out of the water and shaking the upper half of their body back and forth making them look like a flailing noodle. Some males with very bright manes may be pretty enough to catch the attention of a female in the river system. If he can impress her with a brief dance in the water showing off his vibrant mane she may follow him back to his den. If the males den is high quality, then the female will stay with the male and he may be able to start his very own pride. 

Males have an intricate way of fighting one another. First, the males will assess each other’s fitness. The male with the biggest brightest mane and largest canines may be able to intimidate the other male and may not have to fight at all. However, when intimidation doesn’t work males use their large powerful forelimbs, and long canines to inflict devastating blows to their opponents.

The stems that were being rotated were unable to feel a constant directional effect of gravity, while the non rotated stems did, which means that gravity had a 14.4° change on the root angle. Additionally, they placed one stem section upright and another stem section upside down in a beaker. After the roots were allowed to grow, they found that the stem grown upside down changed the root angle by 22.1°. This was because the plant was experiencing gravity from the opposite direction. Plants sense gravity using statoliths in their roots. By cutting a cross section of the root and staining them, the researchers found that statoliths are present in adventitious root nodes no matter the age of the node. Ultimately, gravity was found to have a moderate effect on the growth of the adventitious roots.

The three species of parrots we plan to study are the blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva), red-browed Amazon (Amazona rhodocorytha) and Kawall’s Amazon (Amazona kawalli).  All of these parrot species have experienced a decline in numbers over the last 25 years (Figueira, 2015) as a result of deforestation. The parrots species we plan to study prefer old-growth forests, the destruction of which has negatively impacted food availability and increased predation due to lack of canopy cover.  All three of these species will take and eat fruit, but the types of fruit preferred by each have not been studied yet.  Our research would shed light on the diets of these particular parrots, which could aid in conservation efforts.

The complexity of regulation of genes provide a lot of variability in symptoms. Transporter brings T4 into cell, T3 transported into a nerve cell where it binds to nuclear receptor. Nerve cells do not have the ability to convert T4 to T3, glial cells do this converting and the nerve cells have to take up the T3 that they have converted. If T3 does not get into nerve cells, there will be severe muscular deficiencies. Cell specificity of steroids depends on the presence of a receptor: for example, there must be an estrogen receptor for a cell to be affected by the presence of estrogen. The gene that codes for TRH is relatively small, and there are five copies of it in its precursor. When cut, the intervening pieces of protein become available. TRH mRNA is more plentiful than the TRH peptides.

In this experiment we planned to find the correlation between the number of arthropods present and temperature, as we predicted that the higher the temperature would also mean a higher amount of arthropods. We went to two separate buildings on opposite sides of the Morrill complex of buildings to compare the temperatures and find how many arthropods would be present on the windowsills. We decided to take five different points in each building of Morrill III and Morrill IV. In Morrill III, we observed window sills in rooms 203, 204, 302, 304, and 404 to look for arthropods, and recorded the data of a two week span. In Morrill IV, we observed window sills on floors 4, 3 and the stairwell from floor 3 to floor 2 and floor 2 to floor 1, we also recorded the data for a two week span. The trend that is shown in our graphs shows that as the temperatures are raised the number of arthropods present also rises. Although there are fluctuations in the number or arthropods present which we believe to be contributed to the fact that the temperature fluctuates throughout the week and day.

There have been various attempts to improve traceability and safety in the supply chain process such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).  However, any attempts to improve safety and traceability do not address the underlying issue; a lack of infrastructure for handling and processing records. Whole Foods lists selling the highest quality products available as the top core value and mentions that they “maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry.” Incorporating new technology to the supply chain process is a necessary change in the way our food is handled. Whole Foods has the opportunity to be one of the first of many supermarkets to make substantial changes. As a partner of Amazon, there is potential for their company to also to greatly benefit from this technology and its applications. Pairing with Amazon, or other large technology companies such as IBM is a conducive way to accomplish this task. Not only will Whole Foods benefit, but your customers will too. It is a win-win situation, another principle Whole Foods values as described in their core values.

Blockchain is a relatively new technology and its potential impact/applications are great. Incorporating blockchain technology would hold processors more accountable for accurate details, as well as a "allow easy tracking of information regarding produce and meat with a completely new system." There are a few meat processors in Asian countries incorporating this technology in an effort to drastically improve food safety. Earlier this year, International Business Machines (IBM) has partnered with multiple food giants such as Walmart, Nestle, DOLE, Tyson and McCormick to begin testing and implementation of a new blockchain systems to guarantee safer and more traceable food. Frank Yiannas reconducted the mango experiment with a test blockchain system, and his staff was able to locate the source in 2.2 seconds, a significant improvement from the initial experiment.

The relevance of the questions posed in this study is to find another safe effective treatment for depression. This new treatment is to be used for those who have not had success from previous less invasive treatments such as therapy or drug therapy. If the treatment is proven safe and effective it can help those who are suffering from previously untreatable depression for most of their lives.

Medical anthropology is the study of disease, health-care systems, medical practices and mental illness with a cross-culture perspective. One example of medical anthropology given by the book is the work of Louis Golomb in 1985, when he researched curing practices in Thailand. The medical practitioners in this location draw on astronomy, herbs, exorcism, faith healing and massage among other methods to treat patients. What Golomb saw is that many people living there, even those who were highly educated and those who were educated in the west, used both western medicine and these traditional practices to relieve their ailments. He called this therapeutic pluralism.