Writing in Biology

If Dr. Farkas and Farkas Research Group discover the exact molecular reason why altered circadian rhythms lead to cancer, this process can also be attacked at the biomolecular level. The same goes for the immune system research with macromolecules. All involve the precise binding of the targets needed to attack tumors. In the meantime, since the correlation has been established, cancer incidences can be reduced simply by the normalizing of circadian rhythms, which can be adjusted through light therapy and by seeing a sleep specialist. Other factors that lead to altered circadian rhythms which were not discussed in the presentation also must be studied. This is a complicated area in that circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioral and there is also an inherited genetic component that must be remembered and looked at objectively.

Correlated evolution of morphology and vocal signal structure in Darwin's Finches

In this article, Podos challenges the classical theory that mating signal (i.e song) evolution is an accidental byproduct of speciation operating on other environmental factors. Specifically, he refers to beak morphology and questions how the adaptive diversification of beaks has influenced the evolution of song quality by either enhancing or constraining vocal abilities. Considering he begins the article by noting that songs are often used for mating, I infer that he suspects that evolutionary diversification of break size and shape (secondary to ecological changes) may indirectly lead to speciation by changing mating calls.

            There were some very significant differences between my figure and the figure that was replicated of mine. The first significant difference is the size of each image in the multi-panel figure. There was much more space between each image in the replica than in my original. The second noticeable thing was the size of the image themselves. Along with the margins, the size of the images themselves were much larger than in my original which can be effected by the method of which the images were put together. Another major difference was the labeling of each image. There were no labels in the replica image while the original had the images labeled, A, B, and C on the upper left-hand corner of each image.  Smaller differences were notable as well. For example, the angle at which the image was taken. The replica images were at a slight higher angle, this could be due to the height of the person who was making replica. Given the angle, they stood at a much taller stature than me. The orientation of the photograph was different as well, however only in the close-up image. The close-up image taken for the replica was a near 90 degree change in the orientation of the photograph, along with being a direct birds-eye-view as oppose to one off to the side. There was also a different in the range map. Although the same map was used, there were highlighted regions of which the plant does not grow where it has been highlighted in the replica. Along with this, there is a slight difference in the zoom used of this map. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of both the ocean and the atmosphere.  The NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, and conducts research to improve understanding and protection of the marine environment.  The agency provides a weather radio (NWR), which broadcasts warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day.  The data they provide for the public eye is uncompressed and suitible for statistical calculation.  The data manipulated in this project is collected from the NOAA’s Natural Data Buoy Center.  The center includes many collecting sites from all over the world that gather data regarding wave height, period, direction, and steepness.   The specific wave-height data used in this project is gathered from Buoy Station 51201, which is located in Hawaii’s Waimea Bay.  This pacific archipelago is renowned for its powerful waves that attract surfers from around the world. 

The characteristic of agility is a complex one that is influenced by multiple genes and enviromental factors. These degrees of freedom and the fact that it is influenced by multiple traits makes the trait very hard to trace through evolution. In larger species greater muscle capacity allows for greater maneuverability. Meanwhile in smaller species the morphology of their limbs and other body structures allows them to turn and rotate at a greater rate. Varying species rely on the specific characteristics depending on their proportional size. One specific species of animal in which this fact is shown across multiple breeds is hummingbirds. Larger hummingbirds have proportionally larger muscle capacity compared to smaller hummingbirds. In contrast, smaller hummingbirds have specific wing morphology that imporves turning and rotation. These two facts show that agility is attributed to both biomechanical traits, structure and overall strength. 

With the advent of technological innovations humans are now capable of modifying the environment at a previously unprecedented level. Advances in medicine, such as the development of penicillin, have saved countless lives. Modern agricultural methods have vastly improved the amount of food that can be harvested. Building towns and infrastructure has ensured that humans are no longer isolated from each other. At first glance it may seem as though these recent changes in human history would halt evolutionary change. However, modern humans certainly still face challenges to survival and exhibit varying reproductive success - the fodder for evolution.

Mycorrhizae is a fungus that grows on the roots of plants. It can serve a symbiotic, or sometimes pathogenic, relationship for plants. The mycorrhizae grows on the roots of plants and helps the plants to absorb water and nutrients from the soil easier. In exchange for increasing the effeciency of the plant's root system, the mycorrhizae syphons a small portion of the plants carbohydrates that it forms during photosynthesis.  This way the mycorrhizae increases the survivability of the plant while the plant increases the survivability of the mycorrhizae. This relationship is symbiotic when the plant is able to successfully perform photosynthesis. However, the relationship can become slightly pathogenic for the plant if it is unable to perform photosynthesis. This is because while the plant is receiving the nutrients it needs, it is also being drained of what little carbohydrates it has by the mycorrhizae. 

Plants must absorb nutrients from the soil in order to survive as they cannot synthesize it themselves.These nutrients are in the soil that the plant grows in. In order to gather these nutrients the plant uses its roots to absorb the nutrients from the soil. There are many nutrients that the plant can use from the soil, but there are two main types that are found in the soil. The first type is organic nutrients. These are characterized by their ability to form direct covalent bonds with carbon. The second type is mineral nutrients. These are characterized by the ionic bonds they form in complex molecules. Both types of nutrients serve different purposes for the plant, but are both necessary for the plant's sustained survival.

In my Sensory Neurology class I was asked to analyze a paper that paper aimed to demonstrate cadherin-23 and protocadherin-15 interact to form the tip links in sensory hair cells. More specifically that tip links are adhesion complexes consisting of CDH23 and PCDH15 and interact at .1mM Ca2+. What is known about tip links is that they are extracellular filaments that connect stereocilia to one another and allow for mechanotransduction to take place. They connect to cation-selective transduction channels that allow K+ and Ca2+ to enter the hair cell. There they have the ability to be deflected which allows for depolarization to take place. What these tiplinks were made of was unknown until this recent hypothesis. Skeptics say the development of the hair bundle is much more complex. Hearing loss and lack of mechanotransduction in a CDH23 mutant animal does not necessarily prove direct involvement of CDH23 in mechanotransduction. There is a possibility that the hair bundle itself has a different mutation or development issue that does not allow mechanotransduction to take place in the first place or that a particular mutation or change in one of the CDH23 domains affects a particular pathway that has a downstream effect on the actual tiplink.

This hypothesis suggests that living in larger groups promotes cognitive development. This hypothesis is under the idea that maintaining social bonds as well as anticipating the actions of others is the central driver of cognitive evolution. The potential for group-size-dependent cognitive traits to come under selection is not completely understood. However, this theory hypothesizes that social intelligence and social demands were the central force in the developing size of the human brain. This theory is backed up by the fact that key growth periods in human brain size are directly correlated to times where early humans were living in more complex groups which required greater mental capacity that potentially led to the evolution of language. Therefore, social intelligence is not fixed but rather involves complex information-processing that can be acquired and has an adaptive equilibrium directly related to the individual and the environment.