Writing in Biology

P. hydrobothynus lives in large social groups of three to twelve members. A group of otters is called a pride when they are on land, and a raft when they are in the water. There are never more than two males per pride of stellar river otters, and these males are always related. A male may have a number of females ranging from one to six. In a pride of otters, there is a dominant male who rules over the entire pride. If the second male is lucky he may have the opportunity to have a female of his own however this usually is not the case. Female stellar river otters may have one to three pups a year. The male will only have one pregnant female at a time and the entire group works together to raise the pups. This prevents overcrowding in the burrows and it gives the pups more attention and resources due to a group effort to raise them. Pups stay with the pride until they are two years old. Young males are kicked out of the pride by their father, and young females will either leave on their own or be taken by another prides male. 

The YED plate and the MV+Adenine plate do not provide information directly about whether the mutation in the yeast is Ade1 or Ade2, rather, they act as different forms of a control. The YED plate contains all the nutrients needed by the yeast to grow, but has a suboptimal amount of adenine. Because of this, the yeast cells attempt to synthesize adenine, and the mutants that build up AIR turn red. On the other hand, the colonies of yeast which are wild type or which complement each other are able to produce adenine with no buildup, and remain white (Figure 4). The appearance of red cells on this plate is a confirmation that some of the mating crosses did not have complementary genes.

Swaths of the Amazon rainforest have fallen victim to slash-and-burn agriculture where felled forest land is used to grow subsistence crops.  When these farm plots are abandoned, the land will eventually return to forest but the regrowth process can take 200 years (Wilson, 1988). The agricultural practices of cutting, burning, and weeding largely eliminate mechanisms of on site regeneration making it more difficult to regrow woody pioneer species (Pedlowski, 1997).  Seed dispersal has been suggested as a mechanism of facilitating forest regeneration. However, the dependence on seed dispersal slows succession because many of the animal species that routinely disperse seeds, such as avian frugivores, do not frequent large forest openings. This tendency to forage away from large openings is due to both a lack of food sources, and a lack of cover from potential predators (Wilson, 1988).  In order to attract seed-dispersing birds, we propose to identify and plant indigenous fruit bearing plant species to facilitate visitations to clearings caused by slash-and-burn agriculture.

Food color preference of avian foragers has not been widely studied.  Globally, the most common fruit color of bird-dispersed plants are red and black.  Other preferential fruit colors include blue and purple, while orange and green are rarely chosen (Janson 1983).  Fruit colors are commonly considered to increase the conspicuousness of ripe fruit in order to attract birds to disperse the enclosed seeds.  The preference of fruit color in avian foragers may be due to a variety of factors. The factors hypothesized to affect food color choice include background color, the prevalence of one color, and nutritional value associated with certain colors (Willson, 1990).  In our study, we would examine food color preferences of three parrot species living in areas of the Amazon rainforest that are in need of ecological restoration.

Blockchain is a new technology that acts as a structure for managing information and works on concepts such as decentralization and trustless consent. Blockchain consists of a vast network of nodes or computers with the software and uses this network to verify any new incoming information using cryptography. Compared to a centralized structure or database, it is more secure, not as vulnerable to hackers or corruption, it can not be controlled by any single entity, and is publicly accessible. It has many applications to manage data but is mainly used today for cryptocurrency transactions.  

There are many issues regarding food safety and the current methods and infrastructure in place to track food products through the journey from farm to store shelf are not sufficient. There is no standardized system for tracking food and many processors handle it differently. When there are issues with contamination, lengthy and resource intensive traceback investigations must occur. Some distributors keep records in closed databases or on paper meaning they are not readily accessible or publicly available. Frank Yiannas, Walmart VP of food safety, mentioned in an interview that after giving staff a randomly selected package of mangoes, it required almost a full seven days to trace them back to the source.  In seven days, hundreds of thousands of people can be significantly harmed by a contaminated product.

Using Phytozome, the original genomic sequence for our gene was searched in BLAST. The options Mutation Sites (v2) and Reference Sequence were selected.  Here the gene of interest was shown within the B. distachyon genome. Underneath the gene, several diamonds marked sites of mutations. Blue diamonds signified low impact mutations, yellow showed moderate and red showed high impact mutations. Five mutations within coding sequences were selected, including any high impact mutations. By clicking on each diamond, the mutation’s location was found. Zooming in enable the wild type and mutation reading frame to be seen and what change in sequence the mutation caused. The position and orientation of each mutation was added to our working map. A figure was then made on PowerPoint showing the position and mutation effect of each mutation relative to its location on the gene.

The Nucella Lamellosa commonly known as the Frilled Dogwinkles snails have a life span of eight months. The baby snails normally do not have thick shells like their parents until they reach maturity. This normally happens after 30 days and they are able to reproduce after maturity. Unlike other snails, Dogwinkles are not hermaphrodites, they are gender specific.

The females can not mate for a while after reproducing. Prior to my experiment, I observed that, the shell of the snails on the east side were more thicker compared to the shell of the snails on the west side.This difference could be as a result of natural selection. The snails vary in their population, the thickness of their shells is heritable and there is differential survival when a predator is present.

The main task of humanities as stated in the article is, “to promote understanding of other cultures ways of living and to emphasize the importance of every human life, which is something that should never be devalued.” I think this is a key sentence to take away and that is being open-minded about the stuff that surround you and being creative to make a change in a problem that is presented. The way students are taught today requires them not to use their senses and just memorize facts. That shouldn’t be the case because that means limiting their way of thinking. Arts are building a visual experience where all senses are employed and the creation of creative solutions. There is not just one single solution but an infinite amount.  Humanities holds a significant value outside the school system and that is in our government and positions held there. Even an important position of being the president of our nation. Our previous president, Barack Obama, even took courses for 2 years at a liberal arts college which aided him in maturing and comprehending the world and that’s all due to a rounded education that emphasized on humanities.  Humanities can be applied in foreign relations and diplomacy. 

The author states this because humanities studies value has decreased and not much know the value it holds to our society and nation as a whole. Most believe that is has no value in our educational system like other courses like science and math do. This has been demonstrated through vast cuts in the educational system to humanities and arts studies. They feel that subjects like science and math are more significant and applicable in life due to the advancement in technology which has shifted the mind from liberal arts studies to technological advancement. Essentially, what has led the contemporary society to devalue the humanities is the shift of focus and thought to science, math and technology because they deserve more attention and are practical. Unlike, humanities and arts which is thought to be not worth much of their time. However, arts and humanities still play vast roles in the government and understanding the world as a whole that is comprehending diverse sets of cultures that surround us and being open-minded.