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Optogenetics

Submitted by mduque on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 15:13

Optogenetics refers to the biological technique which involves the use of light to control neurons. These neurons are genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. Precise neural control is achieved by using channelrhodopsin, halorhodopsin, and other similar opsins that function as light-gated ion channels. Channelrhodopsins excite neurons while halorhodopsin inhibits them.  This method has to act and operate precisely and quickly in order to allow addition or deletion of specific activity patterns within cells. In order to keep up with optical control, reporter proteins are used, enabling the fused fluorescent proteins to detect the selected neurons. This advancement is now giving humanity the ability to alter the activity of specific types of neurons. Depression, a huge problem in the U.S, for example can be possibly treated with optogenetics. MRI images have suggested parts the brains of people who have depression look different than those without it. Since dopamine and serotonin have shown to be important in cognition, motivation, drug addiction and psychiatric disorders, stimulation by LED light at the wavelength of blue light to activate channelrhodopsin expressed in targeted dopamine neurons in the mid-brain should be extensively studied. That is, it is now technically possible to study what the activation and deactivation of specific neurotransmitters in this part of the brain does.

Intro

Submitted by liamharvey on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 12:45

Introduction: In this experiment, two pictures were taken of flowering plants; methods were written, and the methods were followed by a peer. Knowing how to write methods effectively is essential because for scientific research to be valid, it must be able to be replicated. This experiment was also important in learning to distinguish the difference between an observation and an inference. Another goal for this experiment was to consider potential factors in the methods and how to control for them. The flowering plant selected was Camellia Japonica. C. Japonica was selected as it was a large tree and was in the first room of the Durfee Conservatory. Ease of access to the subject of the experiment seemed to be an important factor as it would be difficult to replicate the methods if the person following them could not find the plant. Also, this experiment was performed in the winter, so using flowering plants outside was out of the question. Choosing a plant in the Durfee Conservatory meant that the plant would be there for the replicator in the same location and in a location easy to find.

Week 5 PP

Submitted by lgorman on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 12:19

All of the differences between these two figures have reasons behind them, and most of them are because of an unspecific methods section. For example, when it came to the discrepancies in the labels on the image, it was because the methods did not describe what color or size the letters should be. In addition to that, the methods did not include that there was a white square placed behind the letters in order to distinguish them from the picture. In addition to that, the space between the photos is because the methods didn’t specify how close the pictures should be in the figure. This could have been fixed by including the coordinates and sizes of the images when they were arranged on inkscape in the methods.

 

Week 5, Perfect Paragraph

Submitted by vvikhrev on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 10:52

Hofmann’s chapter 13 provides some advice and guidelines to follow when creating and presenting a scientific poster. The poster is a short visual version of a long research paper therefore, it should include the most important ideas of each section and be more “visually appealing” to the audience. The poster should be self-explanatory so that a reader can understand it without the author’s presence. The experimental approach should be summarized very briefly and preferrably displayed as a flowchart or schematic to create a visual appeal. The results section of the poster should be considered as the most important section. The results should be presented in the form of figures and tables in a consistent order between what is written in the conclusion section. Conclusions are usually brief, and would provide more appeal if displayed as short bullet points. It is acceptable to highlight or draw arrows on the areas of the figures that need to be emphasized. When presenting, a 5-10 min talk should be prepared that can be practiced beforehand in front of peers or professors. Most importantly, the well-designed poster serves as a visual aid and not something to read off.

The evolution of terrestrial birds

Submitted by drosen on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 07:07

Flight, the defining characteristic of birds, is typically only seen as an advantageous strength and I suspect this is related to human bias given it took our race thousands of years to achieve this feat through technology. However,  there are several species of birds that have appeared to sacrifice their ability to fly, yet they have retained similar vestiges in the from of their underdeveloped wings. This is suggestive that these birds did not struggle to every evolve flight, but instead, evolved flightlessness. Again, human bias may lead one to ask why this would ever occur as flying appears to be such a strong advantage. While true, flight is also associated with several costs including the high relegation of energy during wing development, the morphological trade offs necessary to have a body that can efficiently flight and the increased metabolic needs to sustain flight. In other words, for flight to be an advantage, the species in question must be able to achieve a net positive after factoring the massive expenses that are necessary.  This most often occurs on island settings with either low levels of predation or competition as well as in environments with open apex predatory niches. These roles require different developmental priorities to fully exploit resources they allow one to access.

Methods Introduction

Submitted by mrmoy on Fri, 02/23/2018 - 00:17

Every experiment contains a method section, where the scientist records the steps and describes the process of the experiment that yielded the observed results. The methods section allows other scientists to replicate the experiment and furthermore, it provides the experiment with validity. The purpose of the methods project is to understand and develop a methods section of our own. To achieve this, we created a multipanel figure containing three pictures: one picture of the entire plant, a close-up of the flower, and a map of the origin of the species. For this project, the Camellia Japonica Napoleon was the plant being observed. The Camellia Japonica Napoleon is a plant that has beautiful multilayered pink flowers which begin blooming from January to March. This plant’s origin can be traced back to China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, but they are now sold and grown in many places across the world, such as the United States. This plant was chosen because the plant was easily accessible and it was starting to bloom. In the methods section, the main focus was getting the student to the right place and to the correct plant. The angle in which the picture was taken was also a focal point of the methods section. Lastly, the way the multipanel figure was constructed was carefully explained in the methods project to ensure the right figures were put in the correct positions.

Ants PP

Submitted by lgiron on Thu, 02/22/2018 - 22:27

 

         Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a wide variety of insects. One in particular standing out from the rest, taking a human characteristic and imbedding it in themselves, heroism. The termite eating African Matabele ant, or the Megaponera analis, embrace the sayings “never leave a fallen comrade”, providing purpose and value of each individual ant. During invasion of termite nest in an effort to feed, many ants sustain a certain level of injuries, which they have adapted to overcome. If injured, they are shown to bring back these injured ants to their colony and provide aid for their recovery. In a study in 2017, these ants have been observed carrying all non-fatally injured ants back to their nesting areas in an effort to save the injured. In an experiment, scientists removed legs of some ants and notices a spike in response of their comrades. Their comrades quickly returning them to the artificial nest, where they began to clean the wound using their mouths for up to 4 minutes. This cleaning is believed to clear any dirt in an infection prevention effort, their saliva also believed to contain antimicrobial chemicals. Ants treated are shown to have a 90% 24-hour survival rate as oppose to a 20% survival rate if left untreated.

Methods Project - Results

Submitted by ameserole on Thu, 02/22/2018 - 21:39

Results

Both figures showed the natural range of C. japonica labeled as part A, and both maps showed the same locations, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan as where the plant can be found naturally. Both the original and the replicate figure had two images with a single flower as the subject. Both figures also had an image of the entire plant. The main differences between the figures appears to be the lighting in the images of the flowers, and the distances at which the camera was from the subject of the pictures. The original images are brighter than the replicate. The content of the images in the original and the replicate is nearly identical. Another purely aesthetic difference is how the images are arranged, with the original having transparent space between the images, and the replicate having no empty space at all.

Week 5 Intro to Methods Project PP

Submitted by jngomez on Thu, 02/22/2018 - 15:41

The primary objective in this assignment is to obtain a diverse set of skills when composing a scientific literature piece. To learn about the aspects in writing and composing scientific writing entries. In particular, we focused on the methods section part of the composure. The methods section in a piece of scientific writing is an important aspect of an experiment because it illustrates to other prospering scientist what they carried out to obtain the results they desired. Every experimental procedure has an idea and hypothesis. Their method of proof could either fail or succeed. However, the primary objective is to be as detailed as possible so that others could replicate it and obtain similar results. A multi-panel figure was created to illustrate the plant species of our choice and it includes a detailed picture of the plant, the plant species as a whole, and a high-quality map depicting the origin of the species. For this project I choose Euphorbia pulcherrima euphorbiaceae, which is a plant found in Mexico and Guatemala.  

Methods Perfect Paragraph

Submitted by tedarling on Thu, 02/22/2018 - 11:24

The portrait picture of the entire plant was placed on the left side. The landscape picture of the flower was placed in the upper right corner. The landscape map of the range of Camellia japonica was placed in the lower right corner. Each of these three elements were labeled A, B, and C respectively by placing the letter directly above the image, in the top left corner with 6pt font. No other markings or labels were added. The two landscape images were near 600 pixels by 330 pixels. The portrait image was near 330 pixels by 600 pixels. The individual elements were padded with approximately 90 pixels worth of white space. The white space was between all elements and also between the elements and the border.

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