mqpham's blog

The quality of the images on the two panels are notably different. The left is more vibrant and clearly shows the plants. However, the right side is slightly blurry and had less vivid coloring. This could be due to a different time of day during which the shots of the two panels were taken. At an earlier hour, or a sunnier day, the lighting could contribute to better displaying the subjects as they were captured in the left panel that had better coloring. Another factor that could have gone into this was the type of camera or settings on the camera that may cause the two colorings to become different. On top of that, the humitidy of the greenhouse could play a role in condensation around the lens. If the photographer did not clear the lens, it might have caused the images to become blurry in the right panel. The angles of the subjects are also different in the two panels. The left panel displays the plants facing straight forward, while the right panel looks slightly downward onto the plants. The way that the camera was directed at the subjects or the different heights of the person taking the photos could have been different. Someone taller could be looking downward on the plants, while someone who was shorter could have taken the photos directly facing them as they were taken in the left panel. The labeling of the images are different as well. Instead of simply labeling the images A, B, and C as it is done in the left panel, the right panel differs in that is labels the images from top to bottom, "A." then "B." then "C." This could have been miscommunicated in the methods or was not specifically mentioned. Another difference regarding the labels is the distance of the letters from the left side of the images. In the left panel, the letters are closer to the edge of the photos than in the right panel, which places the labels further from the left side of the images. The size of the subjects are also different in the two panels. This could be due to the distance of the photographer from the subjects. For the left panel, the subjects appear closer to the camera than the subjects on the right side panel. The table on which the plants lie are also not included in the image on the left, which also makes the subjects appear closer. The images of the right also feature some other plants on the side that are not the subject plant in each photo. Furthermore, the images on the right panel also capture the pot in which the plant was held as opposed to the images on the left panel, which also crops out most of the pot so that the soil and only some of the plant pot can be seen. This could be due all to the distance of the photographer from the subjects of the images.

There are several theories to why animals must sleep. Some of these theories include the "repair and restoration theory," "evolutionary theory," and "information consolidation theory." The repair and restoration theory suggests that the physiological processes are restored and revitalized when organisms sleep. This also ties into the other theories, which are likewise interconnected. The evolutionary theory suggests that sleep was an adaptation that was helpful in reducing activity when energy needed to be conserved due to lack of food in the environment. Information consolidation, similarly to the repair and restoration theory, suggests that sleep helps process information gathered from the day, and plays a role in helping processing information from the following period of being awake. However, these theories do not fully capture why it is necessary to sleep, and some biologists have made claims that sleep is one of evolution's biggest flaws, because sleeping organisms are prone to threats such as predators.

Predicting the energy level of an electron when activated by a photon is possible using the conservation of energy. If the energy before is equal to the energy after the interaction with the photon, then the respective energies become as follows: Ei+Ephoton=Ef. To calculate which energy levels are involved in this interaction, the information would need to be provided. The size of the boundry to which the electron is bound must be provided since the other factors are constants. The equation for the energy of an electron at an energy level n, is therefore En=(h^2)(n^2)/8mL^2, where h is planks constant of 6.626X10^-34J*s, n is the energy level, m is the mass of an electron (9.11X10^-31), and L is the provided length. Solving for the initial energy, then the energy of the photon will provide the final energy of the electron after interaction with the photon. To find the energy of the photon, the wavelength of the photon may be provided since the energy is E=hc/wavelength.

Dominance of an allele does not predict the outcome of allelic frequencies. Dominance simply refers to the outcome of a phenotype. The common misconception in terms of dominance is that dominance determines which of two alleles will persist. It is misconceived that a dominant allele will go into fixation, and cause the recessive allele to disappear in the population. In fact, dominance cannot determine whether or not alleles go into fixation. It is through selection that determines the outcome of allelic frequencies. If the dominant allele was selected for, in that case, the allele frequency of the dominant allele will increase, otherwise, if there is no positive selection for that allele, it will remain at a constant frequency. Likewise, recessive alleles may also be selected for and its frequency may also increase. To reiterate, dominance only determines the outcome of the phenotype, and if acted upon by negative selection, could potentially disappear from the population.

Light is made up of photons. Photons, much like electrons, have are both wave and particle at once. However, the difference between them is that a photon does not have any mass, but electrons do. Once a single photon or elecron is released from its source, it instantaneously changes its behavior as a particle and becomes a wave. Waves do interact with themselves, and as it turns out, so do photons and electrons. Waves will combine and change its amplitude in certain locations, but once the wave has an interaction with another material, the wave all at once becomes a particle. An analogy to this duality is observed in viruses, the debate continues between whether a virus is or is not a living organism. It has characteristics of both living and non-living things. For example, it reproduces with genetic material, however, it does not metabolize. Like so, photons and electrons share properties of both waves and particles.

Evolution and acclimation are two areas of biology that are often convoluted. The former is a change over time in a population or a species such that the descendants are different from the ancestors. However, acclimation is change in an individual's physiology. Other differences between the two include heritability. Evolutionary changes in populations are heritable, while changes in individuals due to acclimation are specific only to that individual. However, the ability to acclimate itself is due to evolution. An example of evolution is observed in polar bears, which have evolved clear fur, thus matching the color of the snow. Random mutations lead to this clearness, coloration that ressembles white snow, and because of the fitness advantage, the genes for clear fur were passed on, changing the population. An example of acclimation is the tanning of human skin after long durations in the sunlight. This physiological change came about for the individual who tanned, but is reversable, and cannot be passed onto the next generation. If a person tans, their child will not be born the skin color of the parent's tan. However, humans have the ability to tan because evolution allowed them to tan. Those who were able to tan were more protected from the sun, giving them a fitness advantage.

(Matthew) Figure 1. Orangutan. An orangutan is a primate native to Indonesia and Malaysia. They can be found in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Their distinct trademark is their orange coat. Photo by Andi Fisher available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andi_fisher/10527407384/ Under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

(Alan) Figure 1. Orangutan. The orangutan is brushing its hair back to prevent it from getting into its eyes. Photo by Andi Fisher available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andi_fisher/10527407384/ Under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Evolution and acclimation are often confused with one another. The former is a change over time in a population or a species such that the descendants differ from the ancestors. However, acclimation is change in an individual's physiology. Other differences between the two are that changes brought about by evolution are heritable, while the changes due to acclimation are not passed onto the next generation. One aspect that confuses many students in biology is that the ability to acclimate itself is heritable due to evolution, but the acclimation of an individual itself is not heritable. An example of evolution is observed in polar bears, which have evolved their white fur, matching the color of the snow. Random mutations lead to this white color, and because of the fitness advantage, the genes for white fur were passed on, changing the population. An example of acclimation is the tanning of human skin after long durations in the sunlight. This physiological change came about, but is reversable, and cannot be passed onto the next generation. If a person tans, their child will not be born the skin color of the parent's tan. However, humans have the ability to tan because evolution allowed them to tan. Those who were able to tan were more protected from the sun, giving them a fitness advantage. A fitness advantage is the advantage that comes from an adaptation allowing an organism to more likely reproduce and pass on their genes.

Different factors affect the production of phagocytes in tetrahymena species.This includes stimulations from the environment that causes the organism to produce vacuoles that are used to injest microbes. Experiments can also stimulate or hinder production of vacuoles in tetrahymena. For example, serotonin and calcium can stimulate production of vacuoles. The production of vacuoles is concentration dependent of these stimulants. However production may be inhibited by other stimulants such as high temperatures as well as taxol.

Recrystalization is the process by which a solid compound is purified. Often times, solid compounds will contain impurities that are insoluable and therefore, removal requires the entire compound to be dissolved and then recrystalized. This is done by finding the best solvent for the compound, one that has low solubility at low temperatures, and high solubility at high temperatures. This means that when the solvent is near or is boiling, only then will the compound begin to disolve. One a compound is disolved with the proper solvent, cooling is allowed to happen at room temperature for crystals to form. If there is no crystal being formed, the container may be scratched so that the compound has a place to "cling" onto. Further crystal formation is induced by cooling the solvent in an ice bath. Once the largest amount of crystals are formed, the compound is then vacuumed to remove any solvent. To remove and residue of impurities, an ice cold solvent of minimal amount is poured onto the crystals. The yield of pure compound is naturally less than that of the original sample.