Blogs

For my research lab, we were sent an article on how to make scientific writing more effective and to increase the probability of having your published article cited. The article was surprising in that the findings of how to catch a readers eye didn’t sound like typical scientific publications. The article suggested that “highly cited articles were short; used first-person narration; placed findings in context by providing a setting;...linked ideas by using conjunctions;...punctuation marks;...and consistent terminology” (Freeling 343). Often we are told when writing something scientific to add almost no personality and make it strictly factual and scientific. However, this article disproves this theory which is interesting to consider. Adding a personal attachment to the writing can make others feel like you are having a conversation with them rather than lecturing and talking at them. This article is important to keep in mind when writing in the future and I believe it may be relatable and helpful for this class. Although our textbook for this class may state otherwise, I do think this idea is important to keep in mind nonetheless.

My friends and I were Hanging out last friday and somehow the topic of anti vaccination came up. We were talking about it and came to the conclusion that there was literally zero evidence to back up the claim that vaccines give you autism. I knew that the movement started after a discredited doctor published a fabricated paper claiming that there was an association with autism and the MMR vaccine. What I didn’t know is that this was the basically the only paper to ever attempt to link both autism and vaccines. It has recently been discovered that the doctor who published the paper, Andrew Wakefield had a major conflict of interest in publishing this paper. He was in the process of developing an at home test for parents to screen their children for autism and project that he could make over 43 million dollars a year on the tests. So it appears as though he created an autism scare in order to sell his at home tests. I was getting relatively agitated during this discussion because one of my friends who is a microbiology major said that he doesn’t believe in vaccines because they don’t always work. This is coming from someone who majored and graduated with a degree in microbiology. So I don’t think the anti vaccine movement will ever really die out especially if the people who should know vaccines are incredible are some of the people saying they don’t work.

Birds have evolved to come in a variety of shapes and sizes that allow them to exploit niches in different ecosystems. Certain species may have developed different shaped wings for faster flight or sharper talons with a locking mechanism that allows them to firmly grasp their prey as they soar through the air. However birds have also adapted different visual abilities and color schemes that allow for more birds to exist within an ecosystem. Field marks are distinctive spots, colors, shapes, patterns birds have developed in a variety of forms. It is believed that they developed these in order to identify different species from one another, and recognize members of their own species. They are also used today as a means for humans to identify birds of different species. They can be found on the head in the form of an eyebrow stripe (striper over the eye), eyeline (line through the eye), a crown stripe (stripe along the midline of the head), an eyering (ring of color around the eye), and a throat patch. Field marks can also be identified on the wings of a bird through the various feather patterns, as well as in the shapes of wings (long and slender, rounded and short). Field marks then allow us to be certain of identification.

Water plays a really important role in the life of a plant. It's interesting to compare and contrast the need for water between plant and animal cells. Surprisingly though, out of all the resources that a plant needs to flourish and function, water is the most plentiful but also the most limiting. This is because the actual availability of fresh water is so low. The availability can limit the productivity of ecosystems which leads to differences in vegetation type. Also, water is usually a limiting source for plants and not so much animals because plants use water in very large amounts and approx. 97% of the water evaporates that is taken in. Both cells ultimately survive on water and need it to prosper. However, a big difference that has a large impact on their water relations respectively is that plant cells have cell walls and animal cells do not. The cell walls allow the plant cells to build large internal hydrostatic pressures which is essential for physiological processes.

All facts stated can be found in the textbook Plant Physiology and Development (sixth edition) by Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zieger

In this experiment, we worked with tetrahymena thermophila. Tetrahymena are unicellular ciliates that feed on bacteria. They can reproduce sexually and asexually. They use cilia to sweep their food into the cells oral groove. (Bozzone, 1998, p. 347) For our experiment our decided to see what different volumes of serotonin would do to the feeding habits of the tetrahymena. The hypothesis we came up with for the experiment is: If we add increasing volumes of serotonin to samples of tetrahymena, then the rate of consumption of the tetrahymena will increase. We decided that this hypothesis was justified because the serotonin increases phagocytosis. (Quinones-Maldonado and Renaud, 1987, p. 435) Phagocytosis is the taking up bacteria or other materials. We believe this means that the consumption of the tetrahymena with more serotonin will have a higher consumption rate. 

Blastomas include types of cancers that originate from abnormalities in precursor cells, called blasts. These cancers are more common in children, perhaps because more cells are growing and dividing in different regions of the body than those of an adult’s. Many blastomas are related to mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene, which is involved in the cell cycle. Retinoblastoma is a specific type of cancer included in this category. It is almost exclusively found in young children and develops in the retina. Many treatments involve eye surgery or eye removal, however, this cancer is survivable. A decent amount of information is known about this disease: there is a heritable form and a non-heritable form. Bilateral cases tend to be heritable, while unilateral cases tend to be non-heritable. A common mutation that can lead to the heritable form of retinoblastoma is that of the Rb1 protein on chromosome 13 and can be explained by the two-hit model, where an affected individual must have the deleterious mutation on both alleles inherited from the parents.

Cancer, due to its widespread nature, has many methods of classification and diverse nomenclature. One example of this is the difference between a carcinoma and a sarcoma. Carcinomas are cancers that arise from epithelial cells, while sarcomas arise from cells of mesenchymal origin. This means they arise from connective tissue cells, such as the cartilage, fat, muscle, and vasculature. Blood cells are also included in this category.

One rare form of cancer is leiomyosarcoma. This is a malignant cancer of smooth muscle tissue that accounts for 10-20% of all soft tissue sarcomas. Since this type of tissue can be found nearly anywhere in the body, so can this type of tumor. More commonly, it is found in the small intestine, uterus, and stomach. Leiomyosarcomas are more unpredictable than most cancers and are generally resistant to treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation. It can also remain dormant and recur for many years. Currently, the best method of treatment is surgery while the tumor is still small.

DNA tests can be a really cool way to learn more about yourself. They can give you insight into your ancestry and DNA. However, there are things to be wary about when taking DNA tests. In my class, Human Genome Analysis, our professor played us this video about the truths of DNA testing and continued on to share his personal stories with DNA testing. In the video, the lady discussed that people will end up contacting you whether you want them to or not. I find this very fascinating because you can find out so many things about ancestors that you didn’t even know existed. However, others may not find this as cool because they might not want to know secrets about their families. DNA testing has gotten so much better over the years and its ability to accurately pinpoint where your family is from is amazing. It used to just tell you your family is from Europe but now it has the ability to tell you where precisely in Europe your family is from and such. Testing my DNA and finding out where I am from is such an exciting experience and I cannot wait to see where my family is from.

Alpha-keratin is a type of protein found in all vertebrates to form a skin. Birds and reptiles have an additional protein called beta-keratin which is the main structure of feathers and beaks for birds, and reptilian skin and claws for reptiles. The primary feathers, known as contour feathers are the most common type of feathers found in birds. It has the long flat shape with a hollow stick called a calamus supporting the root and connecting to the rachis. Lateral barbs then branches off from the rachis creating the soft and smooth shaft of feather. The inner part of the feather serves as insulation, and the outer part is for different purposes. Barbs can be separated into three structure: barbule, barbicel, and ramus. Barbules is the thin flexible part of the feather which gives the texture. Then from that as the feather goes inward toward the body, it becomes more rigid structure to support the shape and give insulation.

The organism appears to be about an inch in length and had small rings circling its entire body. These rings protruded from its body. The organism tends to stick to moving around the perimeter of the container by digging one end of its body onto the surface and dragging the rest of its body forward. The end it uses to move contained a small tip where the width of the organism ended up thinning out. This tip was black and sensed the surrounding area before it continued moving. The other end of the organism is a lot thicker and contains two red dots that frame the end. The overall color of the organism is a light tan and it contains a translucent shiny layer around the cloudy interior. The organism appears to be a larva of some sort.