Writing in Biology

The first method used was finding the height of the library using a ruler and measuring it up to the white line of the library. The library has about ten white lines throughout. The first white line is around half the size of the following white lines. So for the calculations the first white line half the rest. The measurement we got for the first white line was then multiplied accordingly. A ruler was used for this measurement, the width and length were then measured by placing a ruler on the ground from one end to the next. The ruler was a meter stick.

The next way the library was measured was by measuring a square that was along the side of the library. The square was fairly large and started along the side of the library, and another ended at the other side of the library. For this measurement a meter stick was also used and the length of a square was measured. The amount of squares that were on the floor of the library were then counted and multiplied by the length. This measurement gave us the width and the length. In order to calculate the height of the library we measured a window that took up the majority of one of the floors. After that we counted how many windows there were going up the library. We multiplied this number times the length of a window in order to calculate the height of the library.

The other method that was used was to measure the height of someone then the person's height was used in reference to the white line that surrounds the building. Then this height was multiplied accordingly. In order to find the width and the length of the library we measured the size of a person’s foot. Then the same person walked along the library one foot in front of the other in order to count how many steps it took them to walk along. This was then multplied by the size of their foot.

The people who deny global warming often times do not propose solutions. They deny the fact that humans have an impact on global warming, so they do not propose ways for people to correct it. Often, they try to delay or even throw out the bills and laws people pass to try and lessen global warming. This is happening with the current president, President Trump, who is a global warming denier. He thinks that the solutions Obama had passed is waste of money. This will have a profound impact upon the earth. “President Donald Trump's planned climate change policies could lead to an extra half a billion tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2025, according to a new analysis.” So, this bill for climate change would just take away from all the solutions of the other side. The solutions for the people who believe in climate change are to have a cleaner planet. Being a more sustainable society and having renewable energy is the best solution. For the people who oppose the idea that humans have a large impact on climate change, all the solutions seem like a waste of money. So, the formation of a solution depends on who is in power.

D.W Brock assesses the ethical issues amongst human clothing, he looks at the pros and cons that come with cloning.  Brock sees human cloning as something that will change the view on human life. He believes that human life will be seen as something that can be manipulated and adjusted for what a person desires. Cloning may change the way that human life is seen and the value of humans or clones may seem lesser than the other. If genetic cloning occurs, then the value for human life starts to degrade. Genetic cloning occurs. Therefore the value for human life is degraded.

    Brock argues that when human cloning occurs the clone is given specific abilities and has desirable attributes given to them, so human life will be seen as something that can be easily manipulated and controlled. This can create the clones as being seen as objects and is what causes the degradation of human life.

Actual human life outweighs potential life. A fetus has potential life. Therefore, a woman's life outweighs a fetus’ life.  This argument can be seen throughout section 4 and is explicitly stated on page 18, “The rights of any actual person invariably outweighs those of any potential person.” The reason for this argument is because Warren believes that a woman has the right to have an abortion in order to “protect her health, happiness, freedom, and even her life.” It’s important for a woman who already has a life to be able to live it the way she wants to and be able to make decisions that will effect her own happiness and freedom. She reasons that just because a fetus has some “resemblance to a person” or just because a fetus will become a person that it does not mean that this fetus has the right to life. This is because the fetus may not be of any importance in the future, his or her life may not be of any significance compared to the life that the woman already has.  

We assume that we were asked to measure dark-to-dark instead of from the center line to the first dark spot as the value from the center line to the first dark spot is an extremely small difference. This might have also been the case over concerns that the ruler might be more likely to affect the lines created by the laser.

The Bcl-2 protein family consists of proteins that contain at least one evolutionarily conserved BH domain out of the four that exist (BH1, BH2, BH3, BH4).  Within this family, there exists pro-apoptotic proteins and anti-apoptotic proteins that interact to govern the fate of the cell. Anti-apoptotic proteins conserve all four BH domains, and include Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bcl-W, Mcl-1, and A1. Pro-apoptotic proteins can be subdivided into two groups, those with multiple BH domains such as Bax and Bak, and those with only the BH3 domain such as Bid, Bim, Bad, PUMA, and NOXA (Carter, 2016).

When the cell is not undergoing apoptosis, anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL sequester Bax and Bak.  When the cell wishes to undergo apoptosis, the anti-apoptotic proteins are sequestered by the BH3-only pro-apoptotic proteins, releasing Bax and Bak, which allow the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondrial membrane, uncoupling the electron transport chain and inducing the activity of caspases. In healthy cells, p53 is a transcription factor for the pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins Bik, Bid, PUMA, NOXA, as well as for Bax, the pro-apoptotic protein with BH1, BH2, and BH3 homology and the most downstream member of the Bcl-2 family in the regulation of apoptosis (Fridman, 2003). In high grade serous ovarian carcinoma, anti-apoptotic proteins including Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL are overactive and therefore responsible for keeping cancerous cells alive too long (Yokohama, 2017). Different studies have shown a negative correlation between Bcl-xL levels and drug sensitivity in regards to chemotherapy.

    Students losing one month of skills learned in school is a big deal. Poorer students lose much more than the more wealthy students. The New York Times said:  "According to a report released last month by the RAND Corporation, the average summer learning loss in math and reading for American students amounts to one month per year. More troubling is that it disproportionately affects low-income students: they lose two months of reading skills, while their higher-income peers.... make slight gains." (Smink) Losing so much during the summer by impoverished students is evident because they do not have the means to learn during the summer. The wealthier families can afford to surround their families with books and other materials during the break. Also many students go to educational camps which the less privileged families cannot afford. There have been different ideas of how to combat this problem. New York City has made mandatory summer school for their students: "In New York, around 34,000 third through eighth graders are required to take summer school classes this year in order to be promoted to the next grade. The classes typically last only half the day, leaving many on their own for the afternoon." (Smink) This is a decent solution for kids who have to go home to a harsh situation or are struggling grade wise. Unfortunately this solution takes some freedom away from the students in a time where they should be learning how to live with freedom. Learning and development are hurt in the impoverished community during summer vacation.

The first step is to add benzoin (0.5 g) and ethanol (4 ml) to an Erlenmeyer flask and swirl gently until it’s fully dissolved. Then, add sodium borohydride (0.1g) in small amounts over a 5-minute time period. After all of it is added gently swirl for twenty minutes. Once the compound is mixed thoroughly cool it in an ice-bath and add water (5 mL) and 6M HCL (.3 mL). Fifteen minutes later add 2.5 mL more water. Set up vacuum filtration and use that to collect the product using ice water to wash the solid. Let the product dry for fifteen minutes and determine the crude yield and melting point. Save a small portion of crude material for TLC analysis. Recrystallize the crude solid using acetone and an Erlenmeyer flask. Use around 1 to 1.5 mL of the solvent. After the compound is crystalized, let it dry and come back during evening hours to take the melting point and final percent yield. The next process is to do the TLC analysis. Dissolve benzoin, recrystallized product, and crude product in ethyl acetate in three separate vials. Set up two separate TLC plates. On the first put dots of starting material, recrystallized product, and a dot of each. On the second plate put a dot of the starting material, the crude product, and one of both together. Place the 9:1 CH₂Cl₂: ethanol in the TLC developing chambers and add the plates. Let the solution run until its 1cm below the top. Once the plates are finished developing use the UV light and circle the new markings that developed.

The results of the titration experiment we performed went closely to what we expected. We had to prove that K₃[Fe(C₂O₄)₃] ·3H₂O was produced in the previous experiment, a 3:1 ratio of moles of C₂O₄^2- to moles of Fe³⁺ needed to be calculated from this second experiment, and we ended up with a 2.5:1 ratio. This could all be worked out by determining the number of moles of C₂O₄^2- and Fe³⁺ by solving for moles in the concentration (Molarity) formula, and then using molar ratios from the given chemical equations to find the number of moles of each ion.  Having an average ratio of 2.5:1 is a good sign that we did the experiment correctly, but it could have been better. Our first sample had a 2.22:1 ratio which was much worse than sample 2’s 2.8665:1 ratio. This could be since we added slightly more KMnO₄ to the 2^nd sample. This may have been a more optimal amount for the experiment to proceed correctly. Overall, we did decent job getting the ratio that we desired.                    

The people who deny global warming do not propose solutions. They deny the fact that humans have an impact on global warming, so they do not propose ways for people to correct it. Often, they take away from the bills and laws people pass to try and lessen global warming. This is happening with the current president. President Trump is a global warming denier, he thinks that the solutions Obama had passed is waste of money. This will have a profound impact upon the earth. “President Donald Trump's planned climate change policies could lead to an extra half a billion tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2025, according to a new analysis.” So, this solution for climate change would just take away from all the solutions of the other side. The solutions for the climate change people are to have a cleaner planet. Being a more sustainable society and having renewable energy is the best solution. For the people who oppose the idea that humans have a large impact on climate change, all the solutions seem like a waste of money. So, the solution of the government depend on who has power.