Writing in Biology

   I believe that substance free dorms are a good idea but unfortunately, they are a bit misguided. In the article about UVM it talks about the students making the judgement on their own is not enough and I disagree with that point. Kids that are going to college are there to learn. Not just academic learning in their classes but also learn how to interact socially and live their lives on their own. If students are told to do something and how to do it in every form of their life, they won’t learn how to conduct themselves without guidance. People need to live and learn. As a person, you learn from good and bad situations in your life. Students need to learn how to drink and stay away from things that will impact their education and lives. If students are controlled like this in college they will not know what to do with themselves when they get into the real world.

It would be suprising to see how many similarities fish have with all other vertebrates, one of these similarities being their bony skeleton that also consists of a skull. Fish have been present for around four hundred million years as opposed to mammals who have been around for 200 million years. If you look at an embryo this is a pierce of evidence for evolution much like fossils. A fish embryo and a human embryo look almost identical with one another. There are small ridges in both of these embryos one of which develops into gills for fish and for humans this becomes the portion of the lower jaw as well as middle ear and voicebox. All animals start their earliest development from a  single cell and the fact that a common ancestor is shared is a reason for multiple similarities. Although fish do not have necks an animal by the name of Tiktaalik does have a neck.  This animal is technically a fish but does have many features of a tetrapod. What is so special about this animal is that it has the same pattern of bones in the forelimb as humans. A pattern of one bone, little bone, and two  bones. This animal bridged the gap between land and water. 

The shape of a tooth can tell a lot about its function as well as a lot about what that specific animal looked like. Lophodont's are associated with an herbivorous deit. These teeth have a flat crown and ridges along the teeth that are for grinding. Selenodont's are also associated with a herbivorous diet these teeth are also flat but have a curved ridges. Some carnivores have something that is called the carnassial, these teeth are specialized in cutting and can be found towards the back. The upper tooth is known as a premolar and the bottom tooth is the first molar. Carnivorous teeth are a lot sharper in comparison to herbivorous teeth. 

There are also four types of teeth the inscisors, canines, premolar, and molars. The amount of each teeth varies by animal and even the same breed can have different amount of teeth for each type. However, the variation is not super drastic. In order for some animals such as cats to have such powerful teeth they need large muscles to help them use them. Larger animals require larger teeth since they need more food for survival.

            I believe that substance free dorms are a good idea but they are a bit misguided. In the article about UVM it talks about the students making the judgement on their own is not enough and I feel that that is not true. Kids that are going to college are going there to learn. Not just learn in each of their classes but also learn how to interact socially and live their lives on their own. If students are told to do something in every form of their life they won’t learn how to conduct themselves without guidance. People need to live and learn. As a person, you learn from good and bad situations in your life. Students need to learn how to drink and stay away from things that will impact their education and lives. If students are controlled like this in college they will not know what to do with themselves when they get into the real world.

Farming led to an increase in population because of the food that was available. People tended to settle down wherever there was fertile land which meant that people lived close together, closer than they would originally. This would be the perfect place for infectious diseases to flourish, with everyone so close together. This was not such a problem in hunter-gatherer civilizations.  “Whereas over a dozen major infectious diseases of Old World origins became established in the New World, not a single major killer reached Europe from the Americas. The sole possible exception is syphilis, whose area of origin still remains controversial.”(Diamond, 1992) Diamond stated the Americas were not as exposed to many infectious disease which meant that their population did not decline as often as those in the New World. This is true but since the New World was exposed to infectious diseases because of living so close with other people and from animals, they were able to fight off diseases the next time around. Agriculture did create more chances for infectious diseases to spread but they also were able to find different ways to help cure diseases due to them having more time.

The panselectionist viewpoint is the theory that natural selection acting on genetic variation is virtually the only acceptable mechanism of evolutionary change. Darwin did not support panselectionism. Though he considered natural selection to be the most important mechanism of evolution, he held a pluralistic viewpoint in which he insisted his theory did not rely on natural selection alone. In contrast, Wallace did ascribe to panselectionism, believing that all variation must be in some way adaptive. The authors of the article The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm hold Darwin’s view that, though natural selection is perhaps the most important instrument of evolution, it is certainly not the only one. One alternative mechanism the authors mention is selection without adaptation. They offer a hypothetical example in which a mutation that significantly increases the fertility of individuals occurs. It would proliferate quickly within a population, but unless it also caused a change in efficiency of resource utilization, the individuals will just lay twice as many eggs, with the excess dying because of limited resources. If a predator that eats eggs is led to switch to the species now that the eggs are more plentiful, the population size may actually decrease as a consequence, yet natural selection at all times will favor individuals with higher fecundity, despite the organism not being any better adapted. Another example is genetic drift. Due to limitation on population size, the groups that form the first step in the speciation process are often founded by only a small number of individuals. As a result, frequencies of alleles change by random genetic drift, and populations will become genetically differentiated despite the absence of any selective force.

Spinacia oleracea is a hardy leafy annual of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae), a commonly used vegetable in the world, more commonly known as just spinach. Deep within the cells of these spinach leaves lies chloroplasts,  structures by which photosynthesis, the process by which carbohydrates are made from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll, using energy captured from sunlight by chlorophyll, resulting in the production of oxygen and energy-rich organic compounds, occurs. Chloroplasts contain thylakoids, flattened sacs. Light energy (sunlight) reaching the thylakoids excites the chlorophyll pigments, causing them to drive electrons and hydrogen from water to NADP+, an electron acceptor. The electrons enter the electron transport chain, the products being ATP and NADPH (converted from NADP+). These are then used in the light-independent reactions of photosynthesis, where carbon dioxide and water are used to make organic compounds.

The landscape of medicine is continually changing especially with so many advancements in technology and the increasing emphasis on patient-care. Without scientific research, many of these advancements would have not been able to occur. Scientific research is an essential component in the advancement of healthcare as it can provide important information about disease trends, outcomes of treatment and functional abilities. These outcomes can lead to significant discoveries, development of new therapies and result in the overall improvement of public health.

Speciation is the process by which one lineage splits into two separate species as a result of selective pressures as well as due to evolution by natural selection. This process can occur under two broad categories of allopatric or sympatric, each leading to the outcome of speciation through two distinct mechanisms. Allopatric speciation occurs as a result of the geographic splitting of one species traditional range whether it be by a river, mountain range, canyon or human development like highways and canals. Sympatric speciation occurs when two different species arise within the same habitat with no geographical separation between the two. This process can occur as a result of the presence of an unfulfilled ecological niche which once filled leads to a split in the behaviour and breeding habits within one species, eventually leading to two new species through genetic isolation of the two populations. 

I already had previous knowledge of processed foods not being good for the human body/gut microbiome. But I thought it was interesting reading this because so many people switch to diet coke instead of regular coke thinking that it would harm them less. However, it is harder for our bodies to process fake sugar than actual real cane sugar meaning that people should resort to having the actual food instead of a “fat free” or “sugar free” food. I think nutrient in the US is a very controversial topic has many foods that are sold here in the US are banned everywhere else in the world. These ingredients that are legal here in the US could also explain the reasoning for having such a high rate of obesity. Overall, I think people should be more cautious of what they are eating and how much of something they are eating.