Drafts

            America has drifted into dangerous territories with what we choose to eat. Most things we eat are heavily processed and generally not very good for you. Yes, food is cheaper than it used to be, but no one is buying the right products. A major factor as to why would be the Western Diet. The Western Diet is high in fat, calories, meat, sugar and carbs. All of which are not good for your health in high doses. People do need all of things, but in moderation. The ideology behind the Western Diet is Nutritionism. Nutritionism and food science lead people to think of food as nutrients. The idea is that every element of the food has some sort of benefit and or negative impact on a person. This diet is a large contributor as to why America has an astronomically high obesity rate as made evident in the book “in Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan.

Living a sustainable life can be important to having a successful future. Being sustainable means being able to live a certain lifestyle or doing a certain thing for an elongated period of time. Being able to have a lifestyle that you can live with for your adult life is important. Not being too aggressive of a consumer can help with that. I am not saying that being a minimalist is the way to go, but not being a large consumer can definitely help you save money. Two important benefits to being less of a consumer are less need to keep up with evolving trends, and greater ability to see through empty claims. These two things are easy ways to save money and maintain your life style. Less needs to keep up with trends are important. Trends are constantly changing and that can dictate a lot of what we spend our money on. This is true for many things but clothing is one of the most common. Style can change greatly and it will always continue to change because that is what makes clothing industry money. People feel the need to keep up with the latest fashions and go buy the newest clothes. Technology follows a similar pattern and can really put a dent in your sustainability because you will be buying very expensive things every now and then. Being able to see though empty claims can save you a lot of money in the long run. Being able to see what you really need and what a product can really do for you can help you make informed decisions on what you need to buy, and what is something you can live without. You can more easily spot things like trends or fads and not take part in them. Having the ability to see through empty claims and being able to avoid trends can help a person live a sustainable lifestyle then can enjoy.

Fish Species First Observations:

Lamprey has long, skinny, small circular mouth with teeth for latching onto other fish (buccal tunnel), gray with black spots, tail, holes on sides, two eyes on sides, posterior dorsal fin, caudal fin, anterior dorsal fin, jaw, nostril, tail.

Dogfish has dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, pectoral fin, snout, caudal fin, nostril, eyes on side, fin spine, gill slits, mouth, teeth, jaw.

Ratfish has gills, first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, pelvic fin, anal fin, mouth, no teeth, eyes on side, caudal fin, nostril, jaw, pectoral.

White perch has caudal fin, anal fin, lateral line, pelvic fins, pectoral fin, chin barbels, Gill cover, first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, gills

Sea robin has elongated pectoral fins, large ventral fins, upper jaw/jaw, gills, two short spines, 2 eyes, 10 spines, anal fin, dorsal fins,

Carp has caudal fin, anal fin, pelvic fin, pectoral fin, dorsal fin, adipose fin

Skate has spiracles, snout, eyes on top, pectoral fin, pelvic fin, caudal fin, spine, flat

Stingray is flat, two large pectoral fins, mouth on underside, two eyes on top, gray on top, lighter color on underside, tail, gills, stinger, pelvic fin, claspers, spiracles.

The morphological characters that were most useful were those that were not ancestral traits (that all the fish had), such as teeth, the anal fin, nostrils, tails, and pelvic fin to name a few. These were most useful because they allowed us to put the fish into groups that showed their relation. One morphological character that led us to believe there was an incorrect relationship between certain fish would be the spine. We related the stingray, dogfish and the sea robin together, but not the skate, which was in reality actually a relative of the stingray. The fast evolving gene is better for resolving these taxa. I think this the case because the fast evolving tree properly categorized the lamprey as the outgroup as well as matched the dogfish in the right position.

Titration curves have always confused me. I was introduced to them as a freshman in college. I didn’t really understand the whole concept of conjugate base and an acid and how they related. I didn’t understand what pKa or Ka meant but now I think after taking upper level courses the relationship between pKa, pH, acids, and conjugate bases all finally makes sense. On a titration curve there are inflection points, this point represents the amount of base required to react one half of the desired acid. At this point the acid becomes half deprotonated and half protonated. Next is the equivalence point, the point that represents the amount of base to react with all of the desired acid. This now makes sense to me why the acid is noted as HA and the conjugate base is noted as A-. The acid (HA) is neutral and when it becomes deprotonated taking on its conjugate base form (A-) it loses a proton and now has a net negative charge. This is how I started to understand the relationship between pKa and pH. Again, at the inflection point the amount of conjugate base is equal to the amount of acid. When you plug this ratio into the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation you get pH=pKa+log(1), log(1)=0. So that means that pH=pKa. Which now makes sense why stronger acids have a lower pKa. It essentially means that they are more will to give up a proton at a lower pH.

In my lab, I am researching how reactivation of specific memories during sleep can be modulated using external stimulation. We will be releasing an odor into a subject's nose while they sleep and see if affects their ability to remember and recall certain information. So far we have not found anything significant however, there has not been a lot of work done. We believe that this odor could affect the ability to remember things because there is a lot of evidence that points to the idea that it could. Usually, recent memories are replayed during sleep. Since we will be showing our subjects images right before they go to sleep that they were supposed to memorize, this idea can apply to our study. This study has been performed in animals before. It’s important to note too that it has been observed that matching a sensory stimulus with information and an odor facilitates things such as coordination of sleep spindles.

Cells receive an array of signals that tell them what to do. Cells receive signals to survive, grow, divide, or differentiate, and if a cell receives no signals, it will undergo apoptosis and die. Cancer cells dont need survival signals, and this is why they continue to survive even when no signals are being received. Signals are typically small molecules or proteins. Hydrophobic signals, such as hormones, will enter the cell across the membrane and attach to receptors in the cell. On the other hand, hydrophilic signals cannot get inside of the cell and will bind to receptors on the cell surface. The same signal can be received by the same receptor, but depending on the cell type, the signal may cause different outcomes in the cell. For example, acetylcholine is a common signal, but when it binds to the same receptor on a different cell, different downstream proteins result. Signals usually set off signal cascades in which the message is amplified. Any time there are enzymes and multiple steps incolced in the transduction cascade, the signal can be amplified. This amplification of signals makes crosstalk more plausible. Crosstalk is when pathways intersect, affecting one another. The more steps in the pathway, the more opportunities for crosstalk. And the only way to completely stop the communication of a signal is to eliminate the last step of the pathway. 

Throughout genetic history, there have been many concepts of heredity, both incorrect and correct. Scientists once believed that genetic information would travel from various parts of the body and then collect in the reproductive organs of the human. Another bizarre concept is the idea that a miniature organism live in sex cells throughout life and that all the traits are inherited from one parent when an offspring is born. Lastly, the idea that genes in the body mix together to form into the genetics material is false. The correct concepts include the germ-plasm theory where all cells have a complete set of genetic material. The cell theory of all cells arising from only cells is also proven to be true concept of heredity.

Infrared waves were discovered in the 1800s by William Herschel and have longer wavelengths than visible light as well as ultraviolet. Infrared is something that is heard of often this is because infrared is often used for a variety of technology that the military uses such as night vision goggles. Infrared energy can be seen using appropriate equipments and it shows the different temperatures of what is around.Advancing in military technology is essential in fighting in wars and coming out victorious which makes infrared important. Infrared can also detect many things in the universe that visible light cannot detect, objects such as stars, nebulas, as well as planets can be seen. The James Webb Space telescope uses infrared energy to reveal objects hidden in the universe. Keeping infrared helps reveal the mysteries of the universe and plays a major role in astronomy. Infrared therapy is also common, the absorption of infrared rays expels the carbon dioxide found in the body and also helps with decreasing inflammation found in the body. Infrared improves the immune system which is helpful for people who get sick often. Infrared rays can help diagnose and treat illnesses. This allows for humans to get treatments for diseases and illnesses without having to undergo surgery.  The radiation that infrared emits is what satellites use to study the changes in land and sea surface temperatures. This is important for others to tell what is going on in earth. It heats up the earth and allows for humans to be able to survive on earth by keeping it at the perfect temperature which allows for humans to live. Infrared data also helps distinguish from a fire and just a hot place, meaning it allows for fires that are not easily detected to be put out. Helping the habitats of animals to not be destroyed. The negative aspect of infrared is radiation which can in turn damage the eyes of a person, taking the appropriate precautions will allow for a person to not have any more severe damaging effects.

Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient who is suffering usually from a disease, there are two types of euthanasia that are often debated on, active and passive. Active euthanasia involves actually killing a patient, for example this can be done by lethal injection. Passive euthanasia means letting the patient die by not trying to cure the disease or whatever is bringing the patient pain. A patient who is dying of cancer would stop chemotherapy and stop taking the medication required that keeps them alive until they eventually pass away. Often it is argued that active euthanasia is worse than passive euthanasia because active euthanasia means that someone is actually doing the killing. James Rachel however, in “Active and Passive Euthanasia,”  argues that this is not true and that both forms of euthanasia are equal and both are morally the same. Winston Nesbitt takes Rachel’s article and argues against it stating that active euthanasia and the act of actually killing a person if far worse than passive euthanasia.

The effect of Ulva on Gigartina is best described as facilitation. This is because in the presence of Ulva, Gigartina is able to survive and grow. Ulva is making it more suitable for later species with its presence. When Ulva is removed the number of Gigartina recruits is close to 0. Which further backs up the idea that it is Ulva that creates the suitable environment. In figure 3 the control groups shows that the mortality for aspen and fir trees are about the same time with aspen having a slight higher mortality in comparison. When the aspen trees are thinned in early aspen successional stages the mortality for aspen stays around the same. However the firs experience an increase in mortality percentage by more than doubling their mortality. This means that there is a link between having thinner aspen and having less fir.The mechanism controlling these interactions is facilitation. Looking at Figure 1 it can be seen that aspen is the first colonizer after aspen is able to thrive fir then starts taking it’s place almost eliminating the fir. In figure 3 it can be confirmed that fir needs aspen in order to thrive. Thinning out the aspen creates higher mortality in the fir trees. This is facilitation because one of the species benefits with the introduction of another species and without that species fir is unable to grow.