Posts Tagged ‘biol12108sec1’

Joke: Biology is the only science in which multiplication is the same thing as division.
The biological principle used in this joke is “cell reproduction”.  The explanation for this joke is that multiplication in biology means reproduction, which is accomplished by cell division.  When a cell divides, the number of cells multiply.  The humor of this [...]

The eukaryotic cells are very similar in the structure and function of their membranes and organelles.  Although two structures look very different on the outside and vary in functions, they could be called homologous if the skeletal structures are similar, which reflect common ancestry.  For example, a bat, a human, an alligator, and a penguin [...]

The principles in this cartoon are evolution and natural selection.  It is important to understand these principles because snakes probably evolved from four-legged creature though natural selection.  snakes evolved through a mutation and many generations to the animal they are today.  the cartoon is not accurate however becasue the snake did not simply loose its [...]

The biological concept is that DNA is made up of nucleic acid. But we all know the iconic scene when Frankenstein comes to life through a surge of electricity, so there is humor there in the battery vs. nucleic acid reference.

Cell Song
Despite the obvious humor intended by this video, it contains many factual and scientific references. The song is primarily about the cell theory. In the first verse, the singer refers to cells  being the basic building block of life. He also makes a reference to Hooke, who was the first person to discover cells [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M779dlWw4Q
 
This song, a remake of Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, explains cell theory.  Instead of using the original lyrics  by Vanilla Ice, a freshmen creates his own version of the song to better explain the parts of the cell and how it works in general.  He mentions different parts of the cell including mitochondria, [...]

A lonely frog, desperate for some form of company telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what his future holds. His Personal Psychic Advisor tells him, “You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you.”
The frog is thrilled and says, “This is great! Where will I meet [...]

Evolution is a very essential part of biology, and plays a major role in the world. Evolution is defined as the process of changing in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Evolution is the underlying process that causes the stronger organisms to survive and the weaker ones [...]

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is native to Australia and has often been viewed as an odd conglomeration of reptilian and mammalian elements. The platypus is semi-aquatic, possesses venomous spurs as well as a duck bill, is a mammal, lays eggs, and nurses its young. As baffling as the animal is, a draft sequence of the [...]

The reasons why humans have different skin colors is a long and sometimes controversial topic that has been debated and studied over the past couple decades.  However, in 2000 Nina Jablonski, am expert in primitive evolution was asked to give a lecture on human skin.   Along with her husband they compiled a data relating the [...]

    The sixth extinction is an ongoing event in which species are dying out in the modern era. This is also known as the Holocene Extinction because we currently live in the Holocene epoch. The corresponding losses of biodiversity will affect evolution for thousands, possibly millions of years. It is particularly visible with large mammals [...]

http://remf.dartmouth.edu/images/MicromondiImages/image/32-cholera.jpg

Various scientists were asked to answer the question, “What can we do to reduce antibiotic resistance?”  George W. Beran, a professor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, teaches preventive veterinary medicine.  He has researched the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance and diseases that can be transmitted through foods from animals to humans.  His answer was [...]

In Greek mythology a chimera is a hideous fire-breathing creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent, such as it is viewed in the famous Etruscan bronze sculpture.  However a chimera when in the context of genetics is an animal that is composed of two [...]

Amanda Adams
Professor Killian
9-18-08

Cystic Fibrosis
My 13 year old neighbor appears to be a normal young girl who plays soccer year round for a very competitive travel team. But every day she has to sit through a nebulizer to clear the excess mucus that builds up in her lungs. She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as a [...]

Recently, it has been discovered that all people with blue eyes have a common ancestor.  Scientists believe that between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, everyone had blue eyes, but that a certain individual was born, in whom the OCA2 gene, the gene that makes melanin to pigment skin and eyes, was dulled.  There is a [...]

Genetic drift is a change in allele frequencies that occurs by chance. Alleles change from generations to generations. The Bottle Neck Effect causes genetic drift. The Bottle Neck Effect is when many members of a population die. The result of the many deaths is the loss of genetic diversity that was present in the ancestral [...]

One is very similar to one’s parents genetically and physically.  Those similarities can be figured out from one’s genotype and phenotype.  One can figure out one’s genotype and phonotype using the two methods: punnett square and pedigree.
 Punnett Square is used to predict the outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment.  When knowing two different [...]

Genetics is the science of heredity, dealing with resemblances and differences of related organisms resulting from the interaction of their genes and the environment. Every where we look, we see genetics at work. When organisms reproduce, they pass on their genes to their offspring. In asexual reproduction an organism produces new organisms that are identical [...]

Down Syndrome
Down Syndrome occurs in 1 in 660 births and causes mental retardation.  There are various types of Down Syndrome, but the most common type is trisomy 21.  In trisomy 21 there is an extra chromosome 21 in every cell of the human.  Another type is called mosaic trisomy 21.  In this case, some cells [...]

The Uses of DNA in Forensic Science
 
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is a useful tool for identification in Forensic Science because every organism has its own distinct DNA sequence.  But when a scientist finds DNA at a crime scene, they often find it in too small of an amount to be used.  To get a useable amount [...]

     Genetics is one of the many scientific fields that is rife with ethical and politic implications. The very nature of such worry and resistance is perfectly understandable when you realize that; genes are the blueprint for every part of human body and we now have the ability to modify genes.
     This is where transgenics [...]

Started in the 1990s, the Human Genome Project has, and will continue to revolutionize many feilds of science and biology.  Started by the United States, the genome project was a 13 year effort. The goals of this project were to mainly identify all the genes in the human genome, and to identify the three billion [...]

Why is the fish able to breath in water but not out of it?
the gills of the fish use thin plates of tissue that extract the O in H20 out of the water through the thin walls in the tissue

 
          Science these days is incredible.  It is constantly leading us to think, “What’s next?”  Especially in American society, we’re all marveled by the seemingly endless possibilities science is offering our future.  More specifically, genetics.  Take for instance, the recent completion of the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.  You probably know where [...]

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It’s often been said that the tendency for baldness, a hereditary condition known as androgenic alopecia, comes from the mother’s side of the family. But in reality male pattern baldness is caused by a genetic predisposition inherited from either parent. This is because the genes controlling the trait do not [...]