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I read At the Water’s Edge Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea by Carl Zimmer. This book focuses on evolution and in addition to providing facts and charts showing how evolution works also tells a story. It tells the stories of other scientists that have long been forgotten by high school biology books (including my AP Biology Text Book by Campbell Reese and Mitchell). This book shows how all of these scientists stories intertwine creating the the next chapter of the story of evolution which is then in turn studied by the next generation of scientists who further evolve the story of evolution.

The Unabridged Story of Pearl Formation (and Categorization)

Did you ever, as a child wonder where pearls came from and then how they were made? Later on did you wonder if the oysters that provided pearls survived, or were at least eaten? Was pearl formation explained to you in way that ran as follows (or at least contains this information):

As someone who has always had an interest in the social sciences, especially those dealing with addiction and compulsive behavior, I am intrigued by the role that the brain plays in substance abuse, especially alcoholism. While it has been discussed in class that most characteristics are influenced by both genes and the environment, I still wonder which plays the larger part in alcoholism, a person’s surroundings or their genetic information. Specifically in this paper, however, I plan to focus on how alcoholism affects the brain, and conversely, what role the brain plays in the disease.

It is difficult to compare the part of the textbook that I have read, which deals with evolution in relation to adaptation, with specific concepts that were discussed in class, due to the different styles of teaching that the book and the class utilize. The class discussions were normally overview of the subjects, because there was not enough time to delve into the nuances of each discussion topic; conversely, the book has the liberty to take more time to explain difficult concepts somewhat more in depth, which is not possible in class. The scope of the book helped explain the topics that were minimally discussed in class; however, the book failed to portray science as it was discussed in class, as a means of discovery instead of a definite body of facts and laws.

Have you ever watched that scene from [insert movie or discovery channel] where a bunch of elephants are standing together, going about their normal elephant activities, and then suddenly, they stop and run away together?  When I first saw this scene, I was puzzled as to why this happened.  It was quite strange to see these large but peaceful animals just instantaneously disperse for no good reason.  In actuality, however, the elephants did have a reason for running off.  They responded to a message sent to them by another elephant through infrasound. [1] Elephants are able to detect and send infrasound.  Humans, on the other hand, cannot pick up or produce infrasound the same way elephants can.  For any noise that is between the ranges of 20 to 20,000 Hz, we have no problem audibly hearing these sounds.  Anything that is higher or lower than that range will not be heard by humans.  Infrasound has a frequency that is below 20 Hz and usually, humans cannot detect audible infrasound. [2] However, although we cannot audibly hear infrasound, we are still able to feel the effects of this low frequency.  What are the impacts of infrasound on humans?  And how it is that if we are unable to hear it, it still has an impact on us?
 
Infrasound is found in two forms, it can be ‘man-made’ or created by ‘nature’.  Extreme examples human productions of infrasound include aircraft and fireworks.  The noise from factories and engines also attribute to making these low frequencies. [3] Natural productions of infrasound basically occur all the time.  Weather disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions emit infrasound.  Phenomena like meteor impacts and aurora also create this low frequency.  On a less extreme and more relatable scale, anyone who has ever been in a thunderstorm or very strong winds is likely to have experienced infrasound. [3] Instruments can also create these low frequencies.  Organs pipes and bass instruments can produce infrasound as well. [4] As mentioned before, elephants are able to create and detect infrasound.  They are the not the only species who have this trait.  Pigeons, squid and rhinos are just a few among the many other animals who can participate in infrasonic communications. [3] And although many animals can use infrasound to speak, humans still cannot communicate through these low vibrations.

Sea-Monkeys can be viewed as a vast commercial expression of eugenics. Their production company’s founder, Harold von Braunhut, was alleged to be a financier of white supremacist groups and himself never denied such claims.[1] The concept of genetic enhancement is one of great scientific interest. From Gregor Mendel to Josef Mengele, humans have been fascinated in their attempts to explore genomic “dominance” and use their subject species to experiment with the creation of a perceived dominant specimen. Sea-Monkeys are clear - well, pinkish and fairly opaque - examples of manipulated genetic artifact, though more in terms of life cycle interruption rather than genetic interference. True, Sea-Monkeys are a special type of sea animal rarely seen in nature. However, the examination of this “live” animal in the context of academic coursework about the study of life is where the true interest of this paper lies.

In the beginning of the semester, we tackled the debate of what it means to be ‘alive.’  Mary Roach’s book “Spook” takes a spin on this ‘alive’ and examines whether or not there is an afterlife.  Rather than choosing a textbook, I picked this book in the hopes that it would answer this question that is not usually covered in biology textbooks.  Roach narrates her research in the antithesis of a textbook fashion.  Instead, she tells a story about science, much like in a way similar to Biology 103: Basic Concepts.

From the very start of her narrative, Roach states that she is looking for proof, for some form of evidence that a soul exists after a person’s body dies and stops functioning.  However, she acknowledges that scientific answers are not absolute and these answers are changeable when more data is presented.  Roach sees the science that Professor Paul Grobstein introduced to us, the ‘seriously loopy science.’  Scientific truth, as learned in class, is only as truthful as it can be for the men and women who choose to believe in it.  There will always be a different perspective to answer the questions of ‘life’ and those answers are truth for those people who select it.  For Mary Roach, she accepts that not everything taught by science is true but science is the closest thing she can find to help her answer her question.  She writes this book for the people who want to believe in an afterlife but need more than just faith.  Her approach to answering her question then, was to research the already conducted scientific studies done on afterlife ‘experiences’.

As a supplement to this biology course, I also read a biology textbook, Biology: Discovering Life, by Joseph Levine and Kenneth Miller.  This is an older book I found in the science library, published about 15 years ago.  At first glance, I found the detailed charts and figures and complex terminology to be intimidating and deterring.  I assumed it was just another traditional science textbook where everything is delineated for the reader to memorize with no room for questioning and no pressure to think “outside the box”.  While the majority of the book is conventional, upon closer examination, one important point the book espouses really resonated with the foundations of this class.  Reading this book exposed me to a much different style of teaching.  In my critique of the book, I will focus on a subject I found very enlightening – a fundamental part of this unique science course – our understanding of biology as a dynamic process.

The recent dieting craze – particularly the carb-cutting trend - has created a huge increase in the demand for artificial sweeteners.  According to a 2004 study “as many as 180 million Americans routinely eat and drink sugar-free products such as desserts and artificially sweetened sodas” (1).  As one of countless subscribers to the carb-cutting, low-calorie philosophy, I decided to explore exactly what constitutes artificial sweeteners.  In my explorations, I came across some surprising findings about the chemical composition of various artificial sweeteners and how the body processes them. I focused my research on three sweeteners in particular: Sucralose, which is in the most popular artificial sweetener, Aspartame, which is in the artificial sweeteners, Sweet ‘N Low and Equal, and a new incredibly sweet sweetener called Neotame.  Initially, I expected all these different artificial sweeteners to be chemically dissimilar from less sweet substances; however, further research proved otherwise.

American microbiologist, Salvadore E. Luria wrote a book titled Life: The Unfinished Experiment. The book discusses various concepts in relation to science and the need to understand and approach it in an effective way. In the book Luria mainly focuses on the study of evolution and what can be attributed to it. He objectively approaches the process of evolution and praises the creation of life as an endless progression.