Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Mitochondrial Eve

Mitochondrial Eve

Mitochondrial Eve is said to be how all humans inherited from one common female from Africa their mitochondrial DNA about 200,000 years ago. The mitochondria contains an outer part and an inner part that form the cristae, they contain enzymes that oxidate phosphroylation and transport electrons. Mitochondria DNA contains double strand DNA that has 16569 pairs of code and 37 proteins. 








Animal Testing

Animal Testing





I personally don't believe that animal testing is an ethical thing to do because animals are not just defenseless, but they are innocent from doing anything wrong. 


I found several reasons why it is wrong in different aspects. 



  1. It's unethical to sentence 100 million thinking, feeling animals to life in a laboratory cage and intentionally cause them pain, loneliness, and fear.
  2. It's bad science. The Food and Drug Administration reports that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans.
  3. It's wasteful. Animal experiments prolong the suffering of people waiting for effective cures by misleading experimenters and squandering precious money, time, and resources that could have been spent on human-relevant research. 
  4. It's archaic. Forward-thinking scientists have developed humane, modern, and effective non-animal research methods, including human-based microdosing, in vitro technology, human-patient simulators, and sophisticated computer modeling, that are cheaper, faster, and more accurate than animal tests.
  5. The world doesn't need another eyeliner, hand soap, food ingredient, drug for erectile dysfunction, or pesticide so badly that it should come at the expense of animals' lives.

Phlogiston Theory



Phlogiston Theory






Johann Joachim Becher was able to make push for the phlogiston theory in 1667, he tried to show how oxidation occurred by combustion and the rusting of metals. He believed that there was a new element, phlogiston, that only lives in the location where something is being combusted.The theory stated that even though Phlogiston was very hard to detect, it would always be present in flames.    

Standard Operating Procedure


How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich



Date Created: March 26, 2012
Created By: Brandon Alvarado, Sarah Richardson, Yvonne Rodriguez, Ellen Schneider, Elbert
Overview: This procedure details how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich step by step.
Supplies: 
Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter
Your choice of Jelly (Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Mixed Berries)
Your choice of Wheat of White Bread
Equipment:
Plate
Knife
Spoon
Procedure:
  1. Pull out two slices of bread out of the bag of your choice and place them on your plate.
  2. Dip the knife in the peanut butter and spread on one side of one slice of bread. 
  3. Dip the spoon in your choice of jelly and spread on one side of the other slice of bread.
  4. Place one piece of bread on top of the other, so that the peanut butter and jelly touch.
  5. Use the Knife to cut the sandwich in half or in quarters.
  6. Wash the utensils used.
  7. Enjoy your sandwich.
Quality Control: To make sure your peanut butter and jelly sandwich was made correctly check for two things:
No peanut butter or jelly is on the outside of the bread
It tastes GOOD.

Deductive versus Inductive Reasoning





Inductive and deductive reasoning are two methods of logic used to arrive at a conclusion based on information assumed to be true. Both are used in research to establish hypotheses.

Deductive reasoning arrives at a specific conclusion based on generalizations. Inductive reasoning takes events and makes generalizations

Deductive reasoning is reasoning that involves a hierarchy of statements or truths. Starting with a limited number of simple statements or assumptions, more complex statements can be built up from the more basic ones. For example, you have probably studied deductive geometry in mathematics; in it you start with a few principles and prove various propositions using those principles. To prove more complicated propositions, you may use propositions that you have already proved plus the original principles. In more formal logic terms deductive reasoning is reasoning from stated premises to conclusions formally or necessarily implied by such premises.

Deductive reasoning can be described as reasoning of the form if A then B. Deduction is in some sense the direct application of knowledge in the production of new knowledge.

If-then deductive reasoning is how scientists (and other people!) can test alternate hypotheses. Making deductions is important when we cannot directly observe a cause, and can only observe its consequences. This kind of reasoning can be modeled by the following:

If ...

Then...

But...

Therefore...

For example, we might hypothesize that "The color of a mineral is determined by its crystal structure."

And so we could test this hypothesis using deductive reasoning:

If the color of a mineral is determined by its crystal structure; then all purple minerals should have the same crystal structure. But purple amethyst has a hexagonal structure and purple fluorite has an isometric structure (determined by observations). Therefore, the hypothesis is not supported or strengthened.

Inductive reasoning is essentially the opposite of deductive reasoning. It involves trying to create general principles by starting with many specific instances. For example, in inductive geometry you might measure the interior angles of a group of randomly drawn triangles. When you discover that the sum of the three angles is 180° regardless of the triangle, you would be tempted to make a generalization about the sum of the interior angles of a triangle. Bringing forward all these separate facts provides evidence in order to help support your general statement about the interior angles.

This is the kind of reasoning used if you have gradually built up an understanding of how something works. Rather than starting with laws and principles and making deductions, most people collect relevant experience and try to construct principles from it.

Again the distinction between the two types of reasoning is not always sharp. In mathematics it is important to know which kind of formal system you are using and to stick to it. Inductive proofs are not allowed in a deductive system.

Inductive reasoning progresses from observations of individual cases to the development of a generality. (Inductive reasoning, or induction, is often confused with deductive thinking; in the latter, general principles or conditions are applied to specific instances or situations.) If a child puts his or her hand into a bag of candy and withdraws three pieces, all of which are red, he or she may conclude that all the candy is red. Inductive reasoning, or induction, is the process by which a general conclusion is reached from evaluating specific observations or situations.

Many people distinguish between two basic kinds of argument: inductive and deductive. Induction is usually described as moving from the specific to the general, while deduction begins with the general and ends with the specific; arguments based on experience or observation are best expressed inductively, while arguments based on laws, rules, or other widely accepted principles are best expressed deductively.


Ammonite

The Burgess Shale






Elements of Communication


Elements of Communication





Communication progressed throughout the ages, diverging into many unique varieties and styles. Visual, auditory, spoken word, and drawings demonstrate the diverse ways humans relate to each other. These methods have experienced change due to advancements in technology. Each approach to communication possesses its own advantages and disadvantages. Written and most visual mediums hold a high potential to misrepresent tone and emotion. Spoken words fail to share ideas when individuals have different languages and lexicons. Overall, communication has experienced successful progress with heightened technology. Worldwide connectivity lessens the gap between states and continents. However with this advancement communication has shed some personal touches for the sake of speed and convenience. Clarity is essential to communication. Unclear communication is an oxymoron of sorts. Without a clear passage of information, communication is meaningless. Unbiased communication rarely exists. Each variety or style of communication reflects biases of the originator/speaker.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Quick Brown Fox Jumps over the Lazy Dog.


The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 







Type: 
Cursive:
Typewritten:                          The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.


The progression of a crude, rudimentary form of a cave drawing to a type written email on a computer demonstrates the radical changes that have occurred in visual communication. Each style of transmission has its own advantages and drawbacks, but each was used in a different time in our culture. Conveying the results of a scientific experiment today would be almost impossible through a pictorial sketch, but when this form of intercourse was employed the messages had a different style and aim. Today though, we still use all of the forms to learn. A child begins with a picture book then moves up to one with short words and phrases that also has pictures. From there the words become longer and sentences more complicated. At last the child who has become a teenager is reading a novel and after typing up a summary on a computer. The stages of communication offer a gradual growth in comprehension. Without the first step though, the child would not be able to reach the more advanced forms. To learn is to make sense of something that was previously unknown. The way we learn is crucial but more importantly it’s that we get there.