Developmental biology

How do scientists explain and support the argument for biological evolution? From the recent trip to the Minnesota Zoo, labs performed in class and multiple readings these things have shown students the dynamics of evolution. Scientists, like Charles Darwin, who have focused studies on certain organisms like the Galapagos Island finches have played a large role in our knowledge today about biological evolution, natural selection and descent with modification. Over many generations and an…

Introduction Women currently hold roughly 25% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs in the United States, despite a roughly equal representation in the workplace as a whole (Beede 2011). It seems as though our society has accepted the presence of women in the workplace, on the condition that women only occupy jobs deemed suitable for their gender. Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers made a speech in January of 2005, claiming that the reason women are…

Safety in the science classroom involves weighing the potential risk factors of an experiment against the educational value, teacher and student should have a full understanding all the potential hazards of the materials, the experiment, and the equipment used. Safety concerns and potential hazards should be addressed prior to engaging in any laboratory activity and documented in the lesson plan. Students should be aware of the emergency contact sheet with phone numbers that is attached to the…

Population. Population, biologically defined as the summation of members of a particular species or group within a set region or community. For mankind, population has been the double edged sword and, the blunt shield that have allowed humanity to dominate this flying space-rock known as Earth. The population avaliable to a society meant the amount of workers which can gather, use, and produce various resources. This combined with the ability of humanity to use tools and technology, allowed…

What is animal testing used for and why? Animal testing is used and required by the United States government to test the safety of drugs, chemicals, cosmetics, and various consumer products. Additionally, animals are commonly used in the practice of medical and military training. Government agencies that heavily rely on animal testing are the U.S. Military, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the…

Without biodiversity, how different would the world be? Biodiversity is arguably the basis for all living things. Without it, many experts believe that there would be no living organisms on the Earth. Biodiversity is the variety in all living organisms in certain ecosystems or habitats. Sustainability can be defined as meeting the needs of the current generation without risking the needs that the future generations will need. Without biodiversity, sustainability would not be possible whatsoever.…

Their extended bodies are surrounded by bony rings with small gill slits (Zubi, 2004). Their fin patterns and distributions are different than those for other bony fish. They have no pelvic fins, small pectoral fins, and one dorsal fin (Zubi, 2004). The pectoral fins turn the Seahorse and aid in steering, while the dorsal fin moves it forward. The coronet of the Seahorse is its most distinctive feature, helping in identification as the thumbprint does for humans (Zubi, 2004). Seahorses are…

In every single learning aspect we learn more and more as time progresses. If it may be the slight change in weather or possibly even a new discovery we continue to learn and gain a better understanding of the world we are living in, and how we live in it. We have broadened our capabilities to understanding the human body and the certain processes that we need to be completed in order for us to keep surviving in this world, and we just keep going up from there. Since we have come to the…

During the early 1800’s much speculation occurred within the scientific community as to how life came to be, at this time scientists such as Andrew Knight, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and Charles Darwin all had their own ideas concerning the diversity of life on earth. A few theories were based upon the thought that variation had been attributed to the amount of food that had been available to an organism; this is what Andrew Knight had originally thought. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had a different idea…

Darwin 's theory of evolution is a widely held concept that all life is related through the descent of a common ancestor with modification. It presumes the development of life from non-life and how complex creatures evolve over time from more simplistic ancestors by a process called natural selection. According to Darwin’s observations and inferences, natural selection arises from heritable variations (i.e size, shape, behavior, color) among population members, high fertility rate, differences…