Model organism

view on evolution and life. My first take was that species with shorter life spans evolve quicker and benefit the species as a whole. Before reading this, I believed organisms with short life spans were weak because they couldn’t live long. These organisms with short life spans were able to reproduce way quicker than most organisms. Rapidly, they can evolve which benefits the species as a whole which helps it achieve the ultimate goal of life, to survive and reproduce. The most fascinating…

Engineering – How far will we go? We are living in a world which is changing with an exponential pace; every day humans are creating new inventions, gathering new knowledge about scientific phenomena and starting new empirical projects. Genetic engineered organisms are yet part of our life on a daily basis, even though we do not recognize it as that. Already today there are heated debates about how far we should go with genetically modified plants or animals. In the future, perhaps just a couple…

ranging from eugenics and the ethical considerations of genetically engineering organisms, and to the more recent scientific breakthroughs in said area of study, the study of genetics is, without a doubt, a rewarding subject to study. I am enthusiastic about the history of genetics and how genes change over time. In the future I wish to go on to study in detail the different types of genes in humans, as well as in other organisms, and see how they differ. I hope to research how genes can be…

Scientists compare cognitive domains in order to apply widely “idealized cognitive models” to previously unexplained natural phenomena (Kövecses 173). In absorbing “truly new forms of knowledge and understanding,” learners construct, reject, and accept metaphorical comparisons of concrete domains, or familiar concepts, to the more abstract target domain, which the learner attempts to understand. To configure a precise model for understanding alien concepts, learners process and test the possible…

Animals testing has its flaws as humans and animals’ organisms are not the same. Even experimentation with mammals, the closest animal type from humans, can led us to a failing in the prediction of toxic effects of drugs. Thus, animal testing is a waste of effort and money. The scientific process consists on…

extent where the microscopic organism can decrease its metabolism to a miniscule amount making it able to survive whatever conditions it faces. As it is unknown to how the tardigrade was able to evolve to that extent, a plausible answer is contingency, a theory that evolution sometimes occurs by chance. Lastly, the tardigrade parallels the idea of the “Posthuman” as its ability to survive is far greater than the human’s ability to survive, making the tardigrade a model for the advancement of…

without sex. Some organisms have gone forty million years without sex” (Ridley, 1997). They do not need a male in their life that is going have sex with them. Sex is unnecessary and there is no point in it. Asexuals share all of their DNA with their offspring. Instead of only sharing fifty percent of their genes with their offspring, they share all of it. Asexuals can reproduce on their own. Asexual reproduction is reproduction when the offspring comes from one single organism and inherit the…

Watson and Francis Crick deserve to be honored among the list of 100 influential Americans put out by The Atlantic publication. James Watson and his colleague, Francis Crick, discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Watson and Crick built a model that revealed that the structure of DNA is a spiral of two DNA strands coiled around each other (“Watson and Crick Discover Chemical Structure of DNA”). The double helix has a simple configuration resembling a twisting ladder. The Norwegian Nobel…

Scientific experiments and observations have led to many discoveries, which in turn have allowed scientists to develop a better understanding on the way diseases originate in humans. Molecular biology in particular has allowed scientists to discover the way in which domains, found in proteins impact a genome. Domains are autonomous folding units that carry out specific functions and mechanisms in a certain protein. These functions consist of being responsible for interactions in the cell, which…

successful and get passed on. Before long, those organisms are directly products of their environment. This phenomenon chiefly occurs when the environment holds all the power over the organism. When it comes to humans, however, we are social animals, we influence and are influenced by those around us. Because of this, humans are not solely products of their environment but they are strongly influenced by those around them, especially their role models. This very idea is demonstrated in The Other…