BIO EVENTS

Event 6:

“Cells exhibit many of the fundamental emergent properties of life.”

In an essay of less than 100 words, use your understanding to explain in detail what this quotation means. Your audience is a professional biologist.

Event 7:

View the TED Talk by Greg Asner entitled, “Ecology from the air.”*

Asner discusses how airborne sensors are being used to map carbon within forests. He notes that to be able to effectively manage carbon within forests, we need to understand exactly how much is there. Write an essay (< 200 words) that explains why this knowledge is important as we work to manage carbon within our atmosphere. Your audience is persons responsible for government policies and regulations related to carbon.

* Link in Content Course Organization Information related to assignments

Event 8:

Summarize our treatment of glucose metabolism, insulin, and health by writing a unique final exam essay question (and answer) that addresses this topic.

· This should be a 15-point question in a 200-point closed-book exam.

· It is appropriate to include definitions in your question. It should also involve application of knowledge you have gained.

· The focus in your question should be on the main points of the lecture and not on details.

· Answers should involve short paragraphs. Avoid use of the phrases, “list the” or “name the” in your question.

Event 9:

Your goal in this assignment is to summarize the key elements of this lecture in an essay of less than 250 words. Your audience will be someone who has previously taken this course. Your essay must contain each of the following words: development, differentiation, diploid, gamete, gametic, haploid, meiosis, mitosis, sporic, and zygote.

Event 10:

Examine the TWIN BODY WT.xlxs dataset. (found in event 10 ppt)

1. Based on the Event 10 lecture and your interpretation of the dataset, write a one-sentence statement of a reasonable hypothesis that the experimenters who generated these data might have formulated.

2. Analyze these data to either support or refute this hypothesis and present your conclusions along with a description of the data analysis procedure(s) that you used. (Submit only a MS Word file.)

Event 11:

Summarize our treatment of infectious diseases and public health by writing a final exam essay question (and answer) that addresses one element this topic in detail.

· This should be a 15-point question in a 200-point closed-book exam.

· It is appropriate to include definitions in your question, it should also involve application of knowledge you have gained.

· The focus in your question should be on the main points of the lecture and not on details.

· Answers should involve short paragraphs. Avoid use of the phrases, “list the” or “name the” in your question.

Event 13:

Write an essay of less than 100 words that 1) explains what “Genetically Modified Organisms” (GMO’s) are, and 2) both sides of the controversy related to their production and use in the United States.

Your intended audience is someone who has not taken a course similar to this one.

You will want to use information from the Web in completing this assignment. Be sure to evaluate the trustworthiness of your sources. Provide your references. (Reference list is not included in the the word count.)

Event 14:

You are a congressional staff member and your representative has asked you to develop a short (<250-word) summary document that explains food security and sovereignty including energy capture and transfer issues. Use the information in this lecture but your summary should be written in your own words. No reference citations are needed. The representative will use your essay to answer questions from the press and constituents about these two issues. Take this into consideration as you write.

Event 15:

Part 1. Briefly describe how microevolution differs from macroevolution.

Part 2. Many scientists would argue that the enzyme nitrogenase may be the single most important enzyme on Earth.

Explain in a short paragraph the basis for this statement. Your answer should include discussion of what nitrogenase does and why this is so important.