Biology help!

Welcome to Biology 105

Overview

What is science and why is it important?

How does science work?

Why should people believe science?

What’s the difference between science and pseudoscience?

What is science and why is it important? "Science is nothing but trained and organized

common sense." TH Huxley

"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge."

Carl Sagan

Saturn’s moon Titan

“Science is the concerted human effort to understand… the history of the natural world and how [it]….works, with observable physical evidence as the basis of that understanding.”

Bruce Railsback

"Science is... one of the great human endeavors to be ranked with arts and religion as the guide and expression of man's fearless quest for truth."

Sir Richard Arman Gregory

Everyone needs basic knowledge of science

people who don’t understand science often reject it in favor of ancient practices, their feelings, or pseudoscience

People sometimes refuse science-based medicine without understanding how it differs from non-scientific or traditional medical practices

 potentially life--threatening misunderstandings

Homeopathy: there is no medicine in homeopathic medications

Vaccine refusal: vaccinations have prevented many thousands of child deaths from disease, and are not associated with autism or other conditions

 rates of vaccine-preventable disease are increasing in parts of the US, with possibly fatal results

Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis vs. DTap Vaccine

DISEASE

Diphtheria Death: 1 in 20

Tetanus Death: 2 in 10

Pertussis Pneumonia: 1 in 8 Encephalitis: 1 in 20 Death: 1 in 1,500

VACCINES DTaP Continuous crying, then full recovery: 1 in 1000

Convulsions or shock, then full recovery: 1 in 14,000

Acute encephalopathy: 0- 10.5 in 1,000,000

Death: None proven

 Acupuncture: scientific studies show ‘sham acupuncture’ is generally as effective as actual acupuncture

 Rejection of facts: People ignore or suppress science-based estimates of sea level rise because they don’t like the uncomfortable scientific facts and conclude that therefore they must be incorrect

 Human civilization right now faces some of the greatest challenges to our survival that we have ever faced

non-scientists need to understand basic science, and can help by seeing that scientific solutions are accepted and implemented

Characteristics of science

 Science is both a body of knowledge and the process by which that knowledge is acquired

http://www.theguardian.com/global

-development/2013/jan/21/african-

scientists-engineers-rise-shine

Science is evidence-based

 It can’t be changed because of people’s feelings, preferences, beliefs, intuition, etc.

Science does not try to support pre- determined positions, but is open to all evidence

 The methods, tests, and reasoning used by scientists should be completely open, explicit, and transparent

 Science is the foundation of civilization and an important part of what separates humans from animals

 Science defines and investigates the critical challenges to human existence and their solutions

 Science expands our horizons in many ways

Science provides great, beautiful, inspiring, and thought-provoking experiences

The dwarf planet Pluto taken earlier this summer

 Science helps people understand our place in the universe and what else the universe has to offer

 Science is an ongoing global human endeavor with important contributions from all time periods and all societies

A brief history of science

 Ancient people studied questions in biology,

medicine, astronomy, physics

 they did not separate science from other belief systems

 explanations of natural phenomena included elements of mythology, theology, philosophy

Classical Greeks like Aristotle began to develop science as a way of understanding nature

 they made observations and did experiments, especially "thought experiments“ to answer questions about how the world worked

The Antikythira Calculator

 they wrote textbooks on medicine, physics, and agriculture

 in the 4th to 15th centuries, science stagnated in Europe

 people still relied on the ancients for their understanding of nature

 authority figures like Aristotle, Galen, and Dioscorides were studied

 people did not make observations or do experiments; little growth in scientific knowledge

 in the 8th to 13th centuries Arab scientists made enormous progress in medicine, astronomy, chemistry, and math, which was eventually shared with Europeans

Not until the Renaissance did Europeans realize that they could contribute to science, rather than repeat ancient ideas

 demonstration of blood flow by Dr. William Harvey, 1628

 Galileo is considered the "first scientist" because he developed the scientific method

 new methodology and improvements in science technology and communication resulted in the scientific revolution

NASA Galileo video

 The scientific revolution changed how people thought

 They began to take a more rationalistic, mechanistic view of how life and the universe worked – things happen for understandable reasons

 it improved lives through medical advances, progress in agriculture and food distribution, and the creation of new products

plow printing press

 The scientific method seems obvious now, but Europeans prior to Galileo did not use it

 Copernicus, famous for his hypothesis that the Earth moves around the sun, did not test his hypothesis with observations, although he could have easily done so

 his ideas made sense and seemed correct

 simplified calculations needed to predict the positions of the planets

 The Royal Society of England (1660)

 first scientific organization

 members published research, exchanged ideas, formed the first community of scientists

 rate of scientific progress increased when scientists could criticize and build upon each other's work light

 members were doctors, bankers or businessmen who were curious about nature and enjoyed doing science in their spare time

 Today, science is usually done by professionals paid by state or federal funds, or by corporations, to do research

 applied research is done to achieve a specific goal, like a better way to control pests or treat diseases

 basic research answers questions about the natural world which interest the scientist

Checks built into the system of science funding and publication ensure quality work

 scientists compete for funding, and must convince other scientists that their question is important and their methods are good

 scientists must publish their work

 Publications are peer-reviewed: before publishing an experiment, the experimental design and results are checked by other scientists

 this prevents shoddy or unprofessional work from being published

KEY POINT

European interest/ability in science has changed throughout history.

How does science work?

 Assumptions

 things we believe, but cannot really prove

 help us understand the world

 Natural Causality: things happening on earth have a natural cause, and can be understood scientifically and fit into known natural laws

 anything with a supernatural explanation is not a part of science

 Uniformity in Space and Time: natural laws and processes we observe here and now are not different than those in other times or places

 biology is based on chemistry and physics

 principles of those sciences cannot be violated in biological systems

Assumptions change over time; medieval Europeans would not have the same assumptions that we do

 Scientific Method

 a general set of activities which can be applied to many types of questions

 Steps in the Scientific Method

 ask a question or make an observation

 do background research in peer-reviewed journals to see what others have discovered

 develop one or more hypotheses, possible answers to the question or explanations for the observation

 make a prediction based on your hypothesis

 this takes the form of an if/then statement: if a certain condition is provided, then you can expect a certain result

 test the prediction, often by designing an experiment

 use the data generated by your experiment to draw a conclusion: was your hypothesis falsified or supported by your experiment?

 if your hypothesis was falsified, revise it and repeat the procedure

Example: Why aren’t

small plants growing

under these pine trees?

Not every idea qualifies as a scientific hypothesis

 hypotheses MUST be testable and falsifiable

 no hypothesis involving magic or supernatural forces will be accepted by a scientist

 Nothing that is true by definition or as a matter of faith qualifies as a scientific hypothesis

SHM Review Questions (1).docx

Science History and Methods Review Questions Use these to review before exams. For extra credit, turn in handwritten answers to the questions, at least one paragraph per question written in proper English spelling and grammar. You can get up to 5 extra credit points total per exam, one for each correct answer. You may turn in as many questions as you want, however. The questions you turn in can be mixed and matched from any of the units covered on each exam. Please indicate clearly which topic and question number each answer refers to. You do not have to copy the question in your answer.

1. How does Dr. Harvey’s demonstration of blood flow illustrate the change in Europeans’ understanding of and relationship to science?

2. Develop a testable hypothesis to explain the observation that some people sweat more than others (with similar amounts of exercise). Form a prediction and design an experiment, with controls, to test your hypothesis. Remember to keep your hypothesis simple and to test only one variable. Be sure you clearly state your hypothesis and prediction, and describe your experiment including dependent, independent, and standardized variables.