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NS 1011B: Introduction to Biology: Cells and Organisms

Spring '08 Syllabus

Week 2 Schedule

January 28-February 1

Homework This Week:

For Monday, Jan. 28
Read the following two articles from Scientific American (Click on the links or get them from the library):
Shermer, Michael: "Baloney Detection", Scientific American, Vol. 285, Issue 5, p. 36, Nov. 2001.
Shermer, Michael: "More Baloney Detection", Scientific American, Vol. 285, Issue 6, p. 36, Dec. 2001.

Answer the following question (also available as a Word document in the class shared folder):

Many supposedly scientific claims are made in both the news and in advertising.  Using Michael Shermer's categories for evaluating claims, choose one of the examples below and state whether you think it is science or "pseudoscience", and explain why.

1. A doctor claims that she can cure a patient of arthritis by simply massaging the affected joints.  If she has the patient's complete trust, she can cure the arthritis within a year.  Several of her patients have testified that the doctor has cured their arthritis.
2. An alternative health practitioner claims that a nuclear power plant releases radiation at a level so low that it cannot be measured, but that this radiation is harmful to the thyroid gland.  He sells a thyroid extract that he claims can fix the problem.
3. A deadly livestock virus outbreak in Belgium and the Netherlands seems to have come from Africa rather than from southern Europe as scientists had previously thought.  Genetic testing shows the virus now in northern Europe is more similar to African strains, although it is unclear how it got to northern Europe from Africa.

Read ch. 1.1-1.4, 1.9, pages 1-7, 14-18.

Answer the following questions (also available as a Word document in the class shared folder):

1. How many kingdoms do biologists divide life into, and what are they?
    

2. What are the major properties that all life shares?
    

3. For each of the above properties, list at least two non-living things which have that property.
    

4. Do any non-living things have all of the listed properties of life?
    

5. List the levels of organization of life, from smallest to largest.
    

6. What are the six major biological themes (major ideas which underly the study of biology)?

For Wednesday, Jan. 30
Read ch. 3.1-3.3, pages 41-49.

Answer the following questions (also available as a Word document in the class shared folder):

1. Draw a simple diagram of an atom.  Label all its parts.
    
2. An atom has six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons.  What is its atomic number?  What is its atomic mass?
    
3. Where are the electrons found in an atom?
    
4. What is the maximum number of electrons which can fit in the second energy level?
    
5. Why does one atom react with another atom?
    
6. What is the difference between a sodium atom and a sodium ion?  A chlorine atom and a chloride ion?
    
7. What makes a carbon-12 isotope different from a carbon-14 isotope?
    
8. How do atoms form ionic bonds?
    
9. How do atoms form covalent bonds?
    
10. What is the difference between atoms and molecules?

For Thursday, Jan. 31
"Practicing Scientific Inquiry: Developing Hypotheses" due

For Friday, Feb. 1
Read ch. 3.4-3.5, pages 50-53.

Answer the following questions (also available as a Word document in the class shared folder):

1. What does it mean for a molecule to be polar?
    
2. Draw a diagram of hydrogen bonds between water molecules.
    
3. Make a list of the properties of water.
    
4. For each property on your list, explain why that property is important for life.
    
5. Do you think life could evolve without water?
    
6. Name something in your own experience which you think is acidic, and something you think is basic.
    
7. Look at figure 3.16 on page 53.  Your cells release carbon dioxide into the blood as they break down food, and that carbon dioxide is released into the air at your lungs.  Where do you think the blood is more acidic: near your cells as it flows through the body, or in the lungs where carbon dioxide is being exchanged for oxygen?

For Monday, Feb. 4
Read ch. 3.6-3.7, pages 54-60.

Answer the following questions (also available as a Word document in the class shared folder):

1. Label the functional group(s) on the following molecules:
   a.      H H                b.        H  O-H
            | |                            |  |
        H-C-C-O-H                  H-N-C-C=O
            | |                               |  |
           H H                               H  O-H
    
2. What does the prefix "macro-" mean?  What are macromolecules?
    
3. Could the two molecules above be joined by dehydration synthesis?  If so, where would the new bond be?  If not, why not?
    
4. How many different amino acids are there?  What makes one different from another?
    
5. Why are chains of amino acids called polypeptides?
    
6. What are the four levels of protein structure?
    
7. Give at least three examples of different functions of proteins.

Vocabulary This Week:

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