#7 List of Research Questions/Problems (freewrite, 5-5-5 minutes)

You have read in The Craft of Research the importance up with questions and problems related to your research topic. You should also look at the Research Exercise noted on the syllabus before doing this freewrite. Using the three topics you expanded above, create a new document and type the three topic names into a new document. For each topic, come up with as many pressing questions/problems that you think remain unanswered/unsolved. Spend five minutes on each one (set the timer for each one so you don't have to keep looking at the clock).

1. Chesapeake bay declining water quality
What can we do to improve populations of oysters, blue crabs?
What can we do to reduce pollution from industrial and farming industries?
What can we do to restore surrounding terrain?

2. Dinosaur relation to birds – feathers

Why is melanosome observation important in finding relationships between birds and dinosaurs?
What evolutionary changes did dinosaurs go through to become modern birds?

3. Deep sea vent colonies survive without solar power
Why is it important to know about ecosystems that are independent of solar energy?
How does life survive in such extreme conditions?
What adaptations are necessary to live in extreme conditions?
How can we apply this knowledge to learn about possible alien life that does not require solar power?
How can we apply this knowledge to learn about possible alien life that lives in extreme conditions?

#6 Refined List of Research Topics (freewrite, 5-5-5 minutes)

Select three topics from the list you created and write them/type them into a new document. Write everything you know already about each topic without doing further research in advance. Spend five minutes on each one (set the timer for each one so you don't have to keep looking at the clock).

1. Chesapeake bay declining water quality
Decline in blue crabs
Decline in fauna
Decline in oyster reefs and oysters
Farming fertilizier run off and industrial pollution
Excess nitrogen due to industrial industries
Terrains surrounding bay acts as filter

2. Dinosaur relation to birds – feathers

Dinosaur feathers possible simple version of modern bird feathers
Color pigment, melanosomes, found in both
Bird and dinosaur bone structure


3. Deep sea vent colonies survive without solar power

Independent of solar power
Has large ecosystem
Can tolerate extreme temperature changes
Tube worm colonies form on hydrothermal vents
Fish and crabs live on vest
Extreme cold waters with high pressure, but vents are extremely hot
Utilize methane
Vents do not last long, colonies must move

#5 List of Research Topics (freewrite, 5 minutes)

Brainstorm a list of topics for your major research project. Think about articles you've read, your advanced courses in your major, things you are interesting in exploring further.

1. Chesapeake bay declining water quality
2. Dinosaur relation to birds -- feathers
3. Deep sea vent colonies survive without solar power

#4 Current Major and Career Goals (freewrite, 10 minutes)

What are your current career goals? Why are these your goals? How will you get there? Write about your current major(s) and minor(s). How do these fit into your plans? Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years (career and otherwise)?

My short term goal is to finish this semester so that I can take 1 more class in the summer and finally get my degree. Ive been in school for a whiel andi took a break to decide what I really want to do. During the break I did not totally stop going to school, but instead just reduced the amount of credit I was taking. Now im done breaking and im back in school ful time and I still don’t know what I want to do, but I know that I want to finish. My career goals are unclear at the moment. I am considering physical therapy schooling because my friends mom is a physical therapist and I think she enjoys her job. I have shadowed her at work a long time ago probably 5 years ago. It seemed like she had a lot of freedom and a low amount of stress at her job. It looks like a rewarding job that is stable ssince it is in the health field. I like how she can see results in her work. She often sees her patients recover and this is probably motivational to her. Another career goal I have is to work with nature. I like nature a lot so it would be nice to work outside somewhere in the mountains or forest. I am attracted to mountain landscapes. They look very peaceful. I like the colors you can find in mountainous areas. The earth tones are very calming. My other career goal is to become a guitarist. I love music. Its very important to me. I always listen to music every single day all day. Steve vai is a big influence to me Im not sure whether this is a career goal or just a hobby because it can be very ahrd supporting yourself in the music industry. I also love fashion. Im interested in vintage workwear, military, and mountaineering/hiking style clothes. I like the aesthetics behind it and how the cltohes are so tough and full of character. They do not have to look pristine at all, if you wear out the clothes its even better you can patch up holes with anything laying around. If a button falls off you can replace it with another button that is a different color and it would still be cool. I don’t know how to get started in this field at all.

#3 One Significant Person or Significant Event freewrites and expand it (freewrite, 10 minutes)

Choose one person or event from the previous freewrites and expand the information and details about this subject. Try to remember every single concrete detail as if you were a video camera to the past. Try to remember how everything felt and any connections you make/made or epiphanies, even if these occurred after the fact--even much later, perhaps!

I will choose my mom from the previous assignment as the person ill write aobut. She always reminds me to do my homework and it can get annoying. However in recent years probably about 5-6 years now she doesn’t tell me anything but I remember when I was in elementary and middle school she use to remind me to do homework often. I remember one time I was forced to do some extra homework that wasn tnecessary for school just extra practice and I hated it so much I just sat there playing with the eraser and after a while the eraser was really worn down because I kept breaking it into pieces and throwing it everywhere. I used to have to complete extra homework assigned by my mom before second grade after that I just did the school work that was assigned by school. I think that helped me because early in my school years when the material was simple I was able to pick up that information fast. Now it hink school is getting harder and harder but I still try hard to do my work. Everyone has responsibilities. When you go to school you have to study and do your work. When you go to work you have to do the work your boss assigns. Eventhough you may not like doing these things they are necessary. For example, you have to go to work even if you don’t like it because you need the money to support yourself or your family. Nothing is free. I thik that there are exhcnages you must make. If you play a lot in high school and don’t do anything then you probably will suffer for it in the future with a bad job. if you work hard now in school, then hopefully you will have more choices and a better job. Ideally this is what everyone thinks happens, but a lot of times reality is different than this. Eventhough you go to school and did your part, you may not get a good job or everything you want. That’s why I think everyone should just try their best and be a nice person and hopefully good things will happen. Not everything goes the way you want in life you just have to make the most of it and be kind to everyone.

#2A Three Significant People (freewrite, 10 minutes)

Write about three people who have had an important impact on your current career goals. Think about people from deep in your past, not just people in your current sphere or from the past couple of years. Be as descriptive as possible. Don't just write about these people generally but describe them in vivid detail--what are their gestures, what do they look like, what environment do you remember them in?

I think that my mom has had an important impact on my career goals. She always wanted me to be a doctor eventhough im not interested. Maybe later, but as of now I don’t care for that. Anyways, I always felt that science was the most interesting subject ins chool. I really like nature and wildlife.i like the way moutnians look. My mom is of average height. She has light skin. Its very pale. And she has blackish brown hair. I think that she has a bunch of grey hairs. She often dyes the grey hairs. Personally I don’t think that’s cool.i lik the way grey hairs look. They look cool. Its hard to tink of other people who have had an important impact on my career goal because I don’t really feel like I know exactly what I am doing right now. Another person who had an impact on me was my friends mother. She’s very smart and she is a physical therapist. I am looking into becoming a physical therapist. It looks like an interesting job. Her name is belkis Negron. Belkis is short and somewhat chubby. She has long hair that is light brown. I think this may de dyed hair too. I think her real hair color is a little darker. I have known her for a long time I like to talk to her about career paths and choices because she is smart. I don’t know hwo else has had an impact on me. I am trying to think right now. i think that most of my choices have no direction I need to find out what I really want to do. There is not really any significant people who greatly influenced what I want to do. Although this is so, I always like to hear everyones opinions and take it into consideration because I don’t want to close myself to possibilities.i want to get all the advice I can get so that I can make the best choice. I think I want to be more clear on what I want to do. I hope that I can find something that I enjoy to do in the future. But sometimes I think life is unknown u never know what will happen in the future

#1 Earliest Memory (freewrite, 10 minutes)

How far back can you remember? What is your earliest memory? This may involve something that happened--an event--or it may merely be a sensory impression. Write about this earliest memory--as you write other early memories--perhaps even earlier ones will come up--write about those too, in vivid, descriptive language.

My earliest memory is not clear to me right now. I will think of something soon. Lets see. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I rmemeber nothing I remember a vacation. i remember my first day of school. I was wearing yellow pants and my mom took a picture of me before we left. I went to school and the classroom was bright and my teachers were there. There were three teacher in kindergarten. I don’t remember any of their names. One teacher wore light blue overalls and possibly a white turtleneck sweater underneath. She had long sholder length blonde hair and bangs. I probably only remember this from viewing photos. Actually I stated earlier that I wore yellow pants. I don’t actually remember that but I remember viewing a photo of myself on the first day of school and I had yellow pants. I probably can only recall these events because of the photographs. i don’t really like to take photographs, there probably a huge gap between 10-now where I have no pictures taken or very few. I seriously think that only 5-6 pictures of me have been taken in the past 10-15 years. I dotn know if this is bad or good bu ti don’t really care right now. Another memory is when my mom took me to an office Christmas party. It was night time and we drove in an old red car. The office was kinda dark if I recall correctly. There was a clown who had a monkey at the party and he put my monkey on my shoulder. I was really botherd and probably scared but I don’t like to show anyone that im scared so I just stood there and pretended like I didn’t care. This probably took place in the late 80s or maybe early 90s but I know for a fact that I did not start school yet so this isdefinitely before 1991. The monkey was brown and one of those small monkeys

5. Video: Moth Blocks Bat Attack by Jamming Sonar

Source:

Leggett H. Wired [Internet]. Video: Moth Blocks Bat Attack by Jamming Sonar; 16 Jul 2009 [cited 2010 Jan 30]; [about 2 screen]. Available from: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/mothjam/#more-7406

Although the idea of sonar jamming has been around for a long time, significant finding have not been found until now. Bats “see” by using echolocation, however, there are certain moth species that can produce clicking sounds that interfere with a bat’s echolocation ability. A test was conducted in a flight room using a moth on a string and a bat trained to hunt prey in the room. The bat was not able to locate the moth as long as it was clicking. Scientist pierced the sound producing structure in the moth and the bat was quickly able to locate and devour the moth. Other possibilities besides sonar jamming have been ruled out because the particular moth used, B. trigona, is not poisonous, thus, the clicking could not result as a warning. Furthermore, the bats used in this experiment have not been conditioned to know that clicking moths means poisonous or bad taste. B. trigona makes 4500 clicks per second. This constant clicking is necessary because it increases the chance for a click to interfere with the bat’s echolocation mechanism. These results were established in a lab setting, thus, more experiments need to be conducted in a real setting to further assess the findings.

4. Slime Mold Proves to Be a Brainy Blob

Source:

Fountain H. Slime Mold Proves to Be a Brainy Blob. The New York Times [Internet]. 2010 Jan 25 [cited 2010 Jan 30]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/science/26obmold.html?ref=science

Research on slime molds show that they are very efficient and build similar networks like those seen in the Tokyo railway system. Although a slime mold is a relatively simple organism, it is very efficient at processing food. Furthermore, it has high levels of information processing abilities. It functions by spreading out over a mass and forming tubes from the food sources to itself. Using this model, researchers laid out bits of food which represent cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area and placed the actual slime mold itself in the location of Tokyo. The slime mold was able to build a network of tubes that connects itself to all the food pieces. The pattern of connections the slime mold built resembles the pattern seen in the Tokyo railway system. The Tokyo railway system took years to build, but the slime mold took only about a day. The slime mold also tolerated breaks in the tube system like those seen in the Tokyo railway system. This finding can help build models for other railway networks and other networks such as mobile communication systems.

3. Study Offers an Insight Into Dinosaur Colors

Source:

Zimmer C. Study Offers an Insight Into Dinosaur Colors. The New York Times [Internet]. 2010 Jan 27 [cited 2010 Jan 30]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/science/28dino.html?ref=science

Evidence from a study has found possible coloring for dinosaurs. Pictures of Dinosaurs usually are colored, however, these colors are usually dependent on the artist's interpretation. Actual colors of dinosaurs are not known. Dinosaur fossils consist of bones, small traces of skin and possibly “feather”. Michael Benton from the University of Bristol conducted a study on dinosaur feathers and found that dinosaur “feathers” were very similar to bird feathers. This research was based on an earlier work on fossilized ink sacks in squid which match modern squid ink sacks melanosomes. Melanosomes are responsible for color in feather, thus, the researchers observed the melanosomes in the dinosaur feather fossils and modern bird feather fossils to gain clues about dinosaur colors. The relationship between dinosaurs and birds is a hot topic that stems from research from the 1970’s. There are many paleontologist who argue that dinosaurs have simple feather structures which are the precursor to modern bird feathers. However, there are many skeptics that do not accept this argument. Observing the melanosomes on the tail feathers of Sinornithosaurus, scientist found two different melanosomes that correlate to grayish black colors and reddish colors. Although this is an interesting new finding, nothing was published because the data was insufficient due to the amount of samples available.

2. New Mosquito Repellant beats DEET

Source:

Rowe A. Wired [Internet]. Wired Science. New Mosquito Repellant beats DEET; 19 Aug 2009 [cited 2010 Jan 30]; [about 2 screen]. Available from: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/deetstreet/

A new chemical was found as a possible replacement for DEET. This new chemical is named N- Acylpiperidines and it has repelling properties that are four times greater than DEET. Pest repellant is important for developing countries and for military soldiers stationed in areas where pest control is a problem. DEET may be a possible health hazard when applied because it has similar properties to nerve gas. However, this finding was only conducted on unprotected cells in a laboratory. Real life application on the human body may be different. The new chemical is a component of spicy peppers and is what gives peppers its spicy taste. Although it is derived from peppers, it does not share the same aroma. The discovery of N- Acylpiperidines properties resulted from a test of 23 chemicals that have mosquito repellant properties. Volunteers’ arms were dabbed with each chemical and placed into a cage containing 500 mosquitoes. The results of the experiment show that N-Acylpiperidines protected for 73 days compared to DEET which protected for only 17 days. N-Acylpiperidines will not be available for purchase because it has only been tested on one type of mosquito, but further test will be done to determine its effects on other pest.

1. Physical activity Associated with Healthier Aging: Links between Exercise and Cognitive function, Bone Density, and Overall Health

Source:

ScienceDaily. Science News [Internet]. Physical Activity Associated With Healthier Aging: Links Between Exercise and Cognitive Function, Bone Density and Overall Health; 30 Jan 2010 [cited 2010 Jan 30]; [about 3 screens]. Available from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125172946.htm

This article examines a variety of health benefits gained through exercise. Physical activity can improve common problems associated with aging such as “arthritis, falls and fractures, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity”. The key point is that physical activity not only prolongs life, but it actually improves the quality of life. It was found that exercising in midlife years is directly related to improved health in old age. Data was analyzed using women in their 60’s who survived past 70. The amount of exercise done by women in the experiment correlates to a lower rate of problems associated with aging. Resistance training was also found to improve cognitive skills of older women. Those who performed resistance training once or twice a week found a higher increase in cognitive skills than the control group who only performed balance and tone training. This may be related to another study conducted in Germany which showed that moderate levels of activity can also increase cognitive skills. Participants in this study had cognitive impairment that was improved through moderate amount of physical activity. Another study in Germany assessed bone density and lower fall rates. This study found that those who participated in regular physical activity had denser bones in their spines and hips than those who were in the control group. Furthermore, the amount of fractures resulting from falls was twice as likely to occur in the control group compared to the group with denser bones.

Scholar's Autobiography

Unfortunately, I don't think that I am a good researcher and writer. To be honest, I think I spend more time than other people on writing because I often don't know what to write. I am familiar with ways to utilize the library resources due to my experiences in previous classes. Although writing is not one of my strengths, I can always complete what is assigned to me.

According to the learning style short survey, I scored very high in the Naturalistic and Musical categories and very low in the Visual-Spatial and Verbal-Linguistic categories.

I am successful on an assignment when the instructions are clear and precise. I like to know exactly what is required to complete the assignment.

FIRST POST

This is my first time using a blog. I usually do not write anything unless it's required for a class. After this semester, I need to take one more class in the summer before I can obtain my Biology BS degree. I enjoy playing the guitar when I have free time. Steve Vai is a big influence on my playing style. Here is his picture:





If you want to know more about Steve Vai, check out his wikipedia page here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Vai