BIS 10: Unit 1 Learning Goals

List the primary elements that serve as building blocks of life

- Carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen - Acronym to help you remember: N-CHOPS

Distinguish between correlation and causation

- Correlation demonstrates a positive or a negative relationship between two variables. - Causation describes what causes mechanisms. Correlation does NOT equal causation!

Describe the differences between covalent and ionic bonds, and how these bonds depend on the organization of electrons in atoms

- Covalent bonds occur when two or more atoms share electrons. - In ionic bonds, atoms gain or lose electrons.

Define emergence, and describe its importance in biology

- Emergence, aka self-organization, are complicated behaviors and patterns that often emerge from simple underlying rules. - Examples: many cells forming a heart beat, school of fish swimming together, flock of birds that fly together, many lipids forming a membrane, how brain process information.

Explain the process and reasoning behind "falsification"

- Getting rid of wrong hypotheses helps narrow down which ones could be correct. 1. Pose competing hypotheses to potentially explain an observation. 2. Predict what will happen if you test each hypothesis. 3. Design rigorous experiments to test each hypothesis and analyze the results. 4. Decide whether results support or refute each hypothesis. - This process continues until one hypothesis is the "last hypothesis standing."

List the classes of molecules that act as building of biological systems, and describe their roles in biology

- Amino acids -> build proteins - Monosaccharides -> build carbohydrates. - Fatty acids and glycerol -> lipids. - Nucleotides -> make nucleic acids.

Summarize general characteristics of the primary domains/major kingdoms

- Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya (plants, animals, fungi) - Multicellular organisms - Molecules

Compare and contrast basic and applied research

- Basic Research: General research that expands the fundamental knowledge base of science; is often funded by the federal government and is intended to expand the fundamental knowledge base of science. - Applied Research: seeks to answer a question in the real world to solve a problem

Describe the properties of carbon that make it well-suited to be a chemical building block of life

- Has 4 valence electrons so it can form many long complicated bonds - Carbon likes to make four bonds - Quality of carbon: small size (radius) and unique electron configuration (molecular glue) - Stable bonds with hydrogen and oxygen - Small size

Distinguish between and provide real world examples of inductive and deductive reasoning

- Inductive reasoning looks at data and and then draws conclusions from this data. It is used to discover relationships and generate predictions. Ex: My roommate drinks 5 hour energy and gets all A's. My classmate drinks 5 hour energy and gets all A's. My TA drinks 5 hour energy and gets all A's. I am starting to see a pattern here. - Deductive reasoning is a top-down approach that test a theory or build conclusions using rules of logic. Ex: If A then B. If B then C. Therefore, if A then C. Hey Ex: If David Blaine is lifting himself with a device under his feet, then a rod passed under his feet will hit something. We pass a rod under his feet, but it does not hit anything. David Blaine is not lifting himself with a device under his feet.

Describe what the "Big Tree" tells us about the relationships between different species

- Look at #19 - Based on whatever organisms are closest/near each other on the "Big tree," we can see how two organisms may share a common ancestor and how closely related they are in regards to DNA. The closer they are, the more in common they will have. - Three domains of life, not two: Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya

Distinguish between science and pseudoscience

- Pseudoscience is often based on phenomena that cannot be seen or measured and generates vague questions that are often contrary to well-documented facts and theories of the physical and natural world. The predictions of pseudoscience are often nonspecific or unquantifiable, and any results are typically not repeatable and are followed by overstated conclusions. - Pseudoscience is an explanation that CANNOT be falsifiable - Science is the opposite of pseudoscience.

Briefly describe how science is funded and distributed

- Science is funded through the government. - These grants are distributed based on why they think they deserve it and the government peer reviews them to see who gets the grant. - In other words, scientists write grants about why they should receive funding, which includes their own creative thinking and practical information. Panels of other scientists review these grants and chose the most meritorious proposals. The most meritorious proposals gets funding from the government.

Distinguish between a theory and a hypothesis

- Theory is a well-supported hypothesis (has never been falsified). - A hypothesis is tentative explanation for observed phenomenon (falsifiable).

Describe the properties of water that make it a central molecule for life

- Water is the best solvent, meaning that it dissolves things well. - It has capillary action - in other words, it is adhesive. - It has a large liquid range; stays in liquid state over a large range of temperatures - Water can form an acid and a base. - High heat capacity - Life depends on water.

Explain how homology exists at multiple levels

- We can only compare homologous "things" - parts of animals and plants - parts of cells and molecular structures - genes and proteins - nucleotides and amino acid positions in genes and proteins - There are many levels of Homology, genes and proteins being the smallest.

Describe what makes a good hypothesis

- tentative explanation for observed phenomenon prediction based on past experience - must be testable - can be refuted or falsified (yet not "proven")

Identify the steps in the scientific method

1. Observe and ask questions about the natural world. 2. Suggest a hypothesis to explain your observations and questions. 3. Generate predictions to test your hypothesis. 4. Design tests of the predictions of your hypothesis (test by observing or measuring; test by designing and running experiments). 5. Analyze the results. 6. Accept, reject, or modify your hypothesis, predictions, or test according to the results / Communicate your results to fellow scientists for their review and input.

Explain how evolutionary relationships amongst forms of life are determined

All organisms evolved from a common ancestor. Closeness of branches on biological tree determines how closely related organisms are. Can test DNA to see closeness.

Contrast the differences between (and provide examples of) homology and analogy

Homology is when there are shared traits with other animals because of common ancestry, while analogy is when species are far from having common ancestors but still look alike- analogous similarities are due to similar environmental pressures.

Describe the basic requirements for a controlled experiment

Measures the value of the dependent variable for two groups of subjects that are comparable in all respects, except that one group is exposed to a change in the independent variable and the other group is not.

Explain how the concept of homology is integral to the study of biology and medicine

Organisms with common ancestors are often composed of similar parts. This is why we can study fruit flies and yeast to help treat human diseases.

Define polar and nonpolar molecules, and explain the hydrophobic effect

Polar: - Water is polar - Oxygen tends to create polar molecules Nonpolar: - Non polar substances disrupt hydrogen bonds between water. - Methane is nonpolar - Carbon and hydrogen tend to create nonpolar molecules Hydrophilic: - Sugars are polar and water is soluble or hydrophilic Hydrophobic: - Grease is nonpolar and neither water soluble nor hydrophobic - Wax is hydrophobic and doesn't mix with water. - Drives self-organization of membranes and protein folding

Describe how polymerization creates diversity and allows storage of information in biology

Polymerization: - individual molecules assemble into long chains - by joining a small number of different monomers together in different orders, polymerization can create a vast diversity of DNA molecules monomer + monomer = polymer

Describe how organisms are systematically classified according to their relatedness (Kingdom, species, etc.)

The domains are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. The kingdoms are Archaebacteria (ancient bacteria), Eubacteria (true bacteria), Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.