What's A Species?

A species is a group of individuals that resemble one anotehr and mate freely in nature.

• For example: Liger...tigers and lions are different species because they live in different environments and do not mate freely in nature

How to speciate them

1. Habitat isolation (living environment)
2. Temporal isolation (time isolation=mating)
3. Behavioral isolation (little to no male and female sexual attraction)
4. Mechanical isolation (structural differences prevent copulation or pollen transfer;sex)
5. Gametic isolation (female/male gametes fail to attract each other)
6. Reduced hybrid viability (hybrid zygotes fail to develop or fail to reach sexual maturity)
7. Reduced hybrid fertility (hybrids fail to produce functional gametes; dead sperms)
8. Hybrid breakdown (offspring of hybrids have reduced viability or fertility)

How Does Evolution Work?

There are 3 forms of Evolution: Sympatric,Allopatric, and Parapatric.

Sympatric is when two populations have a large overlap. This is the slowest form of evolution due to the genes mixing.

Allopatric is when two populations are isolated. This is the most rapid form of evolution due to the genes being isolated.

As for parapatric...well let's just say it's when two populations barely overlap. This is the more steady form of evolution.

Coooool Comparison & Interesting Facts

Book (Genome)
1. Chapters (Chromosomes...23 pairs=46)
2. Paragraphs (Genes...20,000-30,000)
3. Sentences (Gene Splicing ... combining pieces of chromosomes)
4. Words ( 3-base Pairs...codon)
5. Letters (A-T...C-G)

• Gene is information that instructs the protein to make the traits
• A genes is a set of instructions that tells your body which traits you should have (you get them from your parents)
• Genes are a part of DNA
• RNA makes Amino Acids which make Proteins
• DNA has a lot of different vocabulary words that mean the same thing.
  
• Total genetic complement is the genome
• Another word for a mutation is cancer.

1. not all mutations are cancer
2. a cell that mutated in DNA is called a tumor

• Some cancers are genetically transmissive
• Reproduction of cells happen in your bone marrow
  

Is intelligence something that you can inherent? How much of "you" is influenced by your environment and how much is controlled by your genes?

What is so special about the DNA of a Red blood Cell? And how is its specialty adapted to it's function?

Hmmm! The special part about the DNA of a red blood cell is that there isn't one! This is possible because the red blood cell doesn't contain a nuclei. During a phase called maturism the nuclei is removed from the cells. Because the nuclei contains the DNA the cell then has no DNA :(!

September 30th, 2008

What is a gene? How does it work? How is it controlled?

Genes are coded DNA instructions that control the production of proteins within the cell. To the DNA, genes are like our brain. The brain tells our body what to do whereas genes tell the DNA what to do.

What is Science?

Simply said!
Science is the everyday questions we ask ourselves! For example: Why is the sky blue? However, it's only science when you take the time to actually answer these questions. Thanks to Mr.Pope (my Biology teacher) I can tell you two different ways to answer a science question. You have S.W.A.G and then you have W.A.G. S.w.a.g stands for Scientific Wild Ass Guess and W.a.g stands for Wild Ass Guess. You always have to keep your swagga up so I advise you to use S.W.A.G. Even after taking your scientific guess, your guess (or hypothesis) must be tested. You test your reasoning by performing an experiment. In this experiment you should have an independent variable, dependent variable, and a control. We'll get more into the details when i describe to you all the different ways to run experiments! The question still remains, "what is science". Science is getting an understanding of life through mathematical measurements. As you continue to visit my blog you'll be provided with more knowledge that will add on to this information.
Stay tuned!! :P