Unit 1 Bio

Questions and Answers

• What is Science?

The process of using observation and experimentation to explain natural phenomena

• Describe all of the steps of the scientific method and the sequence to those steps

The steps are: observation/question background reading hypothesis data collection data analysis and conclusion

• Be able to form multiple hypotheses for a question

A question like "Why do plants grow faster in sunlight?" could have hypotheses like: "Plants grow faster in sunlight because they get more energy for photosynthesis

• Describe an example of a bad hypothesis

"Plants grow faster because of magic." This is a bad hypothesis because it's not testable or falsifiable

• What should scientists always try to avoid when collecting and analyzing data?

Scientists should always avoid bias

• What should scientists do after supporting or rejecting a hypothesis (i.e. after they make a conclusion)?

After supporting or rejecting a hypothesis a scientist should share their findings with the scientific community and repeat the experiment to ensure the results are replicable

• Does science reach truth or proof? Why or why not?

Science doesn't reach absolute truth or proof. It provides evidence to support or reject hypotheses but new evidence can always change our understanding

• Can science answer everything? If no what can’t it answer?

No science can't answer everything. It can't answer questions about morality religion or art because these are not testable or falsifiable

• Describe how the discoveries of invisible light feathers on dinosaurs and the cause of the black death provide examples of phenomena moving from the unobservable universe to the observable universe. How does this relate to the practice of science?

Initially these were unobservable phenomena. The development of technology (like infrared cameras for invisible light) and new scientific methods (like studying fossils for feathers on dinosaurs or microscopes to identify the Black Death's cause) allowed them to be observed and studied scientifically showing that science is always expanding its observable universe

• What does it mean to say that science only involves things that are testable and falsifiable?

Testable means you can design an experiment to check it. Falsifiable means it's possible to prove it wrong

• What does it mean to say that observations must be replicable to qualify as science?

Replicable means that other scientists following the same methods should be able to get the same results. This ensures the findings aren't due to chance or error

• Describe the concept of spontaneous generation and how this concept was falsified by science. You should be able to precisely describe the experiment performed by Francesco Redi include the specific set up and the results

Spontaneous generation was the idea that living things could arise from non-living matter. Francesco Redi falsified this with an experiment using jars of meat. He put meat in three jars: one open one sealed and one covered with mesh. Maggots appeared only in the open jar and on the mesh of the covered jar but not on the meat itself proving flies were needed to create maggots

• Describe the different kinds of data that scientists work with and be able to distinguish them

Scientists use qualitative data (descriptive like "the plant is green") and quantitative data (numerical like "the plant is 10 cm tall"). They also use descriptive/observational data (just observing without changing anything) and experimental data (data collected from a controlled experiment)

• Describe and be able to recognize independent and dependent variables in the context of an experiment and explain how they’re related to each other

The independent variable is the one the scientist changes. The dependent variable is what's measured in response. The dependent variable's value depends on the independent variable

• What’s the difference between a control treatment and experimental treatment?

An experimental treatment is the group that receives the variable being tested. The control treatment is the group that doesn't serving as a baseline for comparison

• What’s the difference between a control treatment and a controlled variable?

A control treatment is an experimental group used for comparison. A controlled variable is a factor that is kept the same across all treatments to ensure a fair test

• Describe all of the major elements of an experiment e.g. use Francesco Redi’s experiment as an example

The major elements are: question/observation (Where do maggots come from?) hypothesis (Maggots come from flies not meat) independent variable (The type of jar cover: open sealed or mesh) dependent variable (The presence of maggots on the meat) control treatment (The sealed jar) experimental treatments (The open jar and the mesh-covered jar) and controlled variables (The type of meat the location etc.)

• Compare and contrast a scientific hypothesis from a scientific theory and give examples of scientific theories in biology

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a narrow set of observations. A theory is a broad well-supported explanation for a wide range of phenomena. Examples of theories in biology are the theory of evolution and the cell theory

• State the six major Federal Government agencies used to fund scientific research in the United States

The six major agencies are: NSF (National Science Foundation) NIH (National Institutes of Health) Department of Defense Department of Energy NASA and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)

• Explain the basic process for how scientists receive funding for their research

Scientists write a grant proposal describing their research and its importance. This proposal is submitted to a funding agency which then has a panel of experts review and score it. Based on these scores the agency decides which proposals to fund

• Describe the different kinds of biases that can affect sciences specifically including the ones we discussed in lecture and how they might impact the accuracy of scientific results

Biases like confirmation bias (seeking out information that supports your belief) observer bias (seeing what you expect to see) and publication bias (journals preferring to publish positive results) can all distort the collection analysis and dissemination of scientific data leading to inaccurate conclusions

• Be able to explain how a scientific community can help to eliminate biases introduced by scientists

The scientific community helps by having other scientists replicate studies and through the peer-review process. This system of checks and balances forces scientists to be transparent and allows for independent verification of results

• Describe how scientific results are disseminated

Scientific results are typically disseminated through scientific conferences and peer-reviewed scientific journals and books

• Describe the peer-review process in publishing scientific results and be able to describe different scenarios

A scientist submits a manuscript to a journal editor who then sends it to several expert peers in the field. These peers review the paper for quality accuracy and originality and provide feedback to the editor. The editor then decides to either accept reject or request revisions from the author

• Describe the general structure of a scientific article (i.e. one published in a peer-review journal)

The general structure includes an abstract introduction materials and methods results discussion supplementary results/data and references/works cited

• Explain how the file drawer problem is addressed by replication studies

The file drawer problem is when studies with non-significant results aren't published. Replication studies help by re-doing experiments and publishing the results regardless of whether they support the original findings thus bringing these results out of the "file drawer"

• Describe a randomized double blind placebo control study and explain why scientists consider this the gold standard for clinical (health) experiments in humans

In a randomized double blind placebo control study subjects are randomly assigned to either receive the treatment or a placebo. Neither the subjects nor the researchers know who is in which group. This design is the gold standard because it minimizes bias from both the researcher and the subject and it accounts for the placebo effect

• Explain why sample size can affect the accuracy of research

A larger sample size is more likely to be representative of the entire population which makes the results more accurate and reliable. A small sample size might just be a fluke

• Be able to explain the different ways in which the Andrew Wakefield study linking vaccines and autism was fundamentally flawed as a scientific study

The Andrew Wakefield study was flawed because it had a very small non-random sample of only 12 children didn't have a control group and was not blinded. It also involved a serious conflict of interest. These flaws made the study unscientific and its conclusions invalid

• Science

a process of using observation and experimentation to explain natural phenomena

• Scientific method

the systematic process used to investigate and understand the natural world

• Observation / Question

the first step of the scientific method where a phenomenon is noticed and a question is formed about it

• Background reading / discussions

the step where a scientist researches what is already known about their question

• Hypothesis

a testable and falsifiable proposed explanation for an observation

• Data collection

the process of gathering information from an experiment or observation

• Data analysis

the process of interpreting and making sense of the collected data

• Conclusions

the final step where the hypothesis is either supported or rejected based on the data analysis

• The observable universe

everything that can be measured or detected by scientific instruments

• Infrared light

a type of invisible light with a longer wavelength than visible light

• Ultraviolet light

a type of invisible light with a shorter wavelength than visible light

• Testable

a statement that can be examined through an experiment

• Falsifiable

a statement that can be proven wrong

• Replicable

an experiment or observation that can be repeated by others with the same results

• Spontaneous generation

the now-disproven theory that living organisms could arise from non-living matter

• Qualitative data

descriptive data that is non-numerical like colors or textures

• Quantitative data

numerical data like measurements or counts

• Descriptive / observational data

data collected by observing a phenomenon without manipulating any variables

• Experimental data

data collected from a controlled experiment where variables are manipulated

• Independent variable

the variable that is intentionally changed by the scientist

• Dependent variable

the variable that is measured in response to the changes in the independent variable

• Control treatment

the group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment and is used for comparison

• Experimental treatment

the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested

• Controlled variable

a factor that is kept constant across all groups in an experiment

• Scientific theory

a broad explanation for a wide range of phenomena that has been extensively supported by evidence

• Bias

a prejudice or inclination that can affect the accuracy of scientific results

• NSF: National Science Foundation

a government agency that funds scientific research

• NIH: National Institutes of Health

a government agency that funds biomedical research

• Department of Defense

a government agency that funds research relevant to national security

• Department of Energy

a government agency that funds research on energy and related technologies

• NASA

a government agency that funds research on space and aeronautics

• USDA: United States Department of Agriculture

a government agency that funds research on food agriculture and natural resources

• Grants

funding provided to scientists to support their research projects

• Scientific community

the collective body of scientists who share and critique research

• Scientific conferences

meetings where scientists present their research findings to their peers

• Peer-reviewed scientific journals

publications where scientific articles are reviewed by experts before being published

• Peer-reviewed scientific books

books that have been reviewed by experts before publication

• Peer-review

the process of expert peers evaluating a scientific article before it is published

• Abstract

a concise summary of a scientific article's purpose methods results and conclusions

• Introduction

the section of a scientific article that provides background information and states the hypothesis

• Materials and methods

the section that describes the specific procedures and tools used in the experiment

• Results

the section that presents the data and findings of the experiment often in tables or graphs

• Discussion

the section that interprets the results and relates them to the broader scientific context

• Supplementary results / data

additional data or information that is not essential to the main article but provides more detail

• References / works cited

a list of all the sources cited in the scientific article

• Journal editor

the person who oversees the publication of a scientific journal and manages the peer-review process

• Expert peers

other scientists in the same field who review a submitted article

• The File Drawer problem

the issue of studies with non-significant or negative results not being published

• Replication studies

experiments conducted to see if the results of a previous study can be reproduced

• Placebo effect

a psychological or physiological response to a placebo a treatment with no active ingredients

• Experimental blinding

the practice of keeping subjects and/or researchers unaware of which treatment is being given

• Single-blind experiment

an experiment where the subjects don't know if they are receiving the real treatment or a placebo

• Double-blind experiment

an experiment where neither the subjects nor the researchers know who is receiving the real treatment or a placebo

• Randomization

the process of randomly assigning subjects to different experimental groups to avoid bias

• Randomized double blind placebo control

a study design where subjects are randomly assigned to a group and neither they nor the researchers know who is in the control or experimental group

• Sample

a subset of a larger population that is studied in an experiment

• Sample size

the number of individuals or observations in a sample

• Vaccines

a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease

• Autism

a neurodevelopmental disorder