Genetic variation is the raw material for the plant breeder, who must often select from primitive and wild plants, including wild species, in search of new genes. The appearance of new diseases, new pests, or new virulent forms of disease causing organisms makes it imperative that the plant be preserved, because it offers a potential…
Frog is the common name for a species of amphibian that also includes toads. A very common question is “what’s the difference between frogs and toads?”, the answer: none, except for the fact that toads lack the powerful legs that frogs have. “Where can frogs and toads be found?”, one might ask. They live in…
Fire ants have been in the United States for over sixty years, and almost every American that lives in or frequently visits the quarantined states which they inhabit has had an unpleasant run in with these troublesome critters. Inhabitants of the Southeast who have ever stood unwittingly atop a fire ant mound know that the…
Eczema is a category of skin disease that is characterized by inflammation, itching, dry scaly skin, and in severe cases, small fluid filled blisters and insomnia. It is the most common skin disease in children today. Mild cases of Eczema are a little worse than a tendency toward dry, itching skin. Severe cases can affect…
Ebola was first discovered in the village of Yambuku(1) near the Ebola River in Zaire. Since its discovery, there have been four outbreaks of this disease. There are three known strains, of variations of Ebola. There is no known cure for this disease (2).Ebola has become one of the most mysterious and feared viruses on…
Dolphins are mammals closely related to whales and porpoises. Dolphins have a powerful and streamlined body. They are found in all seas and oceans. Dolphins can be told apart from porpoises by their nose, which is beaklike, and also their conical teeth. Porpoises have a flatter nose, sharper teeth, and a more solid body. There…
Color blindness is the inability to distinguish particular colors. It is generally an inherited trait, but can result from a chemical imbalance or eye injury. There are three primary colors. They are red, blue, and yellow. All other colors are the results of different combinations of primary colors. Special visual cells, called cones, are responsible…
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in approximately 1385, is a collection of twenty-four stories ostensibly told by various people who are going on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, England. Prior to the actual tales, however, Chaucer offers the reader a glimpse of fourteenth century life by way of what he refers to…
In a world where plants are at the bottom of the food-chain, some individual plant species have evolved ways to reverse the order we expect to find in nature. These insectivorous plants, as they are sometimes called, are the predators, rather than the passive prey. Adoptions such as odiferous lures and trapping mechanisms have made…
What is Bioluminescence? The current paper’s main focus is on bioluminescent Fungi but the basic features of bioluminescence discussed are common to all bioluminescent organisms. Bioluminescence is simply light created by living organisms. Probably the most commonly known example of bioluminescence by North Americans is the firefly, which lights its abdomen during its mating season…
Aim “To see what factors affect the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by the enzyme catalase which is found in the liver” Introduction Enzymes are biological catalysts. They speed up the chemical reactions which go on inside living things. Without them the reactions would be so slow that life would grind to a halt. Enzymes work…
Among the many hundreds of thousands of astonishing organisms with which we must share this earth, there is one seemingly ordinary group of specimens which fascinates many people beyond all others. There is nothing too extraordinary in the proportions or appearance of ants, but it is their history and culture that induces a second look.…
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a deadly disease of the nervous system. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. One in 50,000 people will be affected in any one year. The average age for diagnosis of ALS is between 30 and 70, although there have been cases of teenagers contracting it. The average life span after diagnosis…
The word “albinism” refers to a group of inherited conditions. People with albinism have little or no pigment in their eyes, skin, or hair. They have inherited genes that do not make the usual amounts of a pigment called melanin. One person in 17,000 has some type of albinism. Albinism affects people from all races.…
The global energy balance and atmospheric motion mainly determine the circulation of the earth’s atmosphere. There is a hierarchy of motion in atmospheric circulation. Each control can be broken down into smaller controlling factors. The global energy balance is an equal balance of short-wave radiation coming into the atmosphere and long-wave radiation going out of…
Project Mercury, the first manned U.S. space project, became an official NASA program on October 7, 1958. The Mercury Program was given two main but broad objectives: 1. To investigate man’s ability to survive and perform in the space environment and 2. To develop basic space technology and hardware for manned space flight programs to…
Astrology is the study of planetary influences and their affect on the world and everything in it. Astrology is usually limited to human beings–their nature, and their affairs, although a chart can be drawn up for just about any event. The horoscope is a blue print or pattern of the solar system cast for a…
Comets are small, fragile, and irregularly shaped. Most are composed of frozen gas. However, some are composed of frozen gas and non-volatile grains. They usually follow very strict paths around the sun. Comets become most visible when they cross the sun. This also applies to people who view comets with telescopes. When a comet gets…
His Life Throughout history people have always looked up at the sky and wondered about the universe. Some just wonder while others attempt to solve this mystery. One of the people who had endeavored to solve it was Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was born in the present day town of Torun, Poland in February of 1473.…
Neptune is the outermost planet of the gas giants. It has an equatorial diameter of 49,500 kilometers (30,760 miles) and is the eighth planet from the sun. If Neptune were hollow, it could contain nearly 60 Earth’s. Neptune orbits the Sun every 165 years. It has eight moons, six of which were found by Voyager…