Teaching and learning reflections around science education
May 4, 2012
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STEM education exploring ocean plastic pollution
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An Online Summer Book Club of Science
Teaching and learning reflections around science education
The Physician Wellness Movement and Illegitimate Authority: The Need for Revolt and Reconstruction
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Teaching and learning reflections around science education
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barralopolis 
May 05, 2012 @ 05:39:16
Its 4:23 in the morning and I am sill awake, thanks to your article selection. I felt compelled to not only read your selected article, but to also follow up, with a very interesting article, Human Races May Have Biological Meaning, But Races Mean Nothing About Humanity from Discover Magazine. I found your selected article particularly interesting, in the context of the molecular aspect of my possible thesis topic. In describing our “tiny passengers”- referring to human microbial populations, it was interesting to read about microbial populations, as active role contributors in digestion, gut health, behavior, and unexpectedly, mood. Perceiving microbial populations collectively in a simplified manor, in terms of microbiome type, in contrast to the individual roles of trillions of individual organisms and an uncountable number of unique species, enabled me to better understand and more easily perceive the collective roles of oral microbiome’s. Categorizing microbiome’s in to general types allows the researcher to more easily identify commonalities, therefore exposing the unique functions in each of the microbiomes.
The second article I read also benefited my research, in terms of better understanding evolutionary genetics. Because most genetic variation occurs within races, two random individuals from different races may be genetically closer than two random individuals from the same race. This inclines me to perceive the concept of race as a social construct or a meaningless fabrication.
This can be demonstrated by use of an eye color inheritance model in comparing families and “unrelated” populations. Because blue eyes are inherited in a roughly recessive fashion, this allows for parents of opposite eye colors to have children with blue eyes of brown eyes, while people who are unrelated may have the same blue eyes as those children. Hence, for a specific gene, it is possible for two unrelated individuals to be more similar than their parents and their own children. However, it cannot be implied from this that parents and their children are less genetically similar overall. This changes the way I view inheritance patterns of salivary amylase tandem gene copies. I must be cautious in only isolating and identifying, just one gene when it comes to concluding over all patterns of genetic relatedness.
To make things more complicated, the article makes the assertion that the “Out of Africa” model is falsified! Rather, it looks as if modern human populations are a synthesis of a dominant “Out of Africa” lineage, flavored with assorted other populations, until recently known as “archaic modern humans”. Looks like ill have a few more articles to reference. Its now 5:30 am, if I seem a bit tired in class, please excuse me. See you in a few hours.
May 05, 2012 @ 09:20:50
I thought you would like this one as it refers to the complexities of microbiomes.