BIOLOGY 103 FALL, 2002 FORUM 1

This sounds like a Twilight Zone or something, doesn't it?

"The universe is lumpy, right?" Dr. Ratard said. "It's the same with Pointe Coupee. Everyone is trying to understand why there's so much virus in this one little place and absolutely nothing 10 miles down the road. We just don't know. That's the way things are."

After all, we've only been talking about how diversity is clumpy and how little we know about life anyway for the past two weeks...

And I just have to say that, even though it's only the fourth week of classes, it is VERY easy to feel overwhelmed already. I mean, between all the work we have, all the reading, lab reports, on-campus jobs, off-campus jobs, PE and/or sports and/or gym time AND extra-curriculars (sp?), frankly, the activities of 'eating' and 'sleeping' are becoming more and more foreign to me. I've been to the health center 4 times for blood tests, food poisonning and muscle aches, they know me by name in Canaday and Uncommon Grounds (in the latter, they know my order before I even give it to them) and by Thursday I can't remember what my room looks like. Every week it's a struggle to make it from Monday to Friday. If anyone in the class is feeling like the Bryn Mawr stress seems to have passed over them this semester, I'd be willing to trade on a second's notice - my email is at the top.

On another topic, I've realized that I'm affected by the weather in a different way than most people. Today is very gloomy and rainy. Most people I meet are tired and depressed on days like this, but I get relaxed. I love rainy days, the rainier the better. Why does the weather affect different people in different ways? If people supposedly get depressed on rainy days because they lack sunlight, why are other people more tired in the sun?

I also wanted to send a big hug to everyone who is feeling stressed and overwhelmed; fall break is only two weeks away, just keep telling yourself that, and make sure you look out for yourself FIRST and your homework second. If anyone wants/needs a real hug, just ask:)

I guess my forum entry really is non conclusive this week, and rather just a random rambling of questions about the end of the sun. So if anyone can see to the future (not back in time like we talk about doing in class) let me know how quickly our sun will disappear then maybe we can make some hypothesis as to our existence after that...And hopefully our hypothesis will be wrong! Yay!

First off - I need to correct an earlier statement, which mentioned that the continents drift because of magnetic forces - this is not true. However, it is true that our fundamental understanding of continental drift comes from our knowledge of the Earth's magnetic field. Brenda Zera did a very nice job at explaining how the Earth's magnetic field helps geologists understand how tectonic plates move over the surface of the Earth.

So why do the continents drift? The continents ultimately move due to convection in the Earth's interior (much like a boiling pot of split pea soup causes movement of the top layer of soup - the difference being that the surface (or crust) of the earth is ridged and the mantle convects on very slow timescales - on the order of centimeters per year). Ultimately, the convection itself is driven by radioactive decay of certain isotopes that are present in the Earth's interior - namely Uranium, Thorium and Potassium. These radioactive elements are left over from the earliest stages of solar system evolution some 4.5 billion years ago. Over time these elements slowly release heat as they decay to more stable forms. Eventually the reservoir of radioactive elements will cease to exist, and plate tectonics as we know it will no longer occur creating a dead planet much like the moon and/or mars. Fortunately for us this will not happen for several billion years - likely around the same time our own sun begins to die.

If anyone is interested in more information about continental drift and or Earth history feel free to stop by and talk with me (Park 130), or if your REALLY inspired, come take my introduction to geology class offered every fall!!

A side note about stress - I agree with several of the comments made on this board that balance is the key to happiness. One must learn to balance their work with their play - otherwise what is the point??? College is one of the glorious times in a young persons life, and if you don't enjoy it now you are guaranteed to regret it later in life because you can never get this time back.

In reaction to what Annie posted earlier this week and what we discussed in class, I agree that it is important to put human existence into perspective.
I particularly like what was said about evolution in Friday's class. What is evolution? "Why is it showing progress without betterment" (Prof. Grobsetin). Mar was talking about the concept of a value system in regard to evolution. Must we talk about if organisms improved along the way or restrict the explanation of change to variations and diversity?

We talked about how evolution is possibly the process of exploring possible forms of life that will survive and adapt to any environment. I personally find this definition somewhat shaky. For one, if we look at organisms from billions of years ago compared to humans, can we really adapt better? Of course we have the resources to adapt, but we as organisms are quit vulnerable. Can we go down to Antarctica without clothes or food and survive? Not any more than one-cell prokaryotic organisms that have been around for decades of billions of years and still are. And yet, of these organisms there are fewer kinds of diversity.
Everything that currently lives IS alive and therefore should be equal in their ability to adapt to environments. We all made it this far and if evolution is doing its job, we should be better than past organisms. If we are not equal, then those that have been around much longer should be "better" (using the definition we came up with in class) at adapting...?

So while continents shifting is all fascinating, I'm going to have to go with caffiene on this forum. This summer, I had some health problems so I had to give up caffiene. I used to drink at least two cups of coffee a day, so when I had to stop it was a huge deal for me. And it was weird because after a few days, I actually went into withdrawl when I wouldn't give my body any caffiene. After I had gone a few weeks though, I was fine. I also felt like I never wanted to have (caffinated) coffe again. However, when I came back to school this fall, I suddenly got these huge cravings for coffee. Why? Is it because it was just more accessible, or maybe because for the past two years, I've looked to coffee as a sort of comfort food when I got stressed?

The Ocean has always been deep and cold. I know that its temperature does fluctuate by a few degress and that this fluctuation can kill off entire species, but what is a few degrees compared to an entire climactic shift? Where there are now deserts, there were once rives, lakes, and even oceans.

Thus those animals found deep in the sea or far underneath the earth's crust may not have needed to pass on variations (like we talked about in class). To say that those animals are "better" at adapting is not correct if they have not adapted much at all.

I think that Hei's points are valid and they did make me think. But nature has no value system, and even on the same planet works at different paces in different areas. All of these factors should be taken into consideration, not only for this class, but for all scientists

And please let me say I LOVE CAFFEINE!! I mean, I seriously would get no work done if I didn't have my dear old coffee machine (a high school graduation present), to make coffee and tea with in those wee small hours of the morning. It can sometimes just give you the push you need to stay up an extra hour to finish that damn paper that just won't finish (speaking of papers ...). However, I feel that as long as we're going to be talking about caffeine, we should talk about the opposite side of the scale, that is, sleeping pills. Last week I had a HUGE headache that kept me up until 2:30 am, until I finally took some Nyquil. However, ever since then I've had trouble getting sleep! This is not good ....

Good luck with the paper, everyone!

Mer? No value system in nature? What about survival of the fittest? Nature placing more value on those individuals best suited to their environment. Or mate selection, isn't that rooted in nature? Even if the system is diffent for different species, or even different organisms within the species (ex: one woman liking bald men, or birthmarks, while another likes men who can do handstands and are really tall) and even if the system makes no sense, isn't it still there? Just playing devil's advocate, what do you think?


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