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Biology 103 1994-2005

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Tearful Serenity: Crying Away the Stress

Biology 103
2003 Third Paper
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Tearful Serenity: Crying Away the Stress

Nomi Kaim

Some days you've just had it. You've been talked at all day by people you couldn't care less about, the lady at the convenience store snapped at you, your friend invited herself over right when you had exactly one hour to write a paper, you got caught in a traffic jam going shopping, you're starting to seriously rethink your life career ... and now there's a thirty dollar parking ticket stuck on your windshield because that darn machine wasn't accepting quarters.

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Colloidal Silver: Miracle Elixir or Plague of the Living Dead?

Biology 103
2002 Second Paper
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Colloidal Silver: Miracle Elixir or Plague of the Living Dead?

Christine Traversi

If someone told you that they were in possession of something that could cure any illness almost instantaneously, would you believe it? If you were told that there was a small risk of permanently changing the color of your skin, would you be willing to run the risk and take it anyway? The name of this elixir is colloidal silver, and it is concocted by suspending microscopic silver particles in liquid. Colloidal silver has been claimed to be effective against hundreds of conditions and diseases, including cancer, AIDS, parasites, acne, enlarged prostate, pneumonia, and a myriad of others. However, long-term use of this silver can lead to a conditional called argyria, where a buildup of silver salt deposit on the eyes, skin, and internal oranges change the skin permanently metallic ashen-gray, making the individual have permanent death pallor. Does colloidal silver really carry the medicinal cure-all properties it is claimed to have, or is it just risk without benefit?

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The Female Praying Mantis: Sexual Predator or Misunderstood

Biology 103
2002 First Paper
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The Female Praying Mantis: Sexual Predator or Misunderstood

Michele Doughty

"Placing them in the same jar, the male, in alarm, endeavoured to escape. In a few minutes the female succeeded in grasping him. She first bit off his front tarsus, and consumed the tibia and femur. Next she gnawed out his left eye...it seems to be only by accident that a male ever escapes alive from the embraces of his partner" Leland Ossian Howard, Science, 1886. (7)

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