Biology 103 Web Paper 1

 It happens to all of us. “Passing Gas”, “cut the cheese”, or “breaking wind”; it could happen anywhere, anytime, and to anyone. Imagine standing in line at the bank and all of a sudden an uncanny sensation erupts in your stomach and an unpleasant smell ascends out of nowhere; and you think how embarrassing!

Hemispheric Lateralization in Horses

    Someone dear to me was born with a number of physical (not mental) birth defects known together as VACTERL Association. This person spent a great deal of time in the hospital as a baby, and had a number of surgeries at a young age. Now this person is perfectly healthy, but this person is still, albeit to a relatively small degree, visibly “different.” Ever since I was quite young, I have struggled with the reason why. It has always seemed frustratingly unjust to me that most people are born with “regular” bodies, while some, seemingly randomly, are not. Here, I will explore the causes of disorders like VACTERL, and also look into the differences, if any, between “genetic” and “developmental” birth defects.

On occasion, everyone finds that emotions have bested them. The person we have a crush on doesn’t call us back for two days, and suddenly the world feels just a bit less bright. We do poorly on a test, and though we recognize that in the scheme of things it’s not a big deal, we can’t help but imagine that our future has been ruined. And then, another piece of ourselves works to quell the fire: the moment passes, the crush calls (or doesn’t), we watch a TV show or two, we get a good grade on the next test (or we don’t), we call a supportive friend and talk briefly, and life goes on. But for some people,

Biology 103
2005 First Paper
On Serendip

Biology 202
2000 First Web Report
On Serendip

This quicksilver illness:

Moods, Stigma, and Creativity

A review of An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

Throughout history and across cultures, the force of memory has always held a prominent position in our concept of humanity and self.  The ancient Greeks embodied memory in a goddess – Mnemosyne, the mother of the nine inspiring Muses.  But what if a person possessed memories so upsetting and intense that they caused him to not be able to function as himself?  If you had the option, would you choose to forget or to distance yourself?  This dilemma is now a source of debate among scientists and medical practitioners.  Propranolol, a drug previously prescribed to people suffering from hypertension, has also