Biology 103 Web Paper 2

Chocolate.  A food known and loved by all.  Could it be true that our parent’s are wrong and that chocolate really is good for you? After researching this question I believe the answer is yes; chocolate can be beneficial to a person’s

My mother could not believe my decision, she thought I was crazy. But I was going to be a junior in high school and I thought this decision would make my life so much easier. So, at the dismay of my mother, I went to the vision center closest to my home, sat in front of my optometrist and said to him “I want contact lenses”. It took me about a week of putting the lenses in and taking them out for me to be completely comfortable with placing my finger near my eyeball, a practice that my mother found repulsive. I’m not judging her opinion, as an avid eyeglass wearer since the fifth grade; I too thought the

You feel achy and sore, like every muscle in your body has been overworked or pulled. You can't focus; you've been having trouble sleeping and you wake up several times a night. It hurts to sit up in class, it hurts to move, and it hurts whenever someone touches your back or your shoulders. You've been experiencing mood swings and depression and, on top of all that, your stomach hurts. So what's the deal? It might be fibromyalgia.

Nearly 170 years ago, Darwin introduced the story of evolution. Darwinian evolution explains the small differences within the same type of individuals and how this variation creates competition for the best to survive and pass on the best genes (1). Now, 170 years later, Darwinian evolution still prevails, even in the household of every family.

It is no surprise to see siblings in argument, especially because of clashing personalities. But why is the fighting so common? Is it only due to differences in personalities? Or could this fight actually be Darwinian evolution in the works? Could this fight be a form of competition to seek superiority?

The days are getting shorter and darker, and, if you’re anything like me, it’s making you want to curl up in a little ball and, well, hibernate. Animals have the right idea—as soon as winter hits they burrow into their caves and settle down to wait it out. So can we do that too? After all, we’re not that biologically different. Could we, at one point, have been able to hibernate as animals do—storing food and sleeping for several months at a time? Have we lost our

Bone Marrow Transplants: The Search for a Match

A friend of mine recently presented me with a question to use as a place to begin research for this paper. She had been studying blood types in one of her classes, and after asking about my family’s blood types, she inquired, “If you and your brother have different blood types, how could you give him bone marrow?”