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Showing posts with the label biology

Americans Light on Scientific Facts but Open to More Information

A survey of 2,200 participants from the National Science Foundation found that 1 in 4 Americans still think the sun revolves around the earth and not the other way around. The average score on the 9 question quiz that focused on fundamental concepts of science was 6.5. Only 48% of people knew that humans evolved from previous species but that number increased when premised with, “According to Evolution”.  Other interesting trends are that 4 out of 10 use the Internet as their primary source of data. Television usage dropped meaning that there is a transition occurring. Americans were also more trusting of those from the scientific and medical community than any other group. Four out of ten felt that the government was spending too little on research and would like to see improvements. There is a silver lining. The vast majority of Americans (90%) believe that the advantages of science outweigh the costs.   They have also shown a greater interest in science and scientific d

Starfish Self Exploding by the Millions on the West Coast

Starfish on the West Coast are exploding and scientists don’t know why. Their arms and limbs are literally crawling away from the body and they are dying. What makes the situation unique is that it is happening on a wide scale. Normally, a starfish can lose a limb and regenerate them. In this case they are simply spilling their guts and dying within 24 hours. The first cases were found within the sunflower star fish and have now moved onto other species. As this disease or issue grows it impacts more species and damaging the ecosystem. The total range of area includes Alaska all the way down to California. It is a large previously unseen phenomenon.  It has been named the Star Fish Wasting Syndrome . The species develop spots and then their limbs contort and break off. Biologists have no idea where it is starting or why it is spreading. They encourage people to report sightings allowing for the public to get involved. You can report where you found dead starfish with the

Biology and Personality Influence Communication Styles

The authors Waldherr and Muck (2011) discuss how biology and personality contribute to communication behavior. They advocate embedding language into the Five-Factor Theory to better assess language as a characteristic adaptation to personality. The arguments put forward in their literary research lean more heavily on personality as a key factor that has two major running themes.  Communication is a circular process as each of the actors is both the communicator and the recipient at various times during a discussion (Schramm, 1954).   Each person encodes, interprets and decodes messages differently making the communication process unique. Most of this process is internal to the individual and cannot be easily evaluated. Focusing on verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal language cues can help in evaluating communication patterns.  Communication is seen as a reoccurring behavioral pattern that is personality based. It is expressed in varying ways in different situations to achieve

Plants Make Complex Chemical Calculations

Plants do math. That is right…researchers have found that plants make calculations to determine the amount of food they will need to make it through the night. During the day they convert sun light into sugars and starch but at night they use 95% of that starch by the start of dawn. The rate is variable depending on the length of the evening. The research helps show chemical intelligence. Using the Arabidopsis plant they found that they take an internal measurement of the amount of starch available and make a measurement of the time needed until day light. They release the starch throughout the evening to create growth. The plants are not doing human calculations but do use chemicals to make this determination of time and starch. Available starch(S) is divided by available Time (T) for maximum growth. There is a type of chemical division going on that takes starch and separates by hours. The plants even showed the ability to adjust their calculations in the middle of the ni

Channel Expansion Theory as an Online Biological Extension of Urges

Technology has huge impacts on our daily life and has encouraged new ways of communicating. Such technology is the natural extension of our biological capacities within the environment. Whether we are discussing education, government, social relationships, business development or international relations this technology now dominates our evolutionary developmental process as a powerful new tool. As this technological ability grows in society people will naturally start using this technology in new ways. According to channel expansion theory people will communicate using these new methodologies in order to expand their capabilities of reaching out in the environment.   This reaching out creates new influences on human behaviors through the process of imitation. Most of human behavior is not within our awareness and we have a hard time reflecting on such behavior. Such behavior is below our level of conscious understandings (Barkow et. al., 1992). This means that most people act