**************************************************Week 1, Nature, the maestro..(3.5 billions years to a few

millions years)

Week 2, Pre-historic and Ancient (Up to 500 AD)

Week 3, Medieval to WW I (500 AD to 1914)

Week 4, WW I (1914 to 1918)

Week 5, WW II (1939 to 1945)

Week 6, Post war, Present, Future.. (1945 to present and future)

From Clubs and Spears to the Invisible Cloak, the Role of Technology in Weaponry

Looking at the historical development, usage and technology related to weapons.From 3.5 billions years ago till present

We will venture into:◦History◦Psychology◦Sociology◦Biology◦Chemistry◦Physics◦All fields of Engineering

In this course,

And my academic background is: Physics and Materials Science.

Any suggestions, modifications, corrections and additions to the materials covered is greatly appreciated.

But there are “questions of the week” A prize will be given to a person with correct

answer, picked up randomly from the pool of correct answers a week later.

To be fair to everyone: Please no Googling!

There is no homework, PQ or exams..

Nature

This week

Before 1969: Life was classified into two kingdoms: ◦ Plant Kingdom – ◦ Animal Kingdom

From 1969 – 1990: Life was classified into 5 Kingdoms (R.H. Whittaker ):

Monera (germs) Protista (single-celled organism) Plantae (plants) Fungi Animalia (animals)

Classification of Life From: http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/3domain.html

The Three Domains of Life (Carl Woese, 1990)◦Archaea, ◦Bacteria◦Eukarya

Now:

Inhabitants of some of the most extreme environments on the planet.

Archaea

1- “methane-makers”◦ Use only CO2, H and N to produce energy to live, and as a

result give off methane gas. Live in swamps, marshes, gut of cattle, termites, etc.

2- “salt lovers”◦ Require an environment as salty or even10x saltier than

ocean water. Some prefer up to 30% salt concentrations! These bacteria live in the Dead Sea, the Great Salt Lake, salt evaporation ponds.

3- “heat / cold lovers”◦ Prefer temperatures up to 110�C or near or below freezing.◦ Thermophiles Live in hot sulfur springs, Yellowstone Park,

deep sea hydrothermal vents “black smokers”, geothermal power plants. Also live in ocean waters around Antarctica, under the polar ice caps, etc.

Archaea, continued..

They can be:

◦cocci (spherical)

◦bacilli (rods)

◦spirochete (spiral).

Bacteria

Eukarya

•Broken down into four kingdoms:•animals•Plant•Fungi•protists

From Wikipedia:◦They are unicellular, or they are

multicellular without specialized tissues, and this simple cellular organization distinguishes the protists from other eukaryotes, such as fungi, animals and plants.

◦Protists live in almost any environment that contains liquid water.

What are protists?

◦Many protists, such as the algae, are photosynthetic and are vital primary producers in ecosystems, particularly in the ocean as part of the plankton.

◦Other protists, such as the Kinetoplastids and Apicomplexa, are responsible for a range of serious human diseases, such as malaria and sleeping sickness.

How did it happen?

Why animals fight? (defensive and offensive)◦Food/water◦Territory◦Mate/offspring

Lets start with the most recent life form, animals

Becoming stealth by: Hiding

Fighting strategy

And the master of disguise, the octopus

More animals with ability to disguise.

Excerpt from a powerpoint by “Phyllis Robinson, Keith Murphy and Melissa Greene”

Source: www.life.umd.edu/grad/mlfsc/res/AnimalDefensevsPredators.ppt

Chemical Defence

Chemical Defense

There are two main ways animals can use chemicals to defend themselves.

Animals can synthesize toxin using their own metabolic processes, or they can accumulate toxin from the food they eat.

Chemical Defense Animals which

synthesize their own toxin are able to convert chemical compounds in their body to a poison.

► There are many amphibians that produce skin toxins. The skin toxins are produced by special poison glands, usually located on the animal's back or throughout the skin.

The poison dart frog has poison glands scattered all over its body.

Photo courtesy of Dr. John Daly

Chemical Defense

In another example, the fire salamander makes a nerve poison, which it can squirt from glands on its back.

Photo courtesy of Henk Wallays, Cal. Acad. of Sciences.

Chemical Defense

•Many animals accumulate toxin from their food rather than synthesizing it from scratch.

•For example, the larvae of Monarch butterflies accumulate toxins from the plants they inhabit.  Birds that eat the Monarchs vomit and learn to avoid them in the future. •Their bright coloration allows birds to remember and avoid them. 

Photo courtesy of T. W. Davies, Cal. Acad. of Sciences.

Chemical Defense►Interestingly, many organisms which are distasteful advertise this fact to predators by having bright body colors or markings, as if to say, “Notice me! I’m dangerous!”

Honey Bee:◦A virgin queen that survives to adulthood without being killed by her rivals will take a mating flight with a dozen or so male drones.

◦During mating, their genitals explode and snap off inside the queen!

Some strange facts about animals reproduction habitsFrom: http://www.neatorama.com/2007/04/30/30-strangest-animal-mating-habits/

Use sex as greetings, a mean of solving disputes, making up for fights, and as a favors in exchange for food.

They practice all the techniques that we, the humans, do!

Bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee):

◦They have both male and female sexual organs.

◦In this case, the male organ turns out to be two dagger-like penises that they use to hunt as well as mate.

◦During mating, two flatworms fight to stab each other, while avoiding getting stabbed.

Flatworm:

◦The "loser" who gets stabbed will absorb the sperm through its skin and then scoots off to bear the burden of motherhood!

Flatworm:

Clownfish live in a group consisting of the female (the largest), the male (next largest) and then the non-breeding males (the smallest).

If the female dies, the male will change sex and become the female! Then the largest of the non-breeding males will get a promotion to become the breeding male.

Clownfish:

To court a female during the short mating season, a male porcupine stands up on his hind legs, waddles up to her, and then sprays her with a huge stream of urine from as far as 6 feet away.

If the female wasn't impressed, she'll scream and shake off the urine.  But, if she is ready, she approaches the male and they do it very carefully!

Porcupine:

The male releases its sperms on small twigs or stalks in what scientists call the "love garden", then lays down an intricate silken trail to the spot.

When a female stumbles upon this trail, she will follow it to seek out the "artist".

If she likes his work, then she will sit on the sperm.

However, if another male spots the garden, he will trash it and lay his own instead!

Red Velvet Mite:

All whiptail lizards are females. Reproduction is preceded by pseudo copulation,

where two females act out the roles of a male mounting a female (they switch roles later on).

Apparently, this is required to stimulate egg production in both lizards.

When the eggs hatch, they will be all-female clones of the mother lizard.

Whiptail Lizard:

At first, scientists were perplexed because they've never caught a male anglerfish.

The tiny male anglerfish are born without any digestive system, so once they hatch, they have to find a female quickly.

When a male finds a female, he quickly bites her body and releases an enzyme that digests his skin and her body to fuse the two in an eternal embrace.

The male then wastes away, becoming nothing but a lump on the female anglerfish's body!

Anglerfish:

When the female is ready to spawn, her "male appendage" is there, ready to release sperms to fertilize her egg.

Anglerfish:

When the coiled sperm is straightened out, it measures about 2 inches which is over 1,000 times longer than a human sperm.

Turns out the very long sperm is evolutionarily driven by the just-as-long female reproductive tract, which is like an obstacle course, complete with harsh chemicals to weed out weak sperms.

Fruit Fly:

Body invasion: a clever and common method of survival

Plants

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