Frontiers in BiologyFrontiers in Biology

Rapid Fire 2

Spring 2008

Today's Agenda

• Honey Bees

• Obesity

• Meat

• RNAi

• Stem Cells revisited

• Science and Religion

For Each Topic…

• 10-15 minute video

• Answer 3 questions

• Q & A session

Honey Bees

Where are they all?

Types of bees

• All bees are insects

• There are over 20,000 types of bees

Bumblebees

• These are large and hairy. The general color is black and yellow.

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Honeybees

• The hives that honey bees build are called "honey combs" or "bees wax".

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Carpenter bees

• They have solitary behavior and cannot prepare wax

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Others..

• Ground bees

• Parasitic bees

• Digger bees

• Leafcutter and mason bees

• Sweat bees…

Honey Bees - Watch and Learn

• Remember the number of days for each phase of the life cycle.

• What does smoke do to the bees?• Why do bees make honey?• What are the honeycomb cells made from?• What is incomplete metamorphosis?• How are bees important to the beef industry?

Facts

• Life cycle - you tube

• PBS biology of bees - here

Honey bees - missing

• Watch this short news story and figure out the following;

• 1) What are all the reasons why the bees are disappearing?

Bee news archive

• 60 minutes clips

• Clip 1 - here

• Clip 2 - here

OBESITY

Obesity

• Are all people obese because of their genes?

• What percent of your weight is due to genes?

• Where is the hormone leptin made? • How does leptin work in the brain?• MC4 receptor! What is this?• How many people carry MC4 mutation?

3-Meat

• Why is meat inefficient to produce?

• What is one answer to natural meat?

• What is responsible for the different texture of meat from different parts of animals?

• How much is 1kg of the cultured meat?

4 - RNAi

• Which nucleic acid can leave the nucleus?

• In the 1980’s, how was RNAi discovered?

• What does RNAi do?

• What does the ‘i’ in RNAi stand for?

5 - Stem Cells again

• Where is this research being performed?

• What did the South Koreans claim to have cloned?

• What did they put into the skin cells of mice? Why did they do this?

• Would this method be acceptable to you morally?

6 - Science & Religion6 - Science & Religion

• This course is designed to bring current cutting edge matters to the attention of the students.

• Good or bad; Right or wrong; the student is left to decide for themselves…

• Remember this perspective, especially with this segment...

The march of science

• Today there are;

1. More scientists than ever before

2. More money invested in research

3. More tools at their disposal

4. More exploration…

What killed the cat?What killed the cat?

• A central tenant of science is the need to know

• … how big is the Universe?

• … what makes us tick?

• …where did we come from?

• …what is the meaning to life?

Science tackles ReligionScience tackles Religion

• There are many religions in the World• Most have many overlaps in ideas

(more than you may think!)• The main religion of power currently is

Christianity (arguably)• The age of the Earth is written to be

6000 years (4000 BC) according to the Old Testament

History tells us…

• That religion and history were often interwoven, with some truth to each.

• That many religions ‘borrow’ stories from older religions - this could be true of Christianity.

• Many religions are coming to terms with scientific finding, except in the most orthodox versions.

Hypothesis

• Q). Science can test a hypothesis such as the age of the Earth.

• A). Science tells us that all the evidence (with more accumulating each day), so far, points to the Earth being 4.6 billion years old, and not 6000 years.

Scientists are beginning to delve deeper

Scientists are beginning to delve deeper

• Want to know;

–Who wrote the Bible?

–When and where was it written?

–What is it based on?

–Is it all true?

• With some facts….

• The Biblical Creation and Evolution theory are diametrically opposed... they can not both be true!

Looking for Answers

• Scientists are now exploring answers to the facts contained in religious works.

• Was there a Garden of Eden?• Where is the Garden of Eden?• Was there a Great Flood?• Where was the Great Flood?• Where did the stories in the Bible come from?

– …the video explores………