wk 5 DQ: discussion questions attached
wk 5 DQ: discussion questions attached Select 3 of the following questions and compose a cited 200- 300 word response. Each response must have a unique academic citation. 1. As discussed in the Biology and Society section, burning biomass to produce electricity avoids many of the problems associated with gathering, refining, transporting, and burning fossil fuels. Yet the use of biomass as fuel is not without its own set of problems. What challenges might arise from a large-scale conversion to biomass energy? How do these challenges compare with those encountered with fossil fuels? Which set of challenges do you think is more likely to be overcome? Does one energy source have more benefits and fewer costs than the others? Explain. 2. Many infertile couples turn to in vitro fertilization to try to have a baby. In this technique, sperm and ova are collected and used to create eight-cell embryos for implantation into a woman’s uterus. At the eight-cell stage, one of the fetal cells can be removed without causing harm to the developing fetus. Once removed, the cell can be genetically tested. Some couples may know that a particular genetic disease runs in their family. They might wish to avoid implanting any embryos with the disease-causing genes. Do you think this is an acceptable use of genetic testing? What if a couple wanted to use genetic testing to select embryos for traits unrelated to disease, such as freckles? Do you think that couples undergoing in vitro fertilization should be allowed to perform whatever genetic tests they wish? Or do you think that there should be limits on what tests can be performed? How do you draw the line between genetic tests that are acceptable and those that are not? 3. The human body has not changed much in the last 100,000 years, but human culture has changed a great deal. As a result of our culture, we change the environment at a rate far greater than the rate at which many species, including our own, can evolve. What evidence of rapid environmental change do you see regularly? What aspects of human culture are responsible for these changes? Do you see any evidence of a decrease in the rate of human-caused environmental changes? 4. Mammals have a four-chambered heart, with two ventricles and two atria. So do birds, alligators, and crocodiles, but other living reptiles have a three-chambered heart, with just one ventricle. Paleontologists debate whether dinosaurs had a three-chambered or a four-chambered heart. Long-necked sauropod dinosaurs could have had unusual circulatory demands because their head may have been raised far above their heart. The farther the head is above the heart, the greater the systolic pressure needs to be for blood to reach the brain. For example, the long-necked dinosaur Brachiosaurus may have carried its head as much as 6 m (20 ft) above its heart. It is estimated that such an anatomy demanded a systolic blood pressure of 500 mm of mercury for blood to reach the brain! Some paleontologists consider this evidence that dinosaurs had a four-chambered heart that supported a dual circulatory system similar to that of birds and mammals, rather than the three-chambered heart of most nonbird reptiles. Can you explain why? 5. Design a laboratory experiment to measure the effect of water temperature on the population growth of a certain phytoplankton species from a pond. Additional Requirements Level of Detail: Only answer needed Other Requirements: see attachment