apbiosurvival

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The Brain Scoop: What the Function? with Special Guest Destin from Smarter Every Day!

Some of you may remember (and miss dearly) a quiz I used to host on this blog called Freak of the Week, where I’d post some strange looking skull or part of a specimen and encourage readers to guess what it was. I brought the same kind of quiz to SciShow Talk Show and we called it “Stump Hank.”

So, when I invited Destin to come visit The Field Museum and hang out for a few days I thought it would be fun to film a collaborative video that could appeal to biological weirdness and engineering functionality alike. I’ve long admired Destin for his approach to learning and his attitude that there is far more we don’t know than we do know, which I find encouraging and inspirational. Needless to say, I was really excited to have him on our show. 

Introducing: What the Function? 

Stay tuned for more quizzing in the future! 

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Tips for AP Bio

From my year in AP Bio, here are some tips for kids taking the class next year.

1. Read your textbook

2. Keep in mind the AP test was changed in 2013. It's now more about applying the concepts then memorizing facts.

3. LABS are IMPORTANT.

4. Try to finish them.

5. If you can't finish your labs, make sure you understand the concepts behinds them, what you would've done in the lab, and what your results would have looked like. (see bozeman bio labs playlist)

6. Read your textbook.

7. If you don't understand a concept the way the book teaches it, find another way to learn. Ask your teacher to explain it, ask your teacher to listen to you explain it, watch a Bozeman Bio video explain it, listen to your other AP Bio students explain it. 

8. Read the summaries in your textbook.

9. Read your textbook (see a pattern here?)

10. Watch Bio videos to review (see 'reference' link home page)

11. Remember water potential is movement from an area of higher to lower concentration. If for example, a solution has more salt than the cell, salt will not move into the cell because there's less salt in the cell. The cell will shrink because there was a lower water potential outside the cell.

12. Essentially high water potential does not equal more molecules or stuff in the solution or cell. 

13. In the Hardy Weinberg equation p + q =1 is the frequency of alleles, p² + 2pq + q² = 1 is the frequency of the genotype.

14. p is dominant, q is recessive ( remember cuz p=powerful because it's dominant over the recessive, q=quiet because it can't be seen if there's a dominant allele)

15. If for example the 5% of a population is homozygous recessive then q²=0.05. And you HAVE TO REMEMBER TO TAKE THE SQUARE ROOT to find what q equals to solve for the dominant allele.

16. You need to be able to design an experiment. Know how to formulate a testable question and hypothesis, identify independent/dep variables, and 

17. ANALYZE DATA.

18. omg like every question on the AP exam requires data analysis

19. When answering Chi-square test questions, know that the equations and tables WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU on the equation sheet. You just need to know how to identify all the variables in a word problem.

20. In fact if you didn't know you get a sheet of equations on the test, I recommend you look at that (google or see my 'reference' page). You basically don't need to remember a single equation in AP BIo because they'll give them to you.

21.Don't stress about knowing how to explain every stage of mitosis or meiosis.

22. Don't stress about knowing how to explain every bit of photosynthesis or cellular respiration. 

23. DO know the products of each process and why their important (but seriously on the 2014 bio test there were, like, ZERO questions about photosynthesis and respiration and just a whole bunch of ecology questions).

24.. Biochem. It should be review but sometimes it's not. Sometimes your teacher might assure it's review from Chemistry, but if you don't know it, let your teacher know and make an effort to brush up on properties of water, enzymes, ionic bonds, your proteins, carbs, lipids, nucleic acids, and chemical reactions (ender/exergonic, hydrolysis, etc).

25. Know your primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary protein structure.

26. If you listen well and participate in the two month long DNA Barcoding Life's Matrix lab, you should be really really good with DNA barcoding techniques. During the lab though you tend to spend all your time in class on the lab. Make sure you don't fall behind on reading even if it may not be assigned by the teacher.

The lab took our class really long and even if it was super helpful, by the end of the year it felt like we rushed through some topics.

That's about it for now, but by no means is this list exhaustive. I'll update as I remember more tips for AP BIo. And if you have any to add, please send me an ask so I can add it.

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Hardy-Weinberg

Hardy-Weinberg is based on frequencies. The frequency shows a proportion on a 0-1 scale.

They came up with two laws:

p+q=1            and           p2+2pq+q2=1 

p= frequency of the dominant allele

q= frequency of the recessive allele

p2= frequency of the homozygous dominant individuals 

2pq= frequency of the hetrozygous individuals 

q2= frequency of the homozygous recessive individuals 

I like to think of it this way-

Take two people, both hetrozygous pq. The probability of them actually having a child is 1.

Using a punnet square diagram, the second equation makes perfect sense. 

All these adding together is the total probability of having an offspring. This is the way i like to remember which part of the equation is for which genotype. 

For an example population:

p= 5/8 = 0.625                   p2= 2/4 = 0.5

q= 3/8 = 0.375                   q2= 1/4 = 0.25

                                       2pq= 1/4 = 0.25

EXAMPLE QUESTIONS (simple ones)

In a population, there are 100 people. The frequency of the dominant allele is 0.65.

1) Calculate the frequency of the recessive allele.

p=0.65

Using p+q=1:     0.65+q=1      1-0.65=q      q=0.35

2) Calculate the frequency of homozygous dominant alleles

p=0.65

p2=0.4225 = 0.42

3) Calculate the number of homozygous dominant individuals

By multiplying the frequency by the population number, you arrive with the number of individuals with that genotype. 

p2=0.42    0.42x100= 42

(harder one)

In a population of 2000 foxes, there are 322 homozygous recessive individuals. Calculate the number of hetrozygous dominants and hetrozygous individuals.

We are given the frequency of homozygous recessive (q2)

q2=322/2000= 0.161              q=0.401

p2=0.359                             p= 1-0.401 = 0.599

Homozygous dominant = 0.359x2000 = 718 individuals

Hetrozygous = (2x0.401x0.599) x 2000 = 960 individuals 

Principles of Hardy-Weinberg

Hardy-Weinberg predicts that a populations gene pool does not change from generation to generation. This means that the frequency of of alleles stays the same over time, provided that:

there is a large population

mating is done completely randomly

no introduction of new alleles by immigrants 

no genetic mutations 

Factors that disturb the principle

Certain characteristics will be susceptible to more predators eg. Slow runners who cannot out run the predator or bright colors which make them more visible

Emigration/immigration/mutations will always occur withing a population which will add or remove alleles

Founder effect can mean a new population has an imbalance of alleles 

[apbiosurvival]

Introduction to Microbiology

Microbiology is a branch of Biology that deals with the study of the organisms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye.

Microbiology includes the study of:

1. Bacteria

2. Algae

3. Fungi

4. Protozoa

5. Viruses

Why study Microbiology? 

- To gain knowledge of the method of transfer of microorganisms from one person to another to prevent the occurence and spread of disease

- To understand the importance of immunization processes and techniques to prevent diseases

- Useful in understanding the underlying principles of health procedures for maintenance of health and prevention of disease

- It makes medical and surgical procedures less dangerous because of the proper applications of the principles of disinfection and sterilization

Microorganisms are classified as either Cellular or Acellular

Cellular:

a. Prokaryotes

b. Eukaryotes

Acellular

a. Viruses

Differences between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes:

A. Prokaryotes

1. Bacteria

2. Nucleoid (no true nucleus; (+) of nuclear material)

3. Not bound by nuclear membrane

4. Circular chromosome made up of DNA and histone-like protein, except B. borgdorferi and Streptomyces

5. Binary fission (ave. 18 mins) —> mode of reproduction

6. Cell wall is made up of peptidoglycan except Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma

7. Site of energy production is cytoplasmic membrane

8. CHON synthesis occurs in the ribosomes

9. Ribosomal size - 70s (Svedberg unit)

B. Eukaryotes 

1. Protozoan, Fungi, Algae

2. With true nucleus

3. Bound by a nuclear membrane

4. One or more paired linear chromosomes made up of DNA and histone

5. Mitosis (ave. 18-44 hours) —-> mode of reproduction

6. Animals and protozoan lack cell wall; Fungi and algae cells are made up of chitin

7. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

8. CHON synthesis occurs in Endoplasmic Reticulum

9. Ribosomal size - 80s (Svedberg unit)

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The four big ideas in AP Bio simplified. Kind of. 

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water-related

edit: F*** I MESSED UP THE TONICITY BIT BUT I DONT HAVE A TABLET ANYMORE SO I CANT FIX IT. I’M REALLY SORRY AHHHHH please ignore the hyptonic/hypertonic definition part. the it’s all relative part is still correct though

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Biology Cell Cake by Nicole William.

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Submitted by: tomorrowissimplyamaybe

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AN FRQ MAY ASK YOU TO DESIGN AN EXPERIMENT! REMEMBER:

1) State clear hypothesis

2) Experiment must be reasonable and work (setting up 100 fish tanks is not reasonable)

3) Don’t forget to include the control

4) Only have one variable, think hard about all other things that may occur

EX: in an experiment on light intensity make sure heat is not a factor by placing in a heat sink

don’t let little things slip past you! You can do it i believe in you

5) Have a large enough sample (not one organism)

6) make all constants as similar as possible: same spieces, variety, size/ mass (depending on whats appropriate)

7) Just always say the experiment should be repeated. Its good science and it’ll take you 5 seconds

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can you help me remember mitosis & meiosis ?

Okay, so I’m assuming you know the basic processes of both. If not, here are some videos that will explain it to you very clearly or if you need

Crash Course (mitosis)

Crash Course (meiosis)

Bozeman Science (both meiosis and mitosis)

Also, here’s a small list of things to remember about both.

I wasn’t really sure if you wanted to know the difference between mitosis and meiosis or if you just needed to remember the processes since your question was kind of vague, so I wasn’t really to make a really detailed explanation. This is just a really simplified list. The videos should explain things really well.

Hope that helps!

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All Cycles Will Be Removed

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Cells need to turn all energy into ATP to be used.

Glycolysis is the first stage of cellular respiration and occurs in every organism

It takes place in the cytoplasm so there is no need for organelles

It produces a small amount of ATP, perfect for small prokaryotes

It produces 2 ...

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When you’re doing labs…

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C-3 Plants

During the Calvin Cycle, CO2 enters and with the help of the enzyme rubisco, is fixed into 3-PGA, a three carbon molecule. This is not very efficient because rubisco accidentally binds with O2 as well as CO2, which makes absolutely useless products through a process called ...

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Any tips on acing the Bio AP?

study your ass off and sacrifice everything you love to satan