CharonY

You have to keep in mind that simplifying science in such a way that it is understandable to kids without being horrendously wrong is actually very, very, very difficult. Much more difficult than for example a college-level textbook. Even by being superficial the big question is how superficial can you be and still explain things and (ideally) only be slightly wrong? Mind you, I think if done well that these books are fantastic, but in my mind they are also extremely challenging.

This question cannot be answered with certainty. It depends mostly on the diet, but also the quality of the enamel. One of the main culprits of dental caries are fermentable sugars, for example. In populations that have less or no access to refined sugar, can have good dental qualities without access to tooth brushes, for example. Vitamin K is another factor under discussion that can be a major factor in maintaining tooth health for example. In short, as usual it depends on a lot of factors, but probably primarily diet and it should be noted that tooth brushing is not the only way to clean teeth (though one could claim that twigs or similar things could be considered tooth brushing for these purposes).

I think especially 3 and 4 require much more discussion and research than is currently available or done. I am not sure whether we can get the answers we would like to have, but if we only discuss the tangents we certainly won't. On a different note, glad you are safe.

Considering that the detailed molecular genetics of myopia is not known and heavily influenced by the environment, it cannot be ruled out. But at the same time it is impossible to determine the precise cause, either.

All you describe is the ability to pass tests, which is a skill in itself. Unfortunately, they are rather poor indicators when it comes to the advanced areas. Once it hits grad school level the advantage diminishes and eventually vanishes. It is also interesting to note that heredity of IQ is highly dependent on socioeconomic status. I.e. in low-income families the measured heredity is lower, meaning external factors are determining IQ test performance to a higher degree than in higher income families (though it varies to a large degree). Ultimately, it is tricky to use IQ as other, more direct metrics and infer much from it, without a lot of caveats and controls. Especially considering that it s already tricky with the seemingly easier traits.

I doubt that a short glossary entry will actually be sufficient to really learn anything. But if it spikes curiosity, so much the better.

AFAIK the precise pathways are actually not known. However, the general model follows that of nociception (keyword to look up). What happens is not that certain parts of the cell react. Rather the sensation is caused by the activity of specialized cells that send signals to the brain, where they are interpreted as itch. The general principle is that e.g. certain chemicals such as histamine bind to receptors sitting on the surface of these neuronal (sensory) cells. When sufficient binding occurs, ion channels open in the cell, resulting in depolarization of the membrane and eventually the generation of an action potential (another keyword to look up). These are then modulated and eventually transmitted to the brain via afferent nerves to specific areas in the brain, which ultimately interprets the stimulus as itch or pain (both are closely related and, again, to my knowledge the molecular and physiological details are not quite resolved yet).

Yes the facial nerve is basically a bundle of neurons. In principle you could try to activate parts of the bundle (or more easily, the target muscles directly) and trigger movement. However, to re-iterate, the frequency typically controls the intensity of the signal, not the targeting or fine control per se. You have to know (or remember) that the signal is transmitted in the form of action potentials (AP). If you read up on the properties of APs you will realize why that is the case.

There are a number of disciplines involved in this topic. Even worse, depending on cell types there are further sub-specializations. Off the top of my head you have (molecular) cell biology, cell physiology, parts of: developmental biology, neurophysiology/cellular neurobiology, analytical cytology, histology, to name a few examples.

It is a nice show and one of the better ones dealing with time travel. But it is sci-fi, you will not learn a lot. You may have a good time, though.

I am not actually sure whether he believes what he is saying. Rather I think he may be just flexible in his believes and used to reality bending to his will, with the option of unbending once it suits him better. There are plenty of medical professionals that have weird beliefs, including in things related to biology, as such it is not a huge surprise. After all, he went through medical education which often omits or skips over a significant part of biology. And even if it did, evolution and other aspects have little impact on their jobs (as opposed to jobs in biological sciences).

No, the target muscles are activated by individual neuronal cells. What you need to know is that a nerve is a bundle of neuronal fibers that transmit signals to and from the brain. The facial nerve specifically originates from the brainstem and then branches out, and connects with the various muscles. Which muscles are activated at any given time is dependent on which branches carry action potentials. The frequency of action potentials typically only encodes the strength of a signal (as the amplitude of APs do not change). So if you close your eyelid a signel travels through the facial nerve, goes to the zygomatic branches and end with the orbicularis oculi, which, upon activation, close the eyelids. The opening of the eyelids, however, is controlled by the levator palpebrae superioris which, IIRC, is innervated by a different pathway.

Eh, you can be intelligent and be irrational or uneducated (and vice versa, of course). And if you do not want to lead, how can you force someone to still do a decent job?

I am actually not quite sure I understand your question. So, can you give me a definition of what the D-value is (forget the plot for now, it is more relevant for the Z-value) and how it s measured?

Are we talking about publications? It really depends on the type of review. Obviously the intro should lay out what the review is about.I is it an exhaustive review on one topic, does it provide a general broad overview, is it a critical review, does it focus on outcomes or methods, is it more a perspectives paper, etc. How the rest is crafted is highly dependent on the focus of the topic. What most have in common is at least a rough outline of the state of the art and then expand or dive into details from there. The important bit is that all good reviews at one point or another start to narrow down the scope to the critical lit that are to be discussed and put into perspective. The latter is often lacking if someone junior is writing a review (or worse, if it is from a student and the PI is either not familiar with the topic or just does not care).

I should probably add that R&D in industry tends to be the most vulnerable positions. In crunch times they are one of the first to go (as they are not directly related to revenue generation).

Off-topic, but my deepest condolences.

If you are thinking experiments you are almost certainly thinking academic research. There is comparatively little in experimental research going on in industry with the exception of certain set goals. Examples include specific target screens or formulation optimization. But in either case, considering you are an idealistic student, I will tell you that typically once you reach these kind of position (academic or industrial) your actually duties will barely revolve around the bench. And that is only if you are successful. If you start a PhD, five years from now you are likely have to do a postdoc for another 4 years or so (though the time is creeping up due to budget cuts). Then, if you apply for a proper job, you are likely to compete with 100-300 other applicants for tenure track position. If you are the lucky one, your time will be eaten up by teaching, managing your lab, training students and tons of academic responsibility (including grant writing) so your actual time to do proper research can be very limited. And if you get a bad crop of students in your lab you may be fighting your way out of a downward spiral towards your tenure application. To summarize, an academic career (but increasingly also industrial) are highly competitive at the PhD level, you have to be aware that you are not doing full-time research after your postdoc and if either of that is interesting to you, you better be good at networking.

It is not clear to me what you intend to do. If you want to do basic research, you typically need to get a PhD at some point. If you want to be a technician/research assistant a BS/MS may suffice. That being said, enzymology is a rather general field and there is broad range even in industrial job that are somehow associated with it. For example you could be an analyst that validates the composition for product control in pharmaceutical production, or you could assist in performing assays to look for therapeutic targets or part of a production team. Or maybe an application specialist in that area etc. The relevant bit is that is basically a topic, deeply rooted in biochemistry that is not necessary connected to a particular type of job.

A) Evolutionary theory as other scientific theories are constantly expanded, revised and refined. B) It has nothing to do with your arguments and certainly does not require the presence of some ominous unknown entity. There does not seem to be a lot of grounds for a scientific discussion here.

That is not the the point. B. subtilis is a harmless model organism for Gram+ bacteria. However, isolation of spores is also applicable (to some extent) to the pathogen. What John brought up is that a lab that is doing standard analyses should either already have protocols in place or have some sort of guidance on how to find them, as it is not precisely obscure knowledge for microbiologists. It is quite possible that it is a legitimate question by a student, though as usual I wonder why the question is not directed to the adviser first. Note that there are a lot of other normally harmless microbiological techniques that can result in increased scrutiny due to their potential of abuse.

Hmm, good point, actually...

I certainly do not agree to sweeping statements, especially in areas with a lot of unknowns and especially outside of my area of expertise.

There are a lot of methods for which you should be able to find literature rather easily. Note that most are older, so you may not find them by quick googling (unless you got the right keywords). However, in almost all methods you will find some extent of bacterial contamination, unless you repeat the purification steps. Edit to remove details, although they should be easy enough to find in the literature,

Depends quite a bit on what you have access to. However, there tons of possibilities in terms of data modeling/analysis that can be split up either way (a field/lab group to do analyses, a data analysis group to investigate the data etc.). Or share the same system/organism and do complementary experiments. Basically, tons of research activities are decentralized but it may be tricky to organize it on the student level.