Welcome back!  I hope that you had a good Thanksgiving holiday.  Hard to believe that we have only 2 weeks left before finals and the end of the semester.  Several items of business to consider:

The last 5 lecture periods will be devoted to selected topics about evolution and earth history - related material is in Part 5 of the text, Chapters 21-25.  I'll present the topics in somewhat different order from the text, beginning with topics in Chapter 22, so read ahead.  Don't forget the PBS links (below, 11/14).

The exam 4 scores are posted.  During the finals period there will be 3 sets of questions:

• "Test 5" -50 questions over lectures since test 4.
• "Final" - 50 questions from the rest of the course.
• "Bonus" - 20 questions from the extra-credit readings. 

The extra-credit readings for the final are here.  Remember that you cannot drop Test 5 or the Final. 

I'll be available tonight to answer questions in Temple 1 at 7 pm

Regarding the test on Friday:  It will cover lecture slides #21, 22, 23, and 24.  These topics can be found in the text mainly in Chapters 10, 13, 14, 16, and 17.  Use the lectures to guide your study- there are many other topics in the text but I will not go fishing for topics that I didn't at least mention in lecture or in the PowerPoints.  I did not get to any topics in Immunology yet (18) so those will not be covered on this test. 

I just realized that there were some outdated chapter references on the practice test (I removed them this morning).  Don't let that confuse you- I guess if you actually looked at those chapters in the text you'd realize pretty quick that some of them did not apply. 

By the way - this is the last test before the finals period.  During the finals period you will take two tests- #5 over the last part of the course, and another set of questions over the whole course (the final).  Please remember that you cannot drop the last exam (5) or the comprehensive final. 

I will not be here on Monday- I'm attending a meeting of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.  In lieu of lecture, I will ask you to view a video that introduces the topics of evolution, development, and the history of life on earth.  I will arrange for the video to be shown during class time on Monday, on the "big screen" in Temple 3.  I also have links to the video on YouTube, if you don't mind watching it on the small screen.  The video is titled "Great Transformations" and it is one episode from the PBS series titled "Evolution".  Please take notes- we will consider this part of the course.  NOTE: the film will NOT be on exam on Friday.  It WILL be covered on exam 5.

From PBS: "Great Transformations Overview: What triggered the incredible diversity of life on Earth, and how have complex life forms, including humans, evolved? Is there direction to evolution? And is human intelligence inevitable? This program focuses on evolution's "great transformations"—among them the development of a standard four-limbed body plan, the journey from water to land, the return of marine mammals to the sea, and the emergence of humans. Driven by a combination of opportunism and a genetic "toolkit," these astounding leaps forward define the arc of evolution. And they suggest that every living creature on earth today, and every species that has ever existed, is a variation on a grand genetic theme—a member of one, and only one, tree of life."

These links each have a part of the episode- they are about 8 minutes each.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQUP03vL5Gk

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Nl-5OLIdo&feature=related 

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPEl8ijFEp0&feature=related

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycilBhtVV-E&feature=related

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D34Q1zGMxDI&feature=related

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXgQOj3dA-M&feature=related

I've posted the next set of lecture slides (#24) - We're into text chapter 17, but part of the concepts I'm talking about go back to Chapters 10 and 12 too (genetic diseases and aspects of the inheritance of those that relate to linkage, sex determination, and so on. 
 

Thursday, November 6, 2008, 4:00 pm,  PSU Theater there will be a lecture & discussion:
“Terror on the Bayou: Vanishing Wetlands, Vanishing Cultures, and the Desperate Cry for Sustainability on the Louisiana Gulf Coast” Presenters: Dr. Kurt Heinlein and Dr. Inno Onwueme.  A colloquium discussing an ongoing interdisciplinary project from the College of Arts and Letters and the College on Natural and Applied Sciences in the quest for education about global sustainability.

Test scores are posted.  Today is election day - do your duty.

Reminder: the TriBeta Biological Honorary offers free tutoring sessions for some classes including Bio 121.  By appointment only - contact Tri-Beta@missouristate.edu 
 

Weather has been nice!  I hope that you got outside this weekend.  We'll start chapter 13 Monday (set 21 of lecture slides).  The exam scores will be posted sometime Tuesday.

I added just a few more slides tonight (#20) to what I will cover tomorrow (Wed).

Exam #3 on Friday will cover molecular genetics and inheritance- material from text chapters 11, 12, 9 and 10 (in that order) and lecture from set #15 on to wherever we end up on Wednesday this week.

I'll be available on Wednesday evening at 7 in Temple 1 (that's 1 not 3) to answer questions.  I can't do it on Thursday this time.

The key from exam 2 is posted in the display cabinet opposite Temple 244.  Be sure to review your test and see what you got wrong- remember that the final (like life) is comprehensive.  If you were absent and did not get your answer sheet back, ask me for it after class.

Good seminar this afternoon at 4 in Temple 3- John Havel will talk about the Invasion of the Water Fleas.

I'm back.  Slide set 18 is available now- material from Chapter 9.  I'll return the exam 2 answer sheets Wednesday.

Fall holiday starts tomorrow.  I'll be out of town from Thursday through Monday - I'm giving a lecture and visiting some colleagues at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.  Dr. Mark McKnight has kindly agreed to lecture for me on Monday.  Dr. McKnight teaches the afternoon section of Bio 121 and also teaches Genetics (Bio 235).

I'll be putting up slide set 17 before I leave, so be sure to get that for Monday's lecture if you can.  I'm modifying some of the slides from set #16 and they will be included in set !7.

Exam 2 scores are posted.  The average on the test was 73.  

I'll be available to answer questions from 7-9 this evening, in Temple Hall Room 1.

The second exam is scheduled for this Friday.  It will cover Lecture since the last exam - that is Powerpoint sets #9-14 (I posted #14 this afternoon).  The relevant text chapters are 4, 5, 7, 8.  We won't get past photosynthesis. 

The Biology seminar this Friday (4 pm, Temple 3) will be by Elsa Youngsteadt - she grew up in `Springfield and is a now a PhD student at North Carolina State University.   Elsa studies the behavior of tropical ants that gather seeds and plant gardens- this is a major factor in tropical ecology, where ants actually outweigh all other animals.  Elsa is also a science journalist- she was a fellow of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) last year and has written several news articles for the journal Science as well as technical articles.  If you are thinking about graduate school and science as a career- check it out. 

Reminder - the TriBeta club offers free tutoring for Biology classes.  Appointment is required.

Exam scores are posted here.  The average score on the exam was 72.  

The TriBeta Biological Honorary offers free tutoring sessions for some classes including Bio 121.  You must make an appointment with them.

The first exam will be this Friday (9/19), as advertised.  There will be 50 multiple choice questions.  There is a practice test available- there are a few questions in the practice test (#26-28) that refer to statistics- don't worry about those for now- statistical concepts are not covered on this test but will be discussed in lab. 

I've got the lecture slides posted for the lectures this week.  Note that I'm jumping around in the text - skipping ahead from Chapter 3 to Chapter 6.  I want to discuss energy, metabolism and molecules before considering cell structure (Chapters 4,5).

There is a lecture opportunity THURSDAY evening, September 4, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the Plaster Student Union Theatre.  Dr. David Orr from University of Vermont will present “Some Like It Hot–But Lots More Don’t:  The Changing Climate of US Politics.  Dr. Orr is best known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and his recent work in ecological design. He raised funds for and spearheaded the effort to design and build a $7.2 million Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, a building described by the New York Times as “the most remarkable” of a new generation of college buildings and by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of thirty “milestone buildings” of the 20th century.  Here is a pdf flier with more details.  I encourage you to attend.

 

I'll hand out the syllabus and schedule on Monday, and you can download it from the link at left.  Please read the Course Policy statement carefully.  If you want to know more about me- you can visit my home page.  See you in class on Monday.