The Science of Life

The Full on definitions of the word theory from the five texts referenced in my Theories video.  The citations are in the format ("Title"; Principle Author (there may or may not be secondary authors); ISBN; page number referenced; which UNLV course the book is for).   See the video here . These books may be obtained through any public library or digitally through your  favorite  means of obtaining digital copies of books. (“Biology: A Guide to the Natural World Fifth Edition”; David Krogh; 978-0-321-61655-5; p. 6; for UNLV's course BIOL 189 - Fundamentals of Life Sciences) It is unfortunate but true that the word theory means one thing in everyday speech and something almost completely different in scientific communication. In everyday speech, a theory can be little more than a hunch. It is an unproven idea that may or may not have any supportive evidence. In science, meanwhile, a theory is a general set of principles, supported by evidence, that expla...

I apologize for a longer-than-acceptable absence. My academic progress is getting in the way of so much of my life right now, including but not limited to this blog. I will, however, persevere in continuing with it – both the academics as well as the blog. I have also been working on a few projects outside of academia and outside of this blog. This includes a new website which incorporates poetry, chemistry, undergraduate papers, ACS news, and my tutoring in chemistry. For those of you curious, it can be found at http://poetchem.alexandersdesigns.net/ .  Over the course of the next few months, I will be transitioning this blog over there. For this blog entry, I will detail how one of my classes – in particular, Calculus III – relates to the real world. This is one project I have been working on for the past few semesters.  This will also be my final extra credit project for that course. There is something you have to understand about the realm of mathematics,...

I had a thought earlier this week. I have my final paper in my Hazardous Materials class due tomorrow, which is we are supposed to pick one of five prepared questionnaires to answer in full essay form. In order to save some time in writing this weeks blog, I figured I would put a public version of it on here for this week. For next week, I will do something similar for my Hazardous Materials Final Exam. (It's an online class, and I will have the final exam submitted prior to posting next weeks blog, so there will be no moral quandaries with me posting my final exam on this blog.) I would like everyone who reads this blog to perform this personal assignment. If you wish to post your copy of it in the comments or not is up to your discretion, as is sharing it with anyone in your realm of existence. But I do ask that you do it so that you may think more intimately about your at-home materials and your use of them. As with the lab note-book I spent the past two weeks writing ab...