Human language differs from animal communication in many ways. While humans use language to produce an infinite number of unique sentences as a form of communication, animals lack this ability. Animals communicate by signal codes, which means they have a limited number of statements, generally as simple responses to certain situations. As one researcher says,…
Science
Introduction to Pheromones: The Science of Smell
What are Pheromones? The definition of a pheromone, according to the Oxford dictionary, is: “a chemical substance secreted and released by an animal for detection by another usually of the same species. ” Basically, pheromones are chemical messengers that activate physiological or behavioral responses in other like organisms. In most mammals pheromones are detected within…
The Phenomenon of Phantom Limbs in Merleau-Ponty
The prevalent explanations in Ponty’s time for the phenomenon of phantom limbs relied on empiricism and intellectualism (rationalism) for a conception of the body. These fields explained the body in a mechanistic sense, as “an assemblage of parts whose relations to external objects and to each other involve efficient or mechanical causality” (423). But during…
Extremophiles: varietals and adaptations
Thriving in cold polar seas, volcanic springs more than 100°C, and even highly acidic solfataric fields, extremophiles can call any place on this planet their home. Extremophiles live life on the edge of what is considered the norm, having adaptations to extreme pressure, pH, salinity, and temperature (2). There are wide varieties of extremophilic organisms…
A Sinking Earth
The Earth is one compiled of many. Every bird, fish, tree, and frog has its place in assisting the growth of our living planet. Like rivets in the frame of the great Ark, each species of the world contributes to the survival of an ecosystem. When one falls there is no major upset in balance.…
Identification of an Unknown Mixture
Abstract: The purpose of this lab was to identify an unknown mixture of two compounds using powder diffraction techniques combined with scanning electron microscopy and the “PC Identify” computer software. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern of the unknown mixture was analyzed on the computer in the laboratory. A peak search-match showed possible compounds contained in…