Blog

Two friends who are not related to each other are both each diagnosed with cancer.   Explain how the cell cycle plays a role in the development of cancer.  Might we develop a single cure for all cancers? Explain. Sometimes cancer can occur without other members of the family ever having cancer.  Using your knowledge of genetics and DNA replication, why would the cancer occur if no one else in the family has that cancer? Explain. Please label your answers 1, 2, and 3 and explain briefly but thoroughly with a full paragraph (multiple sentences) for each part.

Lost in the Solar System: You have been abducted by an alien being. After performing experiments on you, the alien gives you a “life-support belt”, allowing you to survive in any environment, and dumps you somewhere in the solar system. Each question below gives a brief description of a place where you were left by the alien. Identify your location. Be as specific as possible. Include a brief explanation for your answer. You are walking on a solid surface. The surface gravity is comfortable, but it is “hot, hot, hot!” Your body is being squeezed in all directions due to the high pressure; it’s almost like being deep in the ocean. Your life-support belt is corroding. The Sun, barely visible through the haze, is near your meridian. You hope for nightfall (unaware that it would provide no relief), but you already have been stuck on this planet for nearly 72 hours, and the Sun seems not to have moved through the sky (and, if it moved at all, it moved eastward from the meridian).

Jupiter’s colors come in part from its three layers of clouds. Which of the following is not the primary constituent of one of Jupiter’s cloud layers?

In a cell culture, most cells appear to have loosely packed chromatin and no visible chromosomes. The cells are performing normal metabolic activities but not dividing and there has been no replication of DNA. Which phase of the cell cycle best describes these cells?

Hemophilia is a sex-linked trait on the X chromosome.  If a male with hemophilia and a female carrier have offspring, what offspring are predicted to neither have nor be carriers of the disease?

Match the following description to the proper moon.

Hemophilia is a sex-linked trait on the X chromosome.  If a male with hemophilia and a female carrier have offspring, what percentage of the offspring are predicted to be carriers?  

A diploid germ cell in a frog contains 10 chromosomes. Following fertilization, the resulting zygote undergoes mitosis. How many daughter cells are produced by this single mitotic event, and how many chromosomes does each daughter cell contain?

Describe what occurs to make a sunspot cooler than the surrounding photospheric material.

What is the chief difficulty in attempting to detect planets around other stars?  Select all that apply.