Wed. August 19: Philosophy of Science Assignment: Read this web page A revised version of this page was posted at 5 pm on August 23rd. Fri. August 21: Assignment: Read the book "The Double Helix" by James Watson Mon. August 24: Continue discussing the lessons of Watson's autobiography. Pre-Crick-Watson Knowledge About Genes What Watson Knew Questions for discussion of Watson and Crick   Wed. August 26: Begin autoimmune diseases: Notes on autoimmune diseases Multiple sclerosis Fri. August 28: continuing with multiple sclerosis: What goes wrong in MS possible topics for student reports MS treatments. This was posted Sunday night, and modified Monday morning at 8:40 am. Another link was added at 1:30 pm on Monday.   Wed. September 2 questions for class discussion: false paradigms about autoimmunity vs. a cure for MS? Fri. September 4 ideas for curing MS   Wed. September 9 macrophages Fri. September 11 Why math isn't just about numbers anymore!   Mon. September 14 Bone formation and osteoporosis Wed. September 16 Helicobacter pylori as the cause of gastric ulcers   Mon. September 21 Water flow in sponges Wed. September 23 more on sponges and theories of cell sorting some time-lapse videos of sponges aggregates fusing fluorescently labeled reorganization by cell movement some pictures of sponges [posted October 4th, 6 pm] how do sponges pump water? [posted October 20th, 8:20 pm]   Fri. September 25 Cartilage and ossification Wed. September 30 Cell sorting Wed. October 21 images from a video of a cell in mitosis, and diagram of particle transport on cell surfaces Fri. October 23 Please see revised notes on the erroneous paper report. Since we had an entire class on ulcers and Helicobacter pylori, this is not a good topic for this year.   Mon. October 26 cartilage and electro-osmosis Wed. October 28 discussion and debate about aging   Mon. November 2 idiopathic diseases, and imbalances of physical tensions   Mon. November 9 discussion about regeneration; additional material added 3:45 pm Sunday Wed. November 11 the apical ectodermal ridge Fri. November 13 the Differential Adhesion Hypothesis and thermodynamics   Mon. November 16 class notes: Why Has Physics Progressed Farther Than Biology? Gradients in limb grafts. Retino-tectal connections Wed. November 18 questions about diverse topics: affinophoresis, Levinthal's paradox, turning off luxury gene expression, antibody binding sites and protein folding, and brain power Fri. November 20 nerve and muscle connection patterns   ----------------- review questions for the final exam Saturday December 5, 8:00 pm: The list is now complete.   Format of the final exam. ----------------- choosing problems to study for a career in biological research ------------------------------------------------ Schedule for student presentations updated October 27th Final exam study questions from last year's class ------------------------------------------------ James Watson mentions that he was stimulated to go into science by reading the book "Microbe Hunters" when he was a boy. This same book is credited by every scientific biography I have read, and it also stimulated me when I read it at about age 10. Please watch the youtube lecture. "Paul De Kruif: The Microbe Hunter and Author" presented by John Lehman, who is a Professor and administrator at ECU medical school. And please read the article at this URL: http://www.im.microbios.org/01march98/09%20Summers.pdf Another book worth reading is the novel "Arrowsmith" by Sinclair Lewis. Inexpensive copies can often be found in local used bookstores, or you can get the entire text on line here. Quotes from the Wikipedia article about the novel "Arrowsmith": "Arrowsmith is arguably the earliest major novel to deal with the culture of science." "This novel has been inspirational for several generations of pre-medical and medical students." "Professional jealousy, institutional pressures, greed, stupidity, and negligence... also tireless dedication, and respect for the scientific method and intellectual honesty." and about "Microbe Hunters": "...Paul de Kruif... 1926 book, Microbe Hunters.. a bestseller for a lengthy period... has remained high on lists of recommended reading for science and ...an inspiration for many aspiring physicians and scientists." This entire book is posted on the web, but is NOT assigned reading for this course: https://laurieximenez.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/1a_microbehunters_pauldekruif.pdf   The syllabus will continue to be developed as the semester goes on.   PLEASE NOTICE THE FOLLOWING: This course requires the equivalent of a term paper, which is due to be turned in no later than the week before Thanksgiving. How to write this paper is described below. You have to find a published research paper, the conclusions of which have turned out to be seriously wrong. That doesn't mean "fraudulent" and it also doesn't just mean that progress has shown the truth to be more complicated. Specific examples of appropriate papers will be discussed in class. The Dreaded Erroneous Research Paper Assignment [REVISED OCTOBER 22]