Adventures in Intro Biology Part 3

I walked toward the natural science building and was surprised to see a line of students queued up from one of the doors. At least 30 students were in that line or pressed up against the door and once in a while, a student would burst free from the cluster and exit the building. I laughed on the inside and put on my best expression that said, "huh, why are you all standing there like that? You are all so strange," as I walked in the door just to the right of the ones they were lined up against. I easily walked into the building, strolled into the lecture hall, and immediately found a seat in the front row. I know that the freshman who were waiting were ignorant of the lesser known portal, but superiority is a great feeling.

Having gotten off to such a great start, there was no way I was going to give my undivided attention to the review of the syllabus that has been elongated into an hour long lecture. Instead, I thought about all of the changes the biology department has been making. I do need to throw in the disclaimer that I only have three semesters of knowledge about the biology department so hopefully there will be some input from more experienced readers (or siblings or significant others of siblings that bought me a wonderful book of hilarious comics that shares the title of my blog). There is a noticeable difference between the biology classes I have taken and the other natural sciences and I assure you it was not the subject matter. The biology department has been trying very hard to teach "processes of scientific inquiry", a subject I find extremely valuable to know.

My attention was drawn away from class and to this idea first by why this was being included. Obviously, the process and method of scientific investigation is important to SCIENCE....that's what it is. Has this been taught in the past? Did it used to be a part of all science classes and slowly fell out of the course content? Has it ever been its own class? Why are they teaching this in an introductory class? That last question is easy to answer; because it is so vital to science that students need to be exposed to it before they continue. If it is so vital (it is the foundation of science), why is it not a separate class?

After having thought of more questions than I wanted to even think about answering, I started thinking about to whom they were catering. The knowledge of scientific design is important to biologists (scientists), professors (who, at least at research universities, are scientists), and....doctors? I hope so. The most represented demographic in the class was pre-med freshmen and my, oh my, how they looked stereotypical. I hope that despite their current conformity, they go on to become doctors who have a decent idea of real science. That way, my detestment and distrust of M.D.s can be directed completely at their arrogance and greed.

First day of class: successful and largely uneccessary. The reason I continue to attend classes is that being forced to sit in one place for an hour or so does wonders for my imagination. I have had some fantastic ideas during class, I just hope they come during intro bio part 3, not orgo.

My Problem with 'avian' and 'swine' Flu

I really dislike the term "Swine Flu". Let's do a quick review on Influenza. There are many different types and strains of the virus, but the type that we are always referring to is Influenza A (They strains vary by the make up of certain proteins eg H1N1, H2N5, etc.) . Some of them are specific to different animals including birds, pigs, and humans. The virus can mutate one of two ways. It can have random error in its replication, or more than one strain of the virus can infect the same individual and they can mix together (reassortment). So let's say there is a pig specific flu going around in the pig community, but it isn't too bad--little piglet ts only need to stay home from school for a day before they get better. There is also a human specific flu going around in the human community that has a similar effect on little kids. These two flus aren't too bad because each population has their respective immunities. One day, a human with human flu sneezes on a pig and the pig is able to catch it. Then, her piglet comes home from school and gives her pig flu. The two flus undergo reassortment and make a new hybrid that can be spread to humans. Farmers Jane and John both die because they have no immunity. Now that you know how influenza works, please realize that the 1957 flu could have been called "duck flu" and the 1968 could have been remembered as "swine flu". My point is that one cannot label a flu by the animal it originated from because it is misleading. When you say "swine flu" one thinks you mean that a pig has the flu.