Resources for individual classes
I will begin our final class with a brief wrap-up of the structure and nature of proteins, using the oxygen transport blood protein hemoglobin as an example. If you want to learn more about this protein and what it does, browse the early sections of Hemoglobin at Wikipedia.
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Before Class #8, please read, from The Complete Cosmocomics,
• The Origin of the Birds, page 167.
NOTE to those who have only the 1965 publication Cosmicomics: With my November 2 email, I include links to pdf files of the The Origin of the Birds and Blood, Sea, the only two assigned stories that were not in the 1965 publication. In that email, click those LONG blue URLs after the story titles to download them. If you have any problems opening the files, send me email (my address on any mail I've sent you).
• Also read What is Science?, HERE.
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After reading The Origin of the Birds, please look at these resources:
• Watch this video:
• Remember Evogeneao?
Here's a chance to review. Click the colorful frog above to go to the site. Click on the Interactive Tree of Life (top of right column). Then see if you can connect songbirds with therapod dynosaurs on the tree to see the fates of their common ancestors, and the degree of their relatedness.
If you need help, go back to the home site and click on the second item in the right column, the Tree of Life Introductory Video. Than back to the interactive tree and try to make the connection. Have fun.
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After reading What is Science?, think about these questions.
- In Science, what do data, laws, and theories (as defined in the essay) all have in common?
- Why, in understanding some things about nature, is it difficult, perhaps impossible, to construct a theory that explains why the pertinent laws hold?
- What's wrong with saying, "Evolution is merely a theory"?
- What did John Searle mean when he said that science helps us to construct knowledge that is true, objective, and universal?
- Did Searle mean that scientific conclusions are correct?
- Astronomical observations made around 1920 showed that the Sun's gravity can cause a light beam to follow a curved path. Why can we not say that these observations prove Einstein's general theory of relativity? What's a better word than prove, in this case?
- Is the discovery of a reliable law a creative act? What do you think, and why?
- Is the formulation of a plausible theory a creative act? What do you think, and why?
If these questions are of interest to you, you can find more about them by reading more of these Reflections on Science and the Humanities.
See you Thursday.
