WSU Bio 102 Exam 1 Study Guide 2024 Graded A

Hypothesis - an informed, logical, and plausible explanation of observations of the natural world what does it mean that a hypothesis must be "falsifiable" - it must make predictions that can be clearly determined to be true or false, right or wrong correlation - a statistical relation indicating that two or more aspects of the natural world behave in an interrelated manner causation - a change in one aspect of the natural world causes a change in another aspect independent variable - variable that is manipulated by the investigator dependent variable - variable that can potentially respond to the changes in the independent variable control group - group maintained under a set of standard conditions with no change in the independent variable treatment group - group maintained under the same set of conditions as the control group, but the independent variable is manipulated peer review - a mechanism used for policing personal or group bias and even outright fraud in science what role does peer review play in the scientific process - a way for scientists to receive review and input from other scientists on their results scientific fact - a direct and repeatable observation of any aspect of the natural world scientific theory - major idea that has been supported by many observations and experiments scientific method list - 1. observe and ask questions 2. suggest hypothesis 3. make predictions 4. design tests 5. analyze results what are 3 conclusions scientists have for interpreting their data? - accept, reject, or modify your hypothesis, predictions, or test according to the results 3 hypotheses researchers proposed to explain the bats death - if WNS is caused by a transmissible fungus, then healthy bats that hibernate in contact with affected bats should develop the condition. if the fungus is secondary to an underlying condition, then the infection will only occur in bats after the primary underlying condition is present if an environmental contaminant is the cause, then bats with WNS symptoms will have elevated levels of that contaminant in their blood or on their skin. what was the conclusions of the bat deaths experiment? - WNS was not airborne, but all who came in contact with the white nose fungus developed WNS what are the benefits of vaccines - vaccines protect, especially children, against pathogens such as smallpox and polio. it also protects against other bacteria that cause disease. these vaccines have gotten rid of these fatal diseases in the U.S. what were Anna Eaton's concerns regarding vaccinating her child - she had read that they may cause autism. what are some ways to access quality sources as you do basic research on a scientific topic - check credentials and review primary and secondary literature what is pseudo- science - scientific sounding statements, beliefs, or practices that are not actually based on scientific method what aspects of the autism- vaccination study did not live up to good science standards - study was small (only 12 kids), conclusions were grand stating that children should stop getting the MMR vaccine, had no control group, couldn't be replicated