Material discussed in class

The following list notes material we discussed in class. But it is not an exhaustive list of topics, and exam questions may cover material not mentioned here. In preparing for the final exam, I suggest that you review all of the material we read, but give special attention to these topics.

• The article "Stressful Aftermath of Early Losses" from Vol. 154, pg. 397 from Science News
• The article "Nicotine Addiction Curbed by New Drug" Vol. 155, pg. 11 from Science News
• How did Cliff determine that the $0.75 discrepancy was not an accounting error?
• How did Cliff use Kermit to test his hypotheses with respect to the location of the hacker? What conclusions did he draw?
• How did Cliff use false data?
• What evidence did Cliff have that the hacker was not from Berkeley?
• How does a superuser differ from other users?
• Why do scientists measure the beaks of birds in particular. That is, why is this more important than measuring weights, wingspans, etc.
• How precisely are scientists able to measure the beaks of finches?
• What aspect of beak size was found to correlate most strongly with the ability of Darwin's finches to crack hard seeds?
• What will select bigger beaks preferentially?
• What will select smaller beaks preferentially?
• What is the role of competition is determining whether larger beaks or smaller beaks are selected?
• How does sexual selection compare with natural selection? How is it similar, and does it differ?
• What observations of guppies were made in the wild?
• What types of experiments using guppies were made in the laboratory?
• What types of controls did scientists use in experimenting with guppies in the laboratory?
• What is an adaptive landscape? How was this concept used to test hypotheses?
• How has natural selection changed the fraction of farm crops consumed by pests in the past 50 years?
• How do crop pests develop resistance to insecticides, etc.?
• How do pathogens develop resistance to drugs?
• How quickly does natural selection operate? How does it relate to the lifespan of an organism?
• What is the main thesis of the article "A New Germ Theory" from The Atlantic Monthly
• What evidence has emerged recently that heart disease may be caused by a pathogen?
• How does differential response to medication inform diagnosis?
• Why do we believe there is a biological basis to mental illness?
• What makes a drug clean? What makes a drup dirty?
• What is drug efficacy? How efficacious are drugs for mental illness? How does drug treatment compare with other treatment?
• What is the placebo effect?
• What are animal models? Why are animal models used?
• For what types of mental illness is prozac most effective?
• What are the tricyclic antidepressants? How does prozac differ from the tricyclics?