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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
On Research Ethics: A Proposal For An Undergraduate Ethics Course Using A Graduate Research Ethics Course As A Baseline, Jordan Sawyer
On Research Ethics: A Proposal For An Undergraduate Ethics Course Using A Graduate Research Ethics Course As A Baseline, Jordan Sawyer
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
In the biology department at Western Washington University, there has been a lack of research ethics courses that students can take, with one of the first being taught in Spring Quarter of 2023. This paper goes through the co-development process of making a graduate-student level ethics course, using Responsible Conduct of Research as a guideline, as well as the schedule for the course. In addition, the paper offers a proposal on how the course could be altered to fit an undergraduate student audience, with the goal of accessibility in mind.
The Foreign Earth: An Exercise In Speculative Biology, Aidyn Ruf
The Foreign Earth: An Exercise In Speculative Biology, Aidyn Ruf
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
Speculative Biology is the practice of examining hypothetical scenarios about the potential evolution of life. This project explores one such perspective timeline, utilizing scientific illustration, scientific information, and creative writing to estimate what the organisms of Earth might look like 250 million years into the future. Basic parameters were established, examining our current knowledge about geology and the environment to determine how the Earth itself might look. This included examining factors such as tectonic movement, adjusted ocean currents, and planetary heat cycles. Then, I studied mass extinctions and the animals which survived them, creating a baseline of ancestors the future …
White Lies Matter: The Evolution, Persistence, And Impact Of Scientific Racism, Kim Keay
White Lies Matter: The Evolution, Persistence, And Impact Of Scientific Racism, Kim Keay
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
A dissection of the origins, history, persistence, and impacts of various threads of scientific racism. This paper traces scientific racism from its roots in evolutionary biology through Social Darwinism and eugenics. By exploring the historical connection between scientific racism and white supremacy, this research aims to reveal some of the ways in which contemporary science, racism, and society at large have been shaped by the past. Tracing these threads will follow scientific racism from its origins to the beginnings of Social Darwinism and eugenics, through American cultivation of eugenics and its connections to Nazi Germany, to ongoing eugenicist policies and …
Characterizing The Behavior Of Mutated Proteins With Emcap: The Energy Minimization Curve Analysis Pipeline, Matthew Lee, Bodi Van Roy, Filip Jagodzinski
Characterizing The Behavior Of Mutated Proteins With Emcap: The Energy Minimization Curve Analysis Pipeline, Matthew Lee, Bodi Van Roy, Filip Jagodzinski
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
Studies of protein mutants in wet laboratory experiments are expensive and time consuming. Computational experiments that simulate the motions of protein with amino acid substitutions can complement wet lab experiments for studying the effects of mutations. In this work we present a computational pipeline that performs exhaustive single-point amino acid substitutions in silico. We perform energy minimization as part of molecular dynamics (MD) of our generated mutant proteins, and the wild type, and log the energy potentials for each step of the simulations. We motivate several metrics that rely on the energy minimization curves of the wild type and mutant, …