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Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Ethical Analysis Of Brain Augmentation Through Nanotechnology, Austin Caras, James Dejesus
Ethical Analysis Of Brain Augmentation Through Nanotechnology, Austin Caras, James Dejesus
Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal
The use of nanoparticles for drug delivery and neural cell manipulation may soon allow for organic and electronic brain augmentations. Medical technology being used for cognitive enhancement brings a host of ethical questions related to safety, justice, privacy, and individuality. Issues concerning medical consent and intellectual property will be skewed as neuroscience expands our understanding of the brain, growing our capacity to read and modify it. Socioeconomic strata may realign based on augmentations and employment opportunities may become dependent on specific cognitive enhancements. Long-term effects of unregulated nanoparticle usage could elicit an environmental or human health disaster. The potential …
Classification As Narrative: A Renewed Perspective On A Longstanding Topic In Ethnobiology, Denise M. Glover
Classification As Narrative: A Renewed Perspective On A Longstanding Topic In Ethnobiology, Denise M. Glover
All Faculty Scholarship
The present work offers a renewed perspective on natural-kind classification in the field of ethnobiology, one that focuses on analyzing higher-order classifications as a form of narrative. By examining changes in classification of materia medica in three main medical/pharmacological texts from three time periods of the Tibetan medicine tradition, we see an overarching shift in classification from a focus on medical efficacy to one on material substance and morphology, thus suggesting influence from pre-twenty-first century western, Linnaean science. The work then links this historical narrative to the complexities of classification of materia medica among contemporary doctors of Tibetan medicine in …
Metaphors And Mind: An Erp Study Of How The Brain Processes Metaphors, Crystal Poole
Metaphors And Mind: An Erp Study Of How The Brain Processes Metaphors, Crystal Poole
Summer Research
Even though metaphors are frequently used in everyday language, how metaphors are created and comprehended in the brain is not well understood. Metaphors can differ in whether they are conventional (such as “love is war”) or novel (such as “love is a tidal wave”), and an unresolved question is if, and how, novel metaphors might become conventional as they are used. In order to test this question, we will ask participants to respond to literal phrases, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors created by the experimenters, and novel metaphors created by the participants themselves while measuring their brain …
Epiphyte Distributions Vary With Structural Heterogeneity In Acer Macrophyllum, Kaela Hamilton, Carrie L. Woods
Epiphyte Distributions Vary With Structural Heterogeneity In Acer Macrophyllum, Kaela Hamilton, Carrie L. Woods
Summer Research
As a foundation species, epiphytes play an essential role in augmenting biodiversity within an ecosystem. In the Hoh temperate rainforest, Acer macrophyllum (bigleaf maple) trees host more epiphytic biomass than any other tree in the Pacific Northwest. Previous studies in tropical rainforests, as well as in the Woods lab have used broad-scale zonation techniques to examine how resource partitioning creates epiphytic specialization, but the variation in epiphyte species around the circumference of the trunk and branches suggests that the true heterogeneity of the tree is left uncaptured by this method. Using dot-intercept method, fine-scale epiphyte distribution data was taken from …
Modulating The Cancerous Effects Of The Oncogene Src, Katherine Segar
Modulating The Cancerous Effects Of The Oncogene Src, Katherine Segar
Summer Research
Cancer is a notable disease due to its prevalence historically and geographically as well as its complexity. Cancer is driven by oncogenes, genes that cause normal cells to turn cancerous. Src is a notable oncogene in that it is present in several common cancers; colon, breast, and prostate cancer. Dr. Sauedo’s lab has demonstrated an interesting relationship between reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive chemical compounds produced via cellular energy production, and Src. Over expression of Src and increased ROS levels allow a tumor to form. However it is unclear how changing Src expression and increasing of ROS levels allows tumor …
Using Age To Assess Retention Time Of Ingested Plastic In Seabirds, Tessa G. Nania, Gary Shugart, Peter Hodum
Using Age To Assess Retention Time Of Ingested Plastic In Seabirds, Tessa G. Nania, Gary Shugart, Peter Hodum
Summer Research
For the past 30 years, plastic pollution research has used plastic ingested and retain in seabirds’ gastrointestinal (GIT) tract as indicators of pollution on different spatial and temporal scales. Types and size of plastic found in birds’ stomachs were used to determine pollution types and severity at different times and places. However, the length of time that birds can retain plastic in their GIT is unknown, making ingested plastic’s use as a bioindicator questionable. We assessed retention times in two seabird species, the Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) and the Cassin’s Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), and compared the …
Impact Of Ros Presence On Oncogenic Ras Activity, Chris Andersen
Impact Of Ros Presence On Oncogenic Ras Activity, Chris Andersen
Summer Research
Previous research has suggested a connection between oncogenic Ras and the cell’s levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The underlying cellular mechanism is not well understood. To investigate this connection, we applied the UAS-GAL4 system in Drosophila melanogaster flies to control the expression of Ras and Keap1, a key redox regulator.2 We expected the activity of Ras to vary with its redox environment and thus impact protein activity downstream of Ras signaling cascades. In monitoring three proteins downstream of Ras—Dcp-1, Akt, and MAPK—we aimed to determine which pathways were impacted by ROS modulation.
The Role Of Song In Reproductive Isolation In A New Secondary Contact Zone Of White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia Leucophrys), William Brooks
The Role Of Song In Reproductive Isolation In A New Secondary Contact Zone Of White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia Leucophrys), William Brooks
Summer Research
Within the past thirty years, two formerly isolated subspecies of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) have formed an overlap in geographic range. This creates a natural experiment in speciation and reproductive isolation. Understanding how song acts as a reproductive barrier in this overlap can contribute to our understanding of behavioral isolation. We preformed playback experiments on territorial males to measure subspecific vocal discrimination. Additionally, we looked to see if hybridization was occurring. In the playback experiments we found that Z. l. pugetensis discriminates more strongly between songs, while Z. l. gambelii demonstrates little to no difference in response. We …
Quantifying Passive Joint Stiffness At The Elbow Following Eimd Of The Elbow Flexors, Angus Lamont
Quantifying Passive Joint Stiffness At The Elbow Following Eimd Of The Elbow Flexors, Angus Lamont
Summer Research
Exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) can cause symptoms such as reduced strength, inflammatory responses, delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and muscle/joint stiffness. Joint stiffness has traditionally been measured in static joint positions. The purpose of this project was to quantify joint stiffness at the elbow during passive isokinetic movement throughout the full range of motion after EIMD of the elbow flexors. Subjects performed 50 maximal eccentric muscle actions with their nondominant arm, with the dominant arm as a control. Several measurements, including limb circumference, relaxed elbow angle, perceived soreness, passive elbow joint stiffness, and isokinetic maximum strength were performed on both arms …
Hylocomium Splendens: Microhabitat Selection And Potential Role In Forest Succession, Anna Marchand, Carrie Woods
Hylocomium Splendens: Microhabitat Selection And Potential Role In Forest Succession, Anna Marchand, Carrie Woods
Summer Research
Fallen logs play an essential role in the temperate rainforest ecosystem by providing a safe site for tree establishment, with seedling abundance being much greater on nurse logs than on the ground. This disparity is likely due to differences in competition with bryophytes between microsites. Hylocomium splendens, a moss that dominates the forest floor of temperate rainforests, could potentially inhibit tree seedling growth, but little is known about its microhabitat distribution. We found that stairstep moss grows more abundantly in areas of high canopy openness, and that nurse logs have lower canopy openness in comparison to the forest floor. Fittingly, …
The Effects Of Depth On Microplastics Distribution And Ingestion By A Biological Indicator Species: Mytilus Galloprovincialis, Marlowe Moser, Peter Hodum
The Effects Of Depth On Microplastics Distribution And Ingestion By A Biological Indicator Species: Mytilus Galloprovincialis, Marlowe Moser, Peter Hodum
Summer Research
Global plastic production rates are currently at the highest that they have ever been and are projected to continue to increase over the next 20 years. Models that have only accounted for surface plastics have severely underestimated actual plastic loads in the world’s oceans, largely due to the distribution of microplastics below the water’s surface. Despite being ingested by organisms at nearly every trophic level and observed in virtually every ocean environment, the complex nature of microplastics’ distribution patterns remains poorly understood. Recent studies have observed distinct depth profiles of microplastics, thereby implying differential bioavailability to biotic communities depending on …
Using Crispr To Induce A Knock-Out Of Dprl-1 In Drosophila Melanogaster, Alicia Walker
Using Crispr To Induce A Knock-Out Of Dprl-1 In Drosophila Melanogaster, Alicia Walker
Summer Research
Phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL) is a protein that controls cell processes such as growth and division which has unknown targets. PRL has been found to have both oncogenic and tumor suppressive properties. This study aimed to create a knock out of PRL in Drosohpila melanogaster in order to assess its role in development and in order to illuminate its activity when it is expressed in cancers. We hypothesize that dPRL-1 plays an important role in embryogenesis and that the progeny which lack this gene will be unviable. The CRISPR/Cas9 system was selected as the method in which to create …
Eeg Experiment Scripting Tool For Novice Programmers, Sarah Walling-Bell
Eeg Experiment Scripting Tool For Novice Programmers, Sarah Walling-Bell
Summer Research
Accessible, portable, and affordable technology has made computing one of the main methodologies in brain and behavioral research. This development presents university neuroscience and psychology departments with a major problem: most of their students have no computer programming experience, and the time intensity of learning a computer programming language is a barrier that prevents them from practicing the computational concepts and algorithmic thinking increasingly at the core of research in these fields. This is the case in the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Electroencephalography (EEG) lab, where students researching how electrical activity in the brain responds to stimuli (e.g. …
A Sociocognitive Perspective Of The Uncanny Valley, Andre Zamani
A Sociocognitive Perspective Of The Uncanny Valley, Andre Zamani
Summer Research
The “uncanny valley” is the effect of being ‘creeped out’ by things that are very close, but not quite, human (e.g., a ventriloquist dummy). Over the past two summers, I found that intranasal administrations of oxytocin, a hormone which affects attention to external social information, decreased participants’ reaction times when assessing uncanny valley stimuli, but did not affect their ratings of eeriness. Furthermore, oxytocin affected participants’ reaction times the most for stimuli rated to be intermediately eerie but altered their visual attention the most during the perception of stimuli rated to be either not eerie or very eerie. From these …