Education is concerned with the production of intelligence. Is AI intelligent? and what are the implications for educating humanity? Samuel Butler makes the case that machinery emerges in co-relation with the evolution of humanity. In other words, the evolution of machines relies on the human intervention for reproduction, and the evolution of…

We present a drawing discovery lab that crosscuts multiple disciplines in biology and links concepts in genetics and evolutionary thinking to enhance understanding of the genotype-to-phenotype transformation. These combined concepts are also linked to ecological frameworks in nature through the model of biological plasticity. Students and teachers…

Signaled active avoidance (SigAA) is the key experimental procedure for studying the acquisition of instrumental responses toward conditioned threat cues. Traditional analytic approaches (e.g., general linear model) often obfuscate important individual differences, although individual differences in learned responses characterize both animal and…

Principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the most important and powerful methods in chemometrics as well as in a wealth of other areas. Running a PCA results in two main elements, the score plot and the loading plot; the score plot provides the location of the samples, and the loading plot indicates correlations among variables, the trends in…

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been capturing the public imagination for decades. VR software applications that allow for interactive immersion are emerging as a renowned medium in many areas, including educating the public in biochemistry-related subjects via public engagement events. This report provides information about an immersive,…

A multiweek protein purification suite, suitable for upper-division biochemistry or biotechnology undergraduate students, is described. Students work in small teams to isolate the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from a nontraditional tissue source, mammalian blood, using a sequence of three column chromatographic procedures: ion-exchange, size…

One goal of Extension is to provide practical information that makes a difference to producers. Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software (CHAPS) has provided beef producers with production benchmarks for 30 years, creating a large historical data set. Many such large data sets contain useful information but are underutilized. Our goal was to create…

The course "Management of Fluid and Electrolyte Disorders" is an applied physiology course taught using lectures and paper-based cases. The course approaches fluid therapy from both basic science and clinical perspectives. While paper cases provide a basis for application of basic science concepts, they lack key components of genuine clinical…

Described is an activity in which students are asked to design a fish that would survive in a natural system. A project to computerize the activity is discussed. The development of this artificial intelligence software is detailed. (CW)

Describes a program which simulates animal pharmacology experiments involving "all-or-none" responses. Use of the Applesoft BASIC program in the pharmacology teaching laboratory provides students with a rapid and economical way to gain experience in the design and statistical analysis of quantal dose-response experiments. Information on…

This theme issue on anomalies includes Web sites, CD-ROMs and software, videos, books, and additional resources for elementary and junior high school students. Pertinent activities are suggested, and sidebars discuss UFOs, animal anomalies, and anomalies from nature; and resources covering unexplained phenonmenas like crop circles, Easter Island,…

Data-logging exercises in science classrooms assume that with the proper scaffolding and provision of contexts by instructors, pupils are able to meaningfully comprehend the experimental variables under investigation. From a case study of knowing and learning in a fish hatchery using real-time computer statistical software, we show that…

A focus of grazing management courses is the cause-effect relationships between grazing livestock distribution and environmental and management variables. A learning module for the classroom was developed to enable students to actively study livestock distribution by analyzing recently collected data from an on-ranch situation. Data were collected…

This theme issue on knowledge includes annotated listings of Web sites, CD-ROMs and computer software, videos, books, and additional resources that deal with knowledge and differences between how animals and humans learn. Sidebars discuss animal intelligence, learning proper behavior, and getting news from the Internet. (LRW)

Describes a project for high school students that introduces them to photographic software. Students design a new species of animal by reassembling parts of at least four animals into a "believable" new form. Students also write a commentary on their digital animal's habitat and origin. (CMK)