Experiments – a form of controlled observation which enables a researcher to test a hypothesis by controlling the factors/conditions that might affect the phenomena under investigation Independent variable – variable that’s deliberately manipulated by the experimenter Dependent variable – variable that’s affected by the changes in the independent variable Confounding variable – any factory that might affect the dependent variable Placebo effect – an inert substance that is given to subjects in an experiment Improvements in health can be caused by: placebo effect, sickness may have run its course, many diseases are cyclical, spontaneous remission, some allegedly cured symptoms are psychosomatic, symptomatic relief vs. cure, multiple treatments used, and misdiagnosis. Double-blind – subjects do not know which group they are in and experimenter does not know the groups the subjects are in Phase I Trial – (safety) roughly a few dozen healthy volunteers are recruited and given the drug in various doses Phase II Trial – (efficacy) several hundred patients with the relevant medical condition are recruited and divided into a control/placebo/treatment group Phase III Trial – (comparison) if significant efficacy is shown by the phase II, the phase III is implemented. Thousands of volunteers are recruited and separated indifferent cohorts. Various doses are studied, and efficacy is compared to other drugs on the market. Phase IV Trial – (public monitoring) the use of the drug in the general population is monitored by the manufacturer who is required to report any problems to the FDA for up to 10 years Epidemiological study – examine populations of people exposed to pesticides/chemicals and statistically analyze the cancer rates to determine if cancer is more common in those people that have high exposure Law of Similars asserts that substances that produce a certain set of symptoms in healthy people can cure those same symptoms in people who are sick Law of Infinitesimals – although dilution of a medication may eliminate the side effects, it does not affect the effectiveness of the medication. 2nd Law of thermodynamics – in a closed system entropy always increases Lithosphere contains the crust and rigid upper mantle and is broken into plates that float on the asethenosphere Asthenosphere is the soft part of the mantle Radiation – electromagnetic waves that directly transports heat energy through space Conduction – transfer of energy through matter from particle to particle Convection – the transfer of heat energy by the movement of the warmed matter in currents Evolution – any change in the allelic frequencies of a population or species over time 3 Parts of natural selection are: populations are variable, variables are heritable, the differences enable individuals to survive and reproduce Nucleotide consists of phosphate, sugar, bases Sides of the ladder are sugar/phosphates Rungs of the ladder are nitrogenous bases Gametes are reproductive sex cells Mitosis cannot produce sex cells Meiosis can produce sex cells DNA to RNA = transcription RNA to protein = translation