Tutoring biology, some of it is academic. The tutor mentions the fascinating Gaston’s Law. To begin, Gaston’s Law says that the commonness of a species within its range is proportional to the size of its range. That is, a species …
Tutoring biology, one encounters surprising concepts. The tutor mentions transformation. Horizontal gene transfer refers to the concept that one single-celled organism can receive DNA from another unrelated one. I’ve seldom heard it mentioned but it’s a thing. One way it’s …
Biology: horizontal gene transfer: transformation Read more »
Self-tutoring about local plants: the tutor mentions English holly. Some kinds of trees have separate sexes, so that any individual is either male or female. Such a species is described as dioecious: an example is English holly. The berries only …
Self-tutoring about botany: the tutor mentions a surprise about the Canada thistle. As a Canadian, I’m proud to say I’ve been stung by the Canada thistle likely hundreds of times, or even more, since early childhood. Its spiky leaves and …
Self-tutoring about local plants: the tutor mentions Indian-pipe. Indian-pipe is a plant one can find in shaded coniferous forests along the south coast of BC. It likes humus-rich soil. I’ve seen Indian-pipe a few times, appearing in a group of …
Self-tutoring about trees one notices: the tutor mentions the empress tree. There are a few trees around town that someone told me are empress trees. They have purple flowers that appear in clusters; when in bloom, they’re spectacular. The ones …
Self-tutoring about trees one encounters: the tutor mentions horse chestnut. Horse chestnut trees are distinct, but can go unnoticed in the corner of a yard or off the main path in a park. They can become quite large. Their leaves …
Self-tutoring about biology and politics: the tutor stumbles on something perhaps surprising. I used to be a news consumer: I mainly watched CNN. By and large, the news made sense to me until the meltdown in ’08. 2009-2010, nothing seemed …
Self-tutoring about trees in western Canada: the tutor mentions the Douglas fir’s reach into Alberta. Douglas fir is a species we see everywhere on BC’s south coast. Sometimes we might even fall under the impression it only grows here on …
Self-tutoring about terms in biology: the tutor mentions neoplasm. Neoplasm: a tumor. -plasm can be thought of as a “region of life.” Source: dictionary.com dictionary.com