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My name is Mary-Faith Mas and I am 16 years old. I was born in Miami, Florida and have lived here my whole life. I am Cuban-American as both of my parents are Cuban. I am currently in high school, in a program called SAS. This program is a dual enrollment one, meaning that I am doing both high school and college classes at the same time. At the end of this program, I will earn both my high school diploma and my AA. After I graduate, I would like to go to the University of Florida. There, I would like to study neuroscience in order to become a neurosurgeon later in my life. I am passionate about my love for reading. My love for reading began in elementary school with the Magic Treehouse series. I define success as being so financially stable that I will never have to worry about money ever again. I wish to achieve my goals and be successful by the age of 30.

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Which group is not experimented on?

A. Experimental group 1

B. Dependent group

C. Independent group

*D. Control group

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I found the video to be very informational as it opened my eyes to all the capabilties of CER. I now know that CER can be applied to every area of life, not just scientific areas or classes. This video helped me realize that CER, claim, evidence, reasoning, can provide me with answers to the questions I have that pertain to the scientific method. By developing a claim, finding evidence, and providing reasoning, I will come to an answer that is reliable, correct, and able to be supported by evidence. If one step of CER were to be missing, the other steps would no longer be credible as each part of it is required to provide support to the other parts. They are similar in this way because of the relation they share. They need each other to be valid. They are different because they each discuss a different part of the steps that are involved in coming to a final answer.

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Polar bears are found in the Arctic, and are the largest of the living bear species. They are carnivorous and an upper level predator of the Arctic marine ecosystem. Their prey mainly includes seals, such as ring seals and bearded seals. They have a very low reproductive rate, contributing to their endangered status.

Source: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/4958

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Why is it so hard to cure the common cold?

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What is the biggest single-celled organism? - Murry Gans

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Cell vs. virus: A battle for health - Shannon Stiles

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https://images.app.goo.gl/dPcXS3QDU6ByngZD8

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Title: Polar bear | Description, Habitat, & Facts | Britannica

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The polar bear lives on Arctic sea ice. They can be found in nations that have coasts on the Arctic Ocean: the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. Most can be found in the northern part of the Arctic Circle near the North Pole. The sea ice on which they live is a very expansive and always changing area. Their ranges depend on the availabilty of prey and the quality of the sea ice. An area with poor sea ice and not much prey will have a wide range due to their need to search for resources. They spend most of their time on the areas where they ice meets the water. They do like to spend some of their time in the water, but they spend most of their time on the top of the ice. If sea ice is not available, they will spend their time on land as a replacement.
1. https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/polar-bear/habitat/
2. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Polar-Bear
3. https://polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears-changing-arctic/polar-bear-facts/habitat/

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https://images.app.goo.gl/QCf3KhweM3jK1E1GA

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What caught my attention in this video is the three different methods to deal with a pandemic. These three methods are to race through it, delay and vaccinate, and coordinate and crush. These methods will determine how the pandemic affects the world and the long-term effects it may have. The best method in my opinion is to delay and vaccinate, as I think this will save the most people long-term. If scientists are given more time to work on and perfect a vaccine, that vaccine will be able to protect people from the virus and keep the death toll low. A different method would have a high death toll as health officials will not know how to treat patients, and citizens will not know the correct safety practices. The video states that race through it is the best option as the end stages of the pandemic will be reached faster, and it will be over faster. However, this method has a high death toll, which I think is what should be avoided. I did know there was three methods of how to handle a vaccine, so this was very interesting and informational for me.

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https://images.app.goo.gl/HEnLv3F5F18Z7UU18

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https://images.app.goo.gl/RTxfUdauvNMZGrD67

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The nucleus is the membrane-enclosed organelle within a cell that contains the chromosomes. It is the center of an atom.

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One topic that caught my attention was how positive feedback loops can have negative effects as well. The process of the repeated death and growth can leave certain ecosystems vulnerable to harmful things. In forests, the positive feedback loop that is present can lead to erosion, which can bring damage the forest through the removal of organic matter and nutrients.

https://www.albert.io/blog/positive-negative-feedback-loops-biology/

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Feedback loops: How nature gets its rhythms - Anje-Margriet Neutel

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Something that caught my attention in the mini-lecture on butterflies was that butterflies retain some of the knowledge that they gain when they are a caterpillar. The important memories and knowledge that the butterfly learned when it was a caterpillar are retained, in order to help the butterfly maintain survival skills. I was not aware of this prior to this video so this stood out to me.

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The life cycle of the butterfly - Franziska Bauer

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A substance which provides energy for many metabolic processes, and is involved in the making of RNA. It is an energy carrying molecule that is found in all living things.

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The polar bear evolved from the brown bear. The genetic material of polar bears and brown bears are very similar, showing that the polar bear arose as a subspecies of the polar bear. The population of brown bears that was far north had to evolve and develop in order to adapt to the climate of the area. The thick, white coat that they are known for was developed in order to protect them from the frigid temperatures of the arctic. It also is able to help them blend in with their surroundings. With this white coat, they became able to camoflauge with the snow around them, which contributed to helping them hunt. They also developed changed teeth due to the different food sources available in the arctic compared to those in the forest. They were now eating seals and other animals rather than the berries they were once eating in the forest.

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Found in the cytoplasm, it is the structure that is involved in making proteins. They link amino acids together.

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My whole life, science has been a subject of interest for me. I have always been very good at it, and have always excelled. It has been a subject I am passionate about, and study in my free time. Therefore, before this class, I assumed that it would be quite simple for me. I underestimated this course and the challenges I would have to face. However, this assumption turned out to be incorrect as this class proved a challenge for me, and through this, I was able to learn a lot.

During this course, I was able to learn a lot about different areas of science, such as evolution and feedback loops. Our semester-wide focus and study of one specific species of our choice was very enriching and I enjoyed having this specialized study that educated me on the endangered polar bear. Through this, the video lectures, and the quizzes, I am able to say that I learned a large amount of valuable information about life, ecology, and the workings of the world. While completing the activies, I felt as though I was truly learning about the world. I never felt as though I was doing busy work or unnecessary work.

These activities changed how I feel about science because they made me enjoy it even more. They made want to pursue a career related to biology and life science due to how much I enjoy learning about the topics in this course. I am changed as a person because I now know what I wish to study later in life, which is something that I did not know prior to taking this class. I am aware of what further classes and courses to take to reach my dream of obtaining a job in the life sciences.

In conclusion, I highly enjoyed this class and I would recommend it to others. I enjoyed the coursework, and the class as a whole. It helped me determine what I wish to do in life, and I think this course will do the same for others.

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I selected the polar bear because I have always had an interest in the different kinds of bears and the habitats they live in. I know that the polar bear lives in a habitat that is changing due to the current state of the world. Due to this, I wanted to know how the polar bear species was adapting and being affected by the global climate changes.

The polar bear will be affected by climate change because its habitat of the arctic ice is melting at exponentially high rates. This is causing the species to die out rapidly since they are losing their habitats where they are able to hunt and reproduce. They are also venturing onto land where humans live since their sea ice is disappearing, causing them to be killed by these humans.