Summer 2013 selection
Explanation/disclaimer: click to expand/contract
These howlers are real students' mistaken answers to Biology questions and explanations of Biological phenomena.
Some show problems with spelling, expressing themselves clearly, comprehension or recall of scientific concepts.
In other words do not take these seriously - they are all wrong in some way.
It is my hope that they first make readers laugh, and then make them think.
Other sections of the BioTopics website are more educational and informative but not so entertaining
- lofty ideals shared with the Ig Nobel prizes and the BBC mission statement.
Stir the tubes equally - use a centrifuge
NADP accepts the final electron
Anomalies can be identified and removed or replicated
Carry out more tests using solutions with intermittent sodium chloride percentages [instead of intermediate]
The genetic code is described as degenerate because:
- a triplet codes for more than one amino acid
- it is the same for all living organisms
- it is not repeating and therefore cannot be described easily
- there are more codons than bases, and each base codes for more than one codon
- it is passed on from generation to generation
A codon is:
- a base (either A,T,C or G) that contains a phosphate and ribose group - makes a base sequence
- an amino acid that is made up of 3 DNA bases
A palindromic recognition sequence on DNA:
- is the same read both ways, backwards and forwards
- is the same but backwards
- both strands read the same backwards
Explain the increase in oxygen consumption at higher body temperature:
- More sweating so more H2O needed to be produced from the electron transport chain.
- The body needs the oxygen to cool down
Explain how the geneticist concluded that the couple were both carriers of the mutated gene.
They must have a gene missing.
Advantages of extra data:
This helps exaggerate any trends in the results.
Explanation of root growth:
- A high concentration of IAA favours gravity
- IAA inhibits auxin in the root tip
- IAA causes growth in the side that faces the ground
- There is a higher concentration of IAA in the area of the root with the strongest pull of gravity.
- This causes the route to bend
- There is a higher IAA concentration in the shady side of the root
- This increases the surface area of the root towards the ground
Effects of increased temperature on plant growth:
energy is not being made
Photosynthesis decreases and
- inorganic substances are not produced
- less carbon-based proteins are produced
Suggest how the scientists arrived at their hypothesis:
They drew a line of best fit and extrapolated their results to determine the future
Introns do not code for DNA
Positive feedback is when a change occurs and the body of an organism enhances that change
Photosynthesis provides a plant with light for growth
As photosynthesis decreases the rate at which inorganic substances e.g. energy from sun is transferred into organic compounds such as glucose
An example of a parasite is tics.
Villi: small finger-like projects
The student had more control over light frequency than wavelength.
If the rate of photosynthesis is slower then less complex molecules are made.
Dry mass is the mass of the plant dead
The mass is dry which may mean there is less water in these plants for them to photosynthesise
A transcription factor diffuses through the membrane and binds to a premolar.
This changes the tertiary structure of the enzyme causing less useful substances to be made
Wales can also be used as an example of a symbiotic relationship
Capillaries contain myoglobin which carries oxygen.
Antibiotic resistance can be passed via either a horizontal or a vertical conjugation tube
Plants interact with the sun by moving towards it
Notes about microbiology investigations involving touching agar plate:
Put fingers onto the plate, then remove finger.
We did not use higher temperature in the incubator because it could be nasty and give us sour throats
We left the lids off for as short a time as possible so the bacteria didn't escape.
Myelination lines up the impulses
The hypothalamus sends impulses to the hands or feet to remove clothing
Water moves up through the plant due to transcription
Enzyme in the stomach: pectin
high moglobin
synaptic clef
ATP is used for active transpiration
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