Lost howlers
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.
Conclusions to ecology survey:
- All our bugs licked moist places
- In our school there are lots of animals
These results are neat and resentable
A smoker's lungs are clogged up with alveoli
Function of a control treatment
- to see what it would be like if we were perfect
- to show children what it should be like
Criticism of Elodea experiment
- It is too hot. It would melt the bubbles.
Types of tooth
- cavity
Importance of the enamel coating on teeth:
- to help keep teeth in place
Why is this type of tooth (molar) best suited to grind up food?
- Top and bottom grind together in harmony
Explain why you recommend this type of toothpaste (from table) for teenagers.
- It freshens the breath for when you go to parties
Why did Daniel's teeth have more bacteria?
There was a lack of protection against breakfast.
Advantage of male part (of flower) developing before the female parts:
- The plant is protected sooner because the male parts are stronger
- It gives more time to grow fully
Mexico city problems:
- the air there is not as fresh as at sea level
- Mexicans find it easier than those who live in flat countries
- If you live near the sea you don't need so many red blood cells
Why do people who live at higher altitudes have more red blood cells than people who live at or near sea level?
- The pressure causes them to reproduce much faster.
Sycamore fruits
- split the wind causing them to rotate
- Its wings help the trees to grow further apart from each other
Process by which gases pass between alveoli and blood capillaries:
- transfusion
Explain why the bees probably used different senses to detect purple and white flowers:
- Purple is dark so they have to smell for it instead
- Bee used sences to detect different collars
- Bees see in a fussy way
- Bees used sent sences to detect the flowers
Explain how plants benefit from bees visiting them:
- Because pollen is a nuisance to them
Function of blood supply to the villus:
- to keep the food warm
Function of phloem:
- to bring sunlight to the plant
- to carry energy from the sun
Function of xylem:
- to transport chlorophyll to different parts of the flower
- to carry water up from the flower
Why are jam and marmalade unlikely to be affected by food spoilage microbes?
- These foods do not have much water in them and preservatives are added to counteract this.
Explain why synthetic beef from micro-organisms may be more efficient than real beef from cows.
-It won't run out like cows do.
-Cows are expensive to bread.
Explain why humans are not normally exactly alike.
-Because sperms and eggs which make human babies are not exactly the same as their parents sperms and eggs.
In an iron lung the pressure would pull their lungs out.
Explain why bronchitis is more common in the shaded areas than in the unshaded areas (on map)
- Disease molecules die from too much light.
Why do the male parts develop before the female parts (in a flower)?
- They can take their time.
Explain the benefit of bees visiting flowers.
They take away the old pollen so that the plants can make new pollen.
Chromosomes are what the plant needs to grow.
Because asexual reproduction produces no variety, ecology does not occur.
Bees also fertilise the female by carrying their sexual organs.
The heat treatment is in order to kill the spouses of the bacteria.
Ass it passes through the mouth, stomach and intestine, the food is digested.
Sex cells are called sperms or egos.
The single cell then develops into balls.
The only group of animals possessing pinnae (ear flaps) are camels.
Disadvantages of asexual reproduction:
-There is only one organism to look after the baby
-Father and son are alike
-The offspring don't have Mum and Dad to rely on
Name of the process when the young of an organism changes to a completely different adult form:
-puberty
-reformation
-deformity
Advantages of a larval stage
- chance to build up fat for adulthood
- they are changed peacefully
- baby gets its own food
- that can eat very quickly
Name the cocoon stage in the butterfly life cycle: puma
Mammals give birth when the baby is alive so it has more chance of living.
Female parts of a flower
-anthea
-stamina
Male parts of a flower
-stayman
Comparison of reproduction in frogs and in mammals
-male frogs produce more sperms than mammals do
-frog drops its spawn to the bottom of the water, i.e. pond and hops that an egg will find them
- a frog is a different classification than a mammal so it lays more eggs
MORE MISCONCEPTIONS
The foetus keeps on splitting for 9 months.
The baby grows in the ovary.
If the baby's hand is pointing the wrong way it is born through the stomach, if not the normal way through the vagina.
The placenta forms around the baby.
After 3 months the foetus is begging to look like a baby.
If an egg is present, it will fertilise a sperm.
Label on diagram of female reproductive system (pointing to vagina) : utopia
Digestion Problems?
How does the shape of the stomach assist in the storage of food?
- it is unable to get out from the bottom.
Tooth decay could have been reduced because she stimulated Sylvia which helps fight acid.
Function of the blood supply to a villus: to keep it upright.
How does the folding of the small intestine help absorb food more easily?
- food gets caught in the folds.
We used pH paper to test the colour of the bacteria.
The hairs on the seed are most probably there to help keep it at the right temperature.
(Explanation of water's unusual characteristics - essential to life):
Otherwise, the water under the ice at the surface would be solid.
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