by Rose

Hi everybody! Wow… It’s been a while since my last blog post – I can’t believe it’s already been almost two years since I took AP Bio! It feels quite surreal writing this post as a college student.

First, to introduce myself: Hi, my name is Rose Kim. Currently, I am a freshman at Johns Hopkins University and I plan on majoring in behavioral biology, a subject which I first encountered in Ms. Baker’s AP Biology class during my junior year in high school. The subject had piqued my interest so much that I decided to spend four years learning more about it! Haha, anyways, I was asked by Ms. Baker to talk about my college experience so far and I am more than happy to do so.

Last September was the freshman move-in/orientation at Johns Hopkins University. The experience was exactly the way everyone described it to be – chaotic, nerve-wrecking, exciting, fun, and extremely exhausting. Hundreds of faces and names go by super fast and all the events they plan for you go by in a blur. As exciting as the first few weeks of school were, once you settle down and have things mellowed out is when the fun really starts. You don’t have to spend so much time trying to remember names and worrying about whether you’ll get lost and etc.

For my first semester at Hopkins, I decided to take Chemistry, Calculus, Psychology, Biology Workshop, and a writing intensive course. Luckily, Hopkins doesn’t have a core curriculum so I could take whichever courses I wanted to. As I am not a big ‘math person,’ to be honest I have to say that I did not enjoy chemistry and calculus as much as I would have liked.

In college, one lecture class has about 250 students in it and the information goes by really fast. We would cover about 3 chapters in an hour, about three days a week. At first it took me a while to get used to the speed and the way the professors taught. In high school, the teachers are very careful about making sure the students understand and take in the subject but in college, the professors don’t really care whether you’re in class or not. This realization hit me like a ton of bricks because finally, after years of supervision from teachers and parents, it was all up to me (and only me) to make sure I do well.

The freedom to do whatever I wanted was quite overwhelming. I had to learn to discipline myself to keep up with the readings and to make sure that I knew the information and to not spend too much time playing. However, if you go to lecture and take good notes, it’s not that hard (Duh). At first the fact that the responsibility is ALL yours scares the heck out of you, but eventually you’ll learn to deal with it and have fun in the process.

Out of all the courses I took in first semester, I would have to say that Psychology and Bio Workshop were my favorites. Because I had such an awesome AP Bio teacher, I was able to use my AP credits to exempt out of the boring introductory biology courses and labs. This allowed me to delve deeper into all the other interesting bio courses that JHU had to offer. Bio Workshop was a course that covered the current trends in biology by inviting different guest speakers to come and talk about their studies. It was truly inspiring to see just how passionate each speaker was in the subject they talked about.

Those of you who have taken a course with Ms. Baker would know that she loves birds. There are many bird paraphernalia decorating her room and she gets excited when someone brings up a particularly interesting question or comment about them. Coincidentally, the first guest speaker for my Bio workshop class was Professor Gregory Ball and the funny thing was that he studies animal behavior, specializing in the study of birds. I think his love for birds almost surpasses that of Ms. Baker’s. His lecture was both fascinating and funny – he was extremely charismatic and shared these hilarious stories about misunderstandings that occurred while he studied and discussed his research on the ‘Blue-Footed Boobies’ and the ‘Great Tits’ (Both of which are actual bird names).

photo by Max xx

We also learned about the behavior of different birds during mating season and about different types of birdsongs. It was interesting how experiences in college could relate to those in high school in such an unexpected way. It was really cool to see how he used the same clips that I saw during my AP Bio class (If Ms. Baker hasn’t shown you the clips of the different birds of paradise, you should ask her to because they’re absolutely amazing. Also, the clip of the lyre bird is pretty awesome too). It felt nice to know most of the answers to the questions he asked, such as “Why do birds sing?” “Are there local dialects of birdsongs? Why or why not?” and other thought-provoking subjects such as brood parasitism and what it shows us about the process of learning amongst certain birds (I’m sure you guys would have no problem answering these too, right?). After that lecture, the professor’s enthusiasm for birds was almost contagious.

Overall, I think I really enjoyed that course. We covered a variety of different areas related to “today’s” biology – from bird songs and animal behavior, to last year’s controversy about the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, to the genetics of breast cancer and the current research going on to help prevent and cure it.

Psychology was also another course that I really loved. Through this course, I was able to participate in a variety of different psychology experiments. For one, I had to stare at a blank computer screen for about 80 minutes straight in a small dark room by myself. Periodically, a jumble of letters and numbers (about 40 of them) would flash for a second and the objective was to spot which number was the biggest amongst the jumble. I thought I was going to go blind by the end of that exercise. My eyes kept twitching for a bit afterwards. I don’t exactly remember what that experiment was trying to determine, but it was still fun participating – the twitchiness and all.

Something that surprised me about college was how many midterms one had to go through in a semester. After the first month, it seems like there was midterm after midterm after midterm; about one each week for different classes. And when you finally think that you’re all done, finals hit you in the back of the head. Also, the weight of each midterm hangs over your shoulder like a heavy weight. In each class, there’re about 3 or 4 midterms and a final. And that’s it. No quizzes or homework grades to balance things out. Therefore, even failing one midterm can be the end of that course.

With this much pressure, it was hard getting used to the fact that I had to count on myself to keep up with the readings and lectures in order to be ready for a midterm. It’s so much easier to just forget about reviewing the book because the professor doesn’t care, but this mind-set gave me a lot of stress afterwards during finals week. I’m still trying to get used to it for second semester and I hope that this year, it’ll be much easier to prepare myself.

Another thing that I would like to say to all the AP students is that although AP may be tough,  trust me when I say that it’s much easier than taking a biology course in college. The information is pretty much the same, but the intensity and pace is a whole different level. It’s usually also less interesting because the information goes by so fast (and it’s a repeat of what you’ve already heard). So please take my advice when I say to try your hardest on that AP exam! It’s so much better to use your AP credits to exempt from wasting a year of precious college time to retake and re-learn a course that you should already be familiar with when you can broaden your options and take more interesting courses to help make your freshman year more intriguing (and worth-it, money-wise!).

Therefore, Good luck on your exams! I hope you will all give a 110%!

photo by Diego Fontaneto

by Stephen

In a nut shell, sexual reproduction increases genetic variation and allows organisms to evolve in changing environments by pairing beneficial traits together which would in turn get passed on to subsequent generations and to do away with harmful variations.  Asexual reproducing organisms create exact replicas and in theory would be unable to adapt to changing environments.

Yet this article has shown that the bdelloid rotifer which produces asexually has adapted to several separate environments.  Bdelloid rotifers are small animals that are around .05nm in length that reproduce asexually by means of parthenogenesis.  Parthenogenesis is the development of the female egg without fertilization from the male sperm.

Bdelloid rotifers have survived for over 100 million years and make up 380 distinct entities.  This challenges the ideas of scientists that sexual reproduction is essential for long term success and diversity.

To test if bdelloid rotifers evolve and branch into distinct entities, scientists created an ancestral tree that mapped the evolutionary changes.  They did this by measuring the trophi (jaw sizes) of the rotifers and analyzing mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase and nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA sequences.

The results showed that bdelloid rotifers are monophyletic which means that all the descendents come from a common ancestor.  By analyzing the evolutionary tree, researchers showed genetic clusters which “represent independently evolving entities.”  This means that the asexually reproducing bdelloid rotifer evolves!

The researchers argue, this study “refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species.”

Do you think there are other organisms like the bdelloid rotifer that have yet to be discovered?   Do you think that these separate “entities” should be classified as species?  Can you find any other asexually reproducing organisms that have branched to form new species?

photo by Mark Lorch

by Curtis

Not too many people ever think about the multitude of diseases which may be lurking in that piece of chicken you just sat down to. However; it may be wise to think about it because a new study has found that around 40 billion commercial chickens may be carrying or susceptible to horrible diseases.

This is due to the fact that these chickens breed over and over again with each other, and because of this half of the genetic diversity that is possible in the chicken genome is lost.  One of these diseases is the ‘bird flu’ or Avian Influenza which William Karesh, head of the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, stated that “There are more [bird] flu infections in more countries than ever before.” In other words, the problem of the bird flu is not going away.

A study was conducted with 2,500 chickens where the variety of genes was compared between different types of chickens. In some of the most extreme cases, the commercial chickens (those raised for meat and eggs) were found to have only about 10% of the genes which were carried by other free range chickens. This means that 90% of the genes had been lost due to confined breeding habits. The average loss of genes was around 50%. Hans Cheng of the US Department of Agriculture and also an Avian disease specialist who conducted this study said that the “commercial stock may lack the genetic diversity necessary to combat new and emerging diseases.”

Bill Muir, Purdue University animal sciences professor, who was also part of the study said that it is important to protect the non-commercial species of chickens in order to interbreed the two to keep disease resistance up along with genetic diversity.  Muir stated that “traits such as disease resistance may be found among the rare alleles of other (non-commercial) birds.”

Many scientists are encouraging an immediate interbreeding of chickens in order to prevent the “pathogenic avian flu viruses.” Poultry consumption in the US, per person, has never been higher. It would be a disaster if poultry production had to immediately cease due to health concerns. Cheng states that “this would greatly impact both the poultry industry and human health.”

Do you believe that these are valid concerns? Why are these reports just now coming out? Are there other sources of data that back up the information provided in this study? Does this cause you to worry about the chicken you are eating? Are there other types of agriculture (cows, sheep, etc.) that are at risk for these types of diseases?

Photo by INoxKrow

by Lauren K

Next time you’re about to get a lecture about your grades, try blaming it on your genes! An old study of inherited intelligence of fraternal and identical twins has brought to light how much of your intelligence is due to genetics and the environment.

Surprisingly, the study of inherited intelligence isn’t as recent as you may have thought. According to a recent study directed by Dr. Bouchard at the University of Minnesota, evidence supports that nearly 70 percent of your intelligence is inherited! Studies beforehand only suggested fifty percent, but this twin study pointed towards inheritance being, “the overwhelming contributor to intelligence test scores.”

Now, only six years ago and using more up- to- date technology, Dr. Bouchard conducted a lengthy study also using both kinds of twins with an MRI to distinguish areas of the brain. These were their results.

In the area of the brain that specializes in language, and another area mostly for perception, identical twins appeared to have ninety-five to a hundred percent shared. The cognitive area of the brain seemed to display the closest percentages. Dr. Thompson believes that the findings show that environment has little to do with intelligence. In fraternal twins, the percentage was lower, but still supplied evidence that intelligence was related to inheritance. So far, a single gene has not been found to specifically code for intelligence, but the evidence does show that inheritance is a factor.

Be sure to know that with many items in science, there are contradicting hypotheses and many doctors agree, disagree, and go back and forth on a decision. So in short, while there is prominent evidence that intelligence is inherited, there are some doctors who disagree, and others who say it’s a mixture of inheritance and environment.

24 Responses to “Is Intelligence Inherited?”

1. Miss Baker Says:December 12th, 2007 at 9:15 pm I really like that you brought this discussion to the blog, Lauren. Many students already buy into this concept that intelligence is predetermined (and like to use it as an excuse for not doing well – “I’m just no good at INSERT SUBJECT HERE”).I’m not convinced at all. In fact, in a future post I’ll provide a counterpoint to Dr. Bouchard’s claims. Also, just want to point out that IQ (what was measured in the study) does not necessarily correspond with success in school or in adult life.But, if intelligence is largely inherited, wouldn’t it be a polygenic trait rather than controlled by a single gene due to the multiple ranges in intelligence seen?
2. Roger Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

   Wow that is really interesting. I agree and disagree on this topic. I do believe that some intelligence is inherited, while another part of it is just your ability to focus in school. If you have good grades, it doesn’t mean your parents are geniuses. You have to work at school, you can’t just expect to do well because your parents did.

3. Roger Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

   I was just talking to my older sister and she said when she was in college they did a study on this. They ended up saying that it was your parents intellegence on when to have a child that affects your rate of intellegence. So if you were born while your parents didn’t have a stable finacial plan to support a child you would have a worse intellegnce rate. This sounds really weird and dosent sound to accurate though.

4. Jon G. Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 10:16 pm

   Wait, I have a question for Roger: Are you saying that your parents intellegence on when you are born effects your intelligence or are you saying that your parents intellegence on HAVING you effects your intellegence?

5. michael Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 10:40 pm

   Wow this is really suprising to me. I had heard to really pretty people make an ugly baby so I thought two really smart people make a not so smart baby. But it makes since that intellegence is inherited just many physical characteristics.

6. Steven T Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 10:56 pm

   i do think that your “ability” to be smart is inherited but i think i bigger part is based on the persons personality and liefstyle. Some people may enjoy school, though i dont think i know anyone who does….anyway, i think the main factor in someones grades are how much they put into their schoolwork.

7. Matt Says:
   December 12th, 2007 at 11:00 pm

   This is very interesting. Good job Lauren! i agree that some intelligence is inherited but some is just the want to apply it. You could be the smartest person, but if you don not apply yourself and are just lazy you will never come across as intelligent. Some people can also be born with neurological disabilities, that does not mean their parents were stupid or had these same problems. I know of people that have learnig disabliites and neurological issues and their parents and sibilings do not. It is also possible for peole with not very smart parents to be absolute genuises. What really is intelligence defined by? Is it something actually instilled into your DNA or is it just the willingness and want to be smart?

   Also, I heard( and this could be totally wrong) that IQ is just the measure of your brains capacity to store knowledge and information, is this true?

8. Charlotte Says:
   December 13th, 2007 at 8:07 am

   This is really cool! I have never herd of intelligence being inherited. That would make it really cool if you had really smart parents. Even though a person might be handed down intelligence they still need to work for it because with out using your ability and trying to make it better you are just wasting the ability God has given you. I don’t really believe someone can be naturally smart enough to go through school with high A’s and not study or review for anything., but if there is someone please let me met them.

9. stephen d Says:
   December 13th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

   This is an interesting topic and if intelligance is inherited than that will be really cool. Does this happen in every family or is it in some or in just most families? I have seen some families that have very smart parents and very smart kids so i was wandering about this.

10. Stevie Says:
    December 13th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Very nice Lauren! That’s really fascinating beacuse I always just took it for granted and thought that it was almost polygenetically inherited from someones parents. It never really ocured to me that envirornment also very well could play a large factor in it. In my family, I’m the first born child and I’m very like my dad in terms of phenotype, but I usually make grades closer to those that my mom used too make, but not quite as high. But my sister has a phenotype much more like that of my mom and she makes better grades than either me, my mom, or my dad. So it would make sense that our phenotypes expressed similar behaviors in intelligence like our parents, but becasue of how I’m not just as smart as my parents and nor is my sister, it would make sense that the environment that we grew up in (which has always been school first!) would affect us like that. Great post!

11. Max Says:
    December 13th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

    Wow, good post. I agree with Ms. Baker, about the polygenic trait part. I mean how could one gene hold all the intelligence that has been passed down from your parents. Also wouldn’t the parents of a special ed kid be ‘dumb’. Well I was a little confused so went and did some research and this is the website i thought provided great examples and evidence

    http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070117072939AAqeKxj&show=7

12. Miss Baker Says:
    December 13th, 2007 at 9:46 pm

    Stevie – how are you not as “smart” as your parents? Where is your evidence for this? Grades? In a couple of days I’ll publish a post with evidence that shows success in school and life has less to do with being “smart” and more to do with how hard you work for it.

13. Matt Says:December 13th, 2007 at 10:11 pm It is true that work ethic has everything to do with it.Albert Einstein said,”It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” This just shows that those who are lazy and give up do not have the drive to succeed.http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins106192.html
14. Danny Says:
    December 14th, 2007 at 1:19 am

    Hmm this is interesting. I can sort of understand this and it would be neat to find out what kind of gene is passed down for intelligence. However, this does not make too much sense for me. My mom went to Harvard and Stanford, which alone says that she is pretty smart, and my dad is really intellegent. BUT, there is me, who is not the brightest bulb on the tree. I mean i hope that i get some of their brains later on, because i could surely use them!!

15. Kristen Says:
    December 14th, 2007 at 4:57 pm

    this makes alot of sence cause whenever people say oh your look/act exactly like you mom/dad i always wondered if you could get smarts from them to! good job lauren! i so have a question though. why do we get genes from one parent mostly then both?

16. sebastiana Says:
    December 15th, 2007 at 8:57 am

    I think that yes your parents play a role in your passing intelligence in you however its you thats basically in school so you have a bigger role. I mean my parents are extremly smart and I am not as smart but my older brother is majoring in areospace and egineering and has been smart in math since forever. Where as for me I am very clueless about math. I personally think that it has to do with the enviroment your growing up in now ( whether its smart or dumb) and your parents ( not as much).

17. lacey Says:
    December 15th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

    Intresting post Lauren! However, i do have to say that even though you intellegence maybe somewhat inherited, you still have to put forth effort, in order to suceeded! For example, there was a set of twin sisters at my school last year, but they were completely different as far as their grades! One of them had all honors classes, and still mananged to make all A’s, while the other had regular classes, and barely passed two of them! This obviously shows that one was lazy and the other put forth a ton of effort! They both are pefectly capable of exceling in school, if they wanted to, but only one of them chose to pursue it!

18. Kristen Says:
    December 16th, 2007 at 3:55 pm

    i was thinking about what stevie was saying and….i think he is mainly right. i mean everyone does have FULL potential to make good grades in school…but yes it does matter whether we are smart or not but also…school puts alot on pressure on us as well. like basically GRADES are our whole life. and some people care and some people dont….im the youngest in my family and my sister is exactly like my dad good grades and everything and i was telling my mom about this post and she took out her old report cards and they we’re almost exactly like my past….so i do believe after this that it is genetics and like stevie said your enviornment as well.

19. Morgan Says:
    December 16th, 2007 at 8:38 pm

    I never knew that! Now I have an excuse for my grades! Just kidding! haha but trust me that explains a lot! But as most poeple said people still have a chance at getting good grades it just might be challenging for the poeple who don’t have that gene. Is that why there is always those really smart poeple in the grade that don’t even study and get good grades but those who study really hard and dont?

20. Miss Baker Says:
    December 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    Morgan – are those that are studying that hard studying the right things? Students often don’t know how to study well. I always tell my students who have spent hours cramming THE NIGHT BEFORE the exam that they just WASTED several hours.

    Also, for the students that are making great grades without studying – how challenging is the material? The ironic thing is that as they get older and run into more challenging classes, they are actually HURT by their previous easy successes because they get it in their head that they are “smart” and therefore shouldn’t have to study very hard. So they get frustrated when they start to do poorly.

21. Sydni Says:December 16th, 2007 at 10:51 pm wow i dont know who to beleive in this miss baker or the other guy. but really i think you are both righ. i think some of it is inherited and some we expand for our selves. i know there is some study saying that you should do things that you would not want to do because it makes connections in your mind that have not been made before so more of your brain is working together.
22. Mayur Says:
    January 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    Very pleased to find my photo here. Thanks for the credit

23. Skye Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    Ok, I partially believe this is true and false. For one, my dad is a very intelligent and intellectual type of person; I just do not know how he does it! So is his father, my grandpa. But then my mother is the complete opposite of those two. She never did particularly well in school and is not has intelligent. So since both of my parents are completely opposites when it comes to book smart what does that make me, average? Do they level each other out?

    My other side is anyone who has a normal brain meaning they do not have any brain diseases can be inelegant or good at something if they study and practice. It is not only that being intelligent is hereditary; you have to put effort into becoming smart. Unless for example you have Down syndrome you can for sure succeed in whatever you want!

    http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f03/web1/rkallon.html

24. Hope Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    Wow, that makes a lot of sense. I have always heard of people getting most of their intelligence from their parents but I never quite knew if it was correct. I was told that you only get fifty percent of your intelligence from your parents, not seventy-five. I was really suprised to see that.

    Even if you are born from not so intellectual and brillant parents, you can still apply yourself and change your future. People who have parents that got C’s and D’s can still study and work hard and get good A’s and B’s.