Warm Up 3 is due Wednesday, February 5, 2003 at 9:30 am.

Please type the last 4 digits of your Student ID Number: (Important!)
Please type your LAST name, and FIRST initial or first name:
Please type in a 'nickname': (In case your answer is used in class)

The following three questions refer to material you were to read in preparation for class. These questions require you to write a three or four sentence response. It is OK to answer 'I don't know' - but STATE WHY you are confused! (Don't just say 'I don't know' - you probably DO!) Each WarmUp worth 3 points if answered on time and must be submitted via the web.

QUESTION 1:The USDA recommends that the average American diet for a person ~150 pounds (~2000 calories/ day) consist of

65g Total Fat (20 g of which can be saturated fat),
300 mg or less of cholesterol,
2400 mg of sodium
300 g of carbohydrate (25g of which should be fiber)
~65 g protein (varies depending on weight)

On a recent visit to McDonalds, a hungry professor (no names, please) ordered her fave fast food meal. Take a look the Nutrition Facts for this Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal with Super Size fries and Coke. What amount of this person's total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, sodium, protein, and carbohydrate came from this one yummy meal? Do you have any comments about the nutritional implications of a fast-food lifestyle? Do you have any tips of how you balance healthy eating habits with the convenience of fast food? Want to see other nutrition facts for YOUR fave McDonamds lunch? Click on the McDonalds Appetite Controller website.

QUESTION 2: Starch (like bread, pasta) is a glucose polymer that gives us energy, but cellulose, an almost identical glucose polymer, is indigestible. Why do you think that ONE of these almost identical molecules can be digested, while the other can't? Why is cellulose (non-nutritive and indigestible) a very necessary part of our diet?

QUESTION 1: DNA is a double-stranded molecule, meaning that each molecule contains two strands of DNA running in opposite, ("anti-parallel") directions. Can you think of an advantage for the cell to maintain DNA as a double stranded molecule rather than a single-stranded molecule like RNA (a molecule similar to DNA, but with just one strand?)

QUESTION 2: In your own words, what is a gene? Do you think there is a gene for everything about 'you' - not only your hair color and eye color, but also for aspects of your personality or behavior? What is a genome? (No, it is not a small ceramic statue in your garden, that would be a gnome!!! ; )

QUESTION 3: Rosalind Franklin collected X-ray data crucial to the discovery of DNA's structure. However, she is hardly mentioned in some accounts of the discovery of DNA. Your textbook presents a short essay about the discovery of the structure of DNA (p. 196); read it and speculate why she might be less well known than Watson and Crick. Why was she not awarded a Nobel Prize in 1962 with Watson and Crick?

QUESTION 4: Worried about the test next Monday February 10? Please list a question that you have and we will try to get to it in class! Remember that your CD and text have lots of practice multiple choice questions you can use to test your knowledge before the REAL test!

You may change your mind as often as you wish. When you are satisfied with your responses click the SUBMIT button. You will receive a "THANK YOU" page as a confirmation that your response has been sent to me.

The text of this "What is Biology Good For" exercise is copyrighted under the name of Dr. Kathleen A. Marrs, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003. There are no restrictions on its use by educators or by non-profit institutions as long as its content not modified, proper copyright acknowledgement is retained, and this statement is not removed.