“Such an exotic name!” you exclaim, “Surely it must be some elusive endangered African species that can only be found in two specific wetlands in the Congo Basin?”
Well, the zebrafish is indeed exotic, but in a different context – the importance of which is far greater than one might bestow upon this little creature.
Ethanol (alcohol) is a poison that is widely consumed all around the world. However drinking methanol the same way leads to poisoning of a different, irreversible kind. We look at the chemistry and biochemistry involved in two very similar molecules, and how they affect the body through different ways.
Ponder that. Your body is merely a vessel – a temporary host to immortal beings within: your genes. Their mission: to pass themselves on to their next host – hopefully stronger, fitter and better able to produce a more advanced spaceship for their next journey…
If you have surfed the interwebz in the last five years, chances are high that you would have stumbled upon one of Amy Cuddy’s articles or talks about ‘power posing’. Admittedly the argument that she weaves is actually convincing, and the simple fix she suggests to help with stressful situations most compelling. But what part of this claim is actually evidence based research, and what part is abusing authority to stretch scientific truth?
One thing that regularly stumps scientists is the handling of data. We seem to be very good at generating obscene amounts of it, but representing it meaningfully can be a little off putting if you don’t happen to be a bioinformatician. Let’s continue our tutorial series by introducing Two-Sample t-Tests and Paired t-Tests to see how we can easily incorporate statistical analysis into our work.
One thing that regularly stumps scientists is the handling of data. We seem to be very good at generating obscene amounts of it, but representing it meaningfully can be a little off putting if you don’t happen to be a bioinformatician. Let’s wet our toes with a simple One Sample t-test to see how we can easily incorporate statistical analysis into our work.
