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- Creator:
- Cardona, Martha Aime
- Description:
- Due to the many misconceptions about science and the general lack of scientific literacy in our society, there is a need to better distribute accurate, comprehensible scientific ideas in an engaging way. Science education films can be powerful tools in this effort. They can be used to explore and explain relevant scientific concepts, and have the potential to reach the general public and scientists alike. As more science documentary films are produced, the general public naturally increasingly turns to films as an important source for scientific knowledge. Unfortunately, much of the scientific media being produced are designed to entertain and not necessarily to educate. Most science film producers do not hold scientific degrees, and they also do not have experience in scientific knowledge and research. Through this project I take a look at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park through a series of short films that were produced after extensive scientific literature review, direct communication with scientists, and visits into the field. Thus, as a scientist myself, I am using a “Scientist as Filmmaker” production model with the aim to create engaging natural history film without sacrificing scientific relevance and accuracy. It is increasingly important that the drivers behind science media production, not only have the skills to captivate audiences through visual storytelling, but also possess an extensive understanding of the scientific process in order to ensure the distribution of accurate and diverse scientific information.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis, Presentation, and Video
- Campus Tesim:
- Humboldt
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Lewis, Victor Maxwell
- Description:
- In 1997, Aguinaldo et al. proposed that all molting animals be placed in a single super-phyla based on a shared attribute of shedding the larval cuticle. Given the recent integration of all molting animals into the same clade it has become necessary to re-evaluate the evolution of this clade-defining characteristic. Two of the most well known phyla within this group, the arthropoda and the nematoda, have seen extensive studies on molting in the models Drosophila melanogaster and Caenhorabditis elegans respectively. In this thesis we show an initial evaluation of the evolution of molting within ecdysozoans. We begin by evaluating the evolutionary relationships between the most conserved inaugural member of the ecdysozoan molting pathway, nhr-23/Hr46, in Chapter 1. From this evaluation we can start to outline the studies necessary to understand how molting has evolved across the super-phyla. In Chapter 2, we address the distinct lack of understanding of the hormonal requirements for molting in one of the two well studied ecdysozoan models, C. elegans. We set in motion the characterization of endocrine signaling in nematode molting by investigating the source-specific requirement for cholesterol, an endocrine pre-cursor found within all ecdysozoans. Finally, in Chapter 3 we initiate an attempt at understanding how evolutionary changes which affect the process of molting have occurred within the nematoda. We look at sterotypic molting behaviors, combined with genetic and molecular analysis, to highlight how heterochronic changes in the relationship between other developmental events can lead to relative differences in molting between distantly related nematodes.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis and Video
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology