Bio Review N.1.1

What is peer review?

What is the difference between science and pseudoscience?

You are trying to figure out how to balance the pH in your fish tank when you clean it.

Example A: Ice Spice posted a TikTok that said adding a can of soda to your fish tank water helps with pH balancing.

Example B: Dr. Fishyface from the American Fisheries Society who has a doctorate in aquatic ecosystem studies said to use some crushed coral in the bottom of the tank to improve pH balance.

Which is a more CREDIBLE source?

You are trying to figure out how to cool down your house the quickest.

Example A: This source cites 4 studies that all state closing your blinds and curtains can help cool your house down quicker.

Example B: This source says that one person from Arkansas said that eating flaming hot Cheetos in July will help cool your house down quicker.

Which provides more accurate/specific data?

You want to know if using plastic straws really saves the turtles.

Example A: The CEO of a straw company posted that straws are amazing for the environment and don’t have any negative impact at all and you should definitely use more plastic straws – specifically from their brand.

Example B: An ecologist from Eckerd College ran an experiment with 6 different trials that all indicated that the waste produced from plastic straws is bad for the turtles.

Which source is unbiased?

You want to know how many iPhone users there are in the US.

Example A: A 2024 post from Business Insider said that there are about 136 million iPhone users in the US.

Example B: A 2009 blog post from a tech YouTuber said that there are about 28 million iPhone users in the US.

Which is more up to date information and a reliable source?

What is a control group?

The variable directly changed or manipulated by the experimenter.

The variable that is often measured at the end of an experiment

Sabrina wants to test which brand of popcorn pops the most kernels. She picked a Giant Eagle brand, Orville Redenbacher, and PopSecret. All three bags started with the same number of kernels. She popped each for 3 minutes in the same microwave, and then counted the number of kernels left over. What is her independent variable?

Kira wants to test which type of soda creates the biggest foam explosion when adding a Mentos candy. She chose Sprite, Coke, and Mountain Dew. One at a time, she added a single Mentos candy and measured the height of the foam eruption. Mountain Dew created a foam eruption of 7 inches. Coke and Sprite tied at 5 inches. What is her dependent variable?