Archive for November, 2011
Famous Scientists in Genetic Research
Posted by admin in Famous Scientists on November 29, 2011
Barbara was an American scientist and one of the world’s most distinguished cytogeneticists. Her father Thomas Henry McClintock was a physician and her mother’s name was Sara Handy McClintock. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 16, 1902. In 1908, Barbara’s family moved to Brooklyn, New York. She did her secondary education in Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. She enrolled at the Cornell University in 1919. Barbara took a course in genetics in 1921. C. B. Hutchison, a plant breeder and geneticist, conducted it. From Cornell she received the B.S. degree in 1923, the M.A. in 1925, and the Ph.D. in 1927. Barbara served as a graduate assistant in the Department of Botany from 1924 to 1927.
In 1927, she was appointed as a botany instructor. In 1930, Barbara was the first person to describe the cross-shaped interaction of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. In 1931, Barbara working with a graduate student Harriet Creighton proved the link between chromosomal crossover during meiosis and the recombination of genetic traits. She published the first genetic map for corn in 1931, showing the order of three genes on corn chromosome 9. In 1936, she accepted an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Botany at the University of Missouri. In 1938, Barbara produced a cytogenetic analysis of the centromere, describing the organization and function of the centromere. Read the rest of this entry »
Career Opportunities in Environmental Science
Posted by admin in Environmental Science on November 26, 2011
Environment is one of the cause of concern and worry for almost every country in the world, be it a third world countries or underdeveloped nations. And hence the need for environmental scientists is just increasing with each day across the world. Environment is a wide and complex issue that calls for professionals to solve the issues and problems related to environment. There are many career opportunities in environmental science as there are wide range of specializations you can choose from as per your interest area. This article tells you about some of the best environmental science career opportunities, so, read on…
Careers in Environmental Science
As mentioned before environmental science is a vast subject that has many sub parts which in themselves are again very vast and needs specialization to gain expertise on. Given below are some of the career options in environmental science that you can choose from as per your liking.
Ecology: Being an ecologists involves studying living organisms and their relationship with the environment. An ecologists has to analyze how living organisms interact with each other and the environment and find out ways to keep the interaction in its natural form. With growing threat to ecology, need for trained ecologists is growing so if you have passion to protect the mother earth then ecology is an ideal field for you. Read the rest of this entry »
Four Main Layers of the Earth
The planet earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, after the collapse of the supermassive gaseous body. As time moved on, the earth cooled down and is still cooling, as of today. As a result of the cooling process, denser materials like iron and sulfur sank to the inside of the earth; whereas, lighter materials like silicates and water floated near the earth’s surface.
Four Layers of the Earth: Explained
Coming to the topic of our discussion, our planet earth comprises several layers. Starting from the surface, there are four main layers; namely, the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. The pressure and temperature increase tremendously when one goes from the outer layers to the inner layers. Let’s take a look at each of them individually.
The Crust
The crust or the lithosphere is the outermost layer of the earth made up of silicate rock materials. It makes up only about one percent of the earth and is the thinnest layer in comparison to the remaining three layers. Most earthquakes occur in the crust, and the average recorded temperature is 870 °C. The thickness and the composition of the earth’s crust vary in the land and the ocean. For example; the continental crust is about 32 kilometers thick and composed of lighter materials like granite, quartz, and feldspar. Whereas, the oceanic crust measures about 10 kilometers and is mostly made up of basalt. Read the rest of this entry »