Unit 1

• A hypothesis should be testable and falsifiable
• Before publishing, scientific studies should be peer reviewed to verify the study is properly designed and intepreted
• In a control group, a group of participants is exposed to a placebo that is not the experimental treatment.
• To figure out if the results of the experiment truly support the hypothesis or if they’re simply from chance, statistical significance is measured
• If the likelihood of the results being obtained through chance is less than 5%, the difference is statistically significant
• Having a larger sample size means it’s less likely chance alone is contributing
• The multiple comparisons issue is where looking for evidence of one condition in several objects leads to pure chance having a greater role
• Chance plays a greater role in your findings with the multiple comparisons issue, so your findings have a less statistically significant result
• Repeating an experiment multiple times helps to reduce the effect of chance and increase the reliability of the results
• Lab rat results aren’t completely applicable to humans due to the fact that the rats are genetically different to humans
• A scientific theory has lots of evidence supporting it and has never been disproven. A hypothesis lacks the large amount of evidence.
• In a case-control study, two groups that differ in a condition are compared based on a variable of interest that is not manipulated
• In a case-control study, the association between exposure and an outcome are observed
• In a dose-response study, the amount of exposure versus the risk of a specific outcome is observed.
• In a randomized clinical trial, subjects are randomly chosen to receive either an experimental treatment or a placebo
• Randomized clinical trials may be difficult in cases with very rare diseases due to a small sample size
• In a null hypothesis, there is no observable difference between the two groups.
• The scientific method‘s steps are observation, hypothesis, experiments, and conclusions.
• In order to validate our hypothesis, experiments are developed or observations are made
• The independent variable is what you’re testing, while the dependent variable is what you’re measuring
• Qualitative data is observations, while quantitative data is measurements.
• In your conclusions, you should focus on rejecting or supporting your hypothesis
• Scientists define living things by their ability to grow, reproduce to pass down genetic material, a stable internal environment despite the external environment, to respond to stimuli, and to use energy
• Atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
• Biomolecules often have a carbon backbone
• Organic molecules have a carbon-based backbone with at least one C-H bond, while inorganic molecules lack both.
• The four categories of biomolecules are carbohydrates, protein, lipids, and nucleic acids
• The monomers of carbohydrates are monosaccharides, which make up polymers, polysaccharides
• The monomers of proteins are amino acids that are linked together
• The monomers of nucleic acids are nucleotides
• The cell membrane is a phospholipid bilayer with proteins embedded within
• Water is less dense as a solid than a liquid
• Cohesion is the molecule’s ability to stick to each other, while adhesion is the ability to stick to a surface
• A solution is made up of a solute and a solvent
• The pH of a solution is the concentration of hydrogen ions. 0-1 is highly acidic, while 13-14 is highly basic.
• Acids have a higher concentration of hydrogen ions than hydroxide ions.
• Bases have a higher concentration of hydroxide ions than hydrogen ions
• A virus is an infectious agent with a protein shell encasing genetic material
• Prions are infectious proteins
• Science is a way of knowing, a method of seeking answers to questions on the basis of observation and experimentation