S377: Molecular and Cell Biology - Arrival

The next course arrives - it doesn't start until February, but I'm doing two courses together, so I'm glad of the head start. This is only the first of two mailings, but has some good stuff in it.

What you get is:

• Book 1 - From molecule to cell
• Book 2 - The Dynamic Cell (Vol 1)
• A Bookmark with some useful data about amino acids on
• A ring binder
• A ring binder insert with pretty picture and title
• A set of folder dividers
• A glossary
• An introduction and guide
• A study skills pack for books 1 and 2
• A DVD containing molecular modelling programs, movies and other bits

Notable by their absence is a calendar, TMAs and the normal OU computer disk.

All looks nice and shiny, and I'm ready to go having not had any assignments to do for the last month or so. However as the course site doesn't open for a while yet, there are no assignments to contemplate, just books to read and exercises to do.

Next S377

S283: The Exam

It has to be done - another exam. Why do we go through this I wonder?
Well I'll tell you - well actually, I'll tell you why I think its good to do an exam.

• This is where the course really comes together. There is no avoiding it, you have to confront your weaknesses. You can't go back to the books in the exam and reread a subject and go "Oh yes, I must have skipped that the first time around". I find a lot of things become clearer when you have to be prepared to answer questions on it.
  
• You feel validated. I have this nagging feeling that others may be able to do the course, just by reading from the books and repeating stuff without understanding it. I expect this is not true, but if so - well you can't do that in exams. So though its stressful, you feel having done it you understand the subject.
• For those few weeks of revision - you are a real expert on the material. Sadly it fades sooner or later after the exam, but for a while, should someone make the mistake of asking you a simple question on the topic, they'll find themselves pinned to the wall for an hour or more as you hold forth.

What I don't like about exams is:

• Memory stuff. In this exam for instance, you really need to know the distance of the planets in AU for the exam. That's just wrote memory test, not much more.
• That feeling when you open the paper, read a question, and realise you don't know anything about this.
• All that revision

Anyway - this exam consists of
Part A - 8 multiple choice questions

• Q1 is about Venus, how far is it from the sun and whats in it atmosphere
• Q2 is about the structure of planetary bodies
• Q3 is about the structure of an unidentified planet.
• Q4 is about the orbit of an asteroid, and needs some of Keplers laws.
• Q5 is about the requirements for life.
• Q6 is about Titan and its environment
• Q7 is about Doppler spectroscopy for detecting exoplanets.
• Q8 is a graph you have to identify.

Part B - About the solar system and stuff - answer 3 questions from 4.

• Q9 gets you to normalise rock samples based on mineral components and plot a graph.
• Q10 is more an essay question about how planets form, where you have to write some of the steps in their formation.
• Q11 is about some craters on Mars, and how they form. Again you have to describe mechanisms.
• Q12 is about meteorites and their inclusions.
  

Part C - Astrobiology and the search for life - again 3 from 4.

• Q13 is about evolution, the requirements for life and Panspermia.
• Q14 looks at Europa and gets you to label images and say what is going on in resurfacing terms.
• Q15 is about habitable zones around stars, and is maths based, which you then have to comment on.
• Q16 is exoplanet detection using doppler and astrometry. Then follows this up by exploring what else you might find out.

I've had worse exams, I've also had better ones. I think I passed, but possibly not as well as I might have hoped. Oh well, nothing I can do now.

Prev S283

S283: TMA-4

The last TMA. I need a big score to up my OCAS average on this one. Alas not to be, despite spending far too long on it, repeatedly reworking it. I'm just not putting what is in the marking template apparently.

Question 1 is about evidence for water flow on Mars. You have to download a paper discussing recent evidence for water flow on Mars and compare the paper with details in the book.

Question 2 concerns rainfall on Titan, and the atmospheric structure there.

Question 3 concerns the Drake equation, and asks you to calculate civilisations based on some given numbers.

Question 4 is about extra solar planet detection using the Doppler method. It also includes details about transit detection, what its probably density is in comparison to Jupiter, and so what sort of planet it is. Also how it might have got there through migration.

Question 5 is all about suitability for life based on IR and light spectrum. Discussing possible spectra and what they might tell you, and what you would hope to see in some cases. Also reasons the planet might be habitable but still nto show up on the spectrum results.

Last TMA, not the mark I was hoping for, and in general the marks for this course have been hard to get compared to all the other courses I have done with the OU. I still got reasonable scores, but found it very difficult to get a good score on a TMA, as it seems very picky about minutia of detail. If you answer is right, but not what is wanted, you score less than otherwise.

Anyway - now just the exam.

Next S283 Prev S283

S283: TMA-3

Well, my worst TMA of the series (so far). One stupid mistake which probably accounts for a couple of lost points, and several questions where I miss the point.

So
Question 1: This is about ¹⁷O and ¹⁸O ratios, and what they say about stars. You have to calculate a few quantities and the rest is interpreting the results.

Question 2: Is about geochemical data for asteroids, and looks at rare earth element ratios. You have to calculate some data in a spread sheet for 3 different sample, and then plot it on a graph. You also have to do the same thing with δ¹⁷O and δ¹⁸O ratios. Then armed with this data make a case for the origins of the various samples.

Question 3: This looks at possible biological molecules, asks you to identify the general type of molecule, its use as a biomarker. Then you have to draw the chiral equivalents of them in a chemistry program.

Question 4: This asks you to discuss the habitable zone around a star, and also looks at habitable zones around larger planets and similar.

Question 5: This is about the martian meteorite ALH 84001 and the possibility that it shows evidence of microbial life on Mars. You have to discuss the evidence for and against. Finally it asks you to critically evaluate the evidence for the emergence of life on earth, but says you should do it in 50-100 words - which to be indicates a short answer. The sample answer contains a number of points that I missed.

Anyway, there it goes, hope to do better in the next one.

Next S283 Prev S283

S171: Empire of the Microbe

So another short course, to fill in a 10 point degree shaped hole.
This is a new course, first presentation. A scary prospect if there is an exam involved, but this is just the normal ECA so I feel confident.
What you get is

• Empire of the Microbes course book
• A DVD with a digital microscope flashg application and some videos
• A study guide
• An assessment handbook
• A how to get help guide

All the rest is provided online, which due to a late sign up and some gremlins I've only been able to glimpse a couple of times before it declares me persona non-gratia. Anyway, the book looks up to the usual excellent OU standard, but with a TMA, an exam, and the S170 course to do, its getting scant attention so far.

S283: Book2 - An introduction to astrobiology

Book 2 starts to get to some biology, and leave behind some of the geophysics, so its more in my comfort zone.

• Chapter 1 starts by looking at the origin of life on earth. What it needs in terms of components, how it might have started and the clues left behind both fossil and molecular.
• Chapter 2 looks at environments for life, and considers the habitable zone around the sun.
• Chapter 3 is all about Mars, and the various attempts to find life there, including the notorious Martian meteorite.
• Chapter 4 looks at the possibility of life on icy moons such as Europa and other places.
• Chapter 5 is devoted to the moon Titan.
• Chapter 6 is about exoplanets, those planets orbiting other stars and mostly about how they are detected.
• Chapter 7 looks at exoplanets as possible habitats for life, and some of their properties that may aid or otherwise life development.
• Chapter 8 looks at the potential to detect life on exoplanets from Earth, and the technology required for that to take place.
• Chapter 9 considers SETI and CETI, interaction with extraterrestrial civilisations and how we haven't had any, and why that might be.

Whilst I found the first few chapters interesting, and the exoplanet chapters happened to coincide with a IYA lecture locally that was excellent, I found the book rather seemed to fizzle out at the end., or maybe it was me that fizzled out.

Next S282 Prev S282