2009年9月24日 星期四
2009-09-24作業評論總結
第一次的作業主題是「揪出生活週遭的偽科學」，大多數的同學都以身邊的事物為出發點提出了許多的質疑與問題，但是整體來說同學們的作業仍然有以下方面有待改進與學習：
議題發掘
絕大多數同學的作業所觸及的議題不是吃的喝的就是保養品，甚少有區域性或全球性的環境議題，也就是說議題本身的深度、廣度以及影響層面上的發掘上還需要努力。部份同學所關切的議題其實具有某種程度的全球性，然而以同學對資訊的探勘與追根究柢的程度來說稍嫌淺薄。
科學思維
議題發掘
絕大多數同學的作業所觸及的議題不是吃的喝的就是保養品，甚少有區域性或全球性的環境議題，也就是說議題本身的深度、廣度以及影響層面上的發掘上還需要努力。部份同學所關切的議題其實具有某種程度的全球性，然而以同學對資訊的探勘與追根究柢的程度來說稍嫌淺薄。
科學思維
- 什麼是合理的根據科學證據的懷疑？什麼樣的懷疑只是因為疑神疑鬼心理的作祟？什麼樣的懷疑其實只是在別人的字裏行間找錯字改作文？而當我們懷疑資訊真偽與完整性的同時，我們的懷疑本身是否就建立在對該項知識完整的理解與詮釋？或者，我們對一個資訊品質的質疑會不會來自於自己先入為主的偏見(bias)、以偏概全、本末倒置？
- 多數同學只提出對某個產品的標示或內容誇大不實的指控，但是這些指控與質疑多半在行銷與消費者權益上打轉並未觸及真正的科學議題
- 許多同學並未對作業中所提出的質疑與問題進行分類，也因此讓作業看起來缺乏層次與邏輯性
- 報告的文字書寫仍嫌口語，無論長短讀起來都像是臉書或是MSN對話
- 一篇好的評論型短文在一開始應該要清楚地交待所評論對象的人、事、時、地、物、數等背景資訊，讓你的讀者信服這個被評論事件是否真實地存在？然後再明確地列舉這個事件(議題)中所出現的可受公評之處。在對於某一個問題進行個人的評述之前應該先就你的疑問提出的基礎做出說明，並且引用足夠的資訊證實你的懷疑是合理的。最後應該有一段結語總結對這個議題的評論。
- 對參考資料的引用仍有待學習，尤其是如何進行合理的引用(citation)與引述(quotation)？如何確認受引用的資訊具有參考性與正確性？
2009年9月18日 星期五
作業一 - 揪出生活週遭的偽科學
這個作業的目的是希望大家不要忽視偽科學廣泛存在於我們的日常生活中的事實. 請在媒體, 科普書籍, 產品文宣中尋找偽科學的蹤跡- 何謂偽科學 (pseudoscience)? 先看一下wiki上的說法, 再請各位google一下各方對於偽科學的定義與看法.
- 偽科學經常由所謂的專家學者與媒體的權威口吻呈現與傳播, 以操作種族優越(中午12:30賣藥廣告的白人), 恐懼(柵湖線會電死所有的人), 社會階級(醫生口吻推鑑產品 vs 歐巴桑的疑問)的手段達到其目的(行銷, 規勸, 制約, 榨取利益).
- 請各位揪出這些具有偽科學成份的東東, 並請一篇短文說明: 為什麼注意到這樣的事件? 裏面有什麼樣的偽科學成份? 這些偽科學成份是否具有不當引導讀者的意圖? 或只是文字表述上的不精確? 你又有什麼樣的證劇支持你認為這些成份是偽科學的指控呢?
- 請列出您的參考資訊來源, 參考資訊的羅列與引用格式請參考書報討論的blog
- 請於09/22晚間12:00前寄至老師信箱, 請所有同學注意 - (1) 寄件人姓名不可是綽號; (2) 信件標題不可空白; (3) 信件內容需有基本的禮儀; (4) 整份作業請製成pdf檔, 檔名格式為BioSci-1-姓名, 請注意勿使用Office2007的docx格式
- 提示: 嘖嘖稱奇式的鄉土奇譚, 網路上的怪物流言, 主流媒體上對於環境災難與生態保育的評論, 身邊的生技產品等等
2009年9月9日 星期三
大專生參與專題研究計畫
本學期課程的學習成果的重頭戲就是讓同學學習以申請國科會計畫的規模寫一個研究計畫書. 部份修課同學很可能打算在明年2月左右申請國科會的大專生專題研究計畫, 因此本學期的課程將協助同學在科學議題的探索與發掘, 假說的形成, 實驗/試驗的設計, 結果的預測, 以及該科學議題在該領域的顯著性等方面深入地思考與揣摩. 有興趣的同學請參考國科會的大專生專題計畫網頁瞭解詳情.
2009年9月6日 星期日
[不精確的科學新聞]腦容量較大同等於智慧高低?
中時在9月3日引述中央社新聞刊登了以下的報導, 文中說到"老虎的腦容量高於獅子因此老虎較聰明"這樣的觀點. 然而無論是Yamaguchi等人的原始論文, 或牛津大學的新聞稿, 都沒有提到所謂的腦大=智慧高這樣的論述. 事實上Yamaguchi等人的論文所談到的預測(prediction)是社會性動物腦容量相對身體體積的比例應較獨居性動物為高, 然而他們的度量分析卻得到相反的結果. 這個預測的來源是根據"社會性動物的腦部可能要處理更複雜的資訊因此腦部容量可能較高"的預設(assumption). 因此中央社的編譯直接把這篇文章的結果直接詮釋為老虎的智慧較高犯了"引用失當"及"過度解讀"的毛病, 更不要瞎扯"演化論"了. 牛津大學新聞稿的原文使用"brainier"這個字的原意其實是"比較有腦"或"比較精明", 這個brainier相對於brainless, 也就是我們所說的"無腦"或近似"腦殘"(retarded)之意, 平常用來暗指一個人的邏輯有沒有問題, 也就是說牛津的新聞稿事實上也只是使用brain vs brainier這兩個字對閱聽人的吸引力來闡述這項研究成果, 但是這篇論文本身絕對沒有比較虎獅智慧的意圖. 有關brain size與intelligence之間的關聯有非常多的文章討論, 影響intelligence的因素何其多? 若brain size如此單純地同等於智能的高低, 那麼我們又如何解釋為何現代智人的腦容量較尼安德塔人小呢?
以下是中國時報引用中央社的新聞:
牛津大學研究：老虎智商高於獅子 2009-09-03
新聞速報 中央社
獅子被稱為萬獸之王，但根據英國牛津大學動物學家的研究，獅子的智商卻低於老虎。
牛津大學研究人員從全世界博物館，對370頭獅子、225頭老虎、32頭美洲豹及42頭豹的頭蓋骨及腦容量進行研究，雖然老虎與獅子的身型相似，但老虎的腦容量較獅子大約16%。
就進化論而言，腦的大小與智商相關，腦部愈大，智商也愈高。
進行這項研究的牛津大學野生動物保育研究小組山口教授（Nobby Yamaguchi）指出，令人意外的是，在屬同一科的四種動物研究，老虎的腦部相對最大。
他說，雖然獅子的頭蓋骨平均來看大於老虎，但是老虎的腦容量大於獅子，「令人驚訝的是，身型嬌小的巴里（Balinese）雌虎腦容量，和南非公獅一般大」。
山口教授指出，雖然腦容量小於老虎，但獅子仍是食物鏈的最上端，「好群居的獅子可以攻擊愛獨居的老虎，但是也許老虎夠聰明，可以躲開獅子的攻擊」。
下一步研究人員將研究，老虎腦部的那一個部分大於獅子，並進一步了解，為何老虎需要較大的腦。980903
獅子被稱為萬獸之王，但根據英國牛津大學動物學家的研究，獅子的智商卻低於老虎。
牛津大學研究人員從全世界博物館，對370頭獅子、225頭老虎、32頭美洲豹及42頭豹的頭蓋骨及腦容量進行研究，雖然老虎與獅子的身型相似，但老虎的腦容量較獅子大約16%。
就進化論而言，腦的大小與智商相關，腦部愈大，智商也愈高。
進行這項研究的牛津大學野生動物保育研究小組山口教授（Nobby Yamaguchi）指出，令人意外的是，在屬同一科的四種動物研究，老虎的腦部相對最大。
他說，雖然獅子的頭蓋骨平均來看大於老虎，但是老虎的腦容量大於獅子，「令人驚訝的是，身型嬌小的巴里（Balinese）雌虎腦容量，和南非公獅一般大」。
山口教授指出，雖然腦容量小於老虎，但獅子仍是食物鏈的最上端，「好群居的獅子可以攻擊愛獨居的老虎，但是也許老虎夠聰明，可以躲開獅子的攻擊」。
下一步研究人員將研究，老虎腦部的那一個部分大於獅子，並進一步了解，為何老虎需要較大的腦。980903
我們再看牛津大學所發出的新聞稿
Are tigers ‘brainier’ than lions?
Science
03 Sep 09
The Siberian tiger - found to be the 'closest molecular neighbour' to the extinct Caspian tiger
Tigers have bigger brains relative to their body size than lions. Photo credit: Raffinger Enikö
A wide-ranging study of big cat skulls, led by Oxford University scientists, has shown that tigers have bigger brains, relative to their body size, than lions, leopards or jaguars.
The team investigated the relationship between the skull size – the longest length between the front and back parts of the skull – of a large sample of tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars and the volume inside the cats’ respective craniums. The researchers report their findings in this month’s Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
'What we had not expected is that the tiger has clearly much bigger relative brain size than do the other three species, which all have similar relative brain sizes,’ said Dr Nobby Yamaguchi of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), an author of the report with WildCRU Director Professor David Macdonald.
‘When we compare the two biggest species, on average the lion has a bigger skull than the tiger based on the greatest length of the skull. However, the tiger has bigger cranial volume than the lion. It is truly amazing that tiny female Balinese tiger skulls have cranial volumes as large as those of huge male southern African lion skulls.’
What we had not expected is that the tiger has clearly much bigger relative brain size than do the other three species, which all have similar relative brain sizes.
Dr Nobby Yamaguchi
It has sometimes been assumed that social species, such as lions, should have larger brains than solitary species, such as tigers, because of the need to handle a more complex social life within groups or prides. However, despite a few studies suggesting a relationship between big brains and sociality in mammals, evidence for the link is far from clear.
Dr Nobby Yamaguchi said: ‘Our results strongly suggest that there is no detectable positive relationship between relative brain size and sociality amongst these four big cat species, which shared a common ancestor around 3.7 million years ago.’
The team also looked at the popular idea that tigers are ‘bigger’ than lions (which could mean that the tiger’s relatively bigger brain size simply reflects its bigger body). However, careful re-evaluation of original field data and relatively well-documented hunting records does not support this idea.
So the team concluded that the tigers have a relatively bigger brain (around 16 per cent larger) than lions, given their very similar average body sizes.
Professor Macdonald said: ‘Two general lessons emerge from our findings: first, how much remains to be discovered about even these most familiar of big cats, and second how important museum collections can be as a source of unexpected insights.’
The next step for the researchers is to try to answer whether such a difference can be explained by intrageneric variation or merely by chance. If not by chance, then it raises the question why the tiger evolved a relatively bigger brain (or why other species evolved smaller brains) after the tiger’s ancestor split from the common ancestor to the other three species.
The answers to both these questions may lie in analysing comparative brain anatomy amongst these species (for instance, which parts of the tiger’s brain are bigger than the lion’s) and similar data from extinct relatives of these big cats as well as smaller living relatives such as the snow leopard and clouded leopard.
Science
03 Sep 09
The Siberian tiger - found to be the 'closest molecular neighbour' to the extinct Caspian tiger
Tigers have bigger brains relative to their body size than lions. Photo credit: Raffinger Enikö
A wide-ranging study of big cat skulls, led by Oxford University scientists, has shown that tigers have bigger brains, relative to their body size, than lions, leopards or jaguars.
The team investigated the relationship between the skull size – the longest length between the front and back parts of the skull – of a large sample of tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars and the volume inside the cats’ respective craniums. The researchers report their findings in this month’s Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
'What we had not expected is that the tiger has clearly much bigger relative brain size than do the other three species, which all have similar relative brain sizes,’ said Dr Nobby Yamaguchi of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), an author of the report with WildCRU Director Professor David Macdonald.
‘When we compare the two biggest species, on average the lion has a bigger skull than the tiger based on the greatest length of the skull. However, the tiger has bigger cranial volume than the lion. It is truly amazing that tiny female Balinese tiger skulls have cranial volumes as large as those of huge male southern African lion skulls.’
What we had not expected is that the tiger has clearly much bigger relative brain size than do the other three species, which all have similar relative brain sizes.
Dr Nobby Yamaguchi
It has sometimes been assumed that social species, such as lions, should have larger brains than solitary species, such as tigers, because of the need to handle a more complex social life within groups or prides. However, despite a few studies suggesting a relationship between big brains and sociality in mammals, evidence for the link is far from clear.
Dr Nobby Yamaguchi said: ‘Our results strongly suggest that there is no detectable positive relationship between relative brain size and sociality amongst these four big cat species, which shared a common ancestor around 3.7 million years ago.’
The team also looked at the popular idea that tigers are ‘bigger’ than lions (which could mean that the tiger’s relatively bigger brain size simply reflects its bigger body). However, careful re-evaluation of original field data and relatively well-documented hunting records does not support this idea.
So the team concluded that the tigers have a relatively bigger brain (around 16 per cent larger) than lions, given their very similar average body sizes.
Professor Macdonald said: ‘Two general lessons emerge from our findings: first, how much remains to be discovered about even these most familiar of big cats, and second how important museum collections can be as a source of unexpected insights.’
The next step for the researchers is to try to answer whether such a difference can be explained by intrageneric variation or merely by chance. If not by chance, then it raises the question why the tiger evolved a relatively bigger brain (or why other species evolved smaller brains) after the tiger’s ancestor split from the common ancestor to the other three species.
The answers to both these questions may lie in analysing comparative brain anatomy amongst these species (for instance, which parts of the tiger’s brain are bigger than the lion’s) and similar data from extinct relatives of these big cats as well as smaller living relatives such as the snow leopard and clouded leopard.
以下為Yamaguchi et al. (2009)發表於Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 98(1): 95-93論文的摘要:
Intraspecific encephalization of the lion and the tiger is investigated for the first time using a very large sample. Using cranial volume as a measure of brain size, the tiger has a larger brain relative to greatest length of skull than the lion, the leopard and the jaguar. The Asian lion has a relatively much smaller brain compared with those of sub-Saharan lions, between which there are few differences. The Balinese and Javan tigers had relatively larger brains compared with those of Malayan and Sumatran tigers, even although these four putative subspecies occupy adjacent ranges in south-eastern Asia. Differences in brain size do not appear to correlate with any known differences in behaviour and ecology and, therefore, may reflect only chance differences in intrageneric and intraspecific phylogeny. However, captive-bred big cats generally have a reduced brain size compared with that of wild animals, so that an animal's life history and living conditions may affect brain size and, hence, functional or environmental explanations should be considered when linking brain size differences to intraspecific phylogenies.
2009年9月4日 星期五
本學期課程的規劃 (Part I)
本課程為2學分課程, 而這個學期共有18週, 但去掉期中與期末考週, 共有16週, 也就是有32小時的課. 我們將把這32小時的課分配在11週裏. 上課時間為18:30-21:00, 初步的時程如下:
0917: 課程介紹
0924: 科學邏輯
1001: 科學邏輯
1008: 科學邏輯
1015: 現實的世界
1022: 現實的世界
1029: 科學工作的實務
1005: 科學工作的實務
1012: 科學工作的實務
1119: 期中考週
1126: 期末報告
我們將討論以下議題:
1. 你適合成為一位科學家嗎? 科學家的形象有多少種可能性?
2. 科學是一種態度或是一種要求? 什麼是完整的科學過程?
3. 如何找出自己的興趣與衡量自己的能力
4. 釐清不切實際的幻想 vs 現實: 既要有想像力又要有實踐力, 很難嗎?
5. 什麼是假說? 什麼是胡說?
6. 如何設計驗證假說的方法?
7. 如何銓釋你的結果?
8. 討論 vs 拼湊別人的觀點有何不同?
9. 文字能力不好怎麼辦?
10. 表達能力不好怎麼辦?
11. 銓釋能力不好怎麼辦?
12. 歸納能力不好怎麼辦?
13. 如何寫簡要報告
14. 如何寫科學論文
15. 如何寫摘要
16. 投稿是科學研究的目的嗎?
17. 什麼是學術界?
18. 英文不好怎麼辦? (只有英文好就夠了嗎?)
0917: 課程介紹
0924: 科學邏輯
1001: 科學邏輯
1008: 科學邏輯
1015: 現實的世界
1022: 現實的世界
1029: 科學工作的實務
1005: 科學工作的實務
1012: 科學工作的實務
1119: 期中考週
1126: 期末報告
我們將討論以下議題:
1. 你適合成為一位科學家嗎? 科學家的形象有多少種可能性?
2. 科學是一種態度或是一種要求? 什麼是完整的科學過程?
3. 如何找出自己的興趣與衡量自己的能力
4. 釐清不切實際的幻想 vs 現實: 既要有想像力又要有實踐力, 很難嗎?
5. 什麼是假說? 什麼是胡說?
6. 如何設計驗證假說的方法?
7. 如何銓釋你的結果?
8. 討論 vs 拼湊別人的觀點有何不同?
9. 文字能力不好怎麼辦?
10. 表達能力不好怎麼辦?
11. 銓釋能力不好怎麼辦?
12. 歸納能力不好怎麼辦?
13. 如何寫簡要報告
14. 如何寫科學論文
15. 如何寫摘要
16. 投稿是科學研究的目的嗎?
17. 什麼是學術界?
18. 英文不好怎麼辦? (只有英文好就夠了嗎?)
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