What the AP Biology Textbook Has to Say

I've decided to give those readers out there who have not taken this class a taster of what the rest of us biology students learn in class. Mind you, these are just some facts I found slightly more interesting than others. As for the people who have or are taking AP Bio, can't you just wait until this brute memorization is over? I definitely don't hate this class, but it's occasionally frustrating to have an unreliable teacher paired with certain hard to understand concepts. Anyways, here they are:
1. Have you ever wondered what a Gram Stain is? Probably not, but just for your information, it's a test developed by Hans Gram who discovered a way to distinguish certain kinds of bacteria from each other. After the cells are washed, they are stained with dye and the ones with peptidoglycan as their cell wall are Gram positive and the ones with a thinner layer are Gram negative. Which is more dangerous? Gram negative.
2. Charles Darwin is not the only person in his lifetime to develop the theory of Natural Selection! Although in the 1840s he had indeed been working on this idea in London, he was quite reluctant to publish his findings. However, his buddy Charles Lyell urged him, otherwise "someone else might soon". Lo and behold, along comes Alfred Wallace who sends Darwin a manuscript of his own similar theory of natural selection! Darwin was not going to have years of hard work to go to waste, so he immediately piblished The Origin of Species and Wallace ended up agreeing that Darwin had a better developed theory.
3. Mitochondria and chloroplasts are the only cell organelles with their own DNA and ribosomes.
4. Plants go through cellular respiration in addition to photosynthesis.
5. Three steps in cellular respiration: Glycolysis, Citic Acid Cycle, and Electron Transport Chain. Two steps in photosynthesis: Light Reactions and Calvin Cycle.
6. History of animals can be 1,000,000,000+ years old! 99% of all animal species could ne extinct.
7. The above can be divided into eras: Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic.
That's all I'm saying for now, if you're not bored already! I just happen to be studying for a test and felt like writing about what I know. Next post will most likely be travel related (London, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv...perhaps?) Wait and see!
Stay classy everyone and March Madness is here!