Both vasopressin and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system effect a rise in blood pressure in response to specific signals. In other words, at least one of the major effects of these hormones is the same. What might be the adaptive advantage of having two rather than one system involved in maintaining high […]

1. Imagine a population of 10,000 humans living on an isolated island. Every generation, an average of one individual is born with cystic fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease caused by a recessive allele (ie., individuals with the condition are cc, Cc individuals are unaffected, but carry the allele) 1. What […]

You are interested in a population of pangolins (scaly anteaters) and find that 49% of the individuals have the homozygous recessive genotype (pp) for a gene of interest. You also find that there are only two phenotypes for this trait, suggesting that the allele “P” is completely dominant over the […]

At a local hospital, a decision was made recently to downsize the nursing staff. The local television station sent a reporter and camera crew to interview the administrator regarding the impact of this action on patient care. After 20 minutes filming the interview, the reporter left. That evening a 15-second […]