Answer these questions in 1?2 paragraphs each. Do your own work and cite your sources. Save your work. Then upload your file through the “Writing Assignment 1” link under Module 2 on Canvas.

1) Suppose you go to the beach to swim on a very hot sunny day.

Ø Describe at least 3 ways that your integumentary system helps protect you and maintain homeostasis while at the beach.

2) An ad for a new beauty treatment claims that it, “repairs the tiny cracks in your cell membranes”.

Ø Is this statement credible? Why or why not? [Think about the structure of membranes.]

Ø What would happen if your cell membranes somehow did have cracks in them?

3) How is suffocation like cyanide? Poisons harm the body through many different mechanisms. Many inhibit important enzymes, while others paralyze nerve and muscle functions, and others simply burn the linings of the stomach or lungs. Cyanide acts on a cellular process we considered in Module 2.

Ø What specifically does cyanide do to which process that makes it harmful?

4) A common scenario in old science fiction movies involves insects, spiders, lizards, etc., exposed to radiation, who then grow to gigantic size, usually within only a few days or even minutes. We’ll consider Hollywood’s portrayals of “mutants” more in a later module. For now, answer this:

Ø Would it ever be possible for a tiny organism like a spider to grow to the size of a house in less than a minute? Why or why not? What’s the most obvious “missing ingredient” in this scenario?