Frontiers nal advice

Michael Williams
December 2013
General
Know the format of the exam:
Physics/Brain & Behaviour: choose 1 question from 2. Each question
worth 10 points
Evolution/Earth Science: choose 2 questions from 3. Each question
worth 15 points
Habits: do all 4 questions. Each question worth 5 points.
Dont do all the questions! The exam is 3 hours long, so a good strategy
is to spend 510 minutes choosing what questions to attempt, 15 minutes
each on Physics and Brain & Behaviour, 45 minutes each on Evolution
and Earth Science, 30 minutes on the habits questions, and the remainder
checking your work.
Note the following guidance on the front two pages: As a guideline for
your answers, each question is marked with: NC (requires no calculation),
SC (requires simple calculations or interpreting a gure) or C (requires
calculations).
The most important habits/tutorials for Physics and Brain & Behaviour
are Statistics, Units and Sense of Scale (i.e. log plots). The most important
tutorial for Evolution and Earth Science is Probability. You need to review
all the tutorials, but focus your review on these.
From Statistics, you must be able to estimate means and standard devi-
ations from graphs, understand the dierence between standard deviation
and standard error (SE = SD/

N), be able to compare condence intervals

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to say whether two numbers are dierent in a statistically signicant way,
and understand the dierence between random and systematic errors.
From Units, make sure you can convert units! And check the units you
are given before you put numbers in calculations. The safest thing to do
is to convert everything to base units (i.e. metres, seconds, metres per
second, kilograms, etc.). If you do that, the answer you get out will also be
in these base units. If you nd a unit you dont recognize/remember (e.g.

A, ton), check the front two pages.

From Sense of Scale, make sure you understand how to read and write
a log scale, and when such a scale is useful. You should know the meaning
of the following metric system prexes: nano, micro, milli, centi, kilo, mega
(they are on the front page of the exam if you forget them).
For Probability, you need to be able to combine probabilities (see the
last question of Evolution 1 homework). You also need to know that, given
an event with probability P, the probability that the event. . .
1. . . . does not occur = 1 P
2. . . . occurs n times in a row = P
n
3. . . . occurs zero times in n attempts = (1 P)
n
(combination of rules
1 and 2)
4. . . . occurs at least once in n attempts = 1 (1 P)
n
(combination of
rules 1 and 3)
5. . . . occurs at least once in n attempts nP (provided nP is small;
the safest thing to do is perhaps to use the exact version of this
formula in the previous bullet point)
These are all on the front two pages, but make sure theyre fresh in your
memory. Questions 2B and 2C of the Earth Science 1 homework are perfect
to review them.
Here are Mikes Ocial Calculation Pro Tips
TM
: if you want full marks
then dont forget units! Explain what youre doing in words or algebra
before you write down numbers. Dont write 3 10
8
or .1, because you
will make mistakes when you copy these numbers to the next line or your
calculator. Write 3 10
8
and 0.1.
And here is Mikes Ocial Golden Rule
TM
: explicitly answer the ques-
tion posed. Writing things that are true is not sucient! Answer the
question! Check youve done this when reviewing your work. Divide your
answer into parts (i), (ii), etc. if the question is posed like that. If youre
sure you know and understand the answer, your goal should be to make it
easy for the person grading your solutions to be sure too!
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Brain & Behaviour
Week 1: brain anatomy and physiology. This week is just basic
denitions. It should be totally straightforward.
Phrenology and the proxy
ABCs of Brain Anatomy (magic words that make you sound clever
when you use them):
cortex
gyrus and sulcus
pre-frontal (motor) cortex and post-central (sensory) cortex
neuron (dendrite, axon, myeline sheath)
glial cells
100 billion neurons in the brain, 20 billion in the cortex, and
about 10 times more glial cells than neurons
What is an action potential?
How do you speed up information ow in a neuron?
Penelds experiment, brain location as code for function
The astonishing hypothesis (denition)
Evidence for the astonishing hypothesis (e.g. Penelds experiment,
phantom limbs, synesthesia)
Week 2: studying the brain. The most important thing is to know how
MRI and fMRI work. You can almost guarantee one of these will come up
on a Frontiers exam.
Anatomy:
How does a CAT scan work
How does an MRI scan work (and what is the proxy)
Physiology, i.e. fMRI
How does fMRI work
How does it dier from MRI
What are its limitations
Other ways of learning about brain function: animals and brain dam-
aged people
The binding problem (denition)
Week 3: the two hemispheres. This week is a long list of techniques
and experiments. You do not need to memorize all of them, but you should
review them at least once before the exam so they are fresh in your memory.
Four techniques to study split brain patients
Brain damaged subjects
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Behavioural experiments in healthy subjects
fMRI experiments
Split brain subjects
Problems with these techniques (see lecture, but here are examples):
Brain damage can aect both halves of the brain and the con-
nections between them
Behavioural experiments on healthy people usually nd weak
eects and there is a bias against publishing null results
Split brain subjects are a small sample of very unusual people
Examples of dierences between the hemispheres and the evidence for
these
Facial recognition (prosopagnosia, reected faces and healthy
subjects, fMRI)
Language (Brocas brain, fMRI, split brain experiments)
Music (example experiment on healthy people listening to music,
brain damaged musicians)
Global vs. Local (example experiment with letters H and S)
Why do people have split brains?
The left brain interpreter
The evidence for dierences between the hemispheres compared to
the popular idea
Physics
Week 1: Special Relativity. If you know the content, there are only
four possible calculations (time dilation, length contraction, mass increase,
energy to mass). The rst three calculations could be forward (i.e. what
is the new time/length/mass given a speed; this is how they worked in the
homework) or they could be backwards (i.e. one observer says t
1
/l
1
/m
1
,
the other says t
2
/l
2
/m
2
, so how fast are they moving relative to each other?)
In what circumstances does SR apply?
What is special about the speed of light?
What does this mean for time. . .
. . . simultaneity (treaty signing on train)
. . . duration (light clocks in the lab)
Moving clocks run slow by factor
Moving objects appear shortened by factor
4
Moving objects have more mass by factor
= 1/

1 v
2
/c
2
. . . or, rearranged to get v for a given , v = c

1 1/
2
Mass and energy are interchangeable: E = mc
2
Week 2: General Relativity. Know the content. The only calcula-
tion you can realistically be asked to do is to work with the Schwarzschild
Radius.
Two problems with Newtonian gravity (instant, no mechanism)
Einsteins solution:
Acceleration = gravity (the equivalence principle)
Acceleration curved space (tornado ride)
. . . so gravity = curved space
Curved space is the mechanism for gravity, and distortions in
curved space travel at speed c (i.e. both problems with Newto-
nian gravity solved)
Experimental conrmation of GR: deection of distant star by the
sun
Example 1 of GR: black holes
What is a BH
What happens to time near a BH
How big is a black hole of given mass: R = 2GM/c
2
How massive is a black hole of given radius: M = Rc
2
/2G
Example 2 of GR: big bang
Hubble observed galaxies move away from us: further away,
faster they move
This observation is inconsistent with an explosion into pre-existing
space, or with the idea that the universe is stationary
Only explanation: space itself is expanding
13.8 billion years ago space itself was once very small
Gravity is slowing down the expansion (and some very nearby
objects, e.g. nearby galaxies, stars, planets are not moving away
from us because of gravity)
Week 3: Quantum Mechanics. Know the content. The two kinds of
calculations you can be asked to do are to gure out the wavelength given
velocity and mass, and to apply the uncertainty principle.
The double slit experiment: classical waves vs. classical objects vs.
quantum objects
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Particles have associated with them a probability wave. We know we
cannot nd the particle where probability = 0, but otherwise we dont
know where it will be when we make the measurement.
When we observe them, the wave collapses and we make a particular
measurement
Until then, they behave like waves
Waves particles:
p = mv
E = hf
p = h/ or, rearranged, = h/mv
Uncertainty principle: xp h/4 or xv h/4m
Entanglement: two or more particles whose properties are correlated,
e.g. two electrons can be entangled such that if one is spin up, the
other must be spin down.
Einstein, Podolsky & Rosens objection: this implies spooky action
at a distance, which we dont like.
EPRs interpretation implies a prediction for Bells experiment: if two
experimenters measure the spin of two entangled particles about one
of three independently chosen random axes, they will nd the opposite
spin at least 5/9 of the time
That prediction turns out to be wrong, so EPR are wrong
Many Worlds is an alternative way of thinking about Quantum Me-
chanics
Evolution
Week 1: Genetic code. Be ready for probability questions.
Darwins testable hypothesis: life on earth shares a single ancestor
Life is chemical: protein (20 amino acids), lipids, carbohydrates and
DNA/RNA
DNA
Contains hereditable information (Avery et al. experiment)
Made of bases C A T G
%A = %T, %C = %G (Charga experiment)
Shape: double helix (Watson and Crick), antiparallel backbone,
redundant information
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Central dogma: transcription to RNA, translation of three-letter codons
to amino acids, protein assembly
Novelty
Mutations: point, insertion, inversion, duplication
Sperm and egg production
Recombination
Coding vs. Regulatory DNA
Week 2: Human evolution
Three regulatory sequences that have been selected for by human
evolution: HAR1 (cortical neurons), HAR2 (aka HANCS1, hand/limb
development), ASPM amino acid (brain size)
Human ideas inuencing selection, i.e. articial selection, e.g. rice
cultivation
Social behaviour in the genetic code: newborns, patience, empathy,
life after fertility
Nature vs. nurture: genes and the environment, e.g. MAOA
Earth science
Week 1: The K-T extinction. Be prepared to answer questions on the
probability of rare events like asteroid impacts.
What is a mass extinction
Major mass extinctions: Great Dying (250 Ma), K-T extinction (65
Ma), current mass extinction
Evidence for mass extinction at K-T boundary: abrupt change in
fossil record (15% of land vertebrates incl. all non-bird dinosaurs,
50% of plants, 30% of marine invertebrates, most marine vertebrates
all extinct)
Evidence that this was caused by asteroid impact:
Anomalously large concentration of iridium in K-T boundary
rock layer
Spherules (glass beads)
Shocked quartz
Foraminifera (microscopic fossils)
Big crater in Gulf of Mexico
Other possibilities
Supernova (no, no plutonium in K-T layer)
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Volcanoes (no, cannot make shocked quartz)
Eect of asteroid impact: immediate injury, forest re, acid rain, sun
blocked out, collapse of food chain, cold
Week 2: Birds and dinosaurs. Here are the key questions. Youre on
youre own for this one!
What is an ad hoc hypothesis? What is Darwins most famous ad hoc
hypothesis? Is it supported by the available evidence?
What are the similarities and dierences between birds and dinosaurs?
What is the signicance of the discovery of Archaeopteryx?
How do we reconstruct evolutionary relationships between species?
What is parsimony, and how does it let us frame hypotheses about
these relationships?
Which came rst, birds or feathers? Explain. What are the purposes
of feathers?
Week 3: Climate change
Climate and weather
Energy balance and forcings
Albedo
Anthropogenic greenhouse gases
Volcano greenhouse gases
Milankovitch cycles
Solar activity
Examples of positive and negative climate feedbacks
Observed climate changes
Temperature rising (the hockey stick graph)
Sea level rising
Land ice shrinking
Sea ice shrinking
Greenhouse gas concentration CO
2
, CH
4
, etc.
Evidence that CO
2
increase is due to human activity (
13
C/
12
C ratio)
Paleoclimate back 1 Ma: ice cores for atmospheric composition and
temperature (temperature from
18
O/
16
O ratio), tree rings
Paleoclimate back 200 Ma: fossilized leaf stomata as proxy for atmo-
spheric composition
Using historical climate data to test climate models
Predictions of climate models
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