Question

For question 1 in the "Types of Organisms, Cell Composition", I am asked whether or not I can identify cells from each tube given a light microscope. They list these cells:
Yeast, human, insect.

I know the answers because I looked at the cheat sheet, but where am I supposed to get the answer? I listened to the lectures and there was no information on differentiating between human and insect cells.

Here is the page for that section: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-01sc-fundamentals-of-biology-fall-2011/biochemistry/types-of-organisms-cell-composition/

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Well, I think they just expect you to be smart and clever and come up with something close to the explanation given in the Solutions PDF:

"With a light microscope you could easily distinguish the prokaryotic bacteria from the other cell types. The prokaryotic bacteria would not have a nucleus, the other cell types would. The yeast cell wall would distinguish yeast cells from human and insect cells. Distinguishing human and insect cells with a simple microscope may not be possible, as the two are very similar."

I find 701SC however to be too "light and fluffy" for my taste. I went through it and did not come away with anything like the feelings of excitement and wonder that I got from the original 2004 7.012 recorded lectures.

The SC course does the learner a disservice in my opinion by trying to distill things down too much, and as a result you don't really learn more, or (more importantly) anything more interesting, than you probably would in 1980 high school Biology say.

I really recommend taking the time to watch the full 7.012 videos from 2004, and I think you'll find that a much more rewarding experience than 701SC, even though the information is older (though 701SC still draws material from there too).

Unless you're really excited by Chemistry, I would skip lectures 2-5 (Biochemistry 1-4) and so Start with Lecture 1 then continue with lecture 6 Genetics 1 with Eric Lander, because honestly the chemistry is just deathly boring. You can go back and fill in some time, but you should have little difficulty understanding the rest of the course without it.

Professor Lander's lectures are pretty much as good as it gets in education I think.

Z.

Answer 2

Thank you! I'm going to totally take that into consideration. Anything to get a stronger foundation in Biology. I want to ace the class when I take it for credit. :)