The purpose of this essay is to study the public debate on the subject of creationism, the belief that there is a creator of all life on earth. The study is focused on creationism in different forms in schools and the more general discussion of creationism as an alternative to the theory of evolution. The overall question is what should be taught as the origin of life: Evolution or creationism in various shapes and forms? The essay consists of an overview of previous research in both the USA and Sweden, and an analysis of argumentation on the issue in newspapers. A comparison is made between the USA and Sweden.The analysis of newspapers shows that there are some arguments for different forms of creationism but there are considerably more arguments against creationism.

Syftet med detta utvecklingsarbete var att skapa ett intresse, en motivation och nyfiken för biologin och matspjälkningen hos elever i årkurs 2-3 där eleverna på självständigt, roligt, varierande och lustfullt sätt kan skapa sig och utveckla kunskaper om matspjälkningen. Materialet består av en elevbok om matspjälkning i form av en faktasaga, bilder, frågor och praktiska övningar. Materialet innehåller dessutom en lärarhandledning med instruktioner till läroboken, mål från läroplanen samt svar till frågorna. Framtagningen av detta material har gjorts med hjälp av intervjuer och forskning i området. Materialet har fått har testats i en årkurs 2 och en intervju med eleverna.

This review article presents the splicing process during messenger RNA maturation and how it is regulated by different Cis-regulatory RNA-sequence elements and splicing factors. A more detailed description of the process alternative splicing and its importance to the function of genes from the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana is also given. A single eukaryotic gene can by the process alternative splicing (AS) give rise to a number of functionally mature mRNA-molecules, which in turn encodes for structurally and/or functionally different proteins. During the course of evolution, the process alternative splicing has thus shown to be effective in increasing transcriptome and proteome diversity of most eukaryotic organisms. This suggests therefore that the dominant theory in molecular Biology, a gene encodes for a protein, needs to be corrected.

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate and develop a useful theory of human behavior that recognizes the importance of our emotions. The new framework, called the theory of emotional choice, is developed by a holistic method in which results from the fields of psychology, sociology and (neuro-) Biology are used to mutually support the conclusions. The theory is distilled into six preliminary points, which are based on the finding that we are not thinking as logical, rational and longsighted as is often assumed. Instead the regular human thinking is suggested to be shortsighted, intuitive and ruled by our emotions and our needs for generality, causality and normality.To demonstrate the usefulness of the new framework, it is used in an analysis of financial bubbles. Additionally, the fields of negotiation, election and ethics are suggested as potentially interesting to analyze with the new theory..

This thesis describes the genus Hemerocallis, the trading with daylily from hybridizer to seller with emphasis on the Swedish market. The first part describes the daylilies Biology its botany, breeding, production, pests and diseases. Also the tobacco ringspot nepovirus recently confirmed in Sweden is described. Since the breeding of daylily is mainly done in Florida topics like hardiness and influence of the climate are included. The first part is mainly based on literature studies, but also interviews with growers and breeders from Sweden, USA, Holland and Germany.

AbstractThis is a study of present day dogs with the purpose to establish a method to investigate archaeological dogs and determine their use in the past. The study has focused on measurements of five bone elements, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna and femur. A principal component analysis has been applied in order to decide which measurements to be further used in the analysis. Different proportions have been calculated on these measurements.A test to try the method has also been done on bones of a wolf and a dog without known background. The results from the different elements are positive, and they narrow the field down to two dog types of which one is more likely to be true than the other.The final results show that, although over lapses between the four different dog groups; hunting dogs, guard/work dogs, sled dogs and shepherd's dogs exists, it is possible to distinguish different dog usage from the proportions of the bones..

Mitt syfte med examensarbetet är att undersöka om en samarbetspartner med speciella ämneskunskaper ger bättre förutsättningar för förskolan att kunna erbjuda förskolebarnen olika ämneskunskaper, än förskolor med förskolepedagoger. Jag valde att titta på ämnet biologi genom att göra observationer i tre olika förskolor samt intervjua två pedagoger på varje förskola. Resultatet är att förskolorna skiljer sig åt i vad de erbjuder barnen inom ämnet biologi, men om det beror på om de har samarbetspartners eller inte gå inte att fastställa av enbart den här undersökningen. Flera faktorer som förskolans miljö, vilka som jobbar på förskolan samt barnens intresse påverkar också. Men undersökningen visar att verksamheten påverkas av att ha samarbetspartners.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out how young girls reason about norms and attitudes towards female sexuality. Through a qualitative research approach ten girls in grade 9 has discussed in two focus-groups on what is typically female, the ideal images of the ultimate woman as well as what is considered to be characteristic of female sexuality. The results were analyzed using Tina Mattson's theory of intersectionality, Beverly Skeggs theory of respectability and Göran Burenhults thoughts about Biology and sexuality. Some of the main findings are that the girls in the study associate femininity primarily with external attributes and beauty and the ideal image of the woman is beautiful, yet independent. Further they describe different conditions for boys and girls to explore their own sexuality, and also that for girls the risk of being branded a "whore" is ever present.

Den här uppsatsen syftar till att problematisera framställningar av maktordningarna;kön, sexualitet och ?ras? i NRK:s populärvetenskapliga dokumentärserie;?Hjernevask? från 2010, samt hur dessa kan förstås ur ett maktperspektiv med fokuspå poststrukturalistiska och postkoloniala teorier. Uppsatsen behandlar även vilkahegemoniska positioner som går att finna i serien. Analysen bygger på endiskursanalys av materialet som utgörs av alla sju avsnitten i programserien.Resultatet visar att programseriens betoning av de biologiska förklaringsmodellernakring kön, sexualitet och ?ras? skapar en diskurs som riskerar att upprätthålla enheteronormativ rasism som får figurera i norsk public service, samt reproducerarhegemoniska positioner som verkar uteslutande och normerande.

Syftet med studien är att synliggöra hur barn tänker om liv och död och deras uppfattning om livets uppkomst. Genom att utgå från ett biologiskt- och ett filosofiskt perspektiv så är mitt syfte att synliggöra barns oliktänkande i ämnet. Min valda metod till studien är semistrukturerad intervju integrerat med bildskapande med barn mellan 5-7 år. I resultatet av min studie så synliggörs barns olika sätt att förstå och uttrycka livsnära fenomen på. Resultatet visade också på barns oliktänkande genom en naturalistisk-, evolutionär- eller en skapelsekopplad beskrivning av livets och människans uppkomst.

The urbanization of the world is increasing. How it affects bird populations have been well studied during the last decade, and comparisons between urban and non-urban habitats have been carried out. A common method for measuring habitat quality is to calculate the population density. This method is easy to use, but have been criticized during the last couple of years. In this study, data of population densities was compared with data on reproduction success.

In schools, misconceptions about genetics can arise due to several factors, and the consequences of these misunderstandings can be significant. Lack of education can play a central role in the spread of misinformation about genetics. When teachers lack sufficient knowledge or do not have access to up-to-date resources, they risk inadvertently conveying inaccuracies to students. Additionally, students own preconceived notions and misinterpretations can be reinforced through interaction with their peers, creating a vicious cycle of misinformation. In this study, various misconceptions within genetics education have been identified and analyzed, while different strategies to prevent these misconceptions have been examined. The study revealed that the two most common misconceptions are the confusion between "genes" and "DNA" and the simplified perception of genetic determinism.

The spatial population structure of the saprotrophic basidiomycete Tulostoma brumale was investigated at a site in south eastern Sweden. Sporocarps were mapped and collected, and somatic incompatibility tests between mycelial cultures cultivated from the sporocarps were used to identify genets. Calculations of the size and numbers of genets and their distribution were performed. The spatial distribution of the tested sporocarps and the identified genets are presented graphically in a grid. The total number of identified genets within the investigated area (1210 m2) was 27 based on 48 tested sporocarps.

This paper presents why and how teachers use newspaper articles in the classroom when they educate their pupils in chemistry, Biology and nature science. All the teachers have worked over 20 years and are, when interviewed, at a Swedish gymnasium in Dalarna. I also have, in a small study, interviewed some of their pupils to get their view about teachers using news paper articles during lessons.The teacher?s use of newspaper articles in the classroom can be divided in different ways. They can use the articles to illustrate up to date links to everyday life.

The aim of this study was to investigate preschool teacher?s perceptions about the curriculum goal concerning simple chemical processes. The result was based on narratives received by a qualitative study and semi-structured interviews of six preschool teachers. The results of the study showed that preschool teachers perceive that they actually are working in a relatively small scale with simple chemical processes and they do not really know what simple chemical processes are, and do not feel very familiar with the subject. Water, dough, mud, paint and baking were the most common activities that were used when working towards the curricular goal. However, it was never explained to the children that it was simple chemical processes they were working with during the activities, neither was it discussed among colleagues because of the uncertainty about the concept.