Biolo1100 Chapter phelan3e-errata

Errata in Jay Phelan, What is Life? A Guide to Biology 3rd edition

Chapter 1
Figure 1-8: This "observation" about echinacea and the common cold is not an observation; it is already stated as a hypothesis.

Figure 1-10: The two groups of individuals should both have the thermometer: the only difference should be taking or not taking echinacea.

Section 1.1 asks "Do large doses of vitamin C reduce the likelihood of getting a cold?", while Section 1.13 answers with the effects of vitamin C on cancer.

Section 1.19 "Hierarchical organization" promises to discuss terms such as "tissues" and "populations", but they are never defined before being used in later chapters.
Chapter 2
Section 2.8-2.11: The discussion of macromolecules is very skimpy, no mention of polymers/monomers or dehydration/hydrolysis.

Section 2.2: The discussion of electron shells leaves out energy levels. This makes it impossible to talk about excitation of electrons during photosynthesis (Section 4.8).

Figure on p. 51: H⁺ and OH^- are ions, not molecules.

Section 2.9 discusses how to "carbo-load" as if this is science, without any warning about side effects.

Figure 2-25: Why use fructose as an example of simple sugar? Should use glucose.

Section 2.18 "Enzymes are very specific about which molecules and reactions they will catalyze."
The word "catalyze" has not been defined.
Chapter 3
The word "cytosol" is used without defining it.

Figure 3-6: Why use different units (1 µm vs. 500 nm) to compare eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells?
Use the same unit, and same scaling factor; most students don't know µm from nm.

Figure 3-10: Phospholipids do not have a glycerol (which has 3 carbons) head.

Figure 3-19: The discussion of osmosis is dumbed down to just "diffusion of water through a membrane".
Most textbooks retain the "semi-permeable membrane".

Figure 3-34: "The endomembrane system: the rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus."
It should also include the nuclear membrane, lysosomes, vesicles, endosomes and the cell membrane.

Figure 3-36 says smooth ER is involved in lipid and synthesis, but Section 3-18 says it also synthesizes carbohydrates.
Chapter 3
No mention of entropy in the discussion of energy, more dumbing down of content.
Chapter 4
Figure 4-34: More dumbing down: no mention of the enzyme ATP Synthase.

Section 4.15: Q: Over the counter NADH pills provide energy to sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome.
This question is stated as a fact, rather than a hypothesis, with no discussion in the text. The research I read is a single trial of 26 patients with mixed reviews and conflict of interests!

Section 4.16: This whole "THIS IS HOW WE DO IT" discusses NADH and jet lag. Why devote so much discussion on a tiny trial of 36 volunteers, 35-55 years old?
Chapter 5
No discussion of therapeutic cloning, stem cells?

Section 5.5: Challenge Question: "Name and describe in a single sentence the two main steps in the expression of a gene."
The word "expression" has not been defined in this chapter.

Figure 5-13: Where is the anticodon on the tRNA?

Figure 5-25: Where are the sticky ends?

Figure 5.33: The caterpillar that destroys corn crops is a moth (European corn borer), not a butterfly.

Figure 5.42: The egg donor female should have a black face, the mammary cell donor a white face! That's why Dolly the clone has a white face!
Also, this discussion of cloning does not make sense without first understanding mitosis and meiosis, which does not happen until the next chapter.

Figure 5.44: This gel does not show good matches among any of the DNA fragments.

Figure 5.46: does not explain how the DNA was cut into fragments (restriction enzymes).
Also, there is no explanation why DNA is negatively charged.
Also, this diagram says DNA is poured into an electrophoresis gel, but there is really no good explanation of electrophoresis.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.5: The mitosis phase should be labeled "M", because that's what shows up in Figure 6.6.

Figure 6.9: Primase is not shown in this diagram, but is discussed in the text.

Section 6.11: Female meiosis omits many important terms: oogenesis, primary and secondary oocyte.

Figure 6.28: The top illustration for alleles from two parents is ambiguous? Are those chromosomes or chromatids?
I revised them to show as chromosomes and consequences of meiosis.
Chapter 7
Section 7.9: what's the point of showing a "shirt phenotype" to illustrate codominance?
Why not show a chicken: "When white chickens are crossed with black chickens, all the offspring have both white and black feathers."
But such chickens are not the result of codominance, more likely white is inhibition of black color allele in chickens.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.6: The extinct fossil is called "Glyptodon", not "Glyptodont".
Chapter 9
Figure 9.8: The caption "This mother spider is actually being selfish - not altruistic" is wrong.
Of course she is being altruistic; the text is correct: "The cost to the mother is huge".
Also, the text describes the spider "giving birth"; spiders don't "give birth": spiderlings hatch from eggs.

Figure 9.21: The figure says this rodent is a Marmot, while the text says it's an Arctic Ground Squirrel.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.11: Antelope ground squirrels are not examples of allopatric speciation; the white-tailed (Ammospermophilus leucurus) is the only species found in the Grand Canyon (south rim). A better example is the pair Sciurus aberti and Sciurus aberti kaibabensis, though they may be subspecies.
Chapter 11
Figure 11.21: "pharyngeal slits" is shown as "gill pouches" in figure 8.38.

Figure 11.25: Where is the amnion in an amniotic egg?!? There is no discussion anywhere of the amnion! Why not also show the chorion, so students can understand CVS?

Figure 11.27: Whis diagram shows turtles as closer to crocodillians than to lizards, this is wrong. Turtles are anapsids, while the other reptiles are diapsids.

Figure 11.28: What's the point of showing this "difference" between reptiles and birds, when the point is birds are reptiles? Please do not perpetuate the myth that birds are not reptiles.
Chapter 15
This chapter lists 9 terrestrial and 5 aquatic biomes, but no discussion of any of them. There is also no discussion of the water cycle.

Figure 15.5: Who not show the tilt of the earth and discuss seasons?

Figure 15.8: this is a poor illustration of a rain shadow. The most famous Andean desert, the Atacama, lies to the west, not east, of the Andes.

Chapter 15
How can you discuss global warming without showing a graph of the rise in global temperatures and CO₂ levels in the last century?

Errata from the 7th edition George Johnson, "The Living World".
Errata from the 6th edition George Johnson, "The Living World".
Errata from the 4th edition George Johnson, "The Living World".
Errata from Discover Biology.

Compiled by Peter Chen.

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