Have a question for Tim on Biology or How to become a scientist? Here's is your chance to ask!
Have A Question For Tim?
May 3, 2015 By Tim Mitchell
Comments
I have a question about the properties of life, because I've heard some seemingly contradictory information. I know that a strict definition of life is hard to establish due to the various properties living things have. However, I recently found that people would say a defining characteristic is that living things carry their genetic information in the form of DNA, while others deter this statement by the fact that life is carbon based. However, we are carbon based due to the elements ability to create these complex moleculs like DNA. So how would the fact that we are carbon based challenge the idea that living things genetic information is held in the from of DNA? I could be missing or misunderstanding some basic information, and forgive me if this question seems stupid, but I don't quite understand.
Hello Mr Tim. I just want to ask if chitosan has a potential to produce electricity?
What do you like doing most in your lab?
yeh I also like not beig in home rather than taking animals to care to lern
Hi Tim,
I think you have inspired many young readers on Youngzine to follow a career path similar to yours. Could you tell us how you came to be in the job you are in now? What education do you have? What jobs did you have leading up to your current job? Thanks in advance for your answer!
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for the question. As I mentioned in my first article, I've been into Biology since I was a child. After high school, I went to college where I majored in Biology. After graduating, I did 2 different seasonal biology jobs the next year. One was studying prairie ecology, and the other was spotted owl monitoring. Then I started graduate school where I worked on my PhD for 5 years. As a scientist working on a PhD, you take a few classes, but mostly do science experiments or studies, and do a fair bit of teaching too. That pretty much takes me up to date to my current job!
I have two questions, actually.
1) In the Lizard Lab video, you had to do a toe clip. Why do you need to do this instead of tagging them?
2) When you clipped the lizard's tail for a DNA sample, why did the detached tail keep on moving? (I think that it happens for many lizards, too)
1) These lizards are pretty small, so tagging doesn't work as well as it would for larger animals. Since they shed their skin regularly, any marks on their skin are only temporary. That's why we use toe clipping. And toe clipping is just taking a bit of toenail off, but it is permanent, so we can re-identify them later.
2) When a predator tries to grab a lizard and gets it's tail, the lizard can detach it's tail. The tail will keep wiggling so that the predator is drawn to the tail. Meanwhile, the lizard will sit perfectly still, hoping it's wiggling tail confuses the predator, and draws attention away from the lizard itself.
In total, how many species of animals have you studied?
I've primarily studied painted turtles and brown anole lizards, but I'd say, in total I've seriously researched about 6 different species.
I actually have two questions :)
1. When did you decide that you wanted to be an evolutionary biologist specifically?
Did you pursue biology in high school?
2. In the article Learning about Life around Us, you said each one of our ancestors had to have survived long enough to pass on its genes to the next generation. I have learned that some of our ancestors were even able to survive mass extinctions! This made me start thinking about us as a species right now and how well we would be able to adapt if a mass extinction happened tomorrow. Do you think that the human species could survive a mass extinction?
Thanks!
Great questions/
1)I really liked biology in high school. I just didn't know that the career path I have now even existed. It was probably a class that I took my senior year of college that really got me interested in evolution specifically, so that I wanted to pursue it in grad school. But I was definitely a biology nerd from the beginning!
2) That's right! Your ancestors were able to survive through all the mass extinctions we've had before. As for predicting whether we could withstand another mass extinction, I think we certainly could survive one, BUT that doesn't mean we certainly would! By the way, mass extinctions don't happen at one moment, but over many years (sometimes hundreds). Many think we are currently experiencing mass extinction due to all the species humans are driving extinct presently.
What did you plan to do before becoming a scientist?
I wanted to be a high school teacher. When I got to college, I thought maybe I'd like to teach college instead. To do that, I needed to get a PhD, which lead me to my current job a scientist. I still will probably teach at a college some day, but many college science professors actively do science as well as teach it. That's what I hope to do.
What is the smallest plant in the world?
I didn't know, but just looked it up. I think it's duckweed (the little green stuff that floats around on ponds in the summer), but I don't know for sure.
You said in the article that you researched how turtle mothers have an effect on their offspring, even though they abandon them at birth. What were your findings on the subject?
(I also love animals and studying them, especially aquatic animals, so I find this topic remarkably interesting.)
Great question. I studied two ways mother turtles are important to their young. First, the amount of yolk a mom puts in her egg determines how much food the baby has when it develops, and for about 6 months after hatching! More yolk equals bigger, healthier babies. Second, where the mom decides to lay her nest is very important. For example, by nesting in a sunny spot, she can produce a warmer nest which, in fact, can determine whether the egg will become a boy or a girl!
where did you travel? plz click reply then write
Hi Sammy,
I've traveled a lot. I actually just got home from catching lizards in Florida for the last week, and I'm flying to Idaho to study turtles tomorrow! It's a very busy time of year for me.
Tim
Tim, you spend so much time on the field. Do you miss being at home?
