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Matt Covill  - Instructor of Biology (S.E.M.Division)

iFALCON

Note: this entire site is under reconstruction as it transitions to a new server and is not up to date (2/15/12)

EMAIL: mcovill@cerritos.edu

SPRING 2012 TEACHING SCHEDULE:
   AP 12O Lecture: M,W
   AP 150 Lecture: M,M
   AP 120 Labs: M, Th
   AP 150 Labs: W, F
   Bio 100 will return in Fall '12. It will focus on the Eastern Sierra and Owens Valley

OFFICE HOURS--SPRING '12
    Mon: 1:00-2:00
    Wed: 1:00-2:00
    Friday:  12:00-1:00
    AND BY APPOINTMENT.  I'm generally off campus on Tuesday

 IN THE NEWS (many audio files):

• Depression: it just isn't about serotonin

• Facial Prosthetics

• Eastern Cougar Declared Extinct

• What chemicals are in your plastic?

• What Certified Organic food means....and will mean

• Gender, play, and epidemiology: should girls play dirty?

• Tale of the Tell-Tale Brain

• White Blood Cell Smackdown!!!

• Osteoporosis Drugs can cause broken bones? Say what? case study of relative v. absolute risk

• New access point for heart surgery

• Anyone can have a super-memory with practice

• Genetically Modified Seeds; genetic pollution in the Willamette Valley (text, 6min audio)

• Why you get sick, but someone else doesn't

• Fighting Malaria with Fungus

• Newborns addicted to painkillers?

• You move your eye 3 times a second

• Drug for some forms of Cystic Fibrosis looks promising: orphan drug--3000 patients worldwide.

• Shaken Baby Syndrome: assumptions and sacred cows off to slaughter?

• Concussions in HS Football: more on rising recognition of concussion injury

• Your Brain and Touch

• The lost art of the physical exam: our mindless love affair with technology?

• Concussion and football

• Oyster Glue.....could it be in your future....or your broken bone?

• Walruses Stuck high and dry

• Florida Panthers Back from the Edge of Extinction: a story of sex

• habit and the structure of the brain

• anesthesia; slow to catch on

• What your DNA can tell you about your health risks

• Ovarian Insufficiency: post-menopausal by 40?????

• Unnecessary Back Surgery Abound:  many back surgeries are unncessary.

• The neurobiology of psychopaths: are they just dopamine deficient?

• Capgras Syndrome: not recognizing the familiar

• The brain and morality: researchers experimentally manipulate moral judgment.

• High Blood Pressure: why its not detected or acted on (4min)

• Addicted to Junk Food?  Is your brain wired to reward you for eating bad? (

• How infants recognize voices

• The prostate test contraversy other prostate related links at bottom of page

• Your bacterial fingerprint (long version, 12 min)

• What Doctors Don't Know About the Drugs they Prescribe

• You are protected when other are vaccinated

• How mussels hold on

• Neurobiology of Weight re-gain:  why we gain weight back after loosing it (listen 4 min)

• Muscle Mass and Weight gain: how we can get "fat" without gaining weight (4 min)      More on "normal weight obesity".

• Diarrhea in Haiti: a timely example of how diarrhea kills--a lecture topic

• Identical Twins not really identical (despite same base sequences in DNA): epigenetic effects

• Coma mis-diagnosed for 23 years

• Are marathons bad for your heart? 

• Retinal repair & bionic eyes (retinal prostheses) New advances in vision medicine

• Evidence that mercury is NOT linked with autism; read original research here

• Are autism rates really on the rise? Read or listen (5min). Related post below.

• Are vaccines safe for kids?  listen and find out...... D.Y.K.: that in many cases you can request a version of a vaccine that does not contain thimerisol (the mercury containing preservative that freaks some folks out), but you will have to pay extra.

• Can sweat keep your blood from boiling--listen (~3min)

• Rocks in your ears?  Yep, and they can make you dizzy (read or listen, 4min)

• Thinning Brain Cortex, Heredity, and Depression; thickness matters listen how the thickness of your cortex relates to your risk of having depression

• How to amputate an imaginary limb

• You probably have a vitamin D deficiency (read or listen ~4min)

• Red meat and heart disease (read or listen ~3.5 min)

• Can early exposure to anesthetics cause learning disability (read or listen)

• The little man inside your brain

• Many childhood allergies are misdiagnosed

• Say goodbye to peanut allergies

• Why you should doodle during lecture

• Do prostate tests really help?

• Lamprey Love Potion

• Alzheimers and Mad Cow Disease; what's the connection?

• One flu shot for life? The virus that doesn't mutate.

• Iodine and prenatal health?  Do prenatal vitamins have enough iodine?

• Are you what your mother eats?  Can female diet influence gender (2min audio/text)

• How circuit boards might allow the paralyzed to walk: using electrodes to bypass spinal cord injuries (short magazine snip-it)

• Why your voice might change when ovulating: the subtle mating signals of humans

• Famous Amnesiac passes away: find out how the world's most famous amnesiac helped us learn how the brain works. (4 min audio)

• Why you shouldn't flush pills down the toilet/why you may be drinking your neighbor's drugs (audio & text)

• Two disorders, one gene: the battle between paternal and maternal DNA

• Milkshakes, neurotransmitters, DNA, and obesity: how anticipation and gratitude can be influenced by neurotransmitters.

• Worse then drunk driving: research on multitasking while driving

• Meditation reduces blood pressure (4 min audio or text)

• Insects, the food of the future! Why space travelers may eat bugs!

• The surprising sex lives of octopuses--includes sneaky males (audio 4min)

• Trash is a resource and raw material: the economic imperative to recycle and the resource wars (audio and text).

• The neurobiology of lying--habitual liars have different brain structure (audio & text)

• It's all in your head--the placebo effect and the price of pills

• Bacteria cause snow and precipitation--yep, bacteria are everywhere.

• Peru, Potatoes, and Climate change--how climate change relates to potatoes and genetic diversity (audio, text, and pictures)

• Blind people can hallucinate:  text and audio about the visual hallucinations of a blind man (and other compensation of the brain)

• Climate change effects animal migration: 20 min interview with Princeton ecologist David Wilcove (original aired on FreshAir)

• Global warming is NOT a crisis? There are multiple perspectives on global warming (MP3 file). To view summaries or stream the full 1.5 hr debate click here

• Water is a limited resource: the future and past of water use.  Interview with Robert Gleick (originally aired on freshair. mp3, 20 min).

• The bacteria in your mouth

• Vibrating could prevent fat formation (text and audio)

• Local CSULB professor and graduate do climate change related shark research.  Check out what local professor Dr. Chris Lowe and CSULB graduate Yannis Papastanatiou do with sharks in the south pacific (click "listen" for audio. video link below 1st picture)

• The brain and neurobiology of music:  interview with neurobiologist Oliver Sacks.  Interview originally aired on NPR's Fresh Air.  Hope to post MP3 file soon, this links you to streaming audio.  More on Music and memory with Oliver Sacks

• Cancer, babies with breasts, & cell phones penetrating your brain:  Start podcast at minute 20:30.  This is an interesting perspective, but don't feel like the sky is falling.

• Spit, yeast, & flies; what do they have in common? Gene duplication....read on.  Another great piece by Carl Zimmer

• Nematode worms, elephantitis, and genetics

• Biology of Addiction, Nora Volkow (prominent researcher) discussion how the brain responds to drugs (audio, originally aired on freshair)

• Interview with Francis Collins, prominent genomics researcher who see's no conflict between science and religion (audio, originally aired on "freshair")

• Interview with Richard Dawkins, outspoken evolutionary biologist who feels science and religion are mutually exclusive (audio, originally aired on "freshair")

• Pollutants cause sex-changes in frogs

• Why you shouldn't use antibiotic soap

• Are We Evolved to get Cancer? Article, more info

• Genetic Pollution: genetically altered rice found in US rice crop

• Preimplantation Genetic Testing (good stuff) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, more info

• Being too clean might contribute to allergies