The enzyme orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase is an attractive choice for the central theme of an integrated, research-based biochemistry laboratory course. A series of laboratory exercises common to most instructional laboratories, including enzyme assays, protein purification, enzymatic characterization, elementary kinetics, and…

Computers are routinely used to control experiments in modern science laboratories. This should be reflected in laboratories in an educational setting. There is a mismatch between the power that can be delivered by a computer interfacing card or a TTL logic circuit and that required by many practical pieces of laboratory equipment. One common way…

In this article, we detail how to produce two inexpensive micromanipulators that offer high precision (approximately 25 micrometers) along a single axis of movement. The more expensive of the designs provides improved versatility along multiple axes. Both manipulators offer substantial savings over commercially available micromanipulators with…

We present a simple laboratory activity for introductory-level physics students which involves rolling balls down pipes and analysing their subsequent flight trajectories. Using balls of equal size but different mass allows students to confront their misconceptions of a mass dependence of the exit speed of the balls from the pipes. The concepts of…

A new laboratory built for science students in Rhode Island is described. (CK)

Basic researchers, but not most applied researchers, have assumed that the behavior-decelerating effects of noncontingent reinforcement result at least partly from adventitious reinforcement of competing behaviors. The literature contains only sketchy evidence of these effects because few noncontingent reinforcement studies measure alternative…

A thin layer chromatography experiment of medical importance is described. The experiment involves extraction of lipids from simulated amniotic fluid samples followed by separation, detection, and scanning of the lecithin and sphingomyelin bands on TLC plates. The lecithin-to-sphingomyelin ratio is calculated. The clinical significance of this…