Scipedia: Emma Davidoff's personal collection

What are the growth benefits of watering cherry tomatoes with acidic teas?

Emma Davidoff — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 22:32:06 +0100

Cherry tomatoes have a short growth cycle consisting of three phases: growth, flowering, and fruiting. In this study, cherry tomatoes were watered using water and three different teas with varying acidities—chamomile tea, green tea, and black tea. Previous studies typically focused on tomato growth in controlled environments with consistent pH levels. They often aimed to maintain the appropriate pH in soil for plants that thrive in acidic or basic soils, rather than neutral ones. However, this experiment aimed to explore the use of tea to alter soil pH for more effective tomato growth. While there exist numerous studies on acidic teas, this research consolidated their effects into a single study. The experiment involved 40 pots organized into groups of 10, each receiving one of the three teas or water. Soil was filled in these pots, and 7 germinated seeds were planted in each pot, followed by daily watering with 20 mL of the designated liquid. Throughout the study, soil pH levels remained stable across the different groups tested, suggesting that the primary factor influencing variations in leaf yield and plant height was gallic acid. However, the findings regarding plant height and leaf production were statistically not significant. Future work will involve analyzing different teas with diverse properties to expand understanding in this area.

Do Stress Levels Affect Response Reactions to Background music?

Emma Davidoff — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 06:26:04 +0200

Music is different sounds put together to create harmonies. Stress is a reaction to an interference that disturbs the functioning of an organism. Although many previous experiments tested the effect of music on stress levels and reactions, the correlations among three factors (perception, processing, and reaction) has not been investigated. The objective of this experiment is to test the effect of stress levels on correlations of three factors within physical response reaction with and without background music. It is hypothesized that participants with high-stress levels would have the fastest response reaction regardless of the type of music they listen to. Each participant was randomly put in one group, each group having different testing sequences. The participants then took a stress test, listened to cheerful, suspenseful, and no music for thirty seconds each, and took a “push the button activity” to test their reaction speed. Participants were divided into different groups according to their stress levels and reaction time under different music conditions was compared. Listening to music worsened participants' reactions, however it had the least influence on low stress participants. The data showed that there is no significant difference in reaction times possibly due to the small sample size. It rejects the hypothesis that high stress levels will have a faster response reaction time regardless of the music they listen to. Participants with high stress levels have a faster reaction time and so do low stress levels. Future work includes specific age requirements and extended time period for data collection.

The Effect of Different Food Sources on Slime Mold Growth and Memory

Emma Davidoff — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 07:14:03 +0200

Physarum polycephalum is a species of slime mold that spends most of its life cycle as a plasmodium, a unicellular multinucleated amoeboid. This species of slime mold is well known for its spatial memory. Oats, quinoa, and barley have a lot of protein and nutrients; therefore, they were used to feed the slime mold. Other studies tested the memory or growth of slime mold. This experiment compared both slime mold growth and memory using oats, quinoa, and barley. It was hypothesized that barley would make the slime mold grow the quickest and largest due to its high protein concentration. Into 3 Petri dishes a culture of slime mold, and each food source was placed. The slime mold was then placed in a shoebox, with graph paper taped to the bottom, to make sure there was minimal lighting. After sections were cut out and placed into the remaining petri dishes with the same food sources it grew in and then placed into a Lego maze with the food sources to track the time of its memory. Barley and oats tied for overall growth after 48-hours, but barley-fed plasmodium grew much faster. It was hypothesized that the maze portion of the experiment, barley fed slime mold, would also complete the maze faster. The hypothesis was not supported. Oat grown slime mold completed the maze the fastest. The slime mold was placed into different mazes and allowed to grow for 48 hours. After 48 hours the hypothesis was concluded to be unsupported.