WORKING MEMORY

The development of the first computers in the 1960s had an  important _________ on psychology. As computers became more advanced and began to “think” in more complex ways, psychologists began to make ___________ between the workings of computers and the human brain. Many of these comparisons have turned out to be wrong or inaccurate; the human brain is quite different from a computer. But the __________ between human memory and computer memory has _______ up to rigorous =             testing.

A computer has two forms of memory. While its hard drive stores all the information in the computer over long periods of time, its RAM, or Random Access Memory, __________ the files that the computer needs to use at the present time. _________ the computer stops using a file, it is “forgotten” by its RAM and ___________ to the hard drive. The human brain works in a _________ way. Psychologists call our “hard drive” ______________ memory, and our “RAM” working memory.

Working memory ________ a number of functions. This is (where / that) new information is stored before it is processed into long-term memory. Working memory also allows us to ____________ information from our long-term memory when we need to use it. ______________, a person’s address is stored in his or her long-term memory, but it is called up to working memory when that person fills out an envelope at the post office. Working memory also allows us to integrate old information with new information. If a person studied sociology several years ago, all that information will be in their long-term memory.(어색한 곳?) If that same person takes a new sociology class, some of that old information will be called up to working memory, so  _________ can (be made / make) between the new and the old information.

With so many important jobs to do, working memory _______ a vital role in our intelligence. ___________ a computer’s performance is partially limited by its RAM capacity (computers with too little RAM cannot run larger, more complex programs), ______ is our ability to  process and handle information partially determined by our working memory. A person who can store more pieces of information in working memory can work with more information at one time. That person can also make a greater number of connections between new and old information. Therefore, a higher capacity for working memory boosts=          human mental performance just as more RAM does for a computer.

04

OSMOREGULATION

Different from terrestrial mammals, marine mammals must constantly maintain and regulate the _______________ and __________ of their internal body fluid, as water and electrolytes constantly cross back and forth through their body walls. This active maintenance and regulation of internal water and electrolyte concentration is referred to as osmoregulation. To maintain a constant internal fluid ___________ with little deviation, the amount of water and electrolytes (entering / entered)  the animal must be equal to that going out. For instance, if a dolphin (takes / took) in a great amount of water and electrolytes, it must be able to excrete an equal amount through breathing, feces and urine, or milk during lactation. ___________________, when a seal is fasting, it needs to have the capability to endure the absence of food and water by having a unique mechanism to __________ water loss and produce water from its ____________.

Marine mammals take in water and electrolytes through the ingestion of food and water. ____________ to land mammals, the diet of marine mammals ____________ of a far greater amount of water, up to 80 percent of what they ingest. ____________ this, most marine mammals do not ingest seawater, although they have the ___________ to do so. The __________  water ___ electrolytes can differ according to the type of an organism (consuming / consumed); the electrolyte content of a vertebrate food source is usually one third that of the seawater, while an invertebrate is essentially the same as the surrounding seawater. As such, an organism’s diet has a significant __________ on the degree ____________ it must actively manage its electrolyte intake. In addition, animals can also produce water as a ____________ of metabolism, which is called metabolic water production. Likewise, the amount of metabolic water varies according to their diets.

There are several methods marine mammals use to control their output of water and electrolytes. The methods to get rid of the surplus=         water in their internal fluid are excretion and evaporation. Water is evaporated through the skin and lungs. No electrolytes are lost in the process of evaporation because marine mammals lack sweat glands, which would allow salt to pass through to the surface of the skin. However, by excreting water through urine or feces, both water and electrolytes can be removed from the body. (Because / Because of) salt, comprising a large portion of electrolytes, must be excreted by the kidney, marine mammals have developed a specialized kidney that can _________ the high volume of water and electrolytes that must (be processed / process). This specialized kidney regulates the internal fluid balance by controlling the concentration of the urine.

THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING ON OCEAN TEMPERATURES

Most researchers agree that the recent global warming trend is ______ to greenhouse gases humans have put into the atmosphere. Over the past few decades, there (is / has been) an intense scientific debate over ________ global warming would _______ the oscillations between El Niño and La Niña. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, as ________ to La Niña, which is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. For the past several millennia, the Pacific Ocean has ___________ between these two __________in an irregular, though basically balanced oscillation. Some theorize that if the oscillation stops, the Earth (would go / will go) through a continuous El Niño-like state which could warm the Earth very quickly.

________ the cool surface layer of the eastern Pacific Ocean acts as a water-cooled radiator and removes heat from the tropical atmosphere by carrying  it  hundreds of meters below the surface. The ocean currents act as the coolant that ___________ atmospheric heat, but in an El Niño year, both the shallow and deep waters are too hot to _________ the atmospheric heat, causing a warming and strange weather patterns. Although El Niño events are too short to have lasting effects nowadays, some climate scientists ___________ the tropical Pacific’s ability to cool the  atmosphere under growing global warming effects. However, recent studies into the ancient climate of the Eocene Epoch indicate that the tropical Pacific may actually be more resilient =           to global warming than the current climate theory claims.

Some of the researchers _____________ that the Eocene Epoch would be the best period to compare with if a continuous El Niño-like state ever existed.(어색한 곳?)  Based on this hypothesis, they stimulated the computer model of a “hothouses” climate in the Eocene Epoch to see the tropical Pacific’s role under a continuous El Niño-like state. __________ to most beliefs that the Pacific Ocean consists of two layers with shallows absorbing heat and depths carrying it away, it has been proven that the tropical eastern Pacific also has a third layer __________ between the two.  Because this third layer historically remained cool and acted as a barrier between the warmer shallow and depth water, Eocene tropics were not much different than they are today. This finding was further supported by other studies which used  ___________ records of ancient lakebeds in present-day Wyoming and Germany. These sediment records demonstrated that El Niño events occurred with identical ___________ in the Eocene Epoch’s climate computer model, indicating that there was no continuous El Niño state, even though the climate was significantly warmer.

03

CELLULOSE DIGESTION IN TERMITES

Cellulose, the world’s most abundant carbohydrate, is an endless string of 3,000 or more sugar molecules. Although it is a very common substance on the Earth, most organisms lack the ability to digest cellulose and have difficulty (ingest / ingesting) it as an energy source. Grazing mammals, such as cows and goats, are able to digest cellulose directly, but in a ________________ way. Termites, one of the smallest ___________ of insects, receive their nutrition from cellulose with help of certain microorganisms. Termites use two ___________ feeding strategies to assimilate cellulose indirectly depending on their degree of ________________.

Primitive termites digest cellulose by (means / mean) of tiny one-celled animals in their digestive tract. These one-celled microorganisms, called protozoa, do the actual work of breaking down the cellulose. Termites swallow grass, leaves, and branches that are delivered to the _____________ chamber, where protozoa__________ and do the work. These tiny workers then break the cellulose down into sugar and enable their ________ to take in the sugar as an energy source. Since termites and protozoa are two different organisms, the culture of cellulose digesters is passed along through a special process from one __________ to the next. Initially, newly hatched termites lack these microorganisms for their cellulose digestion. Therefore, adults __________ a special liquid, rich in digesters, for young termites to feed on, ___________ allowing young termites to obtain protozoa. When treated with antibiotics or an anti-protozoan solution, the protozoa in their digestive system will die and the termites will slowly _________ to death, unable to digest cellulose into ____________ sugar molecules.

More-advanced termite species practice a different type of feeding strategy. (Unlike / Unlikely) their primitive brethren, advanced termites break down cellulose outside their body. Without going through a time-consuming fermentation chamber process,  these species are more ________ and efficient in comparison. In order to digest cellulose in the air, advanced termites live in symbiosis with fungi, the only organism able to break down cellulose in the presence of oxygen. Termites gather grass, twigs and other woody materials chewing up and delivering them to their nest.(어색한 곳?) In the nest, the chewed-up wood is piled up in a small __________ chamber called a comb. The termites then place spores of a special ________ called Termitomyces on the comb, and as the spores grow on the comb, they _________ the cellulose from woody pulp into sugars and nitrogen for termites to intake. Needless to say, termites and their micro-digesters rely on each other for ____________.