I declare that this essay is work done as part of the Part III Examination. I have read and understood the Statement of Plagiarism for Part III and Graduate Courses issued by the Faculty of Mathematics, and have abided by it. This essay is the result of my own work and, except where explicitly stated otherwise, only includes material undertaken since the publication of the list of essay titles,...

This essay is intended as a letter to both myself and others, to hold up in the sharpest possible terms an ideal of research I believe is worth working toward. I’ve deliberately limited the essay to ten pages, hoping that the resulting omissions are compensated by the forced brevity. This is a rather personal essay; it’s not the sort of thing I’d usually make publicly available. I’ve made the e...

Vernalization is the process by which prolonged exposure to cold temperatures promotes flowering. Over the past century, this process has been studied extensively at the physiological level. Recent studies have provided some insight into the molecular basis of vernalization. The rich history of vernalization research has been discussed in detail in many reviews (Chouard, 1960; Lang, 1965; Berni...

! Optical illusions are images that are visually perceived differently than how they actually appear in reality. These images can be very entertaining, but also very deceiving. Optical illusions are caused by either an error with oneʼs visual sense or an error of intellect. This " error of intellect " occurs when the visual senses correctly interprets an image, but the mindʼs imagination, false...

December 9, 2015 It is often assumed that people are moral absolutists. Although Paul Boghossian supports this claim by seemingly defeating every reasonable type of relativism, Sarkissian et al. provide reason to think that people are generally moral relativists. I will argue that people really do believe in moral relativism, but that we think that all humans should agree to one universal moral...

Appendicitis is a common disorder which requires careful diagnosis to avoid complications. Ultrasound is being increasingly used for diagnosis because of its ease and simplicity. In this series, a range of abnormal findings are presented, as well as useful teaching points on technique and pitfalls.

In February 2010, former Director of the National Security Agency Mike McConnell wrote, “We need to develop an early-warning system to monitor cyberspace, identify intrusions and locate the source of attacks with a trail of evidence that can support diplomatic, military and legal options — and we must be able to do this in milliseconds. More specifically, we need to reengineer the Internet to m...

—In The Descent of Man (1871), Darwin observed “curious parallels” between the processes of biological and linguistic evolution. These parallels mean that evolutionary biologists and historical linguists seek answers to similar questions and face similar problems. As a result, the theory and methodology of the two disciplines have evolved in remarkably similar ways. In addition to Darwin’s curi...

The term rhombencephalitis refers to inflammatory diseases affecting the hindbrain (brainstem and cerebellum). Rhombencephalitis has a wide variety of etiologies, including infections, autoimmune diseases, and paraneoplastic syndromes. Infection with bacteria of the genus Listeria is the most common cause of rhombencephalitis. Primary rhombencephalitis caused by infection with Listeria spp. occ...