Charles Essays - Charles Darwin, Coleopterists,

Charles Darwin Like many students, Charles Darwin was only interested in topics that was interesting to him and although his father was a doctor, Darwin was very uninterested in medicine and he also couldn't stand the sight of surgery. He did eventually get a degree in Theology from Cambridge University, Although Theology was a minor interest to him. What Darwin really liked to do was climb over hills, observe plants and animals, collecting new specimens, studying their structures, and categorizing his findings. In 1831, when Darwin was 22 years old, the British government sent her Majesty's ship The Beagle on a 5 year expedition that would take them along the coastline of South America and then onward around the world. During the trip the Beagle would carry along a naturalist to observe and collect Geological and Biological specimens. Thanks to a recomendation from one of Darwins old college professors, he was offered the position aboard the Beagle. The Beagle sailed to South America, making many stops along the coast. Here Darwin observed the plants and animals of the tropics and was stunned by the diversity of species compared with Europe. The most significant stop the Beagle made was the Galapagos Islands off the northwestern coast of South America. It was here that Darwin found huge populations of Tortoises; and he found out that diffrent islands were home to diffrent types of tortoises. He found that islands without tortoises, pricky pear cactus plants grew with their fruits spread all over the ground. And on Islands that had lots of tortoises, the prickly pears grew really thick, tall, bearing the fruit high above the tortoises reach. He wondered if the differences in the two plants were from being isolated from one another on seperate islands. In 1836, Darwin returned to England after his 5 year expedition. He became established as one of the best naturalists of his time. But Darwin sought to prove his idea of evolution with simple examples. Darwin maintained that seperate species evolve as a result of Natural Selection, or survival of the fittest. Darwin never said that human beings evolved from apes. He said that all life began with molecules acting on each other. So from the first single celled organism all life came. One single organism, by many diffrent molecules could make many diffrent species of animals. It was in this way that he stated Ape and Man are similar by each having similar life beginning. Darwin's theories caused people to begin to question where they actually came from. His response was the book on the origin of species. In his book he addressed the concerns of the people. He said " It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing in the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the highes sense, being growth with reproduction; Inheritance and Variability; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a strugle for life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of charector and extinction of less-improved forms. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one, and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beauthiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

the cost to fly today essays

the cost to fly today essays Airline pricing and demand has changed in many ways over the years. From when its infancy in 1926 passenger revenue started out at twelve cents per mile to now in 2004 it is set at fourteen and a half cents per passenger mile. It may seem that the pricing has not changed much; however, when you look at the statistics over the past eighty years, the prices have really fluctuated. Airline pricing hit its all time low in 1945 at four and a half cents per mile, and its record high is currently now in 2004 at fourteen and a half cents. There are many different factors that affect airline pricing. For example, passenger trends and habits change from year to year. The demand for travel also changes. Another price change can come from competitive ad offers. But after analyzing all of the factors, I believe that the main factor for price changes from year to year comes primarily from the airline operating costs. One may separate airline costs in to two main categories: direct operating costs and indirect operating costs. The first category to discuss is direct operating cost. Direct operating cost can be subdivided into three separate groups: flight operations, maintenance and overhaul costs, and depreciation and amortization. To begin with, flight operations include several items. First, the flight crew expenses involving salaries, traveling expenses, allowances, pensions, and insurance for the pilot make up a portion of flight operations. The wages of the flight crew also changes from year to year because of labor agreements and wage negotiations. The second item in flight operations and the most expensive direct operating cost is the use of fuel and oil to power the aircraft. The reason why fuel and oil are the most expensive is because the price of oil continues to fluctuate as well as the increasing demands of oil. The amount of fuel for any given aircraft can vary based on differe nt variables. These variables include the num...