Hw #1: 

1: When Matt is chased by a dog and his pulse and breath quicken, the cardiovascular and
respiratory systems are working together. The respiratory system, upon noticing the stimulus of
Matt's accelerated movement, speeds up the intake of oxygen to help the cardiovascular system
circulate blood more quickly throughout the body. 

2: The digestion and absorption systems alongside the sympathetic nervous system are what
helps the body cool down after drinking a cold iced coffee. The water in the coffee carries out
the process of osmoregulation, balancing the amount of salt and water in the body, helping
hydrate it (even though coffee is not the ideal substance to hydrate with.) Hot temperatures allow
for vasodilation, which leads the body to produce sweat to cool itself, and the body will need to
replenish the fluid lost. The digestive system will process the nutrients and the water in the
coffee and the sympathetic nervous system will process the cool temperature. 

Hw #2- Digestion 

1: Accessory organs are not part of the digestive tract but they aid in the dissolution of edible
materials and storage of other materials necessary for digestion. One organ is the pancreas; it
secretes a bicarbonate neutralizing acid necessary to break food down, and also creates a variety
of enzymes for the digestion of protein and carbohydrates. Another organ is the liver, which
produces bile, a digestive enzyme that breaks down fats. 

2: The cecum assists in the formation of feces. It absorbs fluids and salts that remain after
digestion and mixes them with mucus. In herbivores, like the Koala, the cecum is much larger
because it adapted to digest plant material, and contains bacteria specifically to process plant
matter. The koala specifically has such a large cecum likely because its primary food source,
eucalyptus, is poisonous to it, and it has adapted to extract some kind of nutrient out of the plant
with a cecum that can absorb the toxins. A coyote eats meat, which is not poisonous to it and
does not need to adapt to absorb difficult-to-absorb nutrients. 

https://www.britannica.com/science/cecum

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/07/scientists-sequenced-the-koala-genome-
to-save-them/#:~:text=Koalas%20survive%20on%20stringy%20eucalyptus,each%20day
%20without%20getting%20sick.

Hw #3: 

1: b: This is false. The bronchi branch into bronchioles.

2: a: This is false. The pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood. 

3: Oxygen enters the body through the nose or mouth and passes through the pharynx and larynx
to be filtered, to the trachea, where inhaled air is funneled to the respective lungs. The bronchi is
where oxygen enters the lungs and branch off into bronchioles, which alveoli connect to. Blood
passes through alveoli in contact with capillaries and oxygen diffuses from them into the
bloodstream, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide and diffusing. To exhale, the air flows
through the trachea, then the larynx, back through the nose or mouth to be exhaled. 

To process a carbohydrate, a person ingests food and the mouth produces saliva through the
salivary gland, producing an enzyme called amylase, breaking down the sugar in the carbs. It
enters the stomach and gastric juices are secreted to break it down further, then enters the small
intestine, in the duodenum, causing the pancreas to produce pancreatic amylase breaking down a
carbohydrate into dextrose and maltrose. Further into the small intestine the sugars are broken
down into single sugars, now able to be absorbed by the small intestine. Once absorbed, the liver
processes and stores it as glycogen. Leftover waste goes to the colon and is broken down by
bacteria, stored at the rectum, and expelled by the anus. 

4: The right ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood received from the head region to the
pulmonary artery, which travels through the lungs. The lungs oxygenate blood, which travels
through the pulmonary vein to the left atrium of the heart, then the left ventricle, through to the
aorta. It then travales down from the arteries and filters down to the capillaries where oxygen is
diffused to areas of the body that require it. The now deoxygenated blood moves through the
veins, the inferior vena cava, to the superior vena cava, to the right atrium.