Household vinegar advances the fight against the crown of thorns starfish threat on Great Barrier Reef
ABC North Qld
By Kathleen Calderwood and Isobel Roe

Crown of thorns starfish (COTS) is a pest that eats coral tissues, posing a huge threat to the reef. Australian Institute of Marine Science research showed coral cover on surveyed reefs had declined by about 50% over the past 30 years, with COTS responsible for almost half of that decline. James Cook University scientist Lisa Boström-Einarsson searched for an eradication method for COTS that was cheap, easily available and safe for everything other than the starfish themselves. Her method involved injecting the COTS with 20 milliliters of household vinegar. The trial saw a 100% kill rate within 48 hours of injection. "I tried alcohol [first] and that did not work very well, and then I heard some rumors that some people had used vinegar but had not had very good results," Ms. Boström-Einarsson said. "So I refined the methods a little bit and then it turned out to work well." Ms. Boström-Einarsson said the starfish were mostly water inside and could not tolerate the acidity of the vinegar. "The acid just melts their insides," she said. "It is quite dramatic the way they go and within 24 hours there is just slime left — it is not pretty."

Explain the scientific procedure followed in the article by describing the following:
State the problem
Identify a hypothesis from the article
Identify the procedures used in the experiment
Describe the results

she forgot to record a transaction

transcription is a process in which information is rewritten. it is something our cells must do, in a more specialized and narrowly defined way. in biology, transcription is the process of copying out the dna sequence of a gene in the similar alphabet of rna. it needs to happen in the nucleus because that's where the dna is. dna is always inside the nucleus unless the cell is dividing.

transcription is the first step in gene expression, which involves copying a gene's dna sequence to make an rna molecule. transcription is performed by rna polymerases. it has three stages: initiation, elongation, and termination. rna molecules must be processed after transcription in eukaryotes.

explanation:

long version:

the protein synthesis consists two processes which are, transcription and translation. transcription takes place in the nucleus. it uses dna as a template to make an rna molecule. rna then leaves the nucleus and goes to a ribosome in the cytoplasm, where translation occurs. transcription is the first part of the central dogma of molecular biology: dna → rna. it is the transfer of genetic instructions in dna to messenger rna (mrna). during transcription, a strand of mrna is made that is complementary to a strand of dna.  

these three stages are:

  initiation: in which   is the beginning of transcription.occuring when the enzyme rna polymerase binds to a region of a gene called the promoter. this signals the dna to unwind so the enzyme can ‘‘read’’ the bases in one of the dna strands. the enzyme is now ready to make a strand of mrna with a complementary sequence of bases.

    elongation: in which is the addition of nucleotides to the mrna strand. rna polymerase reads the unwound dna strand and builds the mrna molecule, using complementary base pairs. there is a brief time during this process when the newly formed rna is bound to the unwound dna. during this process, an adenine (a) in the dna binds to an uracil (u) in the rna.

    termination: in which is the ending of transcription, and occurs when rna polymerase crosses a stop (termination) sequence in the gene. the mrna strand is complete, and it detaches from dna.