Week 5- Broccoli and Cancer

Cancer, although it is hard to control, is like most illnesses. It is usually not just one quick fix. Preventing cancer is a balance of stress, your lifestyle, including what you eat, breath, do, including exercise, and what you think about all day. It is nice to know what veggies have more of these anti-cancer qualities and to have an emphasis on green veggies, as we talked about in class, but everyone's body is so different. Although we know the basics, who knows how different bodies work to metabolize different foods to fight disease and transform that food into the energy that person needs.

Week 5- Chicken or the Egg

I vote for the egg, as the article stated:) It does seem the chicken, mutating from other similar species over time, would have to be inside the egg before he popped out to command attention! But, like I said, I would like to know how he survived? Did he look much different from his mom and dad? WAS he accepted, or WAS he the ugly duckling?

Week 5- Diversification

It does seem like diversification could save a species. If there is only one variety of plant or animal, they could be wiped out with a fungus, bacteria, virus, and other disease they could not fight off. I guess I thought bananas would always be around and should not take them for granted!

Week 4- Humans and Chimps

This is debatable, although does not matter to me, except for the fact that scientists now believe we were interbreeding again and again before we finally split. A week or two ago, we talked about splitting much earlier than what this article suggests (evo devo), and just genetically mutated for millions of years. It makes sense that there was more interbreeding involved, but sometimes it is hard to believe origins of findings of any fossil found, as the theory of where we came from and when we split continues to change.

Week 4- Raise Dopamine Levels

I do feel that people may raise their levels of dopamine and that positive attitude is part of it. I hate that the science world contributes our medicine just to this placebo effect, because I feel it is beneficial (I don't have to prove that to you guys at least) whether people want to "believe" it or not. I know that good attitude isn't everything, but if a person is very sick, he/she will not get better being negative most of the time.

Week 4- Drug for Everything

Yes, I do think there is a drug for just about everything. Not enough for the really important ones like cancer and HIV, but I guess they're scanning the oceans to find those. People want a quick fix, including myself. I'm going to confess that a year ago (I hope no one really reads this) I was feeling pretty low...more gray hair..gained some weight..no boyfriend..call a whahhhhbulance...Anyway, every time I went online an add would pop up about this medication that all the celebrities were taking to make them look younger, called Rez-V. I know..it's embarrassing..don't read any further... So, I ordered the free trial, never took the meds, and my membership cause it was way to freaky wondering how this medicine they were selling that hadn't QUITE gotten approved yet (not that that matters these days), could make your muscles and skin tighter and so-on! Whew! I do like the idea of a male contraceptives, though, and feel that would put a little more of the responsibility on their shoulders:)

Week 3-Cybernetics, Autopoiesis, and Evolution

Autopoiesis in this view seems to encompass things that are able to isolate from the outside world, yet still recreate from parts of themselves, or not. Cells are a biggie, but I like the idea of societies and institutions within societies having a homeostatic nature. Even things we think are autopoietic(is that a word?), maybe are not...like the article mentioned, worms burrowing holes, humans putting pipes through Alaska, both are examples of coevolution by helping to create other life forms by what we have left behind or our interactions with nature and the world around us.

Week 3-Human Genetic Evolution

We came from Africa originally, polynesians from mainland Asia, American Indians from Asia, but not people who exist now, more from Mongolians. It is pretty amazing that DNA is maternally inherited and we descended from one single female 2oo,000 yrs ago. And ALL of this started from prokaryotic cells 3.5 billion yrs ago in the atmosphere to our Homo line 200,000 years ago. A little hard to fathom... Pasteur refuting the theory of spontaneous generation and proving microorganisms are everywhere, even in air, we are still continuing to learn.

Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, and Viruses

Sounds like there is still SO much to learn about bacteria. The one mentioned is in over 1700 different species? Bacteria is very smart and is able to become resistant over time. I thought we knew more about bacteria and Archaea, but with AIDS and CANCER research still needing medication, there is so much too be learned. I also don't think I would like to be a bacteria floating around at 30 miles an hour. I would get bored and I don't want to turn into a man!

99.4%

I knew our DNA was very close to chimps, but in my mind it was more a number like 50%. I would've never dreamed our DNA were THIS identical. Many behaviors are so similar; our sexual habits, the way we take care of our young, etc. They are able to communicate to each other...I'm sure we have much more to learn from our ancestors.

Why Darwinism Matters

There is so much in this article that i don't really know where to start. It seems people apply the theories of Darwinism all around to globe, to many things. What first struck me were the comments about the "Natural History of Rape". This author believed in evolutionary psychology, which states that natural selection not only determines the human body, but also human behavior. He then goes to claim that along with other survival strategies, rape was a strategy for humans to continue their seed. Wow, does this make rape ok? Do men not have a choice with flowers and wine any longer? Also, this brings in a morality issue. What does make someone moral? Even those who do not believe in a God could agree that killing babies and rape is evil. Still, this article mentions that morality is usually divided into two groups; one believing in divine revelation and the other believing it is something we construct ourselves. I believe it is definitely a balance of the two.

Ending with a quote by Sommers, I thought it related to the Creation Museum. In my experience, religion doesn't want people to question or research to gain knowledge of evolution and many other aspects of science and life. The disempowers people and makes them susceptible to be influenced more so by the religious leader he/she decides to follow. Sommers says that truth is a way to "empower students in the struggle against patriarchy, racism, and classism". I definitely feel stronger when I read up on something and have my own opinions, instead of memorizing my beliefs from a book my church handed to me.