Ch. 5 - Getting Ahead

In Chapter 5, Shubin talks about the relation between all creatures through the very basic structures in our head. Although our heads are very complex, he narrows it down to the most basic part in which there is a similarity with other creatures. He starts off with a brief introduction of our head and the structures of our skull and brain. Then he goes off with the complicated cranial nerves including the trigeminal and facial nerve. I thought their description and function were very interesting though it was kind of confusing at first. I knew that the human head was very complex and hard to understand but the feeling of actually learning its complexity was fascinating to me.

Further on into the chapter, Shubin described the four arches that was found to be almost the same in all creatures. Its discovery was only possible through the observation of embryos. After, I realized that embryos played a big role in the other chapters of the book as well as finding our inner fish. What was even more amazing was the relation that was made between us and creatures that did not even possess a head. Worm - like creatures. Even though evolution is fun and interesting, I sometimes question it when it shows there is a relation between humans and... those types of things.