Chapter 5 - Not just fish, but worms too?!

Everything makes sense to me in this chapter. I totally understood the differences between trigeminal and facial branches and why they have very complex functions. Imagining the cables as Shubin described, "the hundred-year-old building and the lab" and the reactions of the contractors helped because I was able to imagine how a human's head might look like. Shubin is right about how one must understand the history before trying to figure anything out.

It's fascinating how a simple blueprint is made to follow as an embryo. The arches are extremely important as a guide for the most complicated and major components of the head. The arches also show a very obvious connection to sharks! The image on page 91 really helped me to understand what Shubin was saying. The connection is so obvious, it's almost ridiculous. I found the direct correlation between the four arches very interesting. As mentioned in chapter 3 about shark and human genes, the reference to the deep connection with sharks is becoming almost ubiquitous in this book. Very cool.

Now the part, which I found the most interesting, is the comparison between humans and worms. How can headless creatures be remotely related to us headed humans? Well, the notochord and gill arches. The quintessence of our heads go back to worms. That's crazy!