This chapter fascinated me yet again but confused me a little bit in the first few pages. When Shubin talked about the facial and trigeminal nerves, I was left asking why those nerves had such a confusing layout too. Then Shubin clarifies with his explanation of the arches. There are 4 arches, when we are embryos, which develop bones, nerves, muscles and arteries to make parts of our head. The reason why the trigeminal nerve goes to both the jaws and the ear is that all the structures it supplies originally developed in the first arch. He also makes another fish comparison, only this time to sharks. All of our nerves are present in sharks and they have similar structures as well. Shubin also proves that we are similar to worms - ancient worms to be exact. They are the earliest creatures with notochords and nerve cords. This chapter taught me a lot about the origin of our heads and how we develop inside the womb.
-Bryan Munar
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Haha yes Bryan! Way to connect this to math; it helped me understand (I don't even know how...) the archs better. I guess it's cause I feel more comfortable when I see math than when I see 300 words on a page.
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