Chapter 6: The Best-Laid (Body) Plans

Honestly, this chapter started off as neither boring nor very interesting. I only thought it kind of interesting how Shubin began comparing organisms' body structures to one another. Shubin's descriptions of the three layers which formed the same structures in every species helped me better understand what he has been trying to explain all through this novel. How the embryos of all different species go through the same states of development really explains how God has connected all of his creations. One interesting part of this was when Shubin began explaining what can happen if a blastocyst implants in the wrong place. This chapter began to become interesting when Shubin brought up the start of our bodies developing as embryos. This quote got me interested in this particular chapter: "Our entire body forms from only the top part of this ball, the part that is mushed into the wall" (101). I had to read this sentence twice to really get a grasp on what Shubin was saying. I thought to myself: "Wow! Really? I started off just a little oval Frisbee?. Later, Shubin brought of experimenting with embryos, and that was when I became really interested. Hilde Mangold ability to transplant a tiny piece of tissue from one part of the embryo and graft it onto the embryo of another species all with her fingers amazed me. The pictures of this really helped me to understand what happened to the transplanted embryos.

~Caroline Eskander