chapter six: Of Flies and Men

sorry for the late post this is the only time this whole week I've gotten reception :/

Again in this chapter Shubin really made me realize how humble our beginnings are and how similar our genetic embryo is to many different organisms around the world. For one, the idea that a jelly fish shares the same genes that we have that align our body and create our symmetry is practically i,possible to imagine. A creature with such a simple genetic make-up and body plan shares its origins with a complex bipedal body plan like ours; to encompass this idea is just purely amazing. I really liked how Shubin also compared humans' body plans that depend on genes such as the Organizer or the Noggin with the development of a fly. Flies have the same genes that turn on and off to initiate the development of the axis of the body ans the head and anus as humans do. If you remove a part of the tissue that contains the Noggin or the Organizer and insert it in a developing embryo, you end up with and embryo that had two axis and even two heads. This breakthrough is incredible, because just these two small genes that seem to have simple jobs are crucially in the development of the body plan that includes the axis of symmetry, the head and the anus. The breakthrough itself however, is not that these genes are so incredibly important to the development of the body, but that humans share these genes with an organism such as a fly. Honestly, I really, really enjoy reading this book because it makes me realize that we had simple and humble beginnings, and that we may have more complicated body structures but the complicated plans originated from simple ones. I love learning about evolution and how we as humans can be connected with virtually every living thing one way or another; whether it be a certain DNA sequence or a gene found that helps develop body structure that we all have something in common. I love this book and learning from Shubin as he takes us through the journey of discovering our origins.