chapter five

This chapter had a bunch of new terms that were difficult to understand, but Shubin kind of made these concepts easier to comprehend by putting them in simpler words like "plates, blocks, and rods" (82) and using other objects to exemplify the functions of the body in "Much like a cable that can carry television, Internet, and voice information..." (84). In another example such as the wiring in a building, Shubin does a good job in explaining that if a scientist wants to understand something, it is necessary to also understand its history and how it got that way in the first place. Just as in the previous chapters this made me think about the whole scientific method thing and how scientists cannot expect to find the whole truth if they only work with just a little part of it. So they have to go into different fields, not only science but even history, to actually understand what they are working with.

From the chapters that we read so far, I really saw the connection Shubin makes between humans and fish, or sharks, in the diagram on page 91 with the arches in the early stages of development. I thought this diagram really showed the similarities in developing the same structures as sharks, the jaws for example, because of the same trigeminal nerve that we have in common with them. It goes with the ideas Shubin mentioned in the previous chapters that "we are all just variations of a theme" and "the common blueprint in all creatures." When Shubin connects the human anatomy to that of other animals there's always a new surprise to find out about. But it's all making more sense as the book continues...

alexis jacalne