Chapter 8

Extracting DNA reminds me of a lab we did in 9th grade Bio Hp, taking out the DNA in a simple process from some sort of plant. It seems like a complex process that would require intense laboratory labor, but Shubin points out that it is so simple it can be done at home.

The description of the way that we perceive smell is interesting because at first, we don't think of smell as a molecular function, rather something that is "just there". It reminds me of an episode of Magic School Bus where they shrink down and rink the smell molecules in order to remove the bad oder. Also interesting to note is that the smelling does not happen directly in the nose, rather in the higher section of the area. That would be surprising to many people.

Smelling must be a very important aspect of humans, because a whole 3% of our genome is devoted to the ability to interpret codes of smell. Use the different type of receptors to trace the water-land shift is another interesting way to track our "inner fish".

-- Abdel Albakri