After reading about "mermaid's purses" on the first page, I found out that Shubin always introduces each chapter with something random instead of continuing the discussion from where he left off, but like before, the "randomness" led to the focus of the chapter: DNA. Throughout the reading, I liked how Shubin asked questions and eventually answered them, which helped me to think about the concept he was trying to pull. When he talked about genetic switches that control the activity of genes, his comparison to a concerto composed of individual notes played by many instruments made it easier to grasp the fact that genetic switches help to assemble human beings.
I also thought it was interesting for the fly geneticists to name the gene they found Sonic hedgehog because usually when something is newly discovered, it is named after the founder or given a complex/scientific name, not that of a video game. Moreover, I was taken by surprise when the text mentioned that if Sonic hedgehog does not turn on properly, it can cause you to have extra fingers that may all look alike, which I have to admit is pretty frightening.
Finding out about our connection to skates and flies through Tabin and Randy's lab discoveries was pretty amazing as well, and having read the chapter, I have to agree with Shubin that the connections among living creatures do run deep...
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