Ch 6: The Best-Laid (Body) Plans

I just love the way Shubin describes everything so simply. He always finds some way to relate the human body to other creatures such as lizards. Who would have ever thought that our human embryo would be similar to that of a chicken? I found it hard to believe. Von Baer's and Pander's experiments on chicken embryos brought about the three germ layers. The way Shubin describes that "[...]every animal originated in one of these layers" (99)truly was shocking to me. It was kind of frightening to find out that, "[...]When a blastocyst implants in the wrong place-- when there is an "ectopic implantation"--the results can be dangerous" (100). So many of the discoveries in these chapters was shocking. Such as that some creatures don't have an anus but have a mouth. Also, the fact that most of the discoveries about our human body came from flies was utterly shocking. It was interesting to know that if you took a tiny piece of tissue from one embryo and graft it on an embryo of another species, the, "[...]grafted patch led to the formation of a whole new body, including a spinal cord, back, belly, even a head" (106). How interesting is that? Very. It is interesting how Shubin relates all previous chapters into his other chapters. Such as how he ties genes and evolution to this chapter. He explains how our bodies are modified through the years. This chapter was too good. I can't wait to read chapter seven.