Chapter 8-11

Chapter 8:
This chapter was fairly interesting because of how it delved so much into the sense of smell, a sense I don't think about most of the time. The "lock-and-key messenger" was a unique way to see the way the sense of smell works. The bit about the haprey and fish being able to smell underwater was surprising. I was just at a pool party and can't fathom how a human could smell underwater, so I never really thought about a fish and their ability to smell. A lot goes into the sense of smell, like the amount of genes dedicated to smell (and a lot of the genes don't even work because of mutations). It's truly incredible. While I was reading this chapter, I couldn't help but think about the commercial with febreeze when the woman or man are put into a dirty room sprayed with febreeze and they say it smells nice and fresh...
Chapter 9:
I think I was fascinated with this chapter because it was relating to vision, and as I was reading it, I couldn't help but think, "So, this is exactly how I am able to see the words I'm reading..." Again, this book is making me actually appreciate bacteria, and now it helps me see with the eyes I have now...that's pretty awesome. Mildred Hoge's experiments with the eyeless creatures definitely caught my attention. It just sounded so gruesome, yet it helped so much with understanding the genes in our eyes. Gehring's experiments were insane (in a good way) and left me feeling speechless. He was able to add more eyes to different creatures and also gave a mouse a fly eye...
Chapter 10:
When I read "Ears", I could only think about music, and I was quickly willing to start this chapter (because I love listening to music). Considering the time, Karl Reichert's proposal was astonishing. He was brave for proposing his theory because it was before any real ideas of evolution. The middle ear was the most interesting section of the chapter to me because of how that same bone is in many other animals, but isn't used for the function of hearing. At the same time, though, I thought that the inner ear was interesting because of the fact that it does help with balance as well as hearing. The inner ear-eye connection was also fun to read about while I was shaking my head back and forth. :)
Chapter 11:
The "law of everything" surprised me, yet didn't. It was very obvious, yet I wouldn't have been able to guess that if someone asked me what the law of everything was. It definitely wouldn't have come to mind. I liked the "bozo" analogy because it just fit perfectly when describing descent with modification. I like how Shubin pulled back to the very beginning of the book because it was effective in bringing the book to it's conclusion. When he said "humanity comes at a cost", the first thing I thought about was when I either talk too much or scream too much (at a concert) and the next day, my voice goes out. This chapter was definitely fun to read (maybe even my favorite), and I didn't want to put the book down.