I think it was really cool how Shubin compared smell to music and chords. It makes such a complex issue more condense and easily follow-able. In this chapter Shubin talks about how humans are related to ancient fish through smell and how the same fishes that have arms and legs also had internal and external nostrils. Shubin also talks about how jaw less fish reveal that they have a small number of odor genes. A bigger discovery that Shubin explains in this chapter is that in oceanic mammals such as dolphins they use their nostrils not for smelling, but for breathing and that over time it slowly developed into smelling.
Chapter 9: Vision
Shubin right off the backs brings the readers engaged into the passage. When he is talking about his only experience with an ancient eye it makes the readers feel as though they want to find an ancient eye also. It is also brought up by Shubin that the eyes rarely are preserved in ancient bones, but rather stronger bones such as teeth or scales survive to be seen. I have been noticing that Shubin relates many of the subjects in the chapters to common, every day items, things that can be relatable to everyone, not just scientists. When Shubin is talking about our camera eyes, I would have been lost without the picture on the other page. The information is interesting, just a lot to comprehend for me without any visuals. Shubin brings up a surprising information when he talks about how we can thank bacteria for opsins.
Chapter 10: Ears
In this chapter Shubin talks about ears and how many animals do not have external ears like humans. He then goes on about how our ears are deprived from gill arches from fish. Humans and sharks are also similar in the aspect that human ears are related and similar to their upper jaw. Both perform the same functions as the other. It is cool when Shubin talks about when a person tilts their head the brain receives signals informing the body that the body is tilted. It is almost as if the ears were trying to save the person from injury. It is interesting the way that Shubin illustrates the three different parts of the ear and their association to all parts of different fishes.
Chapter 11: The Meaning of it All
In this chapter Shubin sums up all of the previous chapters. This chapter really goes into everything as a whole and doesn't just talk about the single chapters, but all the chapters as a whole. My favorite part of the whole chapter was the "law of everything" because it talks about what many people always say, yet no one hears. Everything has a parent, and everything is connected. It somewhat makes everything seems small and ordinary when it is said though. It was funny when Shubin was talking about the clown mutations and how each mutation formed into the next generation and the next. This chapter also emphasizes family trees and evolution. Shubin really makes it his point in order to show the people how things progress in life and how everything starts somewhere. Shubin seems a little depressing when he states that everything we are comes with a price. It makes our evolution seem somewhat of a fraud or a theft from our ancestors.
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