Chapters 8-11

Chapter 8: Making Scents
The ability to smell has never occured to me as significant. Shubin's explanation of the "deemphasized" smell in order to comply with our dependency on sight was understandable because I can emphatically conclude that I rely on my sight much more. It is surprising, however, to be informed that so many dormant, useless genes in our bodies. I would think that these genes that are no longer active would disappear somehow, but instead they remain in our bodies.

Chapter 9: Vision
As I mentioned earlier, I have always been aware of the importance of our vision. I cannot imagine my life without vision simply because I learn by perceiving and I rely on my sight incessantly. This chapter reaffirmed my idea that our eyes are one of the most sensitive, complex, and intricate organs in our body. Gehring's experiment with the flies also substantiated the knowlege we can obtain of the function and maturation of our eyes to medically improve the vision of the sight-impaired. I was also grateful that our eyes did not choose to develop elsewhere like the eyes in Gehring's experiment did in his experiment with the flies.

Chapter 10: Ears
Before Shubin's explanation I was oblivious to the fact that our ears are not only responsible for our hearing; it also functions in detecting the movements of our head and its rate of movement. The description of the fluid diffusion in the ears after the intake of excessive alcohol also displayed the brain's vulnerability towards unexpected occurences or disruptions. These connections reveal the different organs' correlation and relationship with one another, The box jellyfish is an example that confirms a close eye-ear relationship.

Chapter 11: The Meaning of it All
Everything concludes to the comparison of our current human bodies to other creatures, modern and primitive. Our bodies work like businesses finding its benefits and trading off different functions for improvements even though we cannot fully transform ourselves and restart again. The conclusion was made by Shubin's connection of various malfunctions we have in common with other creatures. Through these connections and developments we are discovering the potential of our bodies and the history that will clearly define us as humans. Most importantly, we ill be able to reveal the secrets of many diseases and discover ways to heal.