Chapter 4: Teeth Everywhere

WOW. This was so far the most interesting and unique chapter of this book. I had no clue that so much can be depended on a one inch tooth. Shubin exemplified how teeth are the most unique features of all body and it is important to know how they came about. On page 73, the picture of the Conodonts and the Ostracoderms was eye-catching because I wouldn't have imagined the Conodonts to actually look like Eels or Worms. In that picture, the Conodonts look so worm-like, but then when I read about how they acted as teeth for the Ostracoderms, then I realized that they were much more than worm-like. Also, Shubin explains the first time he finally started to find the bones and fossils in the desert of Arizona that as "All of a sudden, the desert floor exploded with bone; where once I had seen only rock, now I was seeing little bits and pieces of flossil everywhere, as if I were wearing a special new pair of glasses and a spotlight was shining on all the different pieces of bone" (page 65). I was so astonished when I read that Shubin didn't get his abilities of finding fossils naturally, it took time for his senses to accustom to the grounds and ignore what his naked eye saw. Overall, this was an extremely unique chapter and I really enjoyed it. When I started reading chapter 4, I was hoping that it would be better than chapter 3, and it really was!

Chapter 4: Teeth Everywhere

I was pretty surprised when I found out the title of the chapter. The importance of teeth has never come to my mind. At first I expected this chapter to be dull and hard to read, but as I got further into it, I found myself quite indulged and fascinated in what Shubin had to say.

Up until I read this chapter, I thought of teeth as just these white things in my mouth that helped crush my food so I can swallow it. But then I learned that the molecule hydroxyapatite is what makes the tooth nearly invincible, along with the help from enamel. I also found it interesting that teeth aren’t the same for every animal, but instead they are designed for each individual animal’s diet, whether they be herbivores or carnivores. I had always wondered why our front teeth are flat and the backs are more rigid.

While he was discussing his expeditions, I wasn’t quite interested. But his determination to find a fossil no matter how long he tried was inspiring. I would never have that kind of patience.

Chapter Four: Teeth Eveywhere

Through chapter three, Shubin demonstrated another connection between human and other creatures. It was about teeth. Until I read this chapter, I just have regarded teeth as helping tools for digestion. The informations about how profound meaning the teeth have for the paleontologists enlightened me that even trivial part of a body can be a useful clue for scientists. The most interesting part was that reptiles replace their teeth continually as they wear and break down. I wondered why God did not give the humans that quality because there are so many people pouring money to get implant surgery. When I got to the part that Shubin and his colleagues found a fossil that was part mammal, part reptile, I was proud of them as if I was a part of their study. I am looking forward to their further discoveries about my biological origin.

Chapter Four: Teeth Everywhere

If you told someone you just read an entire chapter about teeth, they would probably question you, and I found myself questioning why I was reading 20 pages about them as well. I actually just guessed that it would be 20 pages and I was surprisingly dead one. But I digress. And so then a new question came to me, how could the author Shubin manage to retain my interest on such a dull subject such as teeth for 20 pages? Well the answer is he didn't. Nonetheless there were still many interesting facts hidden beneath the pile of boring, one such fact being that the teeth are in fact the most informant pieces of fossil found, as they are both excellently preserved and can give incite into the particular diet and animal that the fossil belongs to. Also I chuckled when he talked about lamphreys and mentioned that we might have heard about them in Biology class because I didn't even have close to a clue what those were.
-Cameron Chear

Chapter Four : Teeth Everywhere

This chapter was all about the teeth of animals and how its specific shape can tell a scientist what it eats, what kind of animal it was, and whether or not it was singular set of teeth or it was regularly replaced every time a tooth was overused. He also mentions how the teeth itself has evolved to increase an animal's survival rate. The earliest "teeth" found in a fossil was composed of conodonts in an ancient jaw less fish; and the teeth wasn't for protection, it was for eating their prey. However, animals (particularly fishes) started having hard bones as their skeleton which kickstarted the "fish eat fish world" . Finding the teeth bones are also a difficult task since the teeth are usually about two millimeters long and even a small piece of rock could block the teeth from ever being discovered. What I found amusing was that he talked about having a new "look" on things; like what he couldn't see in the sand before, he could now because he knew what to look for in teeth fossils. So far, the book is very intriguing and I look forward to the next chapter
-jenniferly

Chapter 4: Teeth Everywhere

As I read the first couple pages, I was thinking to myself, "where do teeths actually come from?" I mean we know, just by looking at the title of this chapter that teeth are actually everywhere. It has been proven that the earliest teeth in the fossil record come from an extinct marine animal which is now believed to be the earliest vertebrate called the conodonts. Conodonts have millions of fossil cone-shaped materials and no one knew that animals who were correlated to these cone-shaped things can be found everywhere. One thing I found really interesting was that the teeth are the earliest source of all compact parts of vertebrate creatures. Also, teeth are the common predecessor in family of everything that comes from the skin. We begin to examine that the entirety in our anatomy are based on clear alterations to already exisiting whole.

Chapter 4: Teeth Everywhere

I must say that this chapter was much easier to read, maybe because I was in a dentistry at the time.

It’s amazing how teeth are so important, and I'm sure my dentist would agree. When eating, one thinks mostly of the food they are about to devour, not the utensils that will help themselves eat. When Cuvier boasted about reconstructing an entire skeleton just from one tooth, I was finally able to grasp teeth's importance. I always knew that humans were all purpose eaters, but I never thought that there would be a huge difference in the teeth between other organisms that have different diets than us.

I never knew organisms like trithledonts and tiktalik existed. Trithledonts amazed me and opened my mind to all possibilities. Also, the conodonts amazed me as well. I thought, "how else would you eat without teeth?”, but there was a way.

Just by reading the first 4 chapters, I can see now that there are many ways that we can trace the same organ in different creatures. With a mixture of an autobiography, information, and personal anecdotes, Shubin created a novel that is perfect to read without any dozing-offs.