Portfolio Summary

Putting all my entries together, and finishing this portfolio is an important thing to me because it showcases my ideas, and opinions about the different topics in LifeSci.

With a portfolio, I could easily share what I've learned from the past so that other people could also learn from my ideas, and experiences as a student of this elective. And if ever I had misunderstood some concepts, people who have read my portfolio, and know better than I do could correct me. That's one important thing I've learned about making this portfolio--sharing my thoughts so that other people would acknowledge it, and even correct it to further refine my ideas.

If I were to do this again, one thing that I would change is the fact that this portfolio is in a blog. I am a blogger, however, I do think that if someone really wants to showcase his/her best works then he/she would present it in the best way that he/she could. He/She would present it so that the strong points of the portfolio would be seen, and the important facts and opinions would be highlighted. If given the chance, I would have made my own site and editted it so that I could make my portfolio look much better.

Nevertheless, I was able to showcase all I wanted to put in this blog. So here's my Life portfolio...Yay. :)

Fourth Quarter Reflection

Fourth Quarter...

Before we even left for Christmas vacation, we knew that Sir Talaue would not be around anymore, and that Ma'am Cheng would take his place. The news struck us, and it got different reactions from the class. Some were scared, while some were starting to get a little nostalgic. Nevertheless, we all felt and reacted the way we did because we didn't know what was in store for us in the Fourth Quarter.

Fortunately, what welcomed us from our vacation was not scary at all. In fact, I found it funny that what we had to do for the rest of the quarter was to finish our requirements, while doing some activities. Of course doing the requirements was not the funny part, but rather the fact that Sir Talaue still provided the list of things that we had to submit by the end of our year. Mukhang kahit nasa States siya, masyado niya kaming mahal kaya pinadalhan niya kami agad ng requirements. Hehe.

The poster and Bioinformatics Activity that we had was like an extension of our Biology 3 class. We explored genetic disorders, their causes, and if there were any treatments available. We were also able to compare parts of the human genetic code with the genetic code of other animals. With those activities, we were able to see that genetic makeup serves a very crucial role in dictating if a human would be physically fit or not. Even miniscule changes could actually affect how your whole body might function (or malfunction...).

Human Hermaphrodites

The word hermaphrodite came from the name of Hermes and Aphrodite’s son, Hermaphroditos. As written in the short passage above, Hermaphroditos’ body did not only have the features of a man, but also that of a woman’s because of it’s unity with the nymph’s body. That is why people have used his name to refer to organisms with both the reproductive system of a man and a woman. In general, people often ignore the fact that hermaphroditism does not only mean that there should be physical manifestation of two reproductive organs from opposite sexes, but also the ability to either play the part of a man or a woman when mating with another member of the same species.

Hermaphrodites are not fictional beings. They really do exist in this world but do not often take the form of humans if you get to meet them. I’m not trying to freak you out or anything. I’m just trying to show you the reality here.

You might think that all the animals in this world, since they are able to reproduce, would only have either one of the two reproductive organs. Engk! You’re wrong. Actually, if you try to dig up the soil in your backyard or explore the beauty of nature…or maybe just try to read your biology book, you would know that some of those slimy creatures we call worms, or snails exhibit hermaphroditism. That means when mating season comes, they could either play the male or the female. They have both the male and female reproductive organs but, no, they cannot impregnate themselves. An example is the earthworm, which possesses both the ovaries and the testes. They have a special control mechanism so as to prevent self-fertilization, and could only express one sex at a time. Another example is the land snail. All land snails are known to be hermaphrodites, and could produce both spermatozoa and ova. However, they do not behave the same way as the earthworm, because unlike those annelids, snails could fertilize each other. They could pass their sperm to their mates, vice versa, ending up with two pregnant snails. This mechanism not only increases the rate of reproduction, but also gives a higher chance that there would be a live offspring from the mating of these snails. Now, unlike these organisms, we humans do not normally exhibit hermaphroditism. There might be cases of human hermaphrodites, but more often than not, they are considered ill, or discriminated and ridiculed by the society. Why isn’t there a large population of human hermaphrodites anyway? If hermaphroditism helps increase the reproduction and/or survival rate of other organisms, then maybe it could serve the same function/s for humans as well.

If you think it could, then I would have to tell you that we have contrasting ideas. First off, do we really need to be hermaphrodites to be able to survive? I don’t think so. The mere fact that we can exist without having two reproductive organs serves as a proof that we, humans, do not need the reproduction strategies of the worms and snails. I believe that each group of organisms on earth has its own special characteristics, which were dictated mainly by their environment. These are based on their lifestyle, the other organisms they mingle with, their habitat, and the like. Obviously, we humans have a different lifestyle compared to snails. Also, I believe that the way our bodies were formed also plays a major role on why we are not made hermaphrodites. As you can see, snails and worms are way smaller than humans, making it easier for them to get crushed. Thus, they need to do something to assure that even if they die easier, they reproduce easier too, ergo hermaphroditism. We humans do not need assurance. We already have a lot of problems with large populations so why should we even bother to think about reproducing easily.

A trait benefiting another does not mean it would benefit us as well. Hermaphroditism did not become a common trait for us humans basically because we do not need it, and also because if we do, we might run out of earth to fit in all of mankind. We do not just acquire traits because we want it, or other people dictate it for us. It’s the environment’s job to sort out things for us. That’s just how natural selection works.

Sources:

Gilbert, S.F. (n.d.). Human hermaphrodites. Developmental Biology. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from

http://8e.devbio.com/article.php?id=266.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Hermaphrodite. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite.

2nd Quarter Learning Log Highlights

The Future is Wild

This documentary, which was aired in Discovery Channel, showed the possible state of the Earth 5 million years to 200 million years from now.

If I were going to judge the film based on the ideas it wanted to convey, or the information it wanted to reach its viewers, then I would say that it was good. Not really appealing but the idea was clear and understandable enough—that after more than a hundred years, when humans cease to exist or leave the Earth, animals would evolve in ways beyond our imagination.

Basically, what it was trying to say is that when organisms are exposed to environmental pressures, the only ones that would survive are those that evolved (and we should remember that it was not their decision to change. It was the environment, which dictated the way they would change).

Visually, the movie did not appeal to me. The graphics were clean but poorly done, and for some reason, I even doubted if the people talking in the documentary were scientists at all. I only convinced myself that maybe they are because if not, then Discovery Channel would lose its credibility.

***

The idea of evolving animals still intrigues me, not because mating between different species is bizarre (we all know that this is not new), but because I still cannot imagine how different traits from different animals would be acquired by a single organism. I mean, would it be possible that a product of mating between different species would not be sterile anymore, and could multiply? Because we all know that today, this kind of mating would result to sterile organisms.

***

Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam

I thought Adam and Eve only existed in the Bible, but guess what, the scientific community has its own version of mankind’s parents.

Mitochondrial Eve

- It was believed that humans had a common ancestor—a mother. To test the idea, scientists had to find a way to trace the phylogeny of humans. Tracing it thru chromosomes would be very difficult because chromosomes are prone to recombination, except haplotypes, which are stretches of chromosomes immune to genetic recombination. They resorted to tracing our lineage thru the DNA from women’s mitochondria, because these are the same mitochondria that we have inherited from our mothers, and our grandmothers, so forth and so on. Therefore, using the mitochondrial DNA, scientists are sure that the DNA went thru the least changes possible.

Y-chromosome Adam

- If mitochondrial DNA were gathered from women, Y-chromosome was gathered from men. Scientists chose the Y-chromosome because this was unique to the males, and of all the chromosomes in the body, they were sure that this went thru the least changes possible that could affect their tests.

Where did the idea of a mitochondrial Eve, and Y-chromosome Adam come from, anyway? Well, theories about the beginning of the human race may have started this, being the Out of Africa Theory, and the Multiregional Origin Theory.

These two theories had opposing ideas. The Out of Africa Theory states that humans started to evolve in Africa, and the first members of Homo sapiens was found there. From Africa, they crossed land bridges and seas to reach different parts of the world, and from there, started a new race. The Multiregional Origin Theory, on the other hand, states that Homo erectus from Africa crossed the seas, and the land bridges. When they reached different areas of the world, it was then that they evolved to become Homo sapiens due to environmental pressures.

Are Humans Still Evolving?

From Homo sapiens, are humans already evolving to something more complex today?

Well, I don’t really expect to see a human evolve or change his/her shape in front of me, or to hear that a new race of more advanced organisms has been found. Obviously, evolution does not happen overnight, not even over a week or a year. It takes a lot of factors for evolution to happen.

Predators

- Organisms are always driven with their will to survive, and humans are no different. We may not have big predators who would hunt us for their lunch, but surely, there are these organisms that do eat us from the inside. For now, we have not really developed any trait that would defend us from our “predators”, but we could take certain medications to get rid of them. Could these medications cause certain changes in humans? For that, I guess we’ll have to wait.

Pollution

- The effects of pollution are not only limited to noisy environment, infertile soil, and contaminated water. It could also affect the ecological balance of the Earth because pollution could destroy the niche of different organisms, and lead to a total destruction of living things. These things would force humans to seek different ways of surviving, and thus experience pressure, which would lead to drastic changes in mankind. Aside from environmental pressure, effects of radiation (from nuclear plants, or intense heat from the sun) may also come into play. Radiation may not affect our duty as individuals, but it could affect our physical traits.

I’m sure there are more factors that may lead to evolution aside from the two that I mentioned above, but clearly, we are sure that even though these factors are present today, evolution is still not clearly seen. Yes, not clearly seen, because I believe that evolution is not a quick process where changes are apparent. I believe that we are evolving, experiencing it day by day through the different things that we face in our environment. However, to be able to see the big changes that could happen, we may have to wait a little longer.

Do You Believe in Aliens?

I know it may be far-fetched to talk about aliens when the second quarter was mainly about the origin of the human race. However, I became interested in this topic again after seeing the movie “The Last Mimzy”.

The movie was not entirely about aliens but about two siblings (a boy and a girl) gaining powers after they had found a box of “toys” on the beach. One of those toys was Mimzy. Disguised as a stuffed bunny, Mimzy was really an advanced form of artificial life utilizing nanotechnology by Intel (Wikipedia, 2008). Humans sent her from the future because they were trying to find solutions to their problems, from the past. Apparently, the future state of Earth had a big ecological disaster caused by pollution, and it has caused great damage to the human race, including genetic mutations. People from the future thought of saving the human race by sending Mimzy to the past and gather “old” human DNA; clean, untouched, and free from mutations.

There was a scene from the movie where the girl was able to see into the future, and saw scientists and a few “aliens” trying to resolve the problems in their environment. They were hoping that the last Mimzy (owned by the girl) would bring back the DNA that they needed. Luckily, the tears from this sibling fell onto the stuffed animal, and when she was brought back to the future, the DNA from the tears was used to “save” mankind.

Towards the end of the movie, the scene of the scientist and the “aliens” was shown. The aliens were actually humans, and their “alien skins” were clothing that they had to wear to protect themselves from the effects brought about by pollution. They shed off these protective clothing and were able to roam around the Earth again without fear. They used the DNA to fix the mutations, and to ensure that the succeeding generation would not carry the effects in their genes. The girl was regarded as the future’s new Eve, and the savior of the human race.

Well, a new Eve, eh?

While watching the movie, and even after watching it, it didn’t really occur to me that it had any relation with the issue of a real Eve. The only difference is that, in the movie, it was not the mitochondrial DNA that was passed onto the succeeding generations. I was sure of that because the kids in the future had all the abilities that the new Eve possessed. If that was from the mitochondrial DNA, then why don’t I (and the other people) have all (and the same) abilities that the old Eve had?

Anyway, what amazed me from that movie is the idea of a new Eve. It would really be an honor if I would be the girl who could save the succeeding generations of the human race from total extinction. I just hope that whatever ecological problem they encountered in the film would not happen for real, because if it does and we become too blind to see it, maybe the realization that we need a new Eve would come too late.

2nd Qtr Reflection

Evolution has always been a big thing because somehow, others think it’s not real or it didn’t even happen at all. Maybe they can’t accept the idea of evolution because they value their faith so much, and they’re still stuck on that idea that we “came” from monkeys. We all know that that is completely wrong. Humans’ coming from monkeys was a big misunderstanding between those who really knew, and those who thought they knew but didn’t understand.

Life and the science behind it are more than just knowing the facts, the figures, and the theories that govern why and how, this and that happened. Aside from ideas, what we need more is understanding; an open mind. Who needs these facts if no one understands them, anyway?

Now, we have this Eve and this Adam, two people that we believe are the “parents” of mankind. They are people that have passed on a part of their DNA to their children, grandchildren, and eventually to all the humans living in this world today. Their existence is somehow still in question, but at least they’re not monkeys anymore.

The Group Storybook:

Our story was about a bird that wandered around the forest to find her mommy. On her way, she saw different mommy-baby pairs of animals, and was able to differentiate herself from these animal pairs.