Tracing Chemical Evolution of the Human Body Essays

As the butterfly reproduces, and creates offsprings each parent carries many genes. A pedigree chart would then be used to show which generation inherited a specific gene and whether its dominant, or

During the middle to late Eocene and into the Oligocene epoch several other members of the equids, with distinct evolutionary changes, existed including the Orohippus, Epihippus, Mesohippus, and Miohippus. The Orohippus developed from the Hyracotherium and shared many of the same traits. One major change was that the first and second toes disappeared. Another significant change occurred in the teeth. The last premolar changed to become like a grinding molar. Also the crests were more defined showing that the Orohippus’s diet had changed to a tougher plant material. During the middle Eocene a descendant of Orohippus appeared. The Epihippus still resembled a dog-like animal. It had four padded toes on the front leg, and three on the back leg. However, the teeth changed more drastically with two of the premolars changing to grinding molars. Now there were five grinding cheek teeth with low crowns. As

The worm, crayfish, and the frog have many of the same distinct features as well as some that are not. Throughout the dissection days, i’ve observed many things that relate to the human body system like the digestive system, respiratory, reproduction, etc. But, there are also many things that don’t match with one another. There are many things I can talk about the similarities and differences between all these animals to the human system, but i'll keep this short so it won’t be a whole 7 page essay. I will be talking about mostly about the similar and differences to each one that is compared to the human body system or mostly compared to one another.

All primates have a common ancestor, from millions of years ago. Go further back, and you will find a common ancestor for all mammals. Then a common ancestor for all vertebrates, then animals, then all life on earth. How closely two organisms are related can be deduced by looking for homologous structures, structures that look similar and have a similar function. This proves that the organisms descended from a common ancestor. Station 1 contained multiple vertebrate skeletons. They all had homologous structures, including a vertebral column and a rib cage. This shows that all vertebrates are related and come from a common ancestor with a

DNA contains the information that builds our bodies from a single fertilized egg. Cellular diversity gives rise to our tissues and organs, with distinct shapes and functions. Yet, all cells in our body contain exactly the same DNA. The resolution to this apparent paradox lies in the fact that different pieces of DNA are turned on in every cell, and these pieces are called genes. When a gene is turned on, It makes a protein that affects what the cell looks like and how it behaves. Our bodies are a composition of individual genes turning on and off inside each cell during our development. We use this information about gene “switches” to compare the activity of different genes, with the end goal of assessing what kinds of changes are involved in the origin of new organs. For limbs, we catalogue the genetic differences between fins and mammalian limbs. Then, we study the function of these genes in embryos and do experiments to manipulate genes, mutate specimens, and observe the responses to these changes. Each gene has a distinctive sequence, and using molecular tools, researches can scan another species’ DNA for identical sequences. It turns out that the DNA “recipe” to build upper arms, forearms, wrists, and digits is identical in every creature that has

Embryological Evidence – similarities in early embryos can indicate they came from a common ancestor.

c. All pairs of organisms share some common ancestor if you go back far enough in time. Could the common ancestor of these two species have possessed this analogous trait? How do we know these traits are analogous and not genetically related from common descent? (5

"New standards pointed out about that discrepancies in a molecular evidence has challenged the evolutionary theory of common ancestry of all living things and that whether microevolution can be extrapolated to explain macro evolutionary changes is controversial".(LeBeau, 2007)

One of the most astonishing things on earth is the human body. They consist of many organs that work together to maintain the person alive. The humans body composition is complex, but what was the origin? How did we become who we are today? These are the questions that intrigued me, and allowed me to understand how the human body evolved over the years. By the examination of our ancestors, and our body we will understand how we look today.

Sean Carroll’s book Endless Forms Most Beautiful, attempts to explain the variety of animal forms, structures and functions by comparing them to rules that he had found. Such rules include: major “rules” for generating animal forms, species-specific encoding information, evolutionary diversity and large-scale trends in evolution. It begins by assessing the similarities between ancient and modern organisms. It notes that the structure of certain parts like vertebrates and limbs are similar in proportion and can be varied in shape and repetition. It cites animals parts like butterfly wings to show repetition of scales, snakes to show repeating vertebrae and compared a salamander to a dinosaur to express how each follow the same modular body plan.

Convergent evolution is a Development of similar characteristics, with the creatures of different origins and independently of each other. Convergent evolution is generated when the creatures are not close to each other in terms of systematic work and strong selection pressures similar. As more extreme living environment, and as more time passes during beings exposed to harsh environmental conditions, the more likely the formation of the assembly and made similar

In this lab, section 3EG2 went to the American Museum of Natural History. At the museum, we gained more insight on human evolution, how fossils are dated using multiple techniques, and the evidence from fossils to reconstruct the hominid history. Human evolution states modern humans evolved from primates gradually from generation to generation over the time of millions of years and the H. sapiens (modern humans) are currently the only known descendants of the first known hominid (Lucy). To unmask the mystery surrounding this history, scientist have developed several techniques to estimate the age of fossils and their connection to the evolution. One technique scientists have used to determine the age of fossils is by observing the age of the

Human origins, evolution, and diffusion are important for understanding the history of Africa. African historians take pride in the fact that Africa is most certainly the birthplace of humanity. There is evidence showing that humanity began in Africa by remains left behind by human groups and societies. They have retrieved fossils of living organisms, and even written records, like cave drawings. Dating back millions of years ago Africa provides the best time line of human development because other parts of the world do not have evidence dating back as far as in Africa. Where did humanity and human history begin? There are theories supporting both that, humans evolved from various parts of the world, and that humans rose in Africa then migrated to other parts of the world and continued to develop. The theory that has the most support is that humanity rose in Africa then moved to other regions of the world. Africa is indeed the home of humanity but because Africa is where humanity began they were not able to be at the top of the evolutionary ladder because their global location did not allow them to develop faster. Human history in general is difficult to understand but we can look at the past to learn more about where we came from and how our societies have developed.

The next species to appear were the Homo erectus which might have descended from Homo habilis. They were the first human whose fossils were found outside of Africa. They also had larger brain than the species before them. Homo sapiens sapiens came after the Homo Neanderthalensis; they are the only human species around. This could have been due to the result of increase brain sizes that allows more cognitive abilities that help them adapt to different environment changes and hence survive. Global evidence have been found of art, music, and culture and advanced tool making. In Mithen’s 3 phase of mind proposes that the shape of the Neanderthals’ frontal lobe was similar to the one of the modern Homo sapiens and this indicated that they were able to cope with complex cognitive functioning. Evidence for this could be explained using the phonological approach by Frank Gall (1758-1828).

Human evolution according to research started over 6 million years ago. The outcome of the evolution process is the current human beings. Scientific studies have revealed over the years a remarkable affinity between the chimpanzees/Apes and human beings. Even though this reality is not a definitive prove that human beings evolved from apes, it does show that the human beings are in one way or another related to other primates. Scientists suppose that the humans and the primates shared a common ancestor. The subject of what makes humans what they are and their origin has been the exclusive purpose leading to many scientific studies globally (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011). Studies believe that Africa was the origin of evolution millions of years ago. Fossil remains have been discovered in different parts of Africa as well as other regions of the world. Different hominins have been discovered around the world in the last 1 million years. Thus, the different discoveries have led to comparisons between the various species of hominins to clarify on their similarities as well as differences. This essay seeks to explain whether they were distinctively different species or regional versions of the same species.