Journal #15: Humans Are Still Evolving?

Journal #15: Five Signs Humans Are Still Evolving

Summary:

In this article, it is suggested that humans are still evolving—surprising, as one would think with all the modern technology and the consistent industrialization that humans would not evolve anymore. This is false, as apparently, from losing our wisdom teeth to drinking milk—we’re still evolving.

The Unknown

Personal Response:

This was very interesting, mainly because I have considered the ways that humans may have evolved for the past centuries, but still, I have not noticed anything (morphological, anyway). However, this article has indicated that changes are perhaps, internal and not shown physically; such is the ability to digest lactose (as agriculture and domesticating animals have led to this being advantageous), which made sense, considering that many people are still lactose-intolerant when perhaps, long ago, most people are lactose intolerant. Another sign is our wisdom teeth, which is very often lost or taken out by a dentist. This is due to our lack of need for strong chompers as we have eating utensils; this is not the end, because apparently, our brains are also shrinking from 1,500 cubic centimeters to 1,350 cubic centimeters, which is about the size of a tennis ball!

These findings do paint a very mysterious future for humans: will we develop smaller heads to contain our brains? Or intestines that will deal with saturated fats and unhealthy foods because of the increasing rates of obesity? Will we grow physically weaker as we depend on technology more and more? What will we continue to evolve into?

Hulligner, Jessica. "5 Signs Humans Are Still Evolving | Mental Floss." Random, Interesting, Amazing Facts - Fun Quizzes and Trivia | Mental Floss. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2013. <http://mentalfloss.com/article/30795/5-signs-humans-are-still-evolving>.

Journal #14: HIV Cures

Journal #4: Cured of HIV

Summary:

This article summarizes the event of an important milestone in Biology: a baby born with HIV is cured of this retrovirus, as well as other "elite-controllers" who were able to control their HIV without the symptoms of AIDS.

Drug cocktail.

Personal Response:

My initial response to this was complete amazement, as learning about HIV has really helped me to take in the full significance of this news. However, as I read on, it was then I realized it is, like how the article referred to it, a “functional cure”. The HIV viruses are not completely eradicated, and it wouldn’t be quite possible anyways as viruses will always remain in one’s body; it appears that an important part of dealing with this retrovirus i early intervention--which is quite difficult, taking in account the symptoms (or lack of) in the early stages. Also, there is always an unknown in being  "cured": whether or not the virus will once again, replicate to devastating amounts when the host's body is under stress--for example, being sick or breaking a bone.

Another interesting aspect to this article is the mentioning of those who bear mutations,such as the antibodies, that help them neutralize then HI viruses without its body undergoing inflammotary response. This also reminded me of the CCR5, a protein on the surface of white blood cell that when mutated, will then be immune to certain strains of HIV. With those who seems to be immune to this deadly virus, the future looks promising--bearing perhaps, a "cure" that will save those living with this stigmatized, lifelong partner.

Journal #13: Pheromones Cologne

Journal #3: Pheromones Cologne

Summary:

While surfing the net about pheromones, I came across the website “luveessentials.com” that claims to be selling pheromone colognes and perfumes that obviously, contains pheromones and will help “increase frequency of dates, affectionate gestures, sleeping next to a romantic partner and sexual activities”.

Pheromones at Work?

Personal response:

My first reaction to this was to ridicule it as I recognized one part to be incorrect (shown to me by marks off in my exam), where it states pheromones “release neurotransmitters that directly modify the behavior of the opposite sex”—which is untrue, as it is not only limited to the opposite sex and that “the people who produce higher than average amounts of pheromones have greater success with members of the opposite sex”—to which I frowned a bit upon, because it sounded like the classic advertisement scam of “the more the better!”. With the definition of its being a form of chemical communication between members of the same species, it is still very much unknown for what exactly it does in human, and how much it really affects us as we’re a practically scentless, clean bunch (with the exception of artificial sprays). According to a study, there is a correlation between pheromones and frequency of all those activities mentioned above; however, as pheromones are still a very much unstudied topic, several question do rise: how much do pheromones contribute to our daily interactions with others? Do pheromones even affect us the way they do with animals?

Journal #12: Hallucinogens as Medicine

Journal #2: Hallucinogens as Medicine 

Summary:

As an avid viewer of the YouTube channel SciShow, the video “Hallucinogens as a Medicine” had captured my attention. As there are different types of symbiosis between humans and fungi—for example penicillin, another being athlete’s foot—it was interesting to consider one of the most strictly controlled substances, psilocybin mushrooms or “shrooms”, a psychedelic  fungi could potentially be a medicine.

???

Personal Response:

The reason this video intrigued me was because an illegal substance that is labeled to be dangerous due to its very ability to induce hallucination, could possibly treat depression (and perhaps many other mental illnesses), as well as help those close to death to reconcile with the inevitability of it in the same way as it is condemned; what bothered me is how strictly controlled this potential medicine is, and the fact that many other herbs, plants or even fungi could possibly be of many use to humans. Nowadays, many medicines only treat the symptoms—and his also applies to mental disorders, where the root from where the problems stemmed are ignored in favor of as Hank had referred to, “mind-numbing drugs”. This video also informed me that not all fungi are undesirable molds that grows on half-eaten, days-old food; I think that more of these organisms should be tested and studied for more information, as the mere concept of a hallucination from ingesting a mushroom helps those with psychiatry problems is very bizarre, and really quite fascinating.

Journal #11: Difference Between Fruits and Vegetables

Journal #1: Fruits and Vegetables

Summary:

My mother was making shopping list when I suggested some food items to put on the list. Our household consumes a large amount of vegetables and fruits, very often in the form of salada, so when my mother was reading off the names of vegetables, and fruits, that were on the list, I very smugly informed her of the difference between vegetables and angiosperms (although she remained quite skeptical).

 

Yum

Personal Response:

This was very amusing to me, as before learning about angiosperms and the definition of a fruit (which is the ripened ovaries of flowering plants that contains the seed), I have assumed the fruits I often eat—avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers are vegetables, an idea that I have no idea where I, and so many other people, got from. What is more surprising is the fact that some nuts (walnuts, for instance) are also considered to be “dry, one-seeded, usually oily fruits”, when all my life I have just considered a nut to be, well, a nut. The fact that so few people understand the real definition of a fruit is baffling, a tendency I think is due to most fruits being sweet (apples, oranges, watermelon, etc etc). Furthermore, I find it surprising that the term vegetable does not bear any scientific value, and is only really considered to be a culinary term. In the future, I would like to learn more about what I have thought were vegetables (spinach, cabbage..), and what are the considered scientifically. Also, what are potatoes?