Extreme Biology

18 Responses to “How Does Evolution Impact My Life?”

1. Danny Says:
   January 24th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

   I personally liked these reasons on evolution. I think it would be good for people who believe that the Church and the theory of evolution are against each other to see this website. This website is also another good one that explains the theory of evolution well: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4563.

2. Charlotte Says:
   January 25th, 2008 at 8:03 am

   I never really thought evolution was important in so many things. Such as agriculture, conservation, medicine, crime, technology,and a few more. This website is pretty neat because it shows us how evolution is used in our everyday life and not just something that happened hundreds of years ago. I never would have thought that the polio vaccine was an example, one thing i am confused about is on the website that went to EVOLUTION: TECHNOLOGY it said that some people try to use evolution but others stay away from it. Is that just because they don’t want the vaccine evolving into something different and causing a different effect on the person.
   I was also wondering is the flu virus an example because every year they don’t know what form the virus will take on. the site also goes into lot about what we are learning with inbreeding or breeding with someone who is not a homozygous r heterozygous. This is actually reducing populations which is really depressing because the animal has no idea what its mate is.

3. EmilyC Says:
   January 26th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

   I never really understood evolution. I always thought it was just about monkeys turning into humans, which I always thought contradicted Christianity and other world religions. I still wonder about that, but I now realize that there is much more to evolution than I knew about. On the website, I looked under the article about the relevance of Evolution and Medecine. It said there that if the scientists were able to track down the origins of diseases and bacteria, then they might be able to come up with ways to treat, or even cure diseases such as HIV and Aids. This surprised me a great deal, because that thought had never even crossed my mind. A lot of people in my life are effected by diseases, and it is strange to think that the theory of evolution could help to cure them. It is something I had never thought about, and it most definately gives me a new outlook on the whole theory. I still have a few questions, like, How do you track down the origins of these bacteria and diseases? Is is genetical, or can it be found through finding fossils?

4. Billy Says:
   January 26th, 2008 at 6:16 pm

   I never knew that so many things had to have evolution. I never knew that evolution was important to agriculture. Like in the Irish potatoe famine the potatoes were all the same so all the potatoes died. If the potatoes had some diverisity the potatoe famine wouldn’t have been as bad. Since that famine the potatoes have evolued and had inherited different things from different potatoes. There are some similiarities between corn plants and a wild teosinte plant. Scientists have discovered that domestic corn and wild teosinte are evolutionary cousins. Research suggests that native Americans domesticated maize from wild teosinte stocks using artificial selection. genes found in teosinte may also be useful in corn.

5. BRyant Says:
   January 27th, 2008 at 12:19 am

   I found the CONSERVATION section to be pretty insightfull, especially with a water problem effecting the Southeast right now. Along with a drought, certain species of fish are starting to be effected, but how to replenish the population? According to what I read, if you introduce a diffrent species, more genetic diversity is brought about, which makes the species more evolutionary accesable. Also, if the population only contains one species, and the population is becoming extinct, interbreeding isn’t a great answer. Like Billy said, if there were more potatoes in the species’ population, and more species meriod, natural selection might’ve made it so that the potatoes would be immune to the disease. Maybe a fix to the dwindling fish populations in our rivers could not only be water conservation, but itroducing other species of fish that requires less water, or less oxygen content to survive. Funny how one of the most hated topics in science can save our economy. “Having a narrow viewpoint can keep you from seeing an open door”- Bryant.

6. Grant W. Says:
   January 27th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

   The article that I looked at was the relevance of evolution in medicine. In addition to what EmilyC said, I had no ideas that the flu actually evolved into its new strands. I had always thought that there were just small adaptations that occurred, not a whole new flu virus was made. I also learned that natural selection occurs very quickly in bacteria because of how quickly they reproduce. Also the fact that evolution has allowed us to realize that bacterial resistance would occur is amazing.

7. Caroline Says:
   January 27th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

   I had no clue that evolution was so important to so many things. I thought that the part that was the neatest was the evolution at the scene of the crime. It was cool to learn about that different parts of the human genes and how some of them evolve slower than others and some really quickly. At the beginning of the article it was kind of weird to think about how many people have served in jail that really did not commit the crime. The other section I found really neat was the one that Billy and Bryant liked on argriculture. It was funny to think that if there would have been a more diverse selection of potatoes that the famine might have not been so big. Bryant also brought up a good point about evolution being a hard topic in science and then again it can end up help saving us. Good post.

8. ~Jennifer P.~ Says:
   January 27th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

   When most people think about evolutiion they think that it is something of the past. But is rela life it is everywhere right here right now. New speices are being formed , we see the effects of evolution, and if you just take the time to see how much it impacts us the world would probobly be more knowledgable about evoltion. I think that the section about how so many people went to jail for crimes they did not commit. It is so great that now they have found ways with DNA and helped those people out. I also like the section Caroline mentioned about the poatoe famine. Evolution can really save us. I also liked this post because now I have more knowledge about Evolution and I will know what I am actualy talkin about and bring up points about Evolution that some people may not know. My family was actually quite impressed when I told them about Evolution and explained how it impacts our lives. They ended up letting me go out with friends and allowance. When I think about it Evolution helped me that day =)

9. connor Says:
   January 28th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

   I think that these reasons are great. Without knowing where everything came from, how are we to truley understand what is here today? Sure, if we look at a plant and say that it has pretty colors, that’s great. But to understand why it has those certain colors, is a whole nother ball game. Perhaps this flower was disliked more by a consumer that another flower. The consumer would recognize this flower as the one it did not like, and therefore go on to eat the other flower, leaving only the first flower remaining. So that then asks the question,”How long will this flower be around?” I glad that i have this website to refer to because now I can see that evoulotion is affecting me every day. I have a question though. If humans were seperated from each somehow, would we evolve too? And could it possibly be a big enough evolution to seriously change the way we are today?

10. michael Says:
    January 28th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Not only does evolution affect agrcultural and technological achievments or our understanding of the world but it also affects politics. Most of the candidates running for president have a stance on evolution. I know Huckabee says it does not agree with his religion. But whether you accept all of it or none of it many politicians help use it to get votes. This a very important reason why we need to form our own opinion so we can also make a better choice for the people running the country. This post helped me see how it could effect our every day lives.

11. Kat J. Says:
    January 28th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    Haha I loved your post Connor. You certainly made a point. To try and answer your question, what would we have to evolve to? You know? I think we are already a very advanced species that maybe has evolved to its limits. Who knows. I don’t think it would be a huge change unless we changed into robots or something. I really believe that we are advanced as we could get but I still really unsure about evolution myself. Those are just my opinions, does anyone else have a say? Miss Baker, could we de- evolved, if somehow got set back from something?

12. Steven T Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    To add to Kat’s comment about Connor’s, i think that if we ever evolved, it would only occur if a major environmental change occured. Then natural selection would take place and possibly cause us to evolve. It could be a mass temperatre change, weather, anything really. If anyone has any scenarios that could lead up to this…..comment on them

    ALso i think that it is VERY importaant for everyone to know about evolution. It really doesnt clash with Christian beliefs in my opinion. So, there really isnt any reason that it would do any harm to know about evolution. It really affects our lives in Agriculture, conservation, medicine and all else. The project we are currently working helps explain that there is a lot of reason in learning about evolution.
    Why do people not want to hear about it or learn about it when it plays such a large role in life???

13. Melody Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    I agree that it was great to see evolution working today. The article that interested me the most was the one about medicine. I think it is so cool that if we did not realize evolution was taking place, we would not have some of the vaccines we have like the flu shot. We would just see the same symptoms every year and not understand why the same medicine is not working.

    I also think that is awesome that if we look back in the past we can often find out how to fix some illnesses in the present. The website says, “The evolution of disease-causing organisms may outpace our ability to invent new treatments, but studying the evolution of drug resistance can help us slow it.” Like Emily C said, maybe they could use this method to find a cure for HIV? But this might be difficult since the scientists always have to be one step ahead of the disease-causing organisms evolution. I guess they succeed in doing this every year that they release a new flu vaccine. They have to use science and the history of the virus to predict what it will be like each year.

14. ali Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    In response to Kat I’m wondering have we really exceeded our limits? I know that there isn’t a mass change but I’m wondering if human’s really aren’t evolving much anymore.
    http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18925421.300-are-we-still-evolving.html
    This is a GREAT article from the new scientist magazine debating whether or not human’s are still evolving.
    All in all, it’s hard not to conclude that humans are still evolving, probably quite rapidly. “All species are evolving, but at different rates - some so slowly that the term ‘glacial’ would comically miss the mark,” says Daniel Dennett from Tufts University in Boston.
    This quote basiclly is just stating that we are all evolving just some are much much slower than others.
    In response to steven’s comment I think that the main reason people want to block it out is the whole concept of dogma miss baker taught us about. People just get their minds set such a certain way that unfortunately it almost seems impossible for them to think any differently. As far as the evolution applying to our lives I agreed with Bryant I was really interested in the conservation section of it because I really feel like I can see it happening.

15. Stephen d Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm

    Just like Jennifer said when I thought about evolution I thought about things in the past and nothing now. Really I thought that plants took place in evolution but I did not think that they are and did evolve so much. As I looked through all of the agriculture links it talked about artificial selection and how humans choose one type of crop that they want and plant it but they do not plant the types that they do not want. And over time the plants keep on producing seeds and the cultivists only planted the seeds that they wanted and over time they only had the crops that they wanted but the problem with that is if a disease wiped out that specific crop then all of that crop would be depleted and there would be no food like the Irish famine.

16. Richie Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    I always thought that it was a useless arguement when people argued over evolution because i thought that it was all in the past and that none of it mattered npw. After reading about the conservation part of this website i changed my view on that. So i would like to agree with Bryant on that one. Also my group is doing the conservation part of the project so that gave me even more information on the subject. In response to your comment, i also think we have kind of “evolved to our limits”, because we are a highly intellegent species that can use technology to help us adapt to certain situations without having to evolve.

17. codie Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm

    After working on our class project on understanding how evolution relates to us today I think i understand the concept Miss Baker has been trying to teach us alot better. For an example, Meredith and I researched the HIV virus and learned just how fas this virus can evolve and how much it impacts us today. [ http://www.thebody.com/content/art32981.html ]This website tells you how serious of a sickness HIV is. [Sorry its not hyperlinked my computer’s not doing that today for some reason] It’s sad to think that over 34 million people today are infected with it. I hope you learn as much about HIV as Meredith and I did!

18. Mark Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    Great! I read about the agriculture part. Now a day, scientists invent the protect plants by the insects and aniamls. But, i disagree that project. Because, everyone know the food chain. If it have problem. Animals and insects find the other food. However, if all of plants change the protect plant. So many insects and animals died by hungery. Some after years, human never eat the meat or beef. So i disagree this invent

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