I
read the article “Genetic Mutation may have allowed humans to migrate
throughout Africa”. This article was very interesting and provided lots of
interesting facts on how there is a fatty acid that could have been transferred
to the brain and used to increase brain size. Archeological investigations
conclude that homo sapiens appeared on earth around 180,00 years ago but stayed
in central Africa for about 100,00 years. Homo sapiens stayed in Africa because
there was a significant amount of DHA found in the shellfish to support brain
complex brain function. This research was supported by National Institutes of
Health grants, P50 AT002782 and a Clinical and Translational Science Award
grant to The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Additional support was
received from the Wake Forest Health Sciences Center for Public Health
Genomics. Additional support came from the Mary Beryl Patch Turnbull Scholar
Program and the MOSAIC initiative of Johns Hopkins University.
"This
may have kept early humans tethered to the water in central Africa where there
was a constant food source of DHA," Chilton said. "There has been
considerable debate on how early humans were able to obtain sufficient DHA
necessary to maintain brain size and complexity. It's amazing to think we may
have uncovered the region of genetic variation that arose about the time that
early humans moved out of this central region in what has been called the
'great expansion.'" This article had lots of interesting facts on this genetic mutation that occurred in Africa and provided me with new knowledge.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120919190100.htm
ReplyDeleteMy classmate Peyton Elder wrote a summary on the article, “Genetic Mutation may have allowed humans to migrate throughout Africa”, which I found very interesting. The three things found riveting were…. one thought was how fatty acids in seafood helped our ancestors leave Africa and form their brains. The second one was how DHA is found in shellfish and how it improves our brain intelligence. The interesting thought was how humans wanted to stay near water due to the shellfish. The two things I thought could improve her commentary were that she could have included more of the article such as more information on the experiment done to find out the results. The second this is that, she also could have not really said you contributed to the experiment as much as she did. These two things will bring her commentary to tip-top shape. The last thing is what I found extremely interesting was that as humans we were able to leave Africa with the DHA to develop our brains from the shellfish we know today.
My fellow classmate, Peyton Elder, wrote a reflective paragraph based on the article, “Genetic Mutation may have Allowed Humans to Migrate throughout Africa”. Three aspects of the article that were portrayed well in her feedback was the knowledge on the article. She talked about how the brain had mutated and grew bigger. This happened due to the shellfish they ate. A second aspect of the article that was presented well were the sources. Peyton added many sources into her response that helped prove the findings. The last aspect she provided well was that she used direct quotes from various people. Doing all these improved her feedback immensely.
ReplyDeleteTwo simple things that Peyton could have improved on was for her to add her opinion to the article. It would be something as small as starting a sentence with, “ If I were to have a brain mutation,...”. Now as corny as that may sound, anything with her opinion would be fine. A second thing she could improve on could be with the way she wrote the feedback. To me, it seemed like Peyton relied too much on the text directly from the article and not enough of her own words. If she were to write a little more in her own words, the feed back would sound much better.
The one aspect that really shocked me was the obvious, the brain mutation. I had never thought that any region of human beings all had this brain mutation. Once I read that it came from the food they ate, it got me thinking. What if there was a food that all Bronxvillians were eating that would cause for our great great great great great... grand kids to have a third arm or something. In the end, Peyton wrote a fantastic article summery.
Mike Minoli 9/21/12
ReplyDeleteBIO IH Review Comment
My classmate, Peyton Elder, reviewed the article, “Genetic Mutation May Have Allowed Humans to Migrate Throughout Africa”. I really enjoyed her review for multiple reasons. I thought that the topic in general, genetic mutation, sounded very interesting. Little did I know that the title was only a stepping-stone into something that I have only thought about in my dreams, growing my brain. I also liked how Peyton included the quote about “great expansion” into her review. It was a nice bridge between Biology and History class. Finally, I really liked Peyton named the university research labs and their achievements. It is interesting to see that multiple universities are researching this topic, and she did a nice job of summarizing that.
Peyton could have improved upon the overall structure of her paragraphs. I felt like she just indented randomly. It seemed like both paragraphs could have been just one, because they contain the same ideas in the bridge. Another thing that I thought Peyton could improve upon are her typos. For example, she listed some numbers incorrectly (100,00 and 180,00). She also forgot to capitalize the remaining words, when she quoted the title.
Obviously the aspect of the review that I was not aware of before reading this was, the fact that old people ate shellfish and their brains got bigger! It is so fascinating to me because I have dreamed about my brain growing since I was about 5 years old. I love the idea that it actually happened and it makes me a little jealous of the people back then. Almost instantaneously I remembered that I am sitting on cozy mattress and I have World Wide Web at my fingertips, so I conclude that I am not jealous anymore.
In closing, I really enjoyed the article review. It urged me to read the full article, which I promptly did as soon as I finished the review. My classmate did a really good job in not only selecting an interesting article, but also writing an interesting review.
My classmate Peyton wrote a reflective response on the article “Genetic Mutation may have allowed human to migrate throughout Africa.” This was a very odd yet interesting topic that I had known nothing about. I like how Peyton was able to express all of her ideas simply, and she went into just enough detail to get a real feel for what was going on. Another aspect of the summary that I enjoyed was how many quotes she used, and I like how she was able to make it flow, even with a lot of quotes. The last thing I really like that Peyton did was that she understood what she was writing about, even though it is not a very popular topic. Two things that Peyton could have done better was provide a little more details, and I think she did not have to include all of the quotes. The last thing I think Peyton could have improved on was putting more input into the article. You could tell that she knew what she was talking about, but she should have added more of her opinions and thoughts. The one aspect that I found most mind-boggling was that the human’s brain was expanding by eating shellfish, and the fact that eating the shellfish allowed them to migrate throughout Africa.
ReplyDeleteMy classmate Peyton wrote a summary of the article “Genetic Mutation may have allowed humans to migrate throughout Africa”. She starts the paragraph with a brief introduction straight to the point, which gives a surprise to readers. She also makes the original story more organized without adding scientists’ words randomly. It’s a difficult research because it’s a new exploration of things that happened so long ago. Peyton cites the supporters and researchers very nicely, which makes readers know more about how this interesting secret of human and earth been discovered.
ReplyDeleteTwo things I think that can be improved are the citing of the source of the article and giving more background information. On the website that has the original article, there is a story source and a journal reference below the article, which I think should be mentioned on the review. And it would be better if Peyton connect some other research with it, such as how the new discover will affect the diet of us nowadays. Again it was happened at an ancient time that so different from the shellfish we have today. It would be so interesting if Peyton has more information about how the research started and proceed.
Peyton chose a great topic to discuss and it makes me curious of how it will make our diet change. It was a piece of news written on 19th this month and it’s pretty near to our daily life. Lastly, Peyton brings us good information to think about and she did a great job on summary the article.
One of my classmates, Peyton Elder, did a reflective response to the article, “Genetic Mutation may have allowed humans to migrate throughout Africa” that I read. This article talks about how 18,000 years ago a genetic mutation in clams was discovered. When you eat these mutated clams, your brain expands and made you smarter. One thing that Peyton did very well was grab your attention and make you interested in reading her reflection. Her topic was interesting and made me want to read it. Another thing that Peyton did well was use many sources. She sources from National Institutes of Health grants, and Chilton. One more thing that she did well was concluding her reflection. She didn’t leave you hanging and she summarized the her whole reflection in her last sentence.
ReplyDeleteEven though Peyton did a great job on her article, there were still things that she could improve. One thing that she could have done was describe the article itself more instead of talking about all the different foundations that had research in this topic. Another that she could have done to improve her article would be to make it a little longer and explain the concept of the shellfish a little more. She had only briefly talked about the shellfish and it was the main point of the article.
Peyton also had many things in this article that interested me. One thing that she taught me from this reflection was that our ancestors got smarter from eating shellfish. It’s weird to imagine that my ancient ancestors got smart from eating clams. I also found it interesting that so many groups and programs are studying this proposal that happened 18,000 years ago. Overall Peyton did a great job on this reflection. She grabbed your attention and then finished it with a great conclusion.
I read Peyton’s article called “Genetic Mutation may have allowed humans to migrate throughout Africa”. One thing that Peyton presented clearly was the beginning fact that led the reader into the discussion about the fatty acid from shellfish. Another thing I liked was how she gave us who contributed to the research of this topic. She gave us a list of the different schools or clinics that helped toward learning more about this fatty acid. The last thing was the explanation of human expansion through the shellfish. She kept the summary flowing by including the idea of humans staying near the water source to be closer to the shellfish.
ReplyDeleteThings that could have been improved is telling us more about what this could mean if it were an accepted theory and maybe why the humans would be closer to the river only because of the shellfish. So there should be a deeper explanation of the information. Also there was not much of an opinion that was expressed so it would be better to explain your point of view on it.
I think this article was very interesting. The idea that Africans stayed in Africa and near a water source for so long with these shellfish was so amazing. Also that this fatty acid can deeply effect the brain is really cool. Great article!
My classmate Peyton Elder read and summarized a great article on genetic mutation which may have allowed humans to migrate through Africa. Three things I believed were presented well: One was providing background information about the topic such as saying that Homo sapiens appeared on earth around 180,000 years ago but stayed in central Africa for about 100,000 years. Another was she cited and gave who obtained and researched this topic coming up with all data. Also she gave quite an insightful quote near the end. One suggestion I have is it could have been made a little lengthier. A second suggestion I have is she could have gone into more detail and possibly given another quote. I learned a very interesting face too which is that there could have been a fatty acid that was transferred to the brain to increase its size.
ReplyDelete