1. How the Earth Made Man
This was a documentary about how our own bodies document the Earth’s own history. Drastic changes in the Earth’s environment forced our ancestors to adapt and evolve to what we are now. Some parts of the documentary were questionable, such as hiccuping. Some actually made sense, such as our ability to throw, our annoyance at the sound of nails against the blackboard, and the feeling of disgust. I like how the documentary actually conducted experiments with test subjects in order to validate their hypotheses.
It has long been known that our ability to taste is compromised when our ability to smell is also compromised. This is demonstrated when we have colds. For this activity, we tasted different flavors of jelly beans with our noses pinched. It was a struggle to identify which flavor was which, and I made a few mistakes. This activity proved that with one sense malfunctioning, our brain has difficulty in telling us what we are perceiving.
3. Color Sorting Activity
This was my favorite activity of the quarter. We were asked to identify the red pieces of candy among many other pieces of candy that were placed under different colors of light. I liked the activity itself, but I also enjoyed graphing our results. Even with a small class, it was interesting to see that some of us couldn’t tell which candy was red as easily as the others. Many animals and plants can use this concept to hide themselves from predators.
4. Bridges to Human Language
The first powerpoint presentation that was presented talked about human language and where it came from. Vervet monkeys were observed to have three distinct calls: eagle, snake, and leopard. The powerpoint also talked about pidgin and creole languages, how they emerge, and an example of a pidgin and a creole language. This discussion was more Soc. Sci. than Life. Sci, but it still interested me. With enough research, we could also probably trace how Filipino was influenced by the Spanish and the Chinese.
Where did art come from? On first glance, it serves no purpose. It is something that is not genetically passed on. But certain animals actually use art to communicate. From this presentation, I learned that even elephants make random patterns on the ground when they are bored. I also found out that one species of bird makes beautiful nests in order to impress their mate. Even though art seems sophisticated and unique to humans, in truth, it is not.
6. Agriculture’s Two-Edged Sword
The presentation discussed hunter-gathering vs. farming and how agriculture changed humans and human history. It was argued that hunter-gatherers are better than farmers because they are healthier and have more leisure time, and do not depend on the weather. It also stated that agriculture gave rise to civilization but also to disease and overpopulation. Before this powerpoint, I had never considered that agriculture even had negative effects. But one choice made by our ancestors thousands of years ago defined human history forever.
7. Why Do We Smoke, Drink, and Use Dangerous Drugs?
This powerpoint discussed why humans do all sorts of dangerous vices. It argued that the more handicapped an animal appears physically, it would actually appear stronger (“I can do this even though I’m handicapped”). However, appearing handicapped by taking unhealthy substances does not do good to humans, even though some do it to appear superior. I thought that humans only drink or smoke to forget, and I did not know that there was a biological basis.
This was a documentary about the genetic mother of all humans. It traced the path made by our ancestors when they spread around the world due to climate change. It also talked about how some human traditions started, such as burial, which eventually led to civilization. It showed the change in appearance of our species by using different actors to play the humans in a different time frames. To be honest, this documentary was not as good as the first one, but it was still very informative.
I put an article about the possible cloning of a frozen mammoth. Scientists found blood, still in liquid form, in their mammoth, and successfully extracted a partial DNA sequence, which would then be completed by an Asian elephant. It was an exciting discovery, but also posed moral questions. It would be difficult especially for the Asian elephant. Scientists still put ethics ahead of science.
