Skip to main content

My definition of evolution


I define evolution as small changes in our genotype that become our phenotype. This can be influenced by natural or unintentional phenomena. A natural phenomenon is the evolution of dark skin. Where people in the tropics developed dark skin to block out the sun for protection. While people away from the equator had lighter skin to absorb the sun and get good amounts of vitamin D during the winter. An unintentional phenomenon is the shrinking of the mouth and jaw. Recently, I heard in a podcast by the School of Greatness, James Nestor, a scientific journalist come on the show to talk about the truth about breathing. They touched on why our jaws are getting smaller, this is because dentists have been removing our teeth for years so much that evolution adapted to this intervention. 

When I first learned about evolution, I was shocked to be quite honest. I understood why evolution and Christianity would contradict each other. However, I really believed the theory of evolution. Fast forward years later - now in my journey of self-actualization and longevity, I am now learning about the environmental toxins that we are currently getting exposed to and how to fight against them. On another note, for being non-living viruses are pretty amazing. It is now known that COVID-19 has mutated a few times. That, right there is evolution. I really believe it is a fact. 

For more information: 

The School of Greatness: The truth about breathing and why you're doing it wrong.

Evolution of skin color

COVID-19 Mutations

Labels:

Comments

  1. Amy SchaulisFebruary 4, 2021 at 8:17 PM

    Hello Carmen! I really enjoyed hearing what your definition of evolution is based off of you previous knowledge and experiences. Your examples also provided great support into your idea of evolution. One question that came to mind while reading your blog is that I wonder if evolution has to be a phenotype? I honestly don't know the exact correct answer because in many examples about evolution, they usually reference phenotypes! Anyways, great post and I look foreward to reading more!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tashongedzwa MataswaFebruary 5, 2021 at 6:34 PM

    Hi Carmen!
    Great post! I found the idea of skin pigmentation evolution very interesting. It is one of the many supporting evidence that I have learnt about in my history classes in high school, but never thought of whilst working on my post. In relation with vitamin D production which modulates reproductive processes, populations with darker skin pigmentation have more offspring than populations with lighter skin pigmentation at the equator. The opposite is true for populations at higher latitudes. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Neutral vs. Natural Selection

Module 7 - Molecular Evolution  Neutral Selection vs. Natural Selection Kimura argued that random "genetic drift" instead of natural selection is the main cause of evolution at the molecular level this is known as the theory of neutral evolution. Although initially, this theory was dependent on the cost of natural selection, it was later emphasized on the molecular clock which is the constancy of the rate of molecular evolution. The neutral theory also demonstrated the inverse relationship between the importance of a protein and its rate of evolution. Therefore, important proteins are more constrained and changes in their amino acids less likely to be neutral.  Neutral drift is when non-synonymous and synonymous mutations are equal.  Years later around the 1990s, DNA sequence data had increased leading to a comparison of patterns of substitutions. Nonsynonymous mutations are selectively important while synonymous mutation sites are selectively unimportant. [1] Can you gue...
1 comment
Read more

Part 11: The year of COVID-19

Module 11: Speciation // Alternative Blog Post           This year, I have had the honor of doing several things. I was accepted into the UMKC STAHR program in 2020, fortunately, it was not canceled. The program was virtual so by the time school started I was very familiar with zoom! Then, I become a year-long UMKC STHAR Ambassador. The program provided professional development and medical education. At K-State, I am a Class 2020 Snyder Fellow. This program helped gain professional development with a huge emphasis on leadership. I learned the importance of community and how it helps EVERYONE be successful. I was able to apply this knowledge in a couple of ways. First, I worked with leadership at K-State to assess the sense of community felt among minority pre-health (pre-med, pre-pa, pre-nursing. etc) students in both their pre-health club and advising. Second, I became part of the Intercultural Leadership Council, a joint council between the Department of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Part 10: Sexual Dimorphism in Female Pipefish

 Module 10: Sexual Selection  How is it possible for female pipefish ( Microphis deocata ) to court a male pipefish when is often the opposite? Figure 1: Female pipefish ( Microphis deocata ) [1] In class we learned that sexual selection explains sex differences so this evolutionary force must act differently in each sex. Often males tend to court a female because typically females are able to be choosy when selecting their mates. My hypothesis:   Sexual Dimorphism in female pipefish demonstrates that low variation in fitness and weak sexual selection is found in males leading to female pipefish to compete by advertising for mates as they now get chosen due to intersexual selection.  In the family of Syngnathidae, including pipefishes, have male pregnancy. This predisposes males to limit female reproductive success leading sexual selection to act more strongly on females with leads to female-female competition and male choice (reversed sex role) in pipefish...
Post a Comment
Read more