The Advantages and Disadvantages of Farming vs Hunting

In Biology, we have been learning about the development of Cultural Evolution along the evolutionary scale. In class, we were talking about the advantages and disadvantages of the Hunter/Gatherer lifestyle, as well as the Farming lifestyle. In order to explain it, I have created a Digital Learning Object on CANVA. These lifestyles have both contributed a lot to the development of society as we know it. 

Meagan and I had a quirky time making Potatools

In Biology, we have been learning about the Cultural Evolution of various Hominin Species. Specifically, we have been focusing on the development of tools and what this meant for the development of the Human Species. We were tasked with creating a series of tool examples using potatoes, here is what Meagan and I got up to. 

The Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell (Mitochondrial Eve)

In LV3 Biology, our class has been investigating the Human Evolutionary scale and we are now focusing on a subtopic of Human Dispersal. Within this section of our learning, we learned a bit about the Mitochondrial Eve, which is basically a theory about Human-kinds's common ancestor.  We were set the task to look at an article and summarise it. Here are my findings. 

Mitochondrial Eve

The discovery of Mitochondrial Eve was by:

Cann, R. L., Stoneking, M., & Wilson, A. C. (1987). Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature, 325(6099), 31-36.

In the scientific journal titled Nature, scientists Rebecca Louise Cann, Mark Stoneking, and Allan Charles Wilson compared Mitochondrial DNA from various Human Populations from around the world. From these comparisons, they determined that all human populations (that they studied) had a common ancestor in Africa around 100,000-200,000 years ago. This individual was later called "Mitochondrial Eve" (not to be confused with the Biblical Eve). Within this article, the author describes the particular composition of the mtDNA (Mitochondria DNA), explaining the various areas in detail. This is important for the reader because they may not necessarily understand all of the scientific jargon or explanations used. It explains that Mitochondrial DNA is different from the regular DNA most people have heard of. This DNA doesn't change within the chromosome when passed down from mother to child aside from mutations. After this, the authors discuss the fact that sequencing was used to determine migration patterns of some human populations within Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and more. They were able to trace the lineage back to one individual - Mitochondrial Eve. The article discusses the important details about Mitochondrial DNA and the impacts it has on genetic lineage. The scientists concluded that this single lineage has outlasted others of the past, and has continued to flourish. Although changing only through mutations, Mitochondrial DNA is likely to have expanded and be within every modern individual's DNA still to this day.  

The discovery that lead to a lot of evolutionary questions

In our latest Biology unit, we have been looking at the evolution of Humankind. As part of an exercise, I explored an article posted on the Natural History Museum website and wrote a summary of what we discovered. Here is my summary... 

Homo naledi, your recently discovered human relative 

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.html

Written by Lisa Hendry, posted on the Natural History Museum Website 

Article last updated 11th April 2019 

This article describes the recently discovered descendant of the Homo sapien species, H. naledi (discovered 2013), and the journey that was taken to uncover them. It covers a series of facts such as how Palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger organized the excavation of the species, as well as the features demonstrated by the species. A section of the article discusses the “puzzling combination of features” that the species has. The primitive features such as sharp canine teeth (which is a primitive feature) are seen alongside very modern features such as human-like hand proportions. The article also talks about the location of the bones and how the fossil site itself was discovered. This has sparked several conversations about H. naledi's true place on the evolutionary scale. The article highlights that this species increased the complexity of the H. sapien family tree and evolutionary scale. 

Definitions of English stuff

 Absurdism-

A philosophy that believes humans exist in a universe where we don't have an inherent purpose in life

Anarchy - 

A philosophy/belief system that rejects the government and high political status, favouring the idea of self-governance. They deem governing bodies to be harmful or unnecessary 

Nihilism - 

The idea that life is meaningless, that there is no "objective meaning". 

Existentialism - 

The idea that we create our own purpose of life, that there is no presence of "God" or any deity that defines our purpose for us, that we must find it ourselves. Trying to find a way that your life has value.