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.

Making connections

 In English, we have been looking at 4 different texts that share similar ideas. These are a few significant connections that I have noticed throughout the 4 texts. The main umbrella idea that I had was personhood, however, within this idea, there are a few more underlying themes. When I am writing my English essay, I will use these ideas for inspiration however I must use more deep ideas. 

        

The name on everybody's lips is gonna be ROXIE

 

 

What song have you chosen to perform? 

I have chosen to perform "Roxie" from the musical hit Chicago. This is an "I want" song which is a very common type of song in Musical Theatre.   https://youtu.be/edjSK6yen_o

Why did you choose this material? 

I chose to sing this song because Chicago has always been a favourite musical of mine. I haven't really had the chance to branch out and sing a girly girl type of role so I thought it would be more of an acting challenge for me. I am using this song as part of my Drama assessment as well and I thought Roxie would be a suitable number for that too! I just love this musical and I really wanted to showcase a different side of me that no one has really seen before. 

Who performed the piece? 

This piece has been performed by many notorious broadway greats! Some of them include Gwen Verdon, Liza Minnelli, Ann Reinking, Brooke Shields, Ruthie Henshall and Bebe Neuwirth. This role has been played for numerous years on broadway. I will base my performance on the Chicago the Music Australia 2019 performance done by Natalie Bassingwaighte because I really like her interpretation of the number. 

What is the song about? What is happening in the story at the time of your piece? 

This is a very "I want" song. Roxie is singing to herself and the audience about how she always wanted to be on Vaudeville, and that this trial is going to be the real kick start of her performing career. She wants to be a celebrity, she wants to be recognised and wanted by men. In this piece, Roxie is awaiting her murder trial after a successful press interview with her top-notch lawyer Billy Flynn. She fully believes that she will avoid the death penalty, so she will use her fame from the murder to start her show on Vaudeville. She expresses in her dialogue before the song and through the lyrics how badly she wants to be a celebrity on vaudeville. This song is about Roxie and nothing else. 

What will be challenging about your piece? 

Acting-wise, it is going to be difficult for me to be open and kind of sexy which is what the role requires. Singing wise, the song isn't too difficult to sing, it's just that I get in my head about certain notes so it's more of a mental game and trying to stay relaxed so my voice doesn't sound tense. I have high hopes about this performance though so hopefully all goes well! 

How will I act as this character? 

Roxie is a very childish and selfish person, so in order to portray this, I will include coy giggles each time I mention vaudeville in my dialogue. I will be performing on a bare stage and need to keep the attention on me, in order to do this, I will keep my feel planted and only walk around/dance around when necessary. Musical theatre acting is over the top so I will use a very “American” accent in this performance and make sure to perform to the back of the audience. I will keep my voice projected and balanced. I purchased my own 20s style flapper costume so I will use this to not only showcase the time period of the piece, but also emphasise who Roxie is as a character. I will also play to the audience a little bit to demonstrate Roxies narrative as a dumb, comedic blonde. Throughout my dialogue, I will take little pauses to show how Roxie is a little “slow” and that she is a young, dumb blonde. 

Composition blog post thingy

 3/09/2020 

In Year 11 music, I am working alongside my friend Kiera to compose a song. 

What type of song are you composing? We are an original song about a breakup situation. We kind of made it up at the moment and it been really working that way. 

Which part of the composition are you writing first? We are writing the lyrics first. That way we are able to create a melody in a good way. 

What are you working on this week? We are aiming to finish the lyrics of the song by the end of the week. 

10/9/2020

How is our composition coming along? After some feedback from Mrs Beer, Kiera and I have decided to switch some of the lyrics around in order to create a more flowing song. We have decided to use one of our previous 'pre-chorus' as our chorus because it will make the song memorable. 

What are we aiming to complete this week? We are aiming to have our lyrics secure and flow nicely. 

LV1 Solo Assessment feedbacky stuff

For my NCEA LV1 Music Solo performance, I did a song and it was scary and I was terrified. All jokes aside I think I did pretty okay especially considering I don't usually sing by myself. I sang Death is Just Around the Corner from the Addams Family Musical. This was a very dramatic piece that I think that I pulled off pretty well. Heres my performance, if you want to watch it, you can, you don't have to though. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WCtV6gQfzI5uTtpVYIroc1CmtxsRoGyu/view?usp=sharing 

Why did I choose this song? 

Well, I really like musical theatre and the dramatic side of music. I really like performing and dramatic art. I also have a soft spot for The Addams Family series and movies, they're really cool, you should watch them. 

Am I happy with my final performance? 

It was okay, other than the ATROCIOUS note at the end, I think it was okay.  I did alright, it wasn't horrible but it could be better. I think I did pretty well on the drama side but should focus more on the singing side. I got an Excellence on my first try which was pretty cool. 

What did you find challenging? 

I found that the final high note at the end of the song was my breaking point. Getting from that lower register in my voice to the higher register was hard. I performed the song well but the final note kinda ruined it. 

The performance goal for solo 2.

My performance goal is to focus less on the performance side of my performance and more on the singing part. My vocal teacher says I also need to work on my vocal technique. I need to work on the placement of my voice and where the sound is coming from. I also need to work on opening my mouth to get that louder and fuller sound out. The song I am going to sing for my second solo is That Don't Impress Me Much by Shania Twain. This is a pretty cool song with some nice notes in it so I think I will be okay with that.