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Transitional Species Video:
Video that we made showing the transition of amphibians to reptiles. It also shows the structures and functions of this transitional species. |
Evolution Book Review
The Dragons of Eden Review
Noah Gersh, Jenna Beales, Ethan Danziger
Many people consider non fiction books about science boring, but here is a book to prove them all wrong. The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan covers a lot of interesting material, but the main focuses of the book were human brain activity, how traits are passed down through evolution, and where our intelligence came from.
The book talks about some very fascinating topics regarding how human intelligence evolved. The book discusses metaphors such as the cosmic calendar. The cosmic calendar is a way to represent the entire time of the universe from the big bang to modern day. In this calendar every 24 days is one billion years. The big bang was on January 1st and the dinosaurs only showed up on Christmas Eve. According to the calendar, all of human history fits within the last ten seconds of the year. The book uses simple comparisons and descriptions to explain complicated concepts, which makes it very easy to understand and learn what is happening.
One of the most fascinating things the book explored were the results of different experiments to discover which parts of the brain control what functions. For example, the R-complex is the “old brain” and has been shown to play an important role in aggressive behavior, territoriality, ritual, and the establishment of social hierarchies. It is also mentioned that, although the R-complex is arguably the most ancient section of the human brain, with each new step in brain evolution there are changes to the preexisting elements of the brain. The Limbic System is generally credited with controlling emotion. The Neocortex gives the ability to judge a situation and think ahead as well as to retain memory. It also allows us to connect auditory and visual stimuli, thus allowing us to have language. Through this, the Limbic System, and the Neocortex, Sagan demonstrates the Triune Brain.
The entire book was very informative. It was very easy to understand all the material because it was all explained in concise and relatively simple language. Sagan masterfully explains these metaphors and other key ideas to bring to the lay-people a greater understanding of intelligence, brains, and their evolution in the human species.
Not only was The Dragons of Eden simple to understand, it also was not overly serious. In describing the correlation between brain mass and intelligence Sagan questions the gigantic brain of a sperm whale: “What does the whale do with so massive a brain? Are there thoughts, insights, arts, sciences and legends of the sperm whale?” To furthermore discuss this issue, he makes correlations between body and brain mass ratios and how the number of neural synapses affects the number of “states” a brain has. In essence, the sperm whale’s brain to body ratio shows that it does not have sciences and legends.
Something that really struck me while reading Dragons of Eden was a quote from a patient “I was born with glass bones and paper skin. Every morning I break my legs. And every afternoon I break my arms. At night, I lay awake in agony until my heart attacks put me to sleep.”
Through Carl Sagan’s language and the information he presents, his book The Dragons of Eden explains to the masses many unknown or vague concepts. This book is excellent and highly recommended as an educational read, because of the interesting points brought up by Sagan and how comprehensible they are. Sagan brings light to the evolution of human intelligence, and to human intelligence in general, borrowing examples from animals as reference. He shows the scope of human life through the cosmic calendar. This book magnificently shows and explains how humans develop. Carl Sagan’s book The Dragons of Eden is a fascinating read due to the intriguing topics he covers and his easily understood writing style.
The Dragons of Eden Review
Noah Gersh, Jenna Beales, Ethan Danziger
Many people consider non fiction books about science boring, but here is a book to prove them all wrong. The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan covers a lot of interesting material, but the main focuses of the book were human brain activity, how traits are passed down through evolution, and where our intelligence came from.
The book talks about some very fascinating topics regarding how human intelligence evolved. The book discusses metaphors such as the cosmic calendar. The cosmic calendar is a way to represent the entire time of the universe from the big bang to modern day. In this calendar every 24 days is one billion years. The big bang was on January 1st and the dinosaurs only showed up on Christmas Eve. According to the calendar, all of human history fits within the last ten seconds of the year. The book uses simple comparisons and descriptions to explain complicated concepts, which makes it very easy to understand and learn what is happening.
One of the most fascinating things the book explored were the results of different experiments to discover which parts of the brain control what functions. For example, the R-complex is the “old brain” and has been shown to play an important role in aggressive behavior, territoriality, ritual, and the establishment of social hierarchies. It is also mentioned that, although the R-complex is arguably the most ancient section of the human brain, with each new step in brain evolution there are changes to the preexisting elements of the brain. The Limbic System is generally credited with controlling emotion. The Neocortex gives the ability to judge a situation and think ahead as well as to retain memory. It also allows us to connect auditory and visual stimuli, thus allowing us to have language. Through this, the Limbic System, and the Neocortex, Sagan demonstrates the Triune Brain.
The entire book was very informative. It was very easy to understand all the material because it was all explained in concise and relatively simple language. Sagan masterfully explains these metaphors and other key ideas to bring to the lay-people a greater understanding of intelligence, brains, and their evolution in the human species.
Not only was The Dragons of Eden simple to understand, it also was not overly serious. In describing the correlation between brain mass and intelligence Sagan questions the gigantic brain of a sperm whale: “What does the whale do with so massive a brain? Are there thoughts, insights, arts, sciences and legends of the sperm whale?” To furthermore discuss this issue, he makes correlations between body and brain mass ratios and how the number of neural synapses affects the number of “states” a brain has. In essence, the sperm whale’s brain to body ratio shows that it does not have sciences and legends.
Something that really struck me while reading Dragons of Eden was a quote from a patient “I was born with glass bones and paper skin. Every morning I break my legs. And every afternoon I break my arms. At night, I lay awake in agony until my heart attacks put me to sleep.”
Through Carl Sagan’s language and the information he presents, his book The Dragons of Eden explains to the masses many unknown or vague concepts. This book is excellent and highly recommended as an educational read, because of the interesting points brought up by Sagan and how comprehensible they are. Sagan brings light to the evolution of human intelligence, and to human intelligence in general, borrowing examples from animals as reference. He shows the scope of human life through the cosmic calendar. This book magnificently shows and explains how humans develop. Carl Sagan’s book The Dragons of Eden is a fascinating read due to the intriguing topics he covers and his easily understood writing style.
Evolution Unit Reflection:
During the evolution unit we learned about how animals evolved and why they evolved. We talked about how certain selection pressures cause animals to evolve and adapt to these new pressures. Above you can find the transitional species video and the evolution book review. Throughout this unit we were reading a book about evolution and it was very interesting and brought up interesting topics on evolution. The video also let us visualize what the evolutionary process would look like in a real animal. Overall this unit was a great learning experience and taught me a lot about evolution and how and why it happens.
During the evolution unit we learned about how animals evolved and why they evolved. We talked about how certain selection pressures cause animals to evolve and adapt to these new pressures. Above you can find the transitional species video and the evolution book review. Throughout this unit we were reading a book about evolution and it was very interesting and brought up interesting topics on evolution. The video also let us visualize what the evolutionary process would look like in a real animal. Overall this unit was a great learning experience and taught me a lot about evolution and how and why it happens.