LuisanaT's blog

Overall this book, The Red Queen, Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, was a fun read; even more so as the Bio 103 course progressed. Matt Ridley does an amazing job of providing readers with an abundant amount of various, compelling stories of observations to discuss ideas on sexual reproduction advantages and its correspondence to evolution. Reading this has reinforced my attitude towards certain aspects in science for I definitely have come to feel more comfortable accepting the notion that evolution is much about the reproduction of the fittest than simply just the survival of the fittest.

With progressive advancements in healthcare and proper nutrition throughout the world, the human race has transgressed the bounds of average life expectancies. If one were to look at our species at today, it would be observed that women have now come to considerably outlive men.(6) When women reach midlife, usually ranging anywhere as early as 45 to 55 years of age, they begin to experience menopause. It is defined as the time when a woman’s ovaries fail to produce viable eggs and consequently cease to generate estrogens, progestin, and testosterone. These hormones were once readily used in monthly reproductive cycles and its

Life, as we have been studying it, starts off with small single celled organisms and gradually includes more and more multicellular ones. The introduction of these larger organisms has not by any means replaced the single celled one on this planet. This impels one to consider whether there is any difference in the actual cells found in either group that could account for this. If all things are made up of the same building blocks, and we are all composed of cells, does that mean that they are all the same cells?

Try it. See if you can make yourself guffaw, chuckle, or just giggle. You realize after a few seconds that you can not make yourself genuinely laugh to your hearts content. It is hard to force yourself to burst into tears, be at a short of breathe, and experience sharp pains in your ribs while having a smile spread from ear to ear. It is rather oxymoronic to see a moment of relief that results from hysterical boasts of laughter be accompanied with so much physical strenuous activity. It puts into question the appropriateness of laughter let alone its evolutionary advantage.