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What does Tiktaalik mean?
large freshwater fish
How does Neil Shubin maximize his chances of finding fossils?
Searched in uncovered areas; marks own territory; finds rocks with right age & type
Why did Tiktaalik need a functional wrist bone in its front limb?
Needed to push its body up & navigate shallow, rocky waters
How is it that a cell as different as those found in bone, muscle, and nerve can contain the same genes?
Cell specialization determines which genes are expressed and what type of cell the cell becomes.
How do we know that there are two little patches of tissue that control the development of the pattern of bones inside limbs?
Hedgehog gene found in flies was experimented on to find its function; patch of tissue was removed and attached to another part of the fly, a wing grew in that location with the same bone structure.
Shubin writes, “we would never have scales, feathers, or breasts if we didn’t have teeth in the first place.” Explain what is meant by this statement.
Teeth were the first characteristic developed from fish through the friction from tissue; if it wasn’t for teeth, other characteristics wouldn’t have developed for us.
How does Shubin describe the common plan for the limbs of all animals?
Shubin described it as “One bone, two bone, and multiple digits”
How are gill arches and nerves related?
Embryo has 4 gill arches that later develop into the parts of our body that include the ear and throat; gill arches have an important role in determining direction & location of nerves
What is the Sonic Hedgehog gene?
Found in all animals and codes for where the limbs and structures in the body are compared to the midline of the body; first named after being found in a disabled chicken
What happens to gill slits in humans during the development process?
The 4 gills fuse and close as they develop into various parts of the human’s upper body; for example, one gill turns into the human ear.
