The Making of the Fittest

The Making of the Fittest DVD (HHMI). A trilogy of short films revealing the evolutionary process in action:

Natural Selection and Adaptation:

The rock pocket mouse. A very good example of Darwin’s theory. This video took place in New Mexico. Scientists did a study on these mice that had adapted to life on black lava flows against a bare desert. The lava flow is about 1,000 years old.

Predators of the mice are owls, rattlesnakes, foxes, hawks, jackals and coyotes. Most of these predators rely primarily on sight to catch their prey.

There was a black mutation in the gene and that mutation wasn't weeded out because of the background they were on, so the mutation spread. The mice with the normal (light-coloured) fur gene died out, and the ones with the black fur did not.

It was interesting that the black fur appeared only on the mice backs and heads, not on their bellies. The dark fur was not needed on their bellies, in order for the population to survive.

The scientists explained that, if the mutation gave the mice a 1% advantage of survival on the dark lava flows, it would take 1,000 years for 95% of the population to have dark fur. A 10% advantage would cause an evolutionary change in a population, within 100 years.

The Birth and Death of Genes:

On December 26, 1927, a Norwegian expedition (Norvegia) to Bouvet Island, an island at the edge of Antarctica, discovered a scaleless fish, later named crocodile fish or ice fish.

This was a very intriguing and special genetic discovery. The ice fish almost looks like an albino fish, crocodile-like. This fish has no red blood cells, because of a genetic mutation. The fish looks weird and disgusting. Its skin is translucent and it’s possible to see its brain and heart and optic nerves through its skin. This is primarily because the fish has no scales.

With no red blood cells or hemoglobin (the protein that delivers oxygen to the cells of the body), scientists wondered how blood could flow in the ice fish. The ice fish can survive without hemoglobin because of the high oxygen content in the frigid waters in which it lives.

Art Devries discovered antifreeze proteins in the 1990s, in fish that live in waters with a temperature of -1.8 degrees celsius. These proteins resulted from an accidental mutation of the ancestral genes.

Natural Selection in Humans:

This video highlighted the work of Tony Allison, who studied the connection between sickle cell disease and malaria in Kenya.

Dr. Allison took many blood samples across Kenya and detailed maps showed the correlation between sickle cell disease and malaria, near Lake Victoria and the coast. Sickle cell disease appeared in very low frequencies in the high country of Nairobi, where malaria is not a problem.

We learned the meanings of homozygous and heterozygous. Tony Allison explained that genes are lined up on chromosomes and humans have pairs of them, with the exception of the sex chromosomes. The chromosomes can be the same or different. If they are the same, they are homozygous and if they are different, they are heterozygous.

It was discovered that carriers of the sickle cell gene, were seemingly protected from malaria. The sickle cell mutation compromises the ability of the parasite to reproduce. Protection from malaria comes at the cost of more sickle cell disease in the population.

Tony Allison believes this proves that human evolution is taking place in our living population. And this is evidence that environment is the catalyst, rather than genetics alone.

Presidential Debate #3

This morning, Austin and I watched the third presidential debate. This debate topic was foreign policy and was mediated by Bob Schieffer.

Following are some of Austin's observations:

1. Romney describes Russia as a geopolitical foe. This led us to look up the definition of geopolitics: "a combination of political and geographic factors relating to something." Austin feels that labelling Russia as a geopolitical foe is not a very good way of making them an ally.

2. Austin thought the funniest part of the debate was when Obama responded to Romney's accusation that navy spending was too low ("our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917 ... The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to 285. We’re headed down to the — to the low 200s if we go through with sequestration..."). Obama: "Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets (laughter)... We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines." This was a bit condescending of Obama, but Austin found it humorous. And, according to the transcript, so did the audience, who had taken a vow of silence (oops!).

We looked up the meaning of sequestration: "The action of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met."

3. Austin thought Romney said, "When I'm President of the United States," too often, as though it's going to happen.

4. Romney stated, "Well, my strategy’s pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture." Austin: "He doesn't know who the bad guys are."

5. Austin feels that Obama could have done better. He spent too much effort focussing on Romney.

6. An example of China not playing by the trade rules (Romney): "I was with one company that makes valves in — in process industries. And they said, look, we were — we were having some valves coming in that — that were broken, and we had to repair them under warranty. And we looked them up, and — and they had our serial number on them. And then we noticed that — that there was more than one with that same serial number. They were counterfeit products being made overseas with the same serial number as a U.S. company, the same packaging. These were being sold into our market and around the world as if they were made by the U.S. competitor."

Austin: "This is proof of how bad China's trade practices are."

I mentioned FIPA to Austin, with a brief description of the Canada-China trade agreement set to be put into place this Halloween. Austin's response: "Really bad idea."

Presidential Debate #2

Austin and I watched the second presidential debate, yesterday. I can't find links that still work, displaying the facts or comments ... too bad.

It was so entertaining for me to spend this time with Austin. With this debate, ABC News flashed timely facts and platform (Republican or Democrat) statements on the screen. Every time words appeared at the bottom of the screen, Austin paused the debate and read aloud the statements. It took us 3 1/2 hours to watch the full 90-minute debate.

Here are a few snippets of Austin's perspective on the performance:

1. Regarding Romney's push to decentralize government and give more power to the states and small business (employers): "Romney could probably sit in his presidential office, eating muffins for four years. He could take the credit if his agenda succeeds, and blame the states and the employers if it fails."

2. On women's fair pay: "Romney presented himself as the "Golden Hero." Austin observed that Romney tends to boast about himself.

3. Austin is very conscious of manipulative language: ie. "Obama doubled the deficit." Doubled from what? $2,000? Or $2 trillion? Big difference.

4. Quoting Romney (about Obama): "He's great as a speaker ... Describing his plans ..." 
Austin: "Funny! He's describing himself, except he doesn't describe his plans. He's got a slick tongue, that guy."

5. Paraphrasing Romney: "If you bring your kids here illegally and we catch you, we'll put your kid in the army." Ugh!
This was how Austin responded when Romney said this: "The kids of those that came here illegally, those kids, I think, should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the United States and military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident."

Vice-presidential Debate

This morning, Austin and I watched the replay of the Vice-Presidential Debate in the U.S. 2012 election race.

Joe Biden and Paul Ryan faced off, discussing foreign policy, tax strategy and Medicare, among other subjects.

Austin and I enjoyed this debate more than the first presidential debate. At one point, Austin expressed that he wished Joe Biden were running for President - he likes him the best of all four players in this race. Being the eldest, Austin feels he can trust him most.

Austin learned the definition of "sanctions": threatened penalties for disobeying a law or rule. In the context of Iran, I explained that the U.S. has imposed sanctions to prevent Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons.

Biden was arguing that the sanctions currently in place are crippling Iran. Ryan argued that Iran is getting closer and closer to having nuclear weapons and more sanctions need to be imposed. Biden scoffed at this suggestion, explaining that the U.S. Administration knows that Iran doesn't presently have nuclear weapons and that they would definitely know if they did.

I think Biden did a great job of turning things around for the Obama team, after a less-than-stellar performance by the President in the first debate. How can anyone resist that contagious smile of his?

Austin prefers Joe Biden out of all four debaters - he says he wishes Biden were running for President.

Bike repairs

Skye showed Austin a few things about bike maintenance when he received his new bike in April. About a week ago, Austin had a chance to share some of what he'd learned, with Aidan.

Aidan's bike needed a new front wheel. Austin showed Aidan how to remove his wheel, remove the tire and inner tube, place the tire and inner tube on the replacement wheel, then re-install the wheel. Austin remembered that the tube needed to be fully deflated before removing it from the wheel rim.

Austin is quite a good teacher and Aidan was able to complete the repair on his own.

Piano Teacher

Austin has been teaching his brothers how to play the piano. Austin doesn't actually read music, himself. He plays by ear. He can, however, identify notes on the keyboard. He's a bit puzzled as to why  the notes are described in terms of octaves, since there are only 7 notes. He seemed to accept the explanation that the octave needs to include the note at the beginning and the end, which means, for instance, A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A (8 notes).

To teach Aaron how to play American Jesus, by Bad Religion, Austin applied strips of masking tape to  about 15 keys, and coloured them. He told Aaron to play by colour, and Aaron was able to play the basic melody after only about 30 minutes.

Yesterday, Austin added letters to the coloured tape strips, and this is helping Aidan to learn the notes. Aidan is learning to play the violin and to read music. Fortunately, the violin is also a C instrument, so the notes in his violin music, match the piano keys.

This morning, Aidan was playing a Star Wars song, Battle of the Heroes. Austin has written the letter-notes for Ode to Joy, so Aidan plays this as well. Austin can play Beverly Hills Cop, Requiem for a Dream, and the Davy Jones Song from memory (he learned these in his piano lessons three years ago).

It's particularly fun when the boys have both instruments playing at once (Aidan on the violin and Austin on the keyboard).

On Writing

This evening was spent, compiling some of Aidan's story ideas into the opening paragraphs of his novel project. Partway through the exercise, Austin joined us and gave Aidan some feedback from a reader's perspective.

Austin has a strong vocabulary, and offered several good suggestions for word replacements, or more impactful verbs. He also offered his opinion on some directions Aidan was considering taking his story.

As Aidan and I were wrapping up for the evening, Austin complimented Aidan on his story ideas and his stamina for generating imaginative twists and character development. Austin has had some ideas brewing in his mind for some time, and invited Aidan to help him to turn them into a story. Aidan felt good about the compliments and seemed willing to help, but was very tired and needed to tuck into bed.

Austin was clearly intrigued by what Aidan and I had been doing together, and asked me to describe the process for him. I explained that the process started weeks ago, when Aidan first thought of some story ideas, drew a map of the territory where his story takes place, then worked to create an extensive character list. Austin has noticed that Aidan has been writing out his character lists in a notebook. But Austin was interested to know what was different about tonight, and my involvement.

Tonight, we hung up a large blank sheet of paper on the wall. In the centre, I wrote "Into the Sea," the title of Aidan's novel. I envisioned a mind map and wrote the names of Aidan's four clans on rays from the centre. Then, I asked Aidan to write the clan personalities and territory. He recorded names of the main characters of the four clans, a few characteristics of the clans, and drew a sketch of the territory.

I explained to Austin that there was one particular idea of Aidan's that really struck me as unusual and intriguing. It inspired me to start writing some fiction, so I began writing and Aidan read as I wrote. Austin heard us going through the iterations of writing and revising, and participated in some of this activity. I invited Austin to go through a similar process with me, and he says he is interested. He also wants Aidan to help with building on some of his story ideas.

As I wrote this blog entry, Austin wrote a prologue for his story. And here it is ...

The Great Beginning Warriors

Prologue

Ferns flashed in Sabercub’s face, tickling his nose, but he didn't dare stop to rub it. His sister, Starcub, raced beside him. As they ran, behind them, the sound of their pursuers was getting louder. A tree loomed ahead as they rushed deeper into the undergrowth. A horrific screech sounded behind him as he kept running. The sound grew more and more distant and his sister found an old tree trunk to hide in. It was dark and damp as it always was in the jungle, and the trunk was covered in moss. As he lay down, recent events came flooding back to him.

He was nestled comfortably beside his sister. It was a warm day, so he felt groggy and tired. His stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was. His mother, Goldenfur, sat up and watched the horizon. She bent down and picked up Starcub by the scruff of her neck and heaved her off the ground. Starcub complained, "Mother, I'm big enough to walk by myself! I'm not a tiny cub anymore." His mother replied, “Well, you’re right about not being small, that’s for sure. Now keep up and follow me closely.” She put Starcub down and headed off into the jungle. 

His sister pelted after her and he began to stalk his mother’s tail. Just when he was about to pounce, Goldenfur stopped abruptly and crouched, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. “Keep down!” she hissed, and put his sister beside him. 

"What's going on?” he asked. 

"Shh! Keep quiet." she whispered.

Just then, the smell hit him. It smelled pungent and rotting. He stiffened. He knew what that smell was. The death birds had found them. 

Suddenly, the grass in front of them wavered and a giant beak shot through and grabbed Goldenfur. She roared and clawed the head of her attacker. The bird stepped back and began slashing at his mother with its enormous beak. Goldenfur yowled, “Run! Get back to the jungle!” 

Sabercub raced off with his sister trailing him. Before he reached the ferns, he glanced back. With a horrific screech, the bird drove its beak into his mother’s neck. She shrieked in pain and flailed once, then went still. The world lurched and his sister began to go towards their mother. Before she could take a step, two birds darted out of the grass and ran towards them. They looked terrible with their cold green eyes staring forward at them. He turned and fled with his sister beside him and crashed into the undergrowth.

As the memories briefly faded, he felt exhausted and he curled up close to his sister and fell into sleep.

Tigercub yawned in the morning heat. His brother, Stripecub, stirred beside him. His mother, Nightclaw, had just returned from hunting in the jungle and had brought back a small antelope, so they had fed well. Tigercub spotted a butterfly and pounced in the air. He landed with a whump on his brother, who sat up in alarm and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled each other. Stripecub leaped to bowl him over, but he sidestepped and Stripecub ran straight into their mother. 

Nightclaw sat up in alarm. Stripecub tumbled back to his brother. Nightclaw gave him a cuff over his ear and shoved Stripecub over. He fell down and Tigercub decided to tackle him. As they rolled in the grass their mother lay down in a sunny patch away from the energetic cubs. Tigercub wanted to play hunter and prey so he asked Stripecub if he wanted to be the hunter. 

"Yes, I can catch you anywhere you hide or run. I'll be the best hunter in the jungle," he replied.

So they set off into the bush. He told Stripecub to wait there and he headed to his favourite hiding spot in an old rotten log where the mushrooms disguised his scent. He was startled to find it already occupied. Two saber cubs lay there sleeping. 

Suddenly, a horrible screech sounded far behind him, and shortly after, his mother’s roar filled the air. He was about to head back, but then the screeches sounded again. He heard his mother calling for him and his brother was wailing as the screeches increased. Their calls grew more and more distant, until they faded into silence. 

He turned and saw that the saber cubs were trembling and wide-eyed. He wondered why saber cubs would be afraid of him. Then, he remembered the birds and he realized that, like him, these cubs were on their own.