Dara Rivadeneira 2/13/14
Mrs. McClennan Earth
Science 10H
Current Event
“New Fossil Evidence of Romundina Fish Explains Origins
of the Human Face?”
Fenner, James. "New Fossil Evidence of Romundina Fish Explains Origins
of the Human Face?" Guardian Liberty Voice. Guardian Liberty Voice,
13 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
<http://guardianlv.com/2014/02/new-fossil-evidence-of-romundina-fish-explains-origins-of-the-human-face/>.
Summary:
A 410
million year old fish fossil, Romundina, found in the Canadian Artic, is being
investigated to see if the fish has evidence that can clarify on why the human
face is formed the way it is today and the roots of its formation. What needs to be known is how jawless
vertebrates became jawed vertebrates that dramatically changed numerous species
of animals’ facial features. From a
jawless vertebrate’s embryo it is clearly distinct whether it is jawless or
jawed based on the sections of tissues that grow in of the face. The point of the article is that from Romundina’s
fossil scientists have been able to find little key steps to the transition of
the jawless to jawed vertebrates. By
using micron resolution X-ray imaging in France they were allowed to go in
depth and have a three-dimensional view of the fish’s skeleton to depict
certain features that match with jawed vertebrates and jawless vertebrates.
Relevance:
The
fact of that scientists are finding new and interesting puzzle pieces to fit
the question of how the human face came to be is relevant to the topic of
understanding and fitting the empty spaces to the stages of evolution. It may lead to a better understanding on why
we look the way we look, how this new information can help us, and why did
organisms form a jaw. The scientists as
stated in the article are becoming closer on figuring out how jawless vertebrates
developed a jaw and stared key transitions that helped along the way, meaning
what came first in the process of the modern jawed organism.
Critique:
This
article should have links or to say what are the scientists in France are doing
now to further investigate. For example
are they still examining this fish’s fossil structure or are they searching for
similar fishes? I felt as though I am
being left out on some information and would like to know more and leaves the
audience hanging. However, the lack of
other information is understandable due to this study and new information to be
so recent because they have to further research this certain species and find
more evidence.
Fascinating article!
ReplyDeleteI have a critique on the title though. The title is slightly misleading as it states that this fossil gives clues as to the origin of the human face. Although that is true, it would be more accurate to say that this species gives clues as to the origins of jawed vertebrate faces, although that wouldn't be as catchy a headline. It is really explaining the transition from jawless to jawed fish, which eventually gave rise in terms of evolution to jawed land vertebrates and the 50,000 or so other species.
It would be great to give a little more background on jawed vs. jawless fishes, and point out some of the differences between jawed and jawless faces, asides from the obvious development of the jaw!
I thought that this was a very interesting current event. Once I looked at the article and saw the picture of the fossil fish, I immediately wanted to learn more about where it came from. I think that you did a good job simplifying the information from the article and making it easy to understand. I thought that you did a good job of elaborating about how the scientists are able to look at the skeleton in depth, and then be able to match it with either a jawed or jawless vertebrate. I also agree that this is a relevant topic because it is important to understand where we came from, and how we were able to evolve into what we are today. I have never seen a fossil that dates back 410 million years, and so I was very intrigued to learn more about what this Romundina fossil really is. I also did not know that more than fifty thousand species of jawed vertebrates, including human beings. I thought that you did a very good job in this review, but I may have liked to learn more about how this fossil connects to human origins, but I do understand that this fossil was only recently found, and that they are still researching it to find more evidence.
ReplyDeleteI find this current event very engaging ! I never knew that a jawless vertebrate’s embryo determines whether it is jawless or jawed based on the sections of tissues that grow in of the face. I thought you did a great summarizing this article, however it would have been netter if you gave a little background information on jawed and jawless fishes, but other than that you did a really great job !
ReplyDeleteThis is Thomas Neville, C block even
ReplyDeleteThis was a refreshing piece to read mostly because it had nothing to do with space, which seems to be the most popular subject to write a current event report. I like the way you organized the piece into the three categories, which is another thing I haven’t really seen in any other papers. However while the way you did it does clean make everything neat and clean it also makes it very jarring to read and I felt like you could have made it less so by putting in transitions sentences between two sections. For example, between your summary and relevance sections you could have put something along the lines of: “This discovery is relevant due to” and then continue on with what you already wrote. That would make the whole thing much smoother while keeping the piece clean and organized. Another thing I liked about your piece was how much information you packed into such a small paper. I really think that it’s harder to write a small paper well then it is to write a long paper well because of just how dense a good short paper has to be and I think you pulled it off masterfully. I have never read an article on the formation of a jaw, human or otherwise so it was refreshing to read something new. I also felt more interested with this article because of how relevant it was to humankind, while all the other papers were on space or radio waves or something totally unrelated to humanity.