WEEK 1:

The common ancestor = 1st sign of life

2 theories on the origin of life: abiogenesis & panspermia

Abiogenesis - life started her; it was in the works and things were in the right
place and right time and it started

Panspermia – life was brought here; didn’t start here; maybe started on Mars but
a piece of rock landed her and sprouted life

Charles Darwin – inferred that all life forms were connected to one another

7 Characteristics of Biological Life:

1. Ability to produce
2. Made up of cells
3. DNA (strongest evidence that we’re all connected)
4. Ability to grow and develop)
5. Movement (internal and external)
6. Adapt to changes in enviro
7. Energy

What does it mean to be human?

1. Self-aware/impressive brain
2. Walking on 2 feet (bipedalism)
3. No fur

Commonalities Between Humans & Other Primates

- Eyes in front of heads
- Thumbs
- Complex social hierarchies

Savannah Hypothesis
- 98% of scientists agree with this theory
- Less trees and more grass means we needed to stand
Origins of Bipedalism
- Long distances to walk called for walking on 2 feet
- Walking upright helped seeing over grass
- Can now use hands

Theories on the Origin of Bipedalism:

- Hauling Food – dense forests to large patches of savannah; large amounts
of food carried over long distances back to their home bases; two legs
allows them to lug dead animals to safer areas to eat; could see other food
sources or potential danger at great distances
- A New World – new environment
- Attracting Mates – you are “promoting” yourself when you stand on two
legs
- Grabbing a Bite – able to steadily stand to forage berries
- Keeping Cool – closer to the ground is hot
- Aquatic Apes – ancestors had to wade through water
- Weapons and Tools – can stand on two legs and use weapons to fight or
kill for food with the other hands

Elaine Morgan – Welsh feminist; Aquatic Ape Theory

WEEK 2:

Charles Darwin: finches

Process of Evolution
1. Genetic Variation: differences of genes in a particular POPULATION
a. Plays a big role in special survival
b. Population: group of interbreeding individuals
2. Change in Environment
a. Environments are constantly changing
 b. Leads to enviro stress (temp, water, nutrient/food)
c. Some animals adapt due to their genetic variations
3. Adaptation: inherited trait that increases an organism’s rate to survive and
reproduce
a. Occurs at INDIVIDUAL levels, populations DO NOT adapt as a whole
b. Water stress example: camels’ urine so concentrated and stools are
dry enough to start a fire (adaptation to their dry and hot climate)
c. Darwinian Fitness: individuals’ ability to survive and reproduce in a
given environments specific conditions
d. An adaptation IS a mutation
4. Natural Selection: “survival of the fittest”
a. Organisms are “selected” on the basis of their Darwinian fitness
b. Can be positively selected (ex. Immune to something others aren’t)
OR negatively selected
c. Descent with Modification: things that die can’t reproduce or pass on
their gene f=traits, therefore lost their adaptation (END OF
DARWIN’S IDEAS)
5. Evolution – generation to generation change in the population of different
inherited genes in a population
a. long term changes in allele frequency
b. allele: certain types of gene (various types of hair genes: color, curl,
growth patterns, etc.)
c. occurs only as the level of population

Mechanism of Change:
1. Mutation (null, lethal, beneficial)
a. A permanent change in DNA sequence
b. Spontaneous rate of mutation = 2.2 x 10^-9
c. The source of brand new alleles
2. Gene Flow
a. The movement of genes in and out of the population
3. Genetic Drift
a. Change of allele frequencies in a population due to change of events
4. Natural Selection (directional, stabilizing, disruptive)

NATURAL SELECTION (3)

- Natural Selection = pressures from the enviro; the gradual process by
which heritable traits become either more or less common in a population
because of the pressures from the enviro
o Pressures include: overpopulation, predators, resource competition,
changing environment

1. DIRECTIONAL SELECTION – individuals that display a more extreme

form of the trait have greater fitness than individuals with an average form
of the trait

- Peppered moths; higher frequency of darker colors because better camo in

soot colored trees; harder to see darker ones so they survived more

2. STABILIZING SELECTION – individuals with the average form of a trait

have the highest fitness
- Robins eggs – 4 is perfect because too few means not many survive and
too may means hard to sustain and feed – 4 is best balance

3. DISRUPTIVE SELECTION – individuals with either extreme variation of a

trait have greater fitness than individuals with the average form of the trait
 - Salmon males – large fish had adv because strong fighters and small has
adv because they can sneak in while large ones are fighting and fertilize the
eggs; medium are too large to sneak and too small to win a fight

Artificial Selection: intentional selection of organisms to meet based on desired

characteristics
- Non-random mating based on sexual selection
o Plants DO NOT do this because they use pollen
o Inbreeding

5 Logical Fallacies
1. Ad Hominem: attacking the person, not their idea
2. False Dichotomy: you’re either with us or without us; 2 options
3. Hasty Generalization: making a claim on too small of evidence
4. Argument from Ignorance: assuming something right because it hasn’t
been proven wrong
5. Fallacy Fallacy: assuming that conclusion is false because argument is false

Ethos: authority
Logos: logic
Pathos: emotions
WEEK 3:

Mitochondrial Eve: maternal line of everyone’s DNA

DNA: instructions for everything the cell has to do

3 Amazing Facts About DNA:

1. Every cell has an unwound DNA script that is 6 feet long (BOOKS)
2. We have few # of genomes
3. Every cell in your body has a FULL copy of genes

We need two recessive genes of genome because recessive genes are like broken
genes, paired with dominant genes they will be overshadowed, but with two
recessive genes it will appear.

Human Genome Project

- Goal: figure out 6.5 billion letters out in order of DNA
- All genes possess the same instructions but might now follow the same
instructions
o The pattern that each DNA uses is what created new cells

All DNA is found in the nucleus

Nucleus: contains genomic DNA

Mitochondria: produces ATP (energy source)

- Contains mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
- Every single cell that holds mitochondria is directly from the mother

Recombination: the process of shuffling the deck/crossing over

- Happens daily
- You only end up with the change that is completed through mutation
KEY TERMS:

 Egg
 Endosymbiosis
 Form and Function
 ‘Most Recent Common Ancestor’
 Mutation (null, lethal, beneficial)
 Sperm (head vs. tail)
 THE common ancestor
 Inbreeding