Marianne Duer Alvarez
BIOL 1408.71061
Dr. Rukhsana Sultana
25 Oct. 2015
"In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier than Previously Known"
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Invitation to Biology." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Life's Chemical Basis." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Molecules of Life." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Zimmer, Carl. "In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier Than Previously Known." The New York Times: Science. The New York Times Company, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. .
An article published in The New York Times, "In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier Than …show more content…
In "Invitation to Biology", the classification of prokaryotes and eukaryotes was emphasized, and bacteria's structure was discussed. Knowing that a bacterial cell does not have organelle membranes helped me understand that the transmission of bubonic plague bacteria was not as complicated as I once thought. A topic covered in "Life's Chemical Basis" was isotopes and how scientists use carbon dating to figure out how old an object is; it is relevant to the article in that they had to use this, among other methods, to trace back the age of the bones that they found. The article also speaks about DNA which is composed of nucleic acid, and, thus, nucleotides - things that the "Molecules of Life" covered. Knowing what DNA actually is and the fact that it contains all the genetic material helped me understand how the scientists were able to conclude that the bacterial DNA that they had found was linked to the genetic information of the bubonic plague. Overall, having background knowledge on the contributing topics allowed me to have a more holistic understanding of Zimmer's …show more content…
I chose this article because new discoveries about past history interests me, and it should interest others due to the fact that it could impact the way pathogens and diseases are treated. Knowing the history of one thing almost always leads to an improvement in future dealings with it. On one hand, I was impressed to find out how technology has really allowed us to learn more about our ancestors and the struggles they had to deal with. Furthermore, science and technology have also answered questions that we have had. By this, I mean that prior to this study, we assumed that the bubonic plague started in the feudalistic societies and we did not know exactly what caused the death of previous societies. Now that this study was conducted and released, we know that a factor of their extinction is due to the bubonic plague that begun much farther back in history. If I were in charge of the information provided by the article, I would certainly encourage all researchers to seek answers in the "left overs" - non-human DNA. Clearly, the scientists' further research led to a major discovery; some extra time spent on non-human DNA could potentially lead to many more ground-breaking findings. Beyond this article, I would like to find out more about other plagues that impacted indigenous societies and the kind of transmission that allowed the spread of
BIOL 1408.71061
Dr. Rukhsana Sultana
25 Oct. 2015
"In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier than Previously Known"
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Invitation to Biology." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Life's Chemical Basis." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Sultana, Rukhsana. "Molecules of Life." North Lake College. North Campus, Coppell. Sep. 2015. Lecture.
Zimmer, Carl. "In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier Than Previously Known." The New York Times: Science. The New York Times Company, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. .
An article published in The New York Times, "In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier Than …show more content…
In "Invitation to Biology", the classification of prokaryotes and eukaryotes was emphasized, and bacteria's structure was discussed. Knowing that a bacterial cell does not have organelle membranes helped me understand that the transmission of bubonic plague bacteria was not as complicated as I once thought. A topic covered in "Life's Chemical Basis" was isotopes and how scientists use carbon dating to figure out how old an object is; it is relevant to the article in that they had to use this, among other methods, to trace back the age of the bones that they found. The article also speaks about DNA which is composed of nucleic acid, and, thus, nucleotides - things that the "Molecules of Life" covered. Knowing what DNA actually is and the fact that it contains all the genetic material helped me understand how the scientists were able to conclude that the bacterial DNA that they had found was linked to the genetic information of the bubonic plague. Overall, having background knowledge on the contributing topics allowed me to have a more holistic understanding of Zimmer's …show more content…
I chose this article because new discoveries about past history interests me, and it should interest others due to the fact that it could impact the way pathogens and diseases are treated. Knowing the history of one thing almost always leads to an improvement in future dealings with it. On one hand, I was impressed to find out how technology has really allowed us to learn more about our ancestors and the struggles they had to deal with. Furthermore, science and technology have also answered questions that we have had. By this, I mean that prior to this study, we assumed that the bubonic plague started in the feudalistic societies and we did not know exactly what caused the death of previous societies. Now that this study was conducted and released, we know that a factor of their extinction is due to the bubonic plague that begun much farther back in history. If I were in charge of the information provided by the article, I would certainly encourage all researchers to seek answers in the "left overs" - non-human DNA. Clearly, the scientists' further research led to a major discovery; some extra time spent on non-human DNA could potentially lead to many more ground-breaking findings. Beyond this article, I would like to find out more about other plagues that impacted indigenous societies and the kind of transmission that allowed the spread of