Biology Week 2

Evo-Devo

Evolutionary Developmental Biology is an important development in our understanding of our world and our origins. We can understand the vast network of creation through acknowledging our common origin as amoeba at the bottom of the ocean. My only critique of many proponents of evolution is that there is an assumption that the species evolving get better, in an absolute sense, instead of better adjusting to their specific environment. In Week 1, we discussed how scientists assumed that other animals were not as intelligent as human beings--only to discover that they were using the wrong metric to assess the intelligence of another species. In this way, our understanding of evolution is very much based in power: it is very anthropocentric and Eurocentric. While evolutionary biology is important to understand, all of the branches of science are in need of a decolonizing process, where the epitome of evolution isn't described as a European male.

Synesthesia

I imagine we all experience synesthesia to an extent. Likely, the creation of symbols have something to do with perceiving certain numbers, letters or dates as having personalities or relating colors. The most prevalent discourse on synesthesia says that about 4.4 % of the population has some form of synesthesia. Synesthesia can either be genetic or acquired. Genetically, it is a recessive trait, as per the laws of Mendelian transmission. (Likely, we have all drawn a four square chart of our parents traits to see the likelihood of us receiving them, at some point.) Acquired synesthesia can be caused by trauma to the brain, neurological disorders, sensory deprivation or use of psychoactive substances. (1) Synesthesia is often found in individuals on the autism spectrum.

This article from Vox discusses a 'new' type of synesthesia which results from watching GIFs. Even without sound, our brains produce a sound that would likely accompany the picture we are watching. While with GIFs we are given a lot more cues for the other sensations that may arise from a solitary number or day of the year, I think this recent research shows that are brains expect to experience whole and complete phenomena. When pictures and motion go unaccompanied with sound, we replace the sound with our memories. I imagine a similar process arises with numbers and dates and letters. I imagine the numbers in the address of the first home you lived in have a different significance than homes you occupy later in life; that dates take on numinous meaning because of the events and emotional imprints that surrounded them.

I also imagine that culturally, we experience some level of synesthesia: that the number 13 is considered unlucky, or that yellow is a happy color. These correlations, we take for granted, but point to the brain's desire to make patterns and connect varying sensory input to each other.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286234/