Biology 202 Web Paper 2

            A hobby that is as dangerous as it is exhilarating is that of mountain climbing.

Given that I am entering the culmination of my Bryn Mawr education as a second semester senior, complete with the juggling of thesis and classwork which such an academic role entails, it should come as no surprise that my thoughts are never far from the end of times. Indulging in my fatalism is rapidly becoming my favorite form of procrastination, and whenever I have successfully dodged a volley of questions about my uncertain, post-graduation, future, I find myself visiting my favorite apocalyptic website, Exit Mundi, to give me hope that maybe the world will end tomorrow and I won’t have to worry about assignments, job searches or graduate school. “Giggle!” is by far my favorite end scenario: a world run by women due largely to the fragile nature of that which makes the stronger sex -- the Y-chromosome. Exit Mundi explains that the X-chromosome “hates” the Y and has consequently unleashed an uncompromising attack upon him, reducing him to a mere nubbin of genetic material.(6) But how can coils of genes resent, much less damage, each other? What is going on here? Is the Y-chromosome really under attack, and will this battle result in the eradication of the human male?

Runner’s High, Endorphins and Doubts

A February 2008 internet posting1 in the New York Times online included a brief talk by Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist working in the “mind lab” at Harvard University’s Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Taylor recalls in vivid detail what she consciously experienced during a stroke brought about by a hemorrhage in her left brain hemisphere. She had, according to the Times, a “front-row seat on the deterioration of the brain”.2

There is a long-standing debate as to whether or not nonhuman animals experience emotion. Serious debaters of this issue represent varying fields of thought, from veterinary medicine to religion. Do other species lack the chemical or neurological capacity to receive such signals? Are we that different?

Those outside the field of veterinary medicine may not know, but our brain chemistry is so similar to that of dogs that behavioral disorders are treated with the same

Since as early as 15,000 years ago, humans have played a part in the species differentiation between dogs and wolves. Dogs, or canis familiaris was the first species to be domesticated, at least several thousands years before any other animal or plant species (Leonard, Vila and Wayne). From centuries of selective breeding more than 400 distinct breeds of dogs have been produced that differ greatly in morphology (form and structure, such as body size, coat length and color), behavior, and disease susceptibility. (Parker, Sutter, and Ostrander). The holding of dog shows and the later establishment of the kennel clubs in Britain, America, and France in the late 19th and early 20th century have had a generative effect on pedigree dog breeding and showing throughout the world (Sampson and Binns). These breeds have developed not from natural selection, but from selection by humans for various uses in different societies, leading to different proclivities for certain behaviors like retrieving, herding, and guarding, between breeds. Natural selection and geographic separation may have also contributed to genetic differentiation, resulting in additional breeds. Even within a breed exists variability between individual dogs in their suitability as pets or working dogs, which reflects the heterogenic background of dog breeds (Giger, Sargan, & McNiegel).