cynthiaguzma's blog

The ergot theory, which is presented in the video “The Witches Curse,” suggests that ergot played a role during the Salem Witch Trials. An event that led to the prosecution and deaths of multiple people who were accused of being witches. Linnda Caporeal claims that ergot, which is a fungus that grows on grains, led to the bizarre behavior which was exhibited in those who were said to be bewitched. Ergot releases a toxin that leads to the disease, ergotism, and has multiple types of symptoms that consist of hallucinations, gangrene limbs, and strange behavior. This disease not only affects humans but can affect animals as well. Caporeal pointed out various similarities between the disease and the bewitchment victims that linked ergot to the trials. This theory provides sufficient evidence in order to make it a plausible explanation for what had happened during the year of 1692.

Prion diseases can affect humans as well as animals and can be transferred to humans by the consumption of meat infected with the disease. Prion diseases are a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders. A commonly known one is mad cow disease. These diseases are caused by a misfolded protein called PrP.  The normal function of this protein is not fully understood. The prion form of this protein is called PrPsc, the normal form of it is called PrPc. Many different mammals can be affected by these diseases since the prion protein is very similar across multiple different mammals. The problem with this disease that can be found in meat is that the prions cannot be destroyed using the usual methods, boiling, autoclaving, and radiation will not get rid of the prions. This disease can lead to holes in the brain and eventually to death. There are various different symptoms of this including, seizures, slurred speech, and memory loss.

During lab today, I looked at several different bones of varying species all of which were mammals. The main focus of the lab was to be able to identify the bones as well as trying to understand the skull morphology. Being able to identify between an anapsid, diapsid, and synapsid was one of the goals of the activity. There were three skulls laid out in front of me which consisted of a goat skull, turtle skull, and crocodile skull. An anapsid skull would be lacking an opening in its skull called temporal fenestrae. The turtle skull is an example of an anapsid, the turtle when consuming food is not able to chew it. This is because it lacks the opening which is where jaw muscles are able to attach. An example of a diapsid would be the crocodile.  A diapsid skull contains two openings on both sides of the skull, these openings are where muscles are able to attach allowing crocodiles to move their mouths up and down when chewing. The third example is of a synapsid is a goat skull. The goat skull contains a large opening where multiple muscles are allowed to attach. Mammals are synapsid and therefore able to move their mouth up and down as well as side to side when chewing. The opening called the temporal fenestrae is the key factor in determining what type of skull it is. 

The larva is still confined inside the plastic container and is the same length as a grain of rice. The larva is also no longer a larva but a pupa, something that I had mentioned in the previous entry. The pupa has a hard exterior when moved around the container it sounds as if I was moving around a grain of rice. The exterior of the pupa is still a dark brown color but upon closer inspection I have noticed a white ring forming on one end of it. The pupa has small little indentations that circle around it, some of which have a white powdery substance on them. The one end that appears white is also very powdery, but the middle of it is not. This middle contains a bunch of little black dots and also is cut off very bluntly opposed to the other end that tapers off. A part of me started wondering if this was actually a pupa and not a dead wax worm.

In lab today we looked at several different bones of different animals and focused on trying to label the bones. There was a lot of different information present but there were specific facts that stuck out in my head. We focused on what organisms were called when there were holes near the temple of the skull. Animals such as turtles would be considered an an anapsid. Meaning that they don't have holes near the temple of their skull which means that it's harder for them to move their jaws since the muscles don't attatch through the hole of the temples if their is no hole. A diapsid is a crocodile or a lizard, an animal that has two holes in their skull. This means that they are able to move thier jaw up and down and they are able to chew, something that turtles are not able to do. The other type is a synapsid which are mammals, there is a larger opening in the skull. This allows for mammals to chew and move their jaw up and down as well as side to side.

Relative to the common ancestor of mammals that bear live young the group that has been evolving for the longest amount of time is all of them. All of the mammals on the phylogenetic tree have been evolving for the same amount of time. This is because they all share a common ancestor and since the beginning of this common ancestor they have all started evolving. Going back mammal-like reptiles started evolving 250 million years ago. About 66 million years ago is when there started being more changes and that is when mammals really started changing. So although there are a lot of differences that have been acquired over time within the mammals in the phylogenetic group they all originated at the same time. 

Although it is true that whales have flukes instead of hindlimbs this does not mean that whales do not belong in a monophyletic group of mammals that have hindlimbs. The reason being that early whales did in fact have legs. Even though they no longer possess these hindlimbs it does not take away from the fact that whales once did have them. Occasionally there are whales born with vestiges of these limbs. Whales losing their limbs is just one example of a dramatic evolutionary change, something that has happened countless of times to different species.

I've been holding onto the larva since the last class that was held and there has been a dramatic change in the appearence of the larva. When I brought the larva back into my room I put it on top of my desk and to the side I did not want to keep disturbing it, I wanted to see how it would be reacting without any type of interference. As the day progressed I noticed that it no longer moved around the perimter of the container as a matter of fact it did not move at all. The larva remained off to the side of the container without any movements. This was a huge difference when compared to how it acted before, during class the larva moved rather quickly around the perimeter. Now it was staying still. Even when picking up the container the larva did not make any type of movement. This changed the day after, this is when I started seeing some action from the larva once again it kept busy and moved around the container. This monday the larva no longer moved at all, instead it decided to pupate. It's a dark brown color and when I move it around the container I can tell it is surrounded by a hard shell. It took about four days of having it in order to have this transformation occur. 

Wolves (Canis lupus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) are all separate species. Although there are times in which the species interbreed this is because of the fact that all of the species are similar enough. The article mentions that even modern humans today have some traces of Homo neaderthalensisas well as Denisova homininsgenes mixed in their genomes. The fact that they can interbreed with one another does not make them a single species. Their interbreeding occurs when there is not enough of one species in the area and what this leads to is more variation among the species. Although wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs share very similar genes there still is enough variation to make them separate species. 

The organism appears to be about an inch in length and had small rings circling its entire body. These rings protruded from its body. The organism tends to stick to moving around the perimeter of the container by digging one end of its body onto the surface and dragging the rest of its body forward. The end it uses to move contained a small tip where the width of the organism ended up thinning out. This tip was black and sensed the surrounding area before it continued moving. The other end of the organism is a lot thicker and contains two red dots that frame the end. The overall color of the organism is a light tan and it contains a translucent shiny layer around the cloudy interior. The organism appears to be a larva of some sort.