Evolution Spring 2021

For this blog, I have chose diabetes. Diabetes is prevalent all across the United States and its numbers are... alarming.  Sure, Type 1 Diabetes in unavoidable and is not contributed to lifestyle. But, Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is another story.  We see T2D on the rise here in America and world-wide, actually. This can be due to an increased sedentary lifestyle, as well as the nutrition habits of the patient. In Asians, we see an increase in T2D if they consume excessive amounts of carbohydrates and/or have very little physical activity (Hu, 2001).  In this 2004 article, Klein and colleagues touch on the fact that BMI has an incredible impact on the likelihood of developing T2D. A patient with a BMI of greater than 35 is twenty times more likely to develop T2D (Klein et al., 2004). Cue the head-exploding emoji. That is just WILD. How to people develop a BMI over 35? Well, fast food, soda, junk food, and everything unhealthy that is advertised online and in stores. American's ...

All through my schooling, I have thought that it take so long for a new species to form. I mean, from Darwin's ideas on speciation, he pointed out that it is a long, drawn out process in order for speciation to occur. But, I don't think that's the full story here. We can see reproductive isolation in environments that are spatially separated (Hendry et al., 2007). This 2007 article examines the speed of speciation in relation to contemporary evolution and ecological speciation. This article aims to show the reader that speciation can occur in 100 generations or less (which is relatively fast!). This article also points out that speciation is a  process , not an endpoint (Hendry et al., 2007). Darwin also addressed this. But what most scientists classify as speciation is reproductive isolation, a.k.a the lack of interbreeding.  I believe this lack of interbreeding can occur very quickly, unlike what Darwin postulated. In this 2007 article, they point out that  Helianthus a...