Tuesday, February 26, 2013

PBS NOVA Quest

           This short video touched on the beginning factors of the tree of life. Starting with the basic recipe of RNA, which links all living things together. In other words, below the tree of life are the roots which is composed of the chemical bases of life. When these chemicals are combined in a certain fashion in the right environment you can create the bases of an RNA strand.

          Later, I was able to go in a completely different direction and watch a short film documenting the evolution of laughter. The film started out by explaining why human babies laugh? This question can be answered in one simple yet complex word and that is survival. Since newborns are so weak and defenseless they use laughter to help persuade parents that their cherubic appearance is no act. As the zoologist went deeper into the origins of laughter they were able to create an accurate timeline of laughter. This timeline consisted of orangutan, bonobo, and finally humans. However, the laughter of humans is a bit more complicated then the laughter of primates. For example, human laughter can act as a "glue" which connects one and other and has helped made us more successful as a species. Highlighting this factor is simple because it can be some up by looking at human interaction in a romantic perspective. For example, by husband and wife laughing they create a bond or trust which would allow them to reproduce and the population would therefor evolve.

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