The Change of Hominids

Over time, Hominids have changed dramatically. This did not happen spontaneously but through evolution. Through a skull lab I completed in school, I saw the changes occuring through the lab. The bone ridge on the top of the cranium of the skulls. Some of the ridges were really large, yet others were not even there. The fang teeth or the canine teeth also varied in size and length. Some like the chimpanzees, have longer canine teeth than Homo Sapiens do. One peculiar trait that I like is the Foramen Magnum (the hole of where the spinal cord links to the brain). Some of the skulls have the Foramen Magnum underneath. Others like Homo Sapiens have it towards the rear. that is why Homo Sapiens can lift their heads higher.

Microevolution

There are big changes and little changes in DNA. Mutations are the big changes and small gene cross overs are the little changes. Based on a pedigree we did in biology class, I discovered that some traits change going from one generation to another. In this case, it is not something that has to do with dominant or recessive traits. It involves trait variations such as being able to bare the cold more then your parents. The point is, is that the change in the genes you get from your parents varies but does not vary that much. These changes are small but over time leads to microevolution.

Genscope

In the program Genscope I was able to fool around with chromosomes of a dragon. In a female dragon, her chromosomes where X and Y. In a guy, his chromosome was just X. There were recessive and dominant traits in a dragon. For example, the traits for horns was HH or Hh. Other traits such as wings, was ww. When I manually changed the chromosomes, I discovered that if you had a small a and a small b together for a color trait, the dragon would end up dead. The dominances of dragon legs was very interesting. If a dragon was homozygous for the trait, the dragon would have 4 legs. I a dragon was heterozygous for the trait, the dragon would have 2 legs. Usually its homozygous and heterozygous look the same in the phenotypes. I guess its different in dragons.

Body Fluids

There are many ways to detect body fluids. Although this is so, four basic questions must be asked. This helps determine some factors in a crime case.
The four questions are:
1. Are the stains blood, semen, saliva, or some other substance?
2. Are the stains from a human or other animal?
3. Who or what is the source of the stain?
4. How, why, and when did they get deposited on items associated with the scene?

Now, here are some ways to detect body fluids. By using a fluorescent, mercury vapor, or sodium light blood spots can be found. This used when white light is not available. White light is the best source of light for investigating. The reason the other sources are used is because under those sources, any read object will show a bluish light. It won’t look red. This is also used to detect stains that are not visible. Sometimes a crime scene can be bloodless. This would probably be because an exit wound is blocked. Until the body is moved there will be no blood found. That’s some information for my readers.