The Phylogenetic Tree of Life.
Life forms has come a very long way since it’s beginnings. There have been countless debates between scientists, religions and even common people about how it started and it still goes on even now. Over the millions of years that life has existed until now, evolution has been occurring during many different periods of time. Evolution is simply the exchange of different traits between a group of population which results in variations biochemically, anatomically and even in behavior.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was the man who introduced the ‘Theory of Evolution’, whereby he proposed that all forms of life are related to each other and therefore come from the same ancestor. He also proposed the idea of ‘Natural Selection’ whereby traits and genetic mutations that give survival advantages to the species are preserved and passed down to the next generation. Therefore, an accumulation of these traits from generation to generation over millions of years, forms newer and more improved species and this is called Evolution.
After so many years of evolution, people began creating trees of life whereby a chart is drawn out in the shape of a tree and the branches represent different species of animals or plants. But Charles Darwin was the main person behind the term ‘Tree of Life’ which was basically a universal phylogenetic tree that shows the evolutionary relationships between species and are branched according to their similarities. He basically combine all the kingdoms into one by referring to their universal functions. And they are most usually grouped based on the Ribosomal RNA. The three main branches of the phylogenetic tree include the Bacteria, Archea and Eukarya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horizental-gene-transfer.jpg
The picture above shows the work of Horizontally Transferred Genes. These are genes taken by an organism from another without being the offspring. This was first discovered in 1959 when different types of bacteria had the same antibiotic resistance. This discovery was very important because it shows another way of evolution since the beginning of life. There 3 main ways of horizontally transferring genes. The first way is Transduction whereby genes are transferred from one bacteria to another through viruses. Second is Conjugation whereby genes are exchanged through direct contact of bacterial cells. Third is the Transformation whereby genetic material is changed by taking up DNA or RNA from the surroundings. Horizontal Gene Transfer can also occur in Eukaryotes where it is found to be mainly done through chloroplasts and mitochondria.
Then came the Cambrian Explosion about 530 million years ago which shows the sudden explosion of diversities and animal groups through fossil records. This phenomena has led to many major animal groups that we are aware of now. Some possible causes of this explosion are
– the increase in oxygen levels through photosynthesis of millions of years whereby the oxygen level was very low at first which does not allow the growth of large, more complex organisms.
– Increase of organisms after the ‘Snowball Earth’ whereby the earth suffered massive glaciations which caused massive extinctions.
…and many more possible explanations.
The contradicting thing about this Cambrian Explosion is that it doesn’t match to the Phylogenetic tree because it does not appear to branch from any ancestor.
Evolution have come a very long way, as I have repeated myself multiple times. However not all species and organisms evolve as much as each other. Through fossil records, we can see that some have evolved so significantly and some simply haven’t. There are plenty of factors for this phenomena. Regions on the earth where the species live in can play a huge part. Regions filled with volcanoes or earthquakes will not allow the species to survive and evolve that much as compared to region without much natural disasters. There can also be some species that can survive or withstand ice ages or global warming more than others and therefore have a better chance to mate and evolve. Another reason is just simply because some species do not have any need to evolve.
If you ask me the question of whether the Tree of Life exists, I have to answer you that no one 100% knows. You can only find the answer from any upper divine being. Even if you base the question on facts, I still can’t give you a definite answer because there are contradictions to the supposed Tree of Life. Even up till now, there are still debates on this question.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy has been around for decades and research has been done by countless of scientists even up till now. It is basically a method of treatment used to kill cancerous cells and micro-organisms with the help of chemicals. But the main man and also the person who coined the term, “Chemotherapy” is none other than scientist Paul Erhlich who is deemed the “Father of Chemotherapy” by most people.
Graduation Night 2009
There were ushers to greet and show the directions. The top of the entrance wrote, “Graduation Night, Class Of 2009″, and streams of decorations were put up so beautifully to make just the entrance look like you were entering a palace. Young men and women entered the hall and were greeted by a red carpet, lined with black and white balloons, because the theme was ” Black and White”, and made way to their dinner tables, which were lit by candles.
It was Zhenghua Secondary School’s Graduation Night yesterday, the night where graduating students would come together one last time to commemorate their 4/5 very short but memorable years together in that school. I was glad to be part of it.
Most took pains dressing up, looking for the right outfit, to look suave and chic for this one important night. In the end, everyone looked the best they could, stunning each other…
The night started with a delectable buffet dinner that got everyone going back and forth from their tables to get more. Then, the activities started. It began with a band performance that wasn’t perfect, but got everyone applauding and cheering. The next duet serenaded us with “When You Look Me In The Eyes” by The Jonas Brothers.
A video showing our journey in Zhenghua Secondary Secondary school through a video montage, left many reminiscing. The table games also got everyone at the end of their seats from excitement. Another band performance came after that, followed by a spectacular dance performance by the J.A.C crew.
The raffles draw got everyone hoping to bring something nice home, although i didn’t win anything. At the end of the activities, everyone went around taking their final pictures of their friends, either from their own camera, or the photographer outside the hall.
To the sec 4s, that night of food, games and everyone dressing up, marked an end to a beautiful chapter in their life and the beginning of a new one. Here’s to a wonderful and blessed holiday to you guys!
These are some pictures from the graduation night itself. The quality is really bad, because i “re-took” the pictures throught my phone…
2nd photo: Choir Graduates… I love Choir 😀 (Jenny, Elena and Rasyiqah did not turn up for the event)
3rd photo: Amath class of 2009. One my favourite classes!
4th photo: These are some of my closest friends 😀
5th photo: Mr Mazri and me!
Does God exist?
Just wanted to share this with both christians and non-christians. Quite interesting. Btw, i do believe that God exists. duh.
A professor once asked a class of students.
Professor: I’ll prove to you that if God exists then He is evil.
Professor: Did God create everything that exists? If God created everything, then he created evil, which means God is evil.
Student: Excuse me, professor. Does cold exist?
Professor: What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?
Student: In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we cosider cold, is in reality the absence of heat.
Student: Professor, does darkness exist?
Professor: Of course it does.
Student: You are wrong, darkness does not exist either. Darkness in reality is the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness.
Student: Evil does not exist. It is just like darkness and cold.
Student: God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart.
Clever student. Guess who it was. Albert Einstein.
Choir Camp
I am glad to be back and sitting on a comfy chair even though my whole body is aching from the activities…
Just came back from choir camp and i had a blast despite a few shortcomings of the camp. 😀
This year’s camp committee had very little help from Mr Chen(our instructor) in organizing it, unlike last year when i was in the committee… Therefore, the committee had a lot of stress while doing it… The new members needed lots of help and at times, failed in their tasks… The rest of the choir although had fun, did not follow rules and some even showed disrespect towards the committee.. As a result, Mr Chen issued a harsh punishment to everyone the next day before lunch, with the committee getting extra… His punishment and harsh words left everyone demoralized and a few to tears… The lunch tables were very quiet and had group members consoling each other… However, everyone soon got back into the mood and continued to have fun.. The Sec 4s were also treated to a scrumptious buffet dinner sponsored by the teachers especially for the Sec 4s.. Heard it costed alot, so thanks teachers!
After lights out, there would be a committee meeting with Mr Chen which would go on for hours in staff lounge… They would talk about each and every activity including meals one by one and in every acitivity that had problems, be it having the activity too long or having the activity not organized properly, the committee would be reprimanded… Then, they talked about the activities the next day, about how to improve their tasks and how the activities ties to the objectives of the camp… The meeting ended at 4am on the first day and at 2am on the next day…
Overall, the camp was more or less successful. Everyone got to know each other better and leadership and teamwork was instilled in each and everyone of them. My group won The Amazing Race, showed the most amazing teamwork at the chair game(until even mr chen was very impressed) and was one of the 2 groups who survived the egg bomb game…
This wonderful camp brings an end to the Sec 4’s choir life in Zhenghua Secondary School. Congratulations to the Camp Committee of 2009 on giving everyone the best you could give despite the intense amount of stress you guys had to go through, thank you.
Singapore Idol, no thumbs up.
Another movie marathon that i missed today again coz i had to go church la… not sure if they cancelled it or not..
Yesterday we celebrated Lola’s and Jun Yu’s birthday at the Kia Hiang Restaurant… Kia Hiang is “jia xiang” in cantonese… Rmb the commercial about the JIA XIANG JIA XIANG MIAN MIAN MIAN!… ya… at first i was like wat the hell, birthday dinner at some restaurant that sells only noodles… LOL… But actually it was at a Chinese restaurant and we got a room to ourselves instead of sitting outside with other people… In the end, there was a “servant” to wait on us and there was a karaoke system inside too…. haha.. the rather funny thing was, when i went to the toilet, i noticed that everyone was seated as far away from our room as possible bcoz we were too noisy.. LOL.. quite embarrassing… everytime we open the door, everyone will look at us… LOL..
Guess what, everyone in my family got new phones except me. Well, i got mine like 2 months ago la that’s why. My sis got an LG Secret, my dad got an N97 and my mom got a Sony Ericsson Satio… poop.
Oh yes, Singapore Idol is falling i feel. All the good ones are being voted out like Fathin, Nurul and Mae… I think i know why, because Singapore does not vote for talent, most of them vote on how appealing the contestants are. The lousy guys are still in because of the crazy singaporean girls-tweets who only vote because of how they look i guess…. Maybe that was what happened in Asian Idol when Hady Mirza won.. I just think there are more deserving ones… No Offence to anyone again ya. 😀
Happy Birthday!
Spent the day playing monopoly and UNO with my sister and she beat me at monopoly.. what a shame. LOL.
There’s a dinner tonight at (i don’t know where yet) to celebrate my cousin’s and my grandmother’s birthday.. Because of this, i had to skip Shahidah’s post-exam party at her house.. poop.
I just remembered something from the comments of multiple friends on facebook… Graduation Night is a chance for us to come together one last time and bid our farewells to each other, so stop dampening the mood.. So what if it’s not at a grand hotel like it used to be, stop being so “materialistic” la(don’t know what other word to use to describe). No offence to anyone ya, i’m just speaking my mind 😀
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called for His purpose” Romans 8:28
This is better than blogger..
Yup, i created a blogger-blog last week but decided to switch to wordpress today… haha… WordPress looks more appealing to me that’s why…
-Choir camp’s next week(YAY!)
– Grad. night’s next week too and i haven’t gotten an outfit
Watching The Amazing Race now and am rooting for Sam and Dan, but Dan’s an ass now. Survivor’s after TAR too, i love fridays. 😀
Why must it be MARIO brothers. 
