"Restless Genes" (Part 2)

"Restless Genes" (Part 2)

from 4:52 in audio

An incentive for those who participate:

The student with the TOP SCORE in each class will be completely exempt from the unit test on Thursday & Friday! Do your best and good luck to all!

Listen and read paragraphs 10-20

• Pay attention to the way the author uses language

• Consider why the author uses specific language and word choice

• Think about how the author is trying to support and develop the central idea

Multiple Choice

Why indeed? Pääbo and other scientists pondering this question are themselves explorers, walking new ground. They know that they might have to backtrack and regroup at any time. They know that any notion about why we explore might soon face revision as their young disciplines —anthropology, genetics, developmental neuropsychology—turn up new fundamentals. Yet for those trying to figure out what makes humans tick, our urge to explore is irresistible terrain. What gives rise to this “madness” to explore? What drove us out from Africa and on to the moon and beyond?

What is the purpose of this paragraph?

• The writer answers all of the rhetorical questions he presents about why humans want to explore by saying "anthropology, genetics, developmental neuropsychology".

• The writer compares scientists to explorers by saying that they walk “new ground,” “backtrack and regroup,” “face revision” of their notions, and are drawn to “terrain.”

• The writer explains the things that make humans want to explore by saying "what makes human tick".

• The writer offers that we can't move forward until we take a look at the past by saying "they might have to backtrack and regroup at any time".

Multiple Choice

Most provocatively, several studies tie 7R to human migration. The first large genetic study to do so, led by Chuansheng Chen of the University of California, Irvine in 1999, found 7R more common in present-day migratory cultures than in settled ones.

What is the effect of the use of the word provocatively in this sentence from paragraph 12?

• It shows how annoying the results of the studies are.

• it shows how tempting the results of the studies are.

• It shows how controversial the results of the studies are.

• It shows how insulting the results of the studies are.

Multiple Choice

“You just can’t reduce something as complex as human exploration to a single gene,” he says, laughing. “Genetics doesn’t work that way.”

Why did the author include the information in paragraph 15?

• To provide an contrasting point of view to strengthen the scope of the claim.

• To provide humor to break up the serious tone by showing laughter.

• To provide an explanation of how genetics works through a statement.

• To provide a unique perspective by discussing other options.

Multiple Choice

Together, says Noonan, these differences compose a set of traits uniquely suited for creating explorers. We have great mobility, extraordinary dexterity, “and, the big one, brains that can think imaginatively.” And each amplifies the others: Our conceptual imagination greatly magnifies the effect of our mobility and dexterity, which in turn stirs our imaginations further.

Which word would best replace the word dexterity as used in the sentence?

• clever

• talent

• sensitivity

• agility

Open Ended

Checkpoint

If you were the author of "Restless Genes" and the editor told you that you needed to add a subtitle to this selection of the article to clarify understanding, what subtitle would you give to paragraphs 10-20?

12 words or less.

Listen and read paragraphs 21-32

• Pay attention to the way the author uses language

• Consider why the author uses specific language and word choice

• Think about how the author is trying to support and develop the central idea

Multiple Choice

What evidence does the author provide to support the idea that different genes give us multiple traits to explore?

• The explanation that humans have a longer childhood than other animals.

• The book that was published titled, "The Scientist in the Crib".

• The historical account of the 1830's Quebec pioneers.

• The example of explorer Ernest Shackleton's adventure.

Multiple Choice

Noonan makes a good case that our big brain and clever hands build a capacity for imagination. Alison Gopnik, a child-development psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, says humans also possess another, less obvious advantage that fosters that imaginative capacity: a long childhood in which we can exercise our urge to explore while we’re still dependent on our parents. We stop nursing roughly a year and a half sooner than gorillas and chimps, and then take a far slower path to puberty—about a decade, compared with the three to five years typical for gorillas and chimps. Dental evidence from Neanderthals suggests they too grew up faster than we do. As a result, we have an unmatched period of protected “play” in which to learn exploration’s rewards.

How are the text structures of this paragraph (23) useful for supporting the overall claim of the article?

• This paragraph uses descriptive text structure to help the reader visualize the relationship between humans and other animals.

• This paragraph uses chronological and sequence text structure to show how much longer human children play than other species.

• This paragraph uses problem and solution text structure to clearly identify that humans would be smarter if children played less.

• This paragraph uses comparison and cause and effect structure to show the differences humans and other similar species.

Multiple Choice

Why purpose does the example of the South American cane toad in paragraph 30 serve to develop the central idea?

• It compares the patterns of amphibians to the patterns of humans to show development.

• It provides an additional example of migratory wave to clarify what the term means.

• It explains why the toads are important to the growth and development of humans.

• It demonstrates how migration patterns effect the length of the toad's legs.

Multiple Choice

Laurent Excoffier, a population geneticist at the University of Bern, thinks something similar occurred with the Quebec loggers. In a 2011 paper Excoffier and some colleagues analyzed centuries of Quebec parish birth, marriage, settlement, and death records and found that the pioneer families behaved and bred in a way that spread both their genes and the traits that drove them to the front. These wave-front couples married and mated sooner than did couples back home, perhaps because they were more impatient folks to begin with and because the frontier gave them access to land and a social atmosphere favorable to starting sooner. This alone produced more children than the “core” families who stayed behind did (9.1 per family versus 7.9, or 15 percent more). And because these children in turn proved likelier to marry early and have more children, each pioneer couple left behind 20 percent more offspring altogether. Twenty percent more offspring produces a huge evolutionary advantage. In this case it rapidly raised the share of these families’ genes and cultures within their own population—and thus within North America’s larger population.

How does the author use paragraph 31 to refine and develop his central idea claim?

• He uses eye witness accounts of pioneer families in Quebec to support his claim.

• He uses charts and graphs that explain the migration patterns of families to support his claim.

• He uses facts and statistics from experts in the field of genetics to support his claim.

• He uses primary source information from the 1830 census to support his claim.

Open Ended

Exit Ticket:

Complete this statement, the central idea of "Restless Genes" is _________________________________________________

because __________________________________________.