I read the
article entitled Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky
Bugs. This article is about the fact that scientists have been searching for
many years to discover why zebras have black and white stripes. There has never
been a clear, proven hypothesis until now. Researches and the University of
California Davis have discovered that the reason that zebras have evolved to
have black and white stripes is because they ward of bugs. Their statement of
research is: “The scientists found that biting
flies, including horseflies and tsetse flies, are the evolutionary driver for
zebra's stripes. Experimental work had previously shown that such flies tend to
avoid black-and-white striped surfaces.” (Caro, 2014) Scientists have been
studying the phenomenon of zebra stripes for hundreds of years, proposing
hypotheses such as their camouflage, their confusion for attackers, heat
management, and their display for social interaction, but nothing has been
proven until the hypothesis regarding bugs. The team at UC Davis’ research
included travelling to many different areas of the world known to house many
wild zebras and testing each hypothesis and comparing them to results from
elsewhere in the world. After many trials, the only hypothesis left standing
was that the zebras have evolved with stripes because they repel bugs. They
found that in areas of higher insect population, there is more striping on the
body of local zebras. The only part of this discovery that still confuses
scientists is why these flies avoid black and white striped areas.
This
article is important to science because it has proven a reason for the
evolution of a very common and striking animal. Everyone knows that a zebra is
striped, but until now, no one knew why. This can prove that evolution is very
complicated and can even take professional scientists many years to uncover. A
discovery like this could lead to more improvement on the discovery of the
evolution of other animals, which could change the way we see an evolutionary
tree now. This will also allow us to dive deeper into the evolution of these
specific flies and hopefully help discover why certain bugs dislike black and
white striped surfaces.
I
think this article was very interesting and was written very well. I especially
liked how the author described all of the hypotheses that the team had made and
described that they had gone through a trial and error process to discover the
true reason for the stripes on the zebra. It made this article much more
relatable knowing that scientists discover things in the same way that many of
us do and the same way we do in the classroom. Overall, I really enjoyed
reading about this topic and I hope that in the near future research will be
started about the bugs’ dislike for black and white striped surfaces.
Caro, Tim. "Scientists Solve the
Riddle of Zebras' Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140401112111.htm>.
The review by my Sabine on the article “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs” by Tim Caro is an interesting read. The article is about how scientists have found definitive evidence as to why exactly zebras evolutionarily developed stripes. They have tested many hypotheses before, but never found any evidence to back the hypotheses. However, they have found evidence for the bug hypothesis. Sabine did a good job with describing the way the scientists proved their bug hypothesis. I would have thought the experiments done were much more complex, but are actually fairly simple. Sabine also did a good job with connecting the discovery to evolution. When first hearing of this, I would not have connected the zebra’s development of stripes as a purely evolutionary trait. Sabine has a good mind to have connected this. Sabine also did a good job with connecting the discovery to the flies’ evolution as to why they stay away from stripes. I would not have seen this discovery as relating to the flies, but Sabine did.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sabine’s review is well written, it could have some improvements. For example, Sabine could have included some more quotes from the article itself. Quotes help to strengthen the argument and provide credibility. Sabine could have also talked a bit more on how evolution would favor zebras who repel bugs over those who don’t. It was good that she brought up evolution, but she could have elaborated on it. Even with there problems, Sabine’ review is not very hurt.
Sabine’s article definitely brought up an interesting topic that I would have never had thought would have a scientific explanation. Zebra’s having stripe was never a topic that interested me, but relating it to evolution brings a whole new topic of curiosity. Sabine’s review is definitely a good read.
I read the review by Sabine on the article, “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs.” The article talks about the fact that scientists have been searching for many years to discover why zebras have black and white stripes. Researchers at the U of California Davis have discovered that it’s because they ward of bugs. Sabine did a great job talking about other hypotheses that were thought to be the reasons for the stripes, including camouflage, their confusion for attackers, and even heat management. Another thing I liked that Sabine did to enhance her article review was how she connected the zebras trait of stripes to evolution. Lastly I liked how Sabine said this discovery has pushed scientists to research further why bugs dislike black and white stripes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sabine’s review is very well written, there a few things she could have done differently to make perfect. Sabine could have definitely increased the number of quotes she used from the article in her review. Quotes from an article show credibility and make the reader more engaged. Another thing Sabine could have done differently is do her own research about why bugs dislike black and white stripes. I feel like if she had that added to her review it would really bring it all together.
I think this article was very interesting considering growing up as a kid, an argument almost every child has is whether or not zebras are black with white stripes or white with black stripes. Before this article I never really thought deeply about why zebras had these stripes I just thought it “was the way it was supposed to be.” I was very surprised to see zebras are colored based on avoiding bugs.
I read Sabine’s review of the article “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs”. The article was about the discovery of the reason why zebras have black and white stripes. The question has longed plagued scientists, who have tried to figure out the reason why stripes would occur. According to Darwin’s natural selection, there should be some sort of evolutionary advantage to stripes. Scientists have hypothesized that they help with the heat, or camouflage, however no other answer has ever had so much evidence to back it up as its use as a bug repellant. It has been proven that bugs that bite, like horse flies, avoid the black and white stripe pattern. I thought that Sabine did a fantastic job keeping the review concise, while at the same time extremely informative. I was able to clearly pick out all of the key information. I also thought that she did a great job relaying the importance of such a discovery. I myself have always wondered why Zebra’s look the way they do. You would think that their colors would make them stand out in the environment, which would be an obvious detriment to their chance of survival. It is interesting to know that the answer has to do with bugs. I also enjoyed how Sabine described the impact that this has had on bugs, which have had to adapt to the zebras’ colors.
ReplyDeleteI think Sabine could have improved her review by including a few quotes. Quotes are extremely helpful in summarizing an article. It also helps to strengthen the writer’s argument. I also thought Sabine could have tried to do a little bit of research on the change in the appearance of zebras over time. How have their stripes changed? When did the white and black pattern first appear? It would have been great if Sabine included a few points like these.
I have always wondered why zebras look the way they do, so Sabine’s summary was very interesting to me. I had no idea that something as small and seemingly insignificant as bugs could have such an impressive impact on the appearance of an animal.
I think my peer Sabine Abukhadra did a phenomenal job reviewing the Science Daily article titled, “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs.” One thing I think she did particularly well was giving a detailed explanation of the results of the experiment. By laying out the key points of what this article was really about, it helped the reader get a quick and insightful view of this experiment. Another thing I think she did well was giving an extensive overview of the steps of the experiment. By providing bullet points of the key parts of the UC Davis research, it helped condense the original article down to the necessary points. A final thing I think she did well was putting out new questions to think about and proposing other schools of thought. While reading the article, I was wondering why insects are repelled by black and white striped surfaces; evidently Sabine felt the same way. I was happy I was not the only one.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she did many things well, there are some things she could have improved upon. One thing I think she could have done more of is the incorporation of quotes from the original article. Despite having one very detailed and important quote, I think she could have added in more to give a more personal touch from the original article. Another thing I think she could have done better was delivering a more elaborate explanation on why this discovery changes the way we think about evolution. I feel as if discoveries like this are very interesting but not game changing. Maybe, Sabine could have expanded a little bit more.
Overall, I think Sabine did a great job reviewing a very interesting article. I think this article relates to our class as a whole as we just finished our evolution topic. It is immensely interesting to see how certain species have evolved but sadly this one discovery has prompted a new question; why do these bugs hate black and white striped surfaces. The world may never know.
Sabine wrote an excellent review on the discovery that that the reason that zebras have evolved to have black and white stripes is because they ward of bugs. Firstly, she laid out the subject of the article in a very logical way. She started with the past hypotheses and studies of zebra stripes and progressed into the current hypothesis. My only question after this summary was why the scientists are so sure of this new hypothesis, which Sabine promptly answered, “They found that in areas of higher insect population, there is more striping on the body of local zebras.” Sabine added to her argument by including quotes from researchers, such as, “The scientists found that biting flies, including horseflies and tsetse flies, are the evolutionary driver for zebra's stripes. Experimental work had previously shown that such flies tend to avoid black-and-white striped surfaces” (Caro, 2014).
ReplyDeleteSabine made a solid point that this discovery can prove that evolution is very complicated and can even take professional scientists many years to uncover. However, she could have elaborated on how, “a discovery like this could lead to more improvement on the discovery of the evolution of other animals.” Also, she perhaps could have taken less directly from the article and paraphrased a little more.
Overall I was very impressed with Sabine’s review because it was well written and taught me a lot. One thing I learned was that this subject has been widely studied for a long time. I didn’t realize that scientists have been studying the phenomenon of zebra stripes for hundreds of years, proposing many different hypotheses.
I read Sabine’s article “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebras’ Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs”. I think she did a great job summarizing the main points and ideas of the article. I was left with no confusion about why the author wrote the article and where they plan on going with the information they have. She also did a good job explaining why this article is important to science and humans. I found it very interesting how a study on zebra’s stripes could lead to further knowledge on bugs. It really puts the idea that everything in life is connected into perspective. A third thing I think Sabine did well was continuing to explain the article in her critique. I found it helpful how she talked about aspects that she didn’t summarize earlier, like the trial and error process and the way scientists test things in the same manner as we do.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I loved reading Sabine’s summary and I thought she did a great job, there were two things I thought she could’ve done better. While reading it I found a few grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, that could’ve been fixed with a proofreading. But, the point she was trying to make was still clear. Another thing I thought Sabine could’ve done is added another quote or two. It would’ve been nice to incorporate the article in it just a little more as a frame of reference.
I found the whole idea of this article really interesting and I never heard about it before. I never thought about zebras and how their stripe number varies. It’s strange to know that the reason for the stripes is to avoid bugs, although it makes sense. It also makes me wonder how scientists never figured this out till now, and I’m curious to what information will follow this discovery.
I really enjoyed reading Sabine’s review of the article Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs by Tim Caro. First, I thought her summary was written very well. I hadn’t heard about this research before, but Sabine’s summary was so thorough that I didn’t need to have any prior knowledge on the subject to understand what she was talking about. She also chose a great quote to include in her review. After briefly introducing the topic, she used a quote that stated the scientists’ findings. This was a great way to add credibility and effectively express the results of the experiments. A third thing Sabine did well in her review was conveying the importance of the article on the whole. Her second paragraph really connects the findings to evolution and shows why they are important to science in general.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sabine wrote an excellent review, she could have made it even better in a couple of ways. For example, she could have used more quotes. The one that she included really added to the quality of the review, so adding a few more well-chosen quotes would have made it even better. I also thought Sabine could have included some outside information on how evolution would favor the bug-repelling zebras, or she could have expanded on how similar research could be used to learn more about the evolution of other animals as well.
Before reading Sabine’s review, I had never heard of research on this topic. I never stopped to think that zebras had stripes for evolutionary reasons, but it obviously makes a lot of sense. I was impressed, therefore, that scientists were able to discover the bug-repelling advantages of having black and white stripes.
I read Sabine’s current events report on the article, “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs,” by Tim Caro. Sabine did a great job reviewing the very interesting article regarding the reason for the black and white stripes on zebras. Her integration of the direct quote from the scientific study gave her piece validity and strengthened her argument. One thing that Sabine did especially well was that she set up what the scientists were trying to figure out, what they now understand, and the questions that they still have. Most current events reviews are missing the background information or the future of the research, but her report had both. Sabine’s connection between how the scientist’s experiments were done and how we perform labs in school was very interesting and took her review to a more relatable level. Sabine wrote a very good review on Caro’s article that left me wanting to know how the research will evolve.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Sabine did a great job on her review, there were a few things I think she could have done better. I wish that she would have discussed how zebras in different areas have less or more stripes than others, because that part of the research I found to be very important. I also would have liked to see her include one or two more quotes, especially one from the author of the article and not just one of the research scientists. Regardless, Sabine did a wonderful job reviewing and analyzing this article.
The topic of this article is very interesting and I found Sabine’s summary and review to compliment the original article very well. While everyone knew that zebras were stripped, I did not know that the scientific reason behind that was unknown. The process for the testing was very interesting as well, as the scientists went at it from the approach of the bugs rather than the zebras. I look forward to learning what makes the bugs unattracted to stripped surfaces.
I read Sabine’s review on the article called “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs”, which focused on scientists research on the discovery of the reasoning behind zebra stripes. One thing that I thought she did well was present all of the information that the article presented in a clear and direct way. This gave me no confusion, which would usually result in me having to read the article itself. Secondly, I enjoyed how she related it back to a topic we have previously discussed in our class. Evolution is something that we might never know the full truth behind, especially with cases we believe should be as simple as this. It’s fascinating to see that researchers are still trying to grasp the idea of evolution. Lastly, I thought that the article that was chosen was very interesting and I didn’t know anything about it before. It’s great to learn and hear about new things in the science world that you wouldn’t normally hear about on the news or in a newspaper. Although Sabine’s review was well written, there were a few things she could have improved on. First, I would have liked to possibly hear something that the writer of the main article could have improved on or elaborated. Also, I think it would have been more interesting if she added more direct quotes from researchers or scientists that the article mentioned. Overall, I found the whole topic concerning zebras was a great one to choose over others. I have always thought that the reasoning for the zebra stripes was to help them camouflage and to confuse their predators, something that she had mentioned in her review. It’s amazing to see that something as simple as bugs as caused an animal to completely change their physical appearance in order to increase their survival rate and to prolong the life of their species.
ReplyDeleteI read Sabine’s review of the article “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs”. The article was about the discovery of the reason why zebras have black and white stripes. Researchers at the U of California Davis have come to the conclusion that it is because the strips help ward off bugs. Sabine also did a presented a good argument on how this connects to evolution. However upon hearing this it makes sense that the strips would allow some sort of evolutionary advantage or else they would not have survived natural selection. Also, Sabine was able to make her argument stronger with the incorporation of quotes from the article. This enables us as readers to believe that what Sabine is saying is true because it is coming from a reliable source. A third thing I think Sabine did well was continuing to explain the article in her critique. I found it helpful how she talked about aspects that she didn’t summarize earlier, like the trial and error process and the way scientists test things in the same manner as we do.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Sabine could have done better to improve her summary was to proof read. While reading it I found a few grammatical errors and there were some phrases that should have been changed. All this could have been fixed with a proofread. One thing that would have been interesting to hear about is how the zebra’s strips are going to change in the future. Will there be more stripes on zebras or less? And, does the amount of stripes on a zebra cause have an effect on its protection from bugs.
I think this can be important to our life every day. Especially with spring time coming I might try to be more stripes in hopes to keep away bugs. Then I won’t have to buy that bug repellent which smells bad and doesn’t even work.
Sabine’s review of “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs” was very intriguing and well-organized. She was able to easily summarize the fact that the scientists at UC have finally discovered the reasoning behind zebra’s stripes; it all leads back to the fundamental idea of biology, that the zebras have evolved and adapted to stripes in order to avoid bugs, like horseflies and tsetse flies. Even though the summary was short, it told everything that the readers needed to know to understand the basis of the article. Sabine did a nice job of giving the reasoning behind why the scientists believed they are correct- that the trials they conducted showed more stripes on bodies of local zebras where there was a higher population of insects. This article and review in particular is very interesting just because of the fact that by discovering the reasoning behind one mystery, another enigma has developed. It could be interesting to see if the scientists at UC are going to test and find out why bugs avoid black and white stripes, almost unfolding like a story.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that Sabine touched a bit on the other theories that were out there. However, I think that she could have delved more into that because it seems that something so mystifying for so long could have many theories. I am interested in how exactly they were able to disprove so many theories and how they conducted the experiments. Also, because Sabine wrote a lot about how the zebras must have evolved, she could have included the history behind the evolution. The change most likely was not sudden and had to have developed over long periods of time, so a background on how the genes mutated and which genes specifically can help make her review a stronger piece.
The main reason why I chose to read this review was because I had always wondered why zebras had black and white patterns because I thought that their skin would only make them more susceptible to prey. The most surprising information is the fact that something so miniscule compared to a zebra can have such a huge impact on the zebra; the bugs are literally the reason why zebras are distinct from other organisms. Overall, her review was very interesting and captivated my attention.
I read Sabine’s review on “Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebra Stripes: Those Pesky Bugs” by Tim Caro. I thought she did a great job with structuring the review so that it was organized and flowed well. She started by explaining the situation about how the purpose for the zebra’s black and white stripes had bothered scientists for years. She then went into their hypothesis and the experiments they conducted to prove their theory. She explained the significance well, pointing out aspects that I wouldn’t have thought about it by myself. I also thought she did a good job of thoroughly explaining each point of the article, especially, as mentioned before, how this experiment could impact other research when it comes to better understanding the evolution of animals and initiating more research about bugs. Lastly, the review was clearly written and easy to understand. I could follow the experiments without any trouble, and the way she described them also made sense.
ReplyDeleteOverall, she did a great job explaining and shortening the article so that we could comprehend what was happening. But, I think adding quotes from the article would have been added to her review, just because her work would have connected more with the article she wrote about. For example, a statement or two by the scientists who conducted the experiment would have been nice. Although she did a good job of explaining the impact of this research, I think a little bit more about why it is important for understanding evolution would have made her review better. As I said earlier, the fact that it impacted studying evolution was interesting, but since she had mentioned it she should have written or explained it more.
I thought this article was good because it was interesting to learn the reason behind the zebra’s unusual features and I would never had thought that was the explanation. I always believed they had stripes in order to drive away predators, but in a way the reason the scientists discovered makes sense. It would be interesting to know why bugs don’t like stripes.