Julia Pabafikos
AP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
October 3, 2017
Current Event #3
Carrie Arnold Nature. “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep.” Scientific American, Nature Magazine, 22 Sept. 2017.
“Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep”
By Cary Arnold
The article I decided to read, “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep” by Cary Arnold touches upon the purpose and evolutionary origins of sleep and how to this day sleep is among one of the biggest mysteries in neuroscience. The fact that all complex and non complex animals, varying from fruit flies to humans and whales all sleep and leave themselves so vulnerable and unprotected has been something scientists have been struggling to not only prove but also understand. However for the first time, researchers have discovered the Cassiopea jellyfish, which has no brain but seems to help identify that sleep is much more primitive than what was thought. “Researchers observed that the rate at which Cassiopea jellyfish pulsed their bell decreased by one-third at night…when deprived of their night-time rest, the jellies were less active the next day.” (Arnold 2017) Although many researchers and scientists do disagree and debate upon if the jellyfish are actually sleeping, there are obvious side effects in the jellyfish's energy when they do not partake in the sleep-like behavior. The main question of this research was “How minimal can an animal’s nervous system get before the creature lacks the ability to sleep?” and in order to test that, scientists Michael Abrams and Claire Bedbrook worked on jellyfish because of the fact that jellyfish contain neutrons, however they lack central nervous systems. The Cassiopea jellyfish in particular were an excellent species to conduct the experiment because of their minimal movement. In order to provide evidence of sleep-like behavior “...The researchers needed to show a rapidly reversible period of decreased activity, or quiescence, with decreased responsiveness to stimuli.” (Arnold 2017) During this experiment, Nath, Abrahams, and Bedbrook were able to track and observe the bell pulses of the Cassiopea jellyfish over six days and nights and found that the rate of the jellyfish dropped one-third at night and recorded pulse-free periods which took the duration of 10 to 15 seconds which only occurred at night. “Lastly, when the team forced Cassiopea to pull an all-nighter by keeping it awake with repeated pulses of water, they found a 17% drop in activity the following day.” (Arnold 2017) Thus proving that sleep is much older that what we thought and the fact that such simplistic organisms are involved in the sleeping category can be an eye opener from where sleeping evolved and what it is.
The development is important because it allows for the reader to gain information on the history of sleeping but also states the experiments that still need to be made in order to fully understand and even connect sleep to ancient genes that might control sleep, in hopes that through the study of genes there could be a definite answer as to where sleep evolved from. Sleep is obviously something that has an affect on our society and there have been many studies showing the need for sleep and the ability of sleep to heal and re energize an organism so that it is more active and alert. The techniques used to study such organisms can also be helpful and have an affect on later experiments, making them extremely helpful to humans and especially science.
This article was both informative and very easy to understand. Author Cary Arnold did an amazing job stating the experiments and giving background information in order to attract her reader. By doing so, Arnold was able to make the article more reliable and less biased in order to give the reader the opportunity to formulate their own opinions. However I believe that Arnold lacked quotes from the actual scientists and therefore without this information the article became less scientific and less meaningful. I believe with the addition of more quotes and the addition of other experiments previously tested to describe the origin of sleep would have made a bigger effect on the reader and overall would have shown the importance of this experiment.
Kirsten Ircha 10/10/17
ReplyDeleteAP Biology E/F Even Current Event #4
Citation:
Carrie Arnold Nature. “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep.” Scientific
American, Nature Magazine, 22 Sept. 2017. “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep”
My fellow colleague, Julia, Pabafikos, wrote an insightful review on the article “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep” by Cary Arnold. I feel that Pabafikos has many great aspects in her review, including her initially summary stating, “Although many researchers and scientists do disagree and debate upon if the jellyfish are actually sleeping, there are obvious side effects in the jellyfish's energy when they do not partake in the sleep-like behavior.” This statement essentially condenses the article into one simple sentence and allows the reader to have a great understanding of the topic and the basic information surrounding the review. Furthermore, Pabafikos not only speaks about the various studies outlined in the article, but describes the procedures in detail. For example, Pabafikos write, “During this experiment, Nath, Abrahams, and Bedbrook were able to track and observe the bell pulses of the Cassiopea jellyfish over six days and nights and found that the rate of the jellyfish dropped one-third at night and recorded pulse-free periods which took the duration of 10 to 15 seconds which only occurred at night.” This additional detail was extremely necessary as it allows for the reader to see how the data was collected. Moreover, the statement makes the article seem very reliable and at a good academic level for a review. Lastly, I feel that Pabafikos makes a very interesting connection to current day society, claiming, “The development is important because it allows for the reader to gain information on the history of sleeping but also states the experiments that still need to be made in order to fully understand and even connect sleep to ancient genes that might control sleep, in hopes that through the study of genes there could be a definite answer as to where sleep evolved from.” I like how this connection brings the entire summary of the article together and shows the reader how they can be personally affected by the issue.
Although the article was very well written, a couple of areas could be improved. For example, a few small grammar errors exist, such as when Pabafikos says, “However I believe that Arnold lacked quotes.” In this case the word “lacked” should be changed to lacks as the past tense should not be used. These types of mistakes are minor and can be fixed through further editing or peer editing. Also, I feel that at times Pabafikos uses very basic and juvenile language through word choice such as, “easy.” This type of review is more academic and simple words should be replaced with more advanced words. This can be improved upon through using synonyms found online.
I feel that this topic is extremely important as sleep is vital to the lives of very human on earth. Sleep is something that can affect brain function, mood, productivity, energy, and healing, leading to organisms being more alert and active. However little is known about where sleep came from. I was shocked as to how the study of organisms and their sleep can affect future experiment, and these future experiments can be helpful in understanding sleep and connecting sleep to ancient genes. The study of these genes could be the answer to discovering sleep evolution. This information is crucial as the basic data collected in these studies and future studies will help advance human knowledge and allow for the progression of science. This article will change my life as I am now interested in the topic will follow updates on future studies.
Citations:
ReplyDeleteCarrie Arnold Nature. “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep.” Scientific American, Nature Magazine, 22 Sept. 2017.
Pabafikos, Julia. “Review of Carrie Arnold Nature.” Review of "Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Gives Clues to Origin of Sleep". Oct. 2017.
Julia Pabafiko’s review of “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep” focused on the realization of a certain type of jellyfishes’ ability to enter a sleep like state despite their lack of complexity. In her review, Pabafikos offered a detailed explanation of the experiment the article concentrated on. She was able to do so by including quotes and quantitative numerical data, such as the duration of the experiment lasting that the experiment six days, and how the jellyfish lost 17% of their productivity when they had no sleep. The addition of numerical information allows readers to understand the experiment in detail The quotes she used also provided data and were cited correctly. Another aspect Pabafikos succeed in was her clear description of the jellyfish being used in the experiment. She included information about the species crucial to the study of sleep, remarking that it “has no brain but seems to help identify that sleep is much more primitive” and the “jellyfish have no neutrons”(Pabafikos, 1). Without much knowledge on the jellyfish, readers would not understand why scientists are using it to study sleep. However, Pabafikos highlighted the most important characteristics of the jellyfish in terms of its resting abilities so readers are given a proper understanding. Lastly, Pabafikos stated precisely what she believed the author did wrong in her critique, leaving little questions as to her reasoning. She was coherent in what what the author could have done to solve the lack of quotes and why she believed the article needed more quotes: “the article became less scientific and less meaningful”(Pabafikos, 1). Being critical of the article shows Pabafikos has a considerable amount of knowledge on the subject and is able to accurately critically analyze a scientific article.
Although Pabafiko’s review was noteworthy in some aspects, it also contained aspects that had room for improvement. Her lack of explanations of the quotes she used causes readers to read the review over again to understand why the information she included was useful. For example, she referenced to how the jellyfish pulse their bells and how it decreased at night, but some readers may not understand why this information in the quote from the article is valid. To fix this error, she could have included sentences explaining what a jellyfish's’ bell was, and what it means by pulsing it. This would help the reader picture the structure of the jellyfish. Another area of improvement could be found in her connection of the article’s topic to society. As she was able to identify the ways in which sleep is “obviously” relevant to society, she vaguely explained why. It seems as if she was explaining how sleep affects health of animals instead of society, disincluding the connection between the two. She was also unspecific to the organisms that are affected by lack of sleep. By saying “organisms”, she could mean plants or other animals that can’t sleep. To clarify the effects the experiment has on society, she could explain the relationship between the experiment of jellyfish sleep to human sleep, therefore applying the experiment to society. By making sure her readers understand that not all organisms sleep, she could add a sentence explaining what she means by using the word organisms.
I chose to comment on this review because of how important sleep is to my life. Most high school students, including myself, lose hours of sleep, which negatively impacts the way we function throughout the week. From this article, I learned that even non complex animals such as jellyfish need proper rest to remain activite each day, much like human beings. This experiment might proves that matter how intricate an animal is, sleep is a necessity that cannot be denied.
Susie Goodell
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
10/12/17
Carrie Arnold Nature. “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep.” Scientific American, Nature Magazine, 22 Sept. 2017.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jellyfish-caught-snoozing-give-clues-to-origin-of-sleep/
Current Event 4:
For this current event, I read my classmate Julia’s review of the article “Jellyfish Caught Snoozing Give Clues to Origin of Sleep” by Carrie Arnold, which discusses a study of jellyfish and their sleeping habits. Julia did a wonderful job summarizing the information given in the article, as well as stress the importance of the study. She writes about how the scientists discovered that jellyfish do sleep despite the lack of a brain and then relates it to everyone, asking ‘“How minimal can an animal’s nervous system get before the creature lacks the ability to sleep?”’ This is a question that can relate to all animal species She uses multiple quotes throughout the article, which helped back up her claims, and incorporates them well. This is an important aspect in a review and many people fail to complete this. Julia also provides a great timeline of events during the study, showing how one discovery led to many more as the experiment continued. She allows her readers to see the process that the scientists went through during their study. It provides respect and credibility for the experimenters.
Despite the great aspects, Julia could fix a few parts of her review. She could shorten her summary a bit. While it provided lots of helpful information, I think that it was too long and most of the details about the experiments and data were too specific and unnecessary for the reader to comprehend the topic. Also, Julia should make the final results of the experiment clearer. She provides an in-depth procedure of the long study, however, she doesn’t tie up the points succinctly. I was confused at how the scientists came to their final conclusion with the information I was given. It was merely a list of the experiments and data, but there was no explanation for how they tied together. However, overall, Julia did a great job reviewing this article.
This article stood out to me because I thought the topic was really interesting and it discusses the origin of sleep, which is something I have never thought about. I understand how important this information is to our world and understanding the origins of life. In the future, I will continue to follow the progress made in this topic.