Charlie Gay
AP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
3/25/18
Zimmer, Carl. "Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2018. Web.
Current Events 20
I really enjoyed reading Carl Zimmer’s “Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange.” This article discusses how a tiny six inch skeleton was discovered in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. People originally thought that this could be an alien. However, scientists explained that Ata, the name they gave the skeleton, was in fact a human. According to Zimmer, “Ata’s bones contain DNA that not only shows she was human, but that she belonged to the local population.” Scientists believe that she had multiple mutations that led to her lack of bone development. Antonio Salas Ellacuria, a geneticist at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, said it was “a very beautiful example of how genomics can help to disentangle an anthropological and archaeological dilemma.” A series of tests have been done on Ata to help learn more about why she developed like she did. They have discovered that she is less than 500 years old. One scientist found 2.7 million variants in the genome of Ata’s DNA. More research must be done on Ata to discover what genetic disorder she possessed. Scientists are hoping that they will be able to find information that will tell them more about genetic disorders we already know about. Some scientists think that Ata underwent a stillbirth.
The discovery of Ata will hopefully shed light on skeletal deformities seen today. Scientists are hoping that they can discover what mutations caused Ata to develop the way she did. She had an abnormal amount of ribs and huge eye sockets. Even if Ata does not teach us anything about the genetic disorders we have today she will still teach us something about the past. Ata was supposedly “part of the local population” which means that she could teach us what this population was like 500 years ago. Ata will hopefully find her way to a museum where everyone can learn about her intriguing and mysterious past.
I thought this article was very well written. I thought that Zimmer did a great job of explaining some complex topics in everyday common language. I also liked how Zimmer included quotes from reliable scientists. One thing that Zimmer could have done better is he could have explained how the scientists figured out all the information about Ata. I would have been interested to know how they were able to examine the DNA of a person who has been deceased for 500 years. Overall, this article was very interesting and informative. I definitely want to do further research on Ata.
Luke Redman
ReplyDeleteMr.Ippolito
AP Biology
March 26th 2018
Current Event #20
Zimmer, Carl. "Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2018. Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/science/ata-mummy-alien-chile.html
I chose to read Charlie’s review of “Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange.” by the New York Times. The article talks about the real story behind the tiny mummy in the Atacama. He did a great job weaving quotes into his writing, along with how those quotes supported the topic. He also kept the language in the review reasonably simple, which enhanced the experience. Another thing he did well was critique the author, and gave reasonable criticisms.
While his review was very well written, there were some areas that he could have improved. He could have included more details about the discovery of the mummy in more detail,which would have enriched the overall experience of reading the review.Lastly, He could have explained better what the discovery meant for the average American.
I had no idea about the discovery of the mummy or the crazy story behind it. Overall, Charlie’s article was extremely well written, and I look forward to reading another one of his reviews.
Timothy Cushman
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Ap Biology - Current Events Comment
26 March 2018
Current Events #20
Zimmer, Carl. "Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2018. Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/science/ata-mummy-alien-chile.html
Charlie wrote a great review of the New York Times article “Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story is Almost as Strange.” One great aspect of his review was his summary. He incorporated the most important information which helped the reader gain a good understanding. Charlie also included many quotes that helped the reader. Quotes such as, “Ata’s bones contain DNA that not only shows she was human, but that she belonged to the local population” help the reader understand how these bones were important. These quotes also added credibility to his review by backing his claims up with data. Finally, Charlie wrote a great paragraph about how the article is relevant stating that “Even if Ata does not teach us anything about the genetic disorders we have today she will still teach us something about the past.” This was important because he was able to connect this article to everyone that read it. Overall, Charlie wrote an interesting and informative review.
Despite an overall great review, there were two areas that could be improved upon. Firstly, Charlie did not mention much about the research that was done. He talks about how the research was done on the mummy but never goes into details about what was done to compare the mummy to humans. If he had included more information on the actual studies, it would have given the reader a better understanding of how humans can be compared to a 500 year old mummy. Secondly, Charlie mentions how more research must be done on Ata to help us learn about her development. However, he never mentions if there are plans for further research. By including further research, it would give the reader an ability to see what the scientific community is doing to further their knowledge. Both of these changes would give answers to questions the reader had along with adding more interesting information.
I chose to read Charlie’s review because I was interested in the title. I was intrigued by the word alien in the title and wanted to read further. Through reading this article I was better able to realize how our ancestors allow us to better learn about ourselves. It is amazing to think that a 500 year old mummy can help humans learn about genetic disorders.
Olivia Doyle
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
10 April 2018
Zimmer, Carl. "Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2018. Web.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/science/ata-mummy-alien-chile.html
This week, I read my classmate Charlie’s review of the NYT article “Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange.” This article discussed a finding in the Atacama desert that was a skeleton just six inches tall. The skeleton was originally believed to be an alien, but upon further investigation, was in fact a human. Charlie did a good job of explaining the science behind the discovery, including an explanation of why the skeleton is so small. He also included quotes from scientists involved in the investigation, which provided Charlie’s review with credibility and gave the reader a deeper understanding from primary sources. Lastly, Charlie does a good job of connecting the discovery’s importance to learning more about both the past and the present. Although parts of the study were inconclusive, Charlie used as much detail as he could.
Although Charlie had a very well-written review, there are some areas which he could have improved on. For one, I think Charlie should have explained why scientists were unable to compare Ata’s skeleton with any others, and why they were so inconclusive in their findings. Secondly, I think Charlie could have given more background information on previous archaeological findings in the region at the time, so that the reader could gain more contextual understanding of the situation.
Overall, I found this article and Charlie’s review very interesting and informative. I think it is interesting that this skeleton could give us new information on genetic disorders and their origin. Like Charlie, I am interested to see if the skeleton makes its way into a museum so that others can learn Ata’s story.