Lucy+Evolution+in+the+Air+Article


 * "if we are unlucky..." the author writes we will see evolution in action. What does she mean? Why would it by unlucky to see the avian virus evolve.
 * It would be unlucky if the virus evolved because it would give us a nasty demonstration of evolution in action. If the avian flu evolved it could become easier for it to spread from one human being to another human being.
 * Define parasite.
 * A parasite is an organism that grows, feed, or lives on or in a different organism (a host), which contains nutriments.
 * Define gene.
 * A gene is a hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location and tells the instructions for synthesis of RNA. The RNA then translates that information in to protein.
 * She compares viruses to tiny parcels. Why? How are these parcels mailed?
 * She compares viruses to tiny parcels because are small parcels of gees that are mailed from one organism to another, either directly, through sneezes, feces, semen and the like, or indirectly, through carriers like insects.
 * 20 million people died of the Spanish Flu during World War II. Yet the author claims to know that this flu virus was particularly deadly not that it was a normal virus but because of the war and wartime "deprivation" people were more likely to get sick and die. What two pieces of evidence indicate this was a very deadly virus unlike the normal flu virus.
 * A team of biologists recently re-worked they 1918 virus and used it to infect mice. The 1918 virus is far more lethal in mice than are other human flu viruses.
 * What is H5N1?
 * H5N1 is the virus that is causing the avian flu.
 * Since H5N1 has killed mostly birds, why are we worried about it?
 * We are still worded about H5N1 because it has killed more than half of the people it has infected.
 * Two processes could change the H5N1 in a deadly way: sex and mutation. What is viral sex and how could it change the virus? What is viral mutation and how could this change the virus?
 * Viral sex shuffles the pack, generating new gene combinations. Viral mutation alters the information content of genes.
 * How can mutation lead to evolution (origin of new species)?
 * Mutation can lead to evolution by "acquired accidental changes to tis genetic material- in such a way that it becomes able to travel between people."
 * How can sex lead to evolution (origin of new species)?
 * Sex can lead to evolution if "someone is already sick with a strain of human flu, and the two viruses could ave sex, thus creating a new virus that contains some genes from each."