Evolution of the Immune System

            

           In the future, I predict that humans will have weaker immune systems. Many parents are afraid to let their child to go outside and play. They believe that the germs will get them sick but little do they know, allowing them to go outside and be around germs and pathogens build up the child’s immune system. With technology and fear, keeping the children inside the house rather than outside building up their immune system, the immune system never actually builds up and gets children sicker more easily.  We also reply too much on medication and vaccines to help us fight off diseases. By not allowing us to defend our own bodies, our immune systems will get weaker.

            Our immune system works by releasing cytotoxic T cells to the infected areas eating up and pathogen while B cells create antibodies that do not allow the pathogens to attack other cells. Both of these cells create memory cells so the immune system can remember the pathogen next time it invades the body and the immune system can react faster. By putting vaccines and medication into our bodies, we are cheating our immune system to make memory cells or to lower the intensity of the sickness. If we keep this up, our immune systems will become weak and lazy, depending on medication and vaccines for protection against sickness and pathogens.

            The FOXP3 gene controls the immune system mainly by controlling the production of the T cells produced. Because when someone is given a vaccine they are given the weaker strain or dead pathogen, it causes a small reaction in the body. This small reaction does not require too many T cells before it quickly gets rid of the pathogen. If people continue to take vaccines and medications, then there is no need for a lot of T cells so therefore the gene accidentally have a substitution or even a deletion mutation producing less and less T cells.

             This mutation would first occur in the first world countries. This is because those are the people who are able to have money to purchase and produce more medications and vaccines compared to the people of the third world countries who do not have money to afford them. This mutation would be selected for mainly to save energy from producing more and more T cells as well vaccines and medications are becoming more and more affordable and many organizations and foundations are trying to eliminate diseases in the third world countries. Any way the body is trying to save energy, it will select for that mutation. With this mutation, it can be dangerous because wonder if, in the future, there is a disease that has no vaccine or medication and spreads quickly, then many people will be able to get it more quickly. 

           

Evolution of the Pituitary Gland

            I predict that the humans in the future will have a more active pituitary gland. Water is an important essential for life; unfortunately humans in the first world countries are extremely wasteful with this natural resource. Freshwater is becoming polluted with chemicals because people decided that it was a safe way to dispose chemicals. Also, global warming is slowly bringing up the global temperature resulting in droughts. With less than 1% of the water available for human use, it is expected that in the future, we will run out of available water for the humans. Having a more active pituitary gland means it releases more anti- diuretic hormone (ADH). ADH is important and relates to water because the hormone allows the kidney to reabsorb more water before the waste (urine) is released. This allows more water to go back in the body saving water and a more concentrated urine.

          This excessive release of the ADH hormone would be caused by the death in the AVPR2 gene. This gene is responsible for producing the protein, vasopressin V2 repressor. This gene allows the kidney to communicate back and forth with the pituitary gland telling it when to stop releasing the ADH hormone for water reabsorption in the kidneys. With the deletion of this gene, the pituitary gland will constantly release ADH to reabsorb water.  This will be beneficial when humans have very little water and need to learn to conserve water. This mutation  will start in the third world countries where drinkable water is already scarce and will soon effect the first world countries when drinkable water  is taken away due to pollution and droughts. The mutations allow humans to survive the drought while the others die from dehydration. Those who survive will pass on the deletion and pass on the genes to future generations. 

            

Evolution of the Lungs

           In my prediction, I believe that humans will have a larger pair of lungs in 3014. In 2014, humans are constantly burning trees, gas and coal for more land and energy. When these things are burned down, not only is there less oxygen production from trees but there is also more gases in the atmosphere. This makes a less concentration of oxygen in the air that we rely on. With the less oxygen, it means that we have to take in a larger breath to get more oxygen. One way this is done is having larger lungs to take larger breaths. By doing this, there would be more oxygen in each breath with we depend on.

            The large lungs are caused by a substitution mutation in the GATA6 gene. This gene is responsible for the development of the lungs in the young ages of the human. Not only that, it is also responsible for the development of the gut and heart. The mutation of the GATA6 gene causes the development to become uncontrolled so when the lung development is not regulated, it causes the lungs to grow larger than usual.  This mutation will cause the human to have a larger breath to take in more oxygen. 
            This mutation will first appear in the people that live near industrial areas and areas where forest are being burnt down. They are more likely to have pollution in the air. This mutation is able to be passed on to future generations because it is a beneficial mutation. The mutations allow them to take in more oxygen for many life dependent actions. People who are unable to breathe enough oxygen will die and those who do will survive and reproduce, passing on the traits to future generations.

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Evolution of the Skin

             

             In my prediction, I believe that in 3014, we will soon develop a more complex skin with more hairs and/or larger sweat glands. The skin is an extremely important organ in the body. One of the most important functions of skin is the regulation of temperature in the body. On earth, humans are currently burning off a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is being done by burning trees, burning natural gases (cars) and other activities. By burning CO2 into the atmosphere, it is being collected into the atmosphere where it forms a gas blanket. When heat from the sun enters the atmosphere, some of it gets reflected into space. Due to the gas blanket, the heat that is supposed to be reflected back into the space is trapped by the gas blanket and stays on Earth raising our global temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect because it is similar to how a greenhouse works (allowing heat from sun in but not out).

                The greenhouse effect has a large effect on the environment. One of the largest problems is the rise of global temperature. Because the Earth is on a tilted axis, the rise in temperatures can be different everywhere. As the temperatures continue to rise there will be a selection for a better temperature regulation in the body. The bigger sweat glands allow the body to sweat more which is used to cool the body off faster by evaporating the sweat which carries the heat off the body when it is feeling hot. There will also be a selection for more body hair. This body hair allows the body to trap any cool air onto the surface of our body. By selecting this, humans will be able to survive in the constant increase of temperature due to global warming.

                The increase of sweat glands will be due to the excessive release in the growth hormone from the anterior pituitary gland. This causes the enlargement of the sweat glands. This also known as Acromegaly.  Acromegaly may be caused by a single substitution mutation of the AIP gene which is responsible for producing the protein called aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein. This protein is responsible for regulating the growth and division of cells and suppresses tumors. Mutation does not allow regulation of the release in the growth hormone. The excess release causes the increase in sweat gland size. The increase in the amount and length of hair is due to a substitution in the Lhx2 gene. This gene regulates the production and growth of hair in on the body. The substitution of gene will result in the body growing hair uncontrollably. 
             These mutation will first appear in people who already live in hot climates because they will be effected by the heat more quickly. People all around will soon be effected as the global temperature continues to increase. These mutations will be passed on to future generations because they are beneficial mutations,those who cannot will die due to heat stroke and those who can cool properly will survive and past the mutations to future generations.

Evolution of Eyes

   


       

            In my predication , the humans in 3014 will have larger and more advanced eyes as well as more eyelids. In a world with many technological improvements and inventions, it surrounds us and impacts our daily lives, as well as our body. Humans, especially teenagers and children, the future of our generation, are constantly on their mobile devices, laptops, and video games playing, messaging or finishing their projects that they procrastinated on. The compatibility of the device allows them to use them at any time, including the night.  Staying up late as well as using the phone long hours causes many problems in the eyes. This is why our eyes will become larger in size as well as more complex.

        One of the of biggest problems of using too much technology is that we are in front of the device's screen that may harm our eyes. Our eyes are trying to focus on something on the screen that seems far away or too close (when the screen is zoomed up up close or far apart on something) but in reality, it is normal distance. This attempt to try and adjust the focus is a lot of work for our eyes. The longer eyes stare at the screen of the device, because there is no actual physical movement, there is less blinking involved. The less we blink, the more stain we have on our eyes which eventually causes strain our eyes. This is why we will have more advanced eyes too focus better as well as more blinking. As we stay up late due to the distraction from our devices, we put more strain on our eyes. Our eyes will become larger in 3014 because the larger the eyes, the better we will be able to see in the dark.

           As the world that we live in continues to increase in global temperature slowly due to the extreme rates that we release gases into our atmosphere (greenhouse effect), there are impacts that will effect our lives. The increase in temperature causes there to be droughts as well as dramatic temperatures. The droughts mean more dust in the air. In order to protect the eyes, we must create a better cleaning system and a better protecting system in our eyes from the dust. This slowing makes us select for more eyelids.  The eyelids allow the organism to protected against substances such as dust and nourish the eyes. There will also be an adaption for longer eyebrows and eye lashes help us keep dust from getting into the eyes.

        Many of these evolution of the anatomy of the eyes will be caused by the paired box 6 genes. These genes are responsible for the formation and development of the eyes. Not only are they responsible for the eye's formation and development but also as well as the formation of the brain (the olfactory bulb), spinal cord, and the pancreas. After birth, the paired box 6 proteins control the expression of the genes that control the structures of the eyes. The increase in the length or eyebrow hairs and eyelashes is due to the activation in the Lhx2 gene. The activation of this gene causes increased hair growth. 
        These genes will first appear in the first world countries, mainly because the the people there are the ones who can afford the technology. These mutations will be passed on because they are beneficial mutations allowing protection, less stress and better vision for the eyes. With the mutations in the following genes, certain mutations will appear in the eye area due to the change in the environment as well as our lifestyle in the future.