CS875-2202C-01
Unit
7 Discussion Board 2
Raphael
Brown
Colorado
Technical University
Instructor:
Dr. Cynthia Calongne
Date: 04/21/22
Serendipity
We
use various goods and services daily in today's world, resulting from an
unexpectedly lucky discovery and many mistakes. Serendipity is an unplanned,
unintentional, or unexpected yet fortunate and desired discovery that occurs by
chance and is of significant advantage to the one who makes the discovery.
Accidental innovations are best described by the term "serendipity."
When it comes to fantastic inventions that are very useful to society, which
happened by chance to be champagne, the best example I can come up with by far.
A connection has been made between the champagne discovery and the low winter
temperatures in the northeastern part of France, where champagne was initially
developed. When it comes to making wine, the freezing temperatures of the
winter frequently cause the fermentation process of the grapes to be
interrupted, leaving latent yeast cells that will awaken in the spring when the
temperatures rise and restart the fermentation process from the beginning of
the process. Carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct of the fermentation
process. It stays trapped in the bottled wine, resulting in tremendous pressure
that may result in the explosion of the bottled wine (Liger-Belair et al.,
2008). However, the wine had bubbles in the bottles that had withstood the
pressure, and this was not the kind of wine that the winemakers had meant to
produce. Although this sparkling wine with bubbles, often known as champagne,
has grown more popular and is linked with festivities, it is not a glass of
true champagne. Given the widespread conception of champagne as a symbol of
high society, aristocracy, and monarchy, wine is enjoyed all over the globe. It
serves as a symbol of wealth and celebration (Moncel, 2021). Champagne has
grown to become one of the most costly wines on the market, and it is made in a
variety of styles with varying levels of quality reflected in the price; as a
side note, red wine is considered the healthiest one to drink.
Error
To err is human, and
since we are human beings, we are predisposed to make mistakes. An error is wrongful
conduct that deviates from the truth or desired conclusion that was not
intended. On the other hand, making errors has shown to be the most effective
method of moving ahead in any endeavor we are involved in since the flaws we
experience as we develop motivate us to try even more challenging to repair the
errors while also discovering new regions of previously undiscovered truths
along the route (Siegfried, 2020). I can remember some of the mistakes that
resulted in significant discoveries, such as the discovery of Frosted Flakes
and Cornflakes, which the Kellogg brothers made. John and Will made a clumsy
decision that resulted in the invention of both Frosted Flakes and Cornflakes. According
to the article, the Kellogg brothers were boiling grain when they made the
mistake of leaving the pot of cooked grains on the burner for many days,
resulting in the grain fermenting. The combination became moldy as a result.
After the mold had been removed, the result was a dry, thick cereal. Using the
molded mixture and rolling it out into thin sheets, thin flakes were made that
were excellent and crispy when dried in the oven (Pruitt, 2019). Both Frosted
Flakes and Cornflakes, a famous morning cereal made from this crunchy and
flavorful dry dough, are now widely available.
Exaptation
Exaptation, also known as
Co-option, Darwin argued that evolution occurs typically due to minor, gradual
changes in the environment. In other cases, evolution seems to have skipped
over many intermediate stages to arrive at a later, fully developed stage far
more quickly than this. In hindsight, these jumps seem to be practically
magical, and they may be attributed more to Lamarckian than Darwinian processes
(e.g., animals needed jaws, so they grew them). Following that, I will explore
how many academics have attempted to answer the issue of these evolutionary
leaps within a Darwinian framework and what they have learned along the way. We
will have to travel a long road, starting with Darwin himself and extending to
the current day. We will come across three terminologies: preadaptation,
exaptation, and co-option.
Darwin addressed several
critics of his theory of natural selection in Chapter VI of The Origin of
Species (Darwin 1872). One crucial point of contention was the lack of
transitional phases (of characteristics) in the fossil record or extant
species. If natural selection works through slow changes, the world should be
flooded with transitional phases. If we can't find them in the fossil record or
living creatures, where are they? (McLennan,
2008)
Darwin had several solutions to this crucial topic, one of which entailed modifying an existing structure's function. In certain circumstances, two organs performed the same job, allowing selection to improve one and alter the second, now redundant, organ. "An exceedingly significant transition mechanism" in evolution, Darwin (1872, p. 175). In other circumstances, an organ with dual functions was repurposed to serve just one of them. The beginning circumstances and "transitional stage" may be concealed in the previous procedures. A gas bladder is an organ that regulates buoyancy in teleost fishes. Fortunately, primitive ray-finned fishes show that the gas bladder initially performed both tasks and evolved in two distinct ways. The gills do all the breathing in teleost fishes, and the gas bladder is now used for buoyancy. In lobe-finned fishes, gills finally vanished when the gas bladder evolved into a lung. It would have been impossible to recreate this route if the primitive ray-finned fishes had vanished. (McLennan, 2008)
References
McLennan,
D. A. (2008). The Concept of Co-option: Why Evolution Often Looks Miraculous. Evolution:
Education and Outreach, 1(3), 247–258.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-008-0053-8
Moncel, B. (2021).
What Is Champagne? TheSpruceEats.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-champagne-1328734
Pruitt,
S. (2019). How an Accidental Invention Changed What Americans Eat for
Breakfast. History. https://www.history.com/news/cereal-breakfast-origins-kellogg
Siegfried,
T. (2020). These are science's Top 10 erroneous results. ScienceNews.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/science-top-10-erroneous-results-mistakes
No comments:
Post a Comment