I never really thought about what made me human before I took this class

I never really thought about what made me human before I took this class. It never really hit me how similar on a genetic level I was to not only to all the other humans in the world but also how similar we as humans are to other primates. It still blows my mind to think that the vast majority of my genetic material is the exact same as a chimpanzee. Although biological Anthropology isn’t exactly my cup of tea I learned more this semester about genetics and human biology than I did in my first 21 years of life, and it really made me think about why I am who I am and what makes humans what they are. Through 23 and me I was able to learn a lot about myself personally and what genetic differences make me unique. I found this most interesting because I’ve had the same DNA my whole life and I was unable to access all the information stored in it until now, even though I didn’t learn anything earth shattering through my genome I did find out that genetically I have a relatively lower chance of developing any of the conditions or diseases examined by 23 and Me, which I guess means I did learn something useful after all. So as long as I avoid asbestos and gamma radiation and other harmful environmental factors my odds of remaining disease free are pretty good. Overall I really enjoyed this class and I learned a lot and it’s given me a unique new perspective on human beings. Also I have to give mad props to Alison, Vanessa, Gerrick, and Owen for the Human Variation Style song they made, it’s been a week and it is still stuck in my head.

~Scott Garrold