Understanding Evolution

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Understanding Evolution

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Evo in the news: An antibiotic that exploits evolutionary history

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Evo in the News article

Time: 15 minutes

Overview

In October 2011, the World Health Organization announced that tuberculosis cases are on the decline for the first time in at least 20 years. Our battle against this ancient disease has been fought, in part, through the use of antibiotics like streptomycin. This news brief describes the 1.8 billion year evolutionary history behind these drugs.

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  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry.
  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] The early evolutionary process of eukaryotes included the merging of prokaryote cells.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 13-16] As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life, for example in agriculture, biodiversity and conservation biology, and medicine and health.

There are no NGSS/DCI concepts currently linked to this resource.

Use this resource to relate evolutionary concepts to the topics of cellular organelles (specifically, ribosomes) and DNA translation (or get more suggestions for incorporating evolution throughout your biology syllabus). This article includes a set of discussion and extension questions for use in class, including advanced items for undergraduates. It also includes hints about related lessons that might be used in conjunction with this one. Get more tips for using Evo in the News articles in your classroom.