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Evo in the news: Fighting the evolution of malaria in Cambodia

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • 13-16
  • General

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Evo in the News article

Time: 30 minutes

Overview

This news brief from December 2009 focuses on one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases: malaria. Malaria is normally treatable, but now some strains are evolving resistance to our most effective drug. Find out how researchers and doctors are trying to control the evolution of the disease.

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  • [History of life: Grades 13-16] Biological evolution accounts for diversity over long periods of time.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] There is a fit between organisms and their environments, though not always a perfect fit.
  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Similarities among existing organisms (including morphological, developmental, and molecular similarities) reflect common ancestry and provide evidence for evolution.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Evolution results from selection acting upon genetic variation within a population. (LS4.B)
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] There is variation within a population. (LS3.B)
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Traits that confer an advantage may persist in the population and are called adaptations. (LS4.B, LS4.C)
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolution occurs through multiple mechanisms.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection and genetic drift act on the variation that exists in a population.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] New heritable traits can result from mutations.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection can act on the variation in a population in different ways.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection is capable of acting at multiple hierarchical levels: on genes, on cells, on individuals, on populations, on species, and on larger clades.
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 9-12] As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life.
  • [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.
  • Disciplinary Core Idea LS3.B: Variation of Traits
  • Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.B: Natural Selection
  • Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.C: Adaptation

This article includes a set of discussion and extension questions for use in class. 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.