STIMSON HALL— Vertebrate limb development had Brian Perry ‘30 sweating bullets. Although limb formation only took up a couple slides of a lecture from his Intro to Evolutionary Biology class, his classmates’ talk of “prelim(b)s” had him thinking the topic might be pretty significant for his upcoming exam. “Everybody I talked to said they were super nervous about pre-limbs, so I knew I had to dedicate most of my studying time to that particular topic,” Perry remarked. “Why else would they be mentioning pre-limbs, if not in reference to mesenchymal cells from the lateral plate mesoderm provoking ectoderm bulging??” The academically ferocious freshman then hit the books, holing himself up in the Olin Stacks to focus his undivided attention on limb formation. The Canvas notification from his TA providing a study guide and list of key terms, in Perry’s view, was just a red herring. When he emerged from the library, Perry came to the earth-shattering realization that it wasn’t just his class concerned about pre-limbs, it was the rest of the student body too. It became clear his learning bore a much larger significance. “I didn’t realize everyone had so much vested interest in how we got our fingers and toes. I might be going out on a limb here, but this might just be my life’s work,” he said. At press, and exam time, Perry was horrified to read the first question and blank on the name of the Cambrian Explosion.
Biology Major Stressed About Answers to Pre-Limbs
