Human Variation & Race Blog

Heat negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis because it can be expensive and dangerous in terms of water and sodium loss. There are two types of heat – arid and humid. Arid exists in the southwestern United States, Middle East, and in some parts of Africa and are characterized by high temperatures, wind, and low water vapor. Humid heat is increased water vapor and is found in regions with a great deal of vegetation and precipitation which can be found in the eastern and southern U.S., parts of Europe, and in the tropics. Increased water vapor inhibits the evaporation of sweat, which makes it easier for humans to adapt to dry heat. People who exercise in the dry heat may sometimes not be aware they are sweating because it evaporates as soon as it reaches the surface of the skin so while the rapid evaporation can cause one to become dehydrated which is important to drink plenty of water in the dry heat, even if one is not thirsty.

Humans have adapted to the following stress: short term, facultative, developmental and cultural in the following way:

Short term -  Sweating is a response to a person who overheats in an attempt to cool you off. The optimum body temperature is 37 Celsius where “sweating is responsible for 70 percent to 80 percent of the body's heat regulation”, according to the MBF website.  

"A common misunderstanding was that our skin's pigmentation, melanin, served as a facultative layer to provide a beneficial glow after and following sun exposure. The tanning response is, in reality, a physiological repair mechanism to instant UV damage of the skin cells (epidermis/dermis). Further, it was contemplated whether UVB alone was responsible for the long-term mutations seen in the epidermis. It has since been established from carcinogenic models that UVA plays a synergistic and complementary role to UVB, whereby the wavelengths determine the ability to penetrate the skin layers."  http://www.clinuvel.com/scenesse/technology-updates/technology-update-i

fake or natural tan?

It is said that the closer one is to the equator, chances are those people will have darker pigmentation whereas people living farther away from the equator, will have lighter pigmentation. A perfect example of this would be people living in some parts of South America such as Ecuador (darker pigmentation) or parts of Europe such as Ireland (lighter pigmentation)

Irish boy

Ecuadorian woman

Rich or poor, people find a way to culturally adapt to their environment. In this case, heat, one would assume that they could try to maintain themselves cool or comfortable when the weather isn't pleasant, basically, nothing over 90 degrees (which in my opinion is TOO hot!). People find a way to make due with what they have and in the event a particular person is on a tight budget and can't afford such luxury as, an example, air conditioner, they would most likely open a window or dress in a manner that is cool for them. I can go on and on with many examples however I won't. The point I am trying to get across is, as I mentioned, rich or poor, they will adapt and make due with what they have and make it work for themselves.

Language Blog

Today was a day like any other. However, for this particular experiment I chose to do it with my children and this is how it played out.

On any given day, I'd ask my son, Ryan, who is in Kindergarten questions such as: 'What did you learn in Math today?' 'What did you do in P.E.? etc. He'd tell me things like, 'well, I learned shapes and my numbers, an in P.E., we played soccer.' When it's my daughter's turn to tell me, she would fill me in on how space debris is bad for the earth. This is where I would get so thrilled to see them so excited about their day. However, as I signed them out and on the walk to the car, I let them in on this fun experiment I was doing for my Anthropology class. I explained that for 15 minutes, I would have to communicate with them without speaking. Naturally, they were curious on how I was going to do that. I told them I could communicate with them without talking. I could use movement like opening my eyes wide which would indicate excitement, or frown for a sad face, etc.

So the experiment began...it was so difficult not to verbally share in their enthusiasm about their day. Ryan expected me to respond to what he was telling me but instead, I gave him thumbs up with a big, cheesy smile when he informed me he colored a beautiful picture for me. And for my daughter, I made a sad face when she spoke about how she fell during recess.

I think my children found it quite amusing when I didn't talk back but rather used various facial expression to respond to them. They didn't alter their way of communicating with me at all. In fact, they probably got a kick out of it and we will probably incorporate this way of communicating some more.


If my children, for this example, represented people from another culture, I think my children, being that they have the ability to communicate verbally would have the advantage in communicating complex ideas because they can say exactly what they need to say and there would be no guessing. I, on the other hand, would have the disadvantage because I can make a sad face and the verbal person would want to know exactly why. There are only so many movements I can make and not get my exact point across. 

There might be some prejudices towards the culture using the symbolic language because perhaps the speaking culture expects the other person to respond verbally as opposed to symbolically.

I think individuals in our culture who may have difficulty communicating with spoken language could someone with a hearing impairment. Although they may be able to communicate with ASL (if they know it), I can imagine it would probably be a difficult thing to understand what a verbal person is trying to say.

After my 15 minutes of not using verbal communication with my children were up, and boy, I think they were happy to hear my voice again, I let them know the experiment wasn't over. I had to spend another 15 minutes of just using my voice to talk to them without any hand gestures or facial expressions. THIS WAS SO HARD FOR ME because I talk with my hands. We set the timer for 15 minutes and I only lasted 3 minutes of monotone communication. I thought this would be a breeze but it wasn't and I can safely say it was a quite difficult thing to do.

My children were waiting for me to laugh or giggle at their silliness or bust out with my 'hand talking'. I wish I could have taken pictures of the looks on their faces when all they hear was a monotone voice with absolutely no expression to it.

I think it's really important to be able to communicate not only with words but with your body and I do think there are people out there who have difficulty reading body language, perhaps someone who is blind because well, they can't see so that would be a disadvantage for them. It's a plus to be able to read body language and I will give an example. Let's say you are at work and you see a co-worker who isn't speaking but you can immediately see he/she is not having such a good day. You can then make a choice to approach the person or not - all depending if you want to take that chance or not.

An environmental condition where one may not be able to read body language could be when reading someone's email or text. There is no way of actually seeing what the person is doing on the other end but perhaps can feel if they are having a good day or not by how the email/text comes across.

I can say I really enjoyed this experiment. It was really interesting to know I can not last a very long time without using body movement to talk and my kids had fun being able to help mom out with her homework.

Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown Hoax took place in 1912 near the Southern English town of Louis in Piltdown.
An amateur archaeologist by the name of Charles Dawson found a piece of an ancient human skull - a jawbone, while digging in a gravel pit.

Up until then remains of primitive humans had been found in Germany, Asia, and France but none in England which was huge because England finally had found human fossils.

The scientific community was taken on an emotional roller coaster if you will, of ups and downs. With the discovery by Dawson, the scientific community thought a big discovery was made by piecing together the missing link between apes and humans. It wasn't until the 1950's, when a full blown analysis using an updated dating method, was it discovered that the fossils discovered by Dawson were actually of a female orangutan. Scientists found that the bones were superficial and the artifacts were stained. Also, after examining the teeth on the skull, they found scratches which indicated to them that the teeth were filed down and a steel knife may have been used to cut into the bone to perhaps shape it to look like a human skull. This determination was made because of the evidence found when the analysis was conducted. Also, scientists, back in the day were looked upon as gentlemen and scholarly and no one ever thought anything like what happened at Piltdown could have occurred.

Being that Scientists are human and part of being human is making mistakes. The mistakes made in Piltdown boiled down to one person, Dawson, and being that he was an ambitious person and wanted to fit into the scientific community, he ultimately attempted to pull off the unthinkable. The notoriety he must have received after his 'find' must have taken him to another level and probably thought no one would ever discover what he did. By doing what he did, scientists believed they finally found the missing link between apes and humans but after scientists in the 50's discovered Dawson's findings were not accurate, they went back to square one. 

Up to date dating methods and current analysis was the cause of revealing Charles Dawson's hoax because those things were not available during Dawson's days.

"To err is human, to forgive is divine' comes to mind when thinking if it is possible to factor out the fact that we are humans, we are not perfect, and we are entitled to make mistakes - even scientists fall into the category of being human.  However, as long as the person doing the research is objective and has an open mind, it could be possible to remove the human factor from science.

The fossils found in Piltdown were assumed to be of a human and it wasn't until years later that that theory was proven to be inaccurate. This discovery was made because scientists took the time to re-examine those findings using up to date equipment - in this case, dating method. I am almost positive had these resources had been made available in Piltdown in 1912, Charles Dawson would never have gotten away with this hoax. This being said, the life lesson which can be learned in this particular case, in my opinion, would be that no matter who one is - rich, poor, famous, not famous, etc., don't believe what everyone says just because they say it. Especially when it has to do with science!

Compartive Primate Blog Post

Lemurs rule the treetops of the tropical rainforest. Wild lemurs live only on Madagascar, a large island off the east coast of Africa, and on the nearby Comoros Islands. While some Lemurs may also live in the dry forest. 

Depending on what species the Lemur may be, the most common locomotor trait is the arboreal quadrupedalism - walking and running on all fours along branches. The lemurs' strong hand and fingers help them to climb trees easily while their muscular legs are adapted for jumping. When they need a change of pace, as in with the Sifaka lemur, they may hop sideways on their back legs as if they were on a pogo stick. Brown lemurs and ring-tailed lemurs scamper along the forest floor on all fours. But other lemur species find traveling on the ground to be a hard thing to do because their bodies just aren’t built for walking.

Some believed the Lemur is the most diverse of all primate groups which is why They have been able to adapt successfully to changes in their environment and the main reason they are endangered is because of the actions of humans and not their inability to survive in their natural environment.

Sifaka Lemur

Spider monkeys live mainly in the top of the tree canopy and can be found in the lowland rain forests from Mexico to South America, by the coasts of the banks of the Amazon, south to Bolivia and the Matto Grosso in Brazil, and also in the mountain forest slopes of the Andes. "Spider monkeys live in the evergreen rainforests, semi deciduous and mangrove forests, lowland rainforests to mountain forests. In these forests they live mostly in the upper canopy, preferring undisturbed high forest, almost never coming to the ground. They prefer wet than dry forests." (http://www.zooschool.ecsd.net/spider%20monkey.htm)

Spider monkeys are called "the supreme acrobat of the forest." because in the wild, it is rare when they come down to the jungle floor. Spider monkeys use several different types of locomotion: quadrupedal, because they use all four limbs for locomotion as seen while walking or running and when feeding. Suspensory locomotion - when hanging, climbing or moving through the trees, using only two limbs when leaping. 

Spider Monkeys are considered to be the smartest of the primates because they can adapt to new surroundings. They have also been known to use primitive tools,like a rock to break a nut or use a stick to pull a fruit over to them that they can’t reach.

Spider Monkey

Baboons are found in savannas and woodlands and are extremely adaptable. The one major requirements for this habitat seems to be water sources and safe sleeping places in either tall trees or on the face of cliffs. When water is not always available, baboons drink every day or two, but can survive for a long period of time by licking the night dew from their fur.

Baboons locomotor pattern is quadrupedal and on their digits which means walking on their toes with the heels not touching the ground.  This is known as being a digitigrade quadrupedalism.

Baboons can quickly adapt to changing conditions and can survive on many very different types of food resources, as long as they get the nutrients they need.  Their diets differ widely depending on the habitat they live in and the resources available to them.  "They are also very flexible behaviorally, with different types of social organization and social behavior depending on environmental conditions.  If one of these changing conditions happens to be increased overlap with humans and the availability of human-produced resources, then baboons will very easily adapt to this new situation and start incorporating human-derived foods into their diet." (http://www.imfene.org/causes-of-baboon-commensalism)

Baboon

Gibbons live in Southeast Asia and can be found in tropical evergreen forests.

They have very long arms, hands and fingers, which they use in a spectacular arm-swinging locomotion called brachiation. They have short thumbs which is set down on the palm, and their fingers form a hook. Gibbons have very good bipedal locomotion, that they use on stable surfaces that are too large to grasp. When walking bipedally, their arms are held up to keep from dragging and to help them balance. They are sometimes observed putting their weight on their hands and swinging their legs through as if using crutches.

Gibbon

Chimpanzees are found across a west-east belt in equatorial Africa and live in a wide variety of habitat types that includes dry savannas, evergreen rainforests, montane forests, swamp forests, and dry woodland- savanna mosaics (Goodall 1986; Fruth et al. 1999; Poulsen & Clark 2004). Because they can live in different habitats, chimpanzees must be very adaptable to their surroundings.

Chimpanzees usually walk using all fours - on the soles of feet and the knuckles of their hands and can also walk upright but only if they need to use their arms to carry something. They are very good at climbing trees, where they spend much of their time, including when they sleep, and can swing from branch to branch in the trees, which is called brachiating. 

Chimpanzee

Researching the world of these five Primates was so intriguing. Although all five are 'monkeys', they are all their different species - just like us humans. We weren't all made from the same mold. Each has a different way of getting around - locomotor patterns. They each live in different habits and while some may be able to easily adapt if taken out of their environment, others can't.  

Analogy/Homology

1 

a.) The two different species that possess the homologus traits I chose are:

        The bones of a human skeleton and the bones of a bat's front limb.  

       

b.) Both the human skeleton and bat's front limb differ in size but they also have the same overall structure, and both limbs end in five digits. Both also have a forearm in which consists of the following bones: Humerus, Radius, Ulna, Carpals, Metacarpals, and Phalanges. Some differences are that human bones are covered by skin whereas bats are covered by hair. Also, humans use their forearm to write, play the piano, pick up objects, etc., and bats use theirs to fly.

c.)  It isn't really known who, generally, the common ancestor of these two species was, however, it is known that they do come from common ancestors. According to http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/live.html, they should and they do share common anatomical traits. "More significantly, they are derived from the same structures in the embryo. Structures that are embryologically similar, but have different functions, are called homologous structures. A comparison of homologous structures indicates that they are quite similar. This suggests that they evolved from a common ancestor."

d.)

Bat's front limb

human limb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

2.  a.)  The two different species that possess the analogous traits I chose are: Sweet potato and potato

     b.)  Both have the same function but serve the same purpose - they are both a food, both can be planted, and both can be eaten.

      c.)  Both did for the fact that they are a vegetable but what makes them different is that one is a stem (potato) and the other a root (sweet potato).

      d.)

Potato

Sweet Potato

  

Protein Synthesis

TACGGCAATGCCCAACGGACGTGATTGCGAATGGCCG

Jessica Belanger - Blog #1 - Thomas Malthus

"In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work".

Charles Darwin, from his autobiography. (1876) 

(http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html)

Thomas Malthus's was a British scholar as well as an ordained Minister of the Church of England in 1788 and is best remembered for his work on his "Essay on the Principal of Population (1789)"

In his essay, he suggested that both the human and animal populations grow by rapid multiplication and that there will always be more people and animals than the availability of food. Malthus also "believed that so-called "positive checks" (such as plagues and starvation) and "preventive checks" (such as birth control measures and delayed marriage), worked to keep population growth and food growth in balance." http://www.allaboutscience.org/malthus-faq.htm

Malthus opinion about surviving amongst each other inspired Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection - overproduction of offspring because during his time, the island in which he lived was extremely overpopulated and it was a struggle to survive; to eat. "Darwin noted that the population-food imbalance postulated by Malthus would lead to competition between offspring. He considered that some of those offspring would be better equipped for the struggle than others, and so would flourish. This "survival of the fittest" became the central theme to Darwin's developing theory."

Could Darwin have thought up the overpopulation of offspring on his own without Malthus influence? Maybe but Malthus definitely was a big influence on his theory especially after Darwin's five year voyage on the HMS Beagle and reading Maltus's "Essay on the Principal of Population." 

I believe Darwin was a bit hesitant to proceed with his book due to the fact he was worried what the church might think of his opinions and findings - that he kept a lot of things to himself. However, on many occasions, he shared his thoughts with his brother, Darwin didn't want the church, in my opinion, to take his opinions to literally, hence perhaps ousting him in some way. 
Darwin's wife, Emma was very religious and he often worried his marriage would end up in separation due to his opinions.