Human Variation & Race: Cold 

The cold is an environmental stress that negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis (regular even body temperature). When it gets too cold outside, the body will automatically turn on a switch that will try to maintain the body temperature at 98.6 degrees (normal body temperature). The cold tells your brain that it’s cold which results in your body trying to adjust and make changes for surviving the cold. One gets some of this ability or energy to stay warm/ or remove warmth through the nutrients taken in and stored in the body from food or what’s called metabolic heat production. Think of food as fuel the body needs fuel to survive and function properly. That’s why it’s so important to eat healthily and regularly. We have seen this lately as it’s been unusually cold here in Southern California. The news mentioned more people getting sick and catching colds. It’s partly due to our bodies not able to maintain homeostasis. The cold effects the ability for your inner organs, skin tissue, and blood to work properly. If your body can’t adapt, then one may suffer from hyperthermia and potentially die.

Four ways in which humans have adapted to the cold:

Short-term adaptation

Our bodies try to acclimate to the cold by producing metabolic heat production. A process that allows your body to maintain normal temperature (98.6 degrees). This can be demonstrated through shivering. This allows one to use energy to maintain warmth.

Facultative adaptation

When one is in extremely cold weather, the body tries to keep warm through what is called vasoconstriction. This is where the blood vessels narrow in trying to keep the warmth in due to contraction from the muscular wall of the blood vessel.

Developmental adaptation

In regards to developmental adaptation, you’ll notice that body size plays a huge part with individuals who live in the colder climates. People tend to store more weight in colder climates. They tend to eat more fatty foods. This allows for their basal metabolic rates to rise allowing them to store more energy which produces heat and will keep them warmer. Natural selection plays a part also because while people relocate from warmer climates to colder climates, the body requires different types of warmth. Natural selection enables people to adjust and acclimate to their surroundings to survive.

Cultural adaptation

Cultural adaption to the cold can be considered the clothes we wear. People who tend to live in warmer climates will tend to dress differently than those who live in colder climates. Individuals will tend to wear heavier sweaters, gloves, jackets, and scarfs. This is culturally acceptable because to stay warm, one must insulate themselves to try to keep heat in. Columbia sportswear provides what is called Omni-tech which is special technology that’s designed to keep heat in and moisture out for those who plan on being in colder areas.

           

 

There are several benefits for studying human variation from this perspective across environmental clines. For example, if one decides to venture out to Oregon in the winter, it would be good to know that the climate drastically changes from L.A.’s 70 degrees to potentially below 30 degrees. With this information, one can prepare ahead of time so they won’t get caught without the necessities to be able to keep warm. Knowing that one will need to stay warm and take the needed precautions or else they might result in hyperthermia would be a benefit. Also, because we never know what to expect in any situation, it’s always good to prepare for the worst. With that in mind, trying to accumulate necessary stuff for the “just in case,”. It’s always good to be prepared for unexpected environmental conditions. Better prepared = to survival.

I would use race to understand the variation of the adaptations only to study ancestral reasons to what differentiates human physical characteristics and their adaptability throughout the different regions/ climates. I would indicate that humans are characteristically different depending on where their ancestors lived and describe how natural selection has played a part in their survival, but also show that not every race shares the same/exact characteristics. For example, why do those who live in colder climates tend to be heavier in weight and why does their diet look different than those in warmer climates. These are ways the study of environmental influences on adaptations is a better way to understand human variation than by race because as we relocate all over the world, we will eventually share similar/ different adaptabilities which differentiate ourselves from others who may be our same race.

Piltdown Hoax

In 1912 a discovery of what scientists thought to be the first, and earliest fossil remains of human life was found in a southern English town of Lewis in a village called Piltdown. Headed up by Charles Dawson who was an amateur archaeologist, dug up the first piece of what he claimed to be part of an ancient human skull. He then connected with England’s leading geologist/ paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and French Paleontologist Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to continue to authenticate and cultivate more ancient human findings.

            The science significance of the ancient human fossils was that primitive human remains were found in France, Germany, and Asia up to this point. England did not have any signs of primitive humans existence. Findings of the Piltdown man would have found the disconnect between humans and apes. With Arthur Keith supporting Charles Dawson, it would then be enough evidence to solidify his theory that humans had big brains before walking upright. These primitive human findings would have a huge effect on the science community because they were excited to see that ancient human life existed in England too. It would then mark them as discovering the oldest human fossil remains accounted for so far.

            However, a huge shock swept over the science community after 1942, WWII when possibilities arose by new advent technologies that would be able to measure fluorine by conducting tests to roughly date the fossils. In 1953 scientists, could conduct a full-scale analysis where they would discover that the Piltdown human findings were forged. This new information would reveal that the fossil was not as old as they thought and that the skull was stained superficially with markings from steel knives and areas where steel filing had taken place to falsify the information. The jawbone revealed to be less than 100 years old and the origin was from a female orangutan.

            Due to the new details unraveled from the full-scale analysis, the science community was surprised with dismay by the falsified information. They now know that humans walked upright before the big brain came into effect and more proof was found later to detect that the human fossil was a hoax. They couldn’t believe that Scientists (gentlemen), let alone English scientists could or would do something like this, but it came down to “power”. Dawson was an ambitious man who sought to be one of the royal society. He proved that he would do whatever it took to obtain prestige and notoriety even if it compromised his integrity.

            Scientists are human, and therefore, make mistakes or better off saying lying. The falsified information provided by the scientists and their partners were driven by notoriety, prestige, fame, and elite recognition from their peers. This impacted the scientific community by discrediting scientists who were found guilty and those involved. They would then be found as an unreliable source for past and future projects. This would have placed shame on the scientific community by the public. This would in return push back human evolution ideals and force scientists to redo tests and question results and conclusions.

            Although the Piltdown skull was revealed to be a fraud, positive scientific aspects came to light, such as the ability to measure fluorine in 1953 which could provide accurate dates and time lines. Within that piece, better dating methods gave scientists the ability to conduct a full-scale analysis. This revealed the artifacts had been stained and the stain was superficial. The jawbone originated from a female orangutan. They also could see that the teeth were filed down with steel knives and files. With these new tools, it made it possible to detect authenticity from fake.

No, one could not remove the “human factor” because that’s what creates curiosity. Even though we try to place our opinions aside, somehow one’s thoughts sometimes get entwined with results. Plus, why would you want to? Isn’t science about exploring and continuously seeking out information to find answers to the unknown. By eliminating the human factor, I believe the “what if factor” would be lost and science would come to a stance.

My takeaways and lesson learned would be to not just trust information without exploring the possibilities. Even if it’s backed by reputable companies/ persons, always do your homework and research it more in depth. I would say don’t be afraid to challenge results and don’t be afraid to “ask the whys”. One might need to explore more and create continuous tests to uncover the actual true conclusion.

Homologous and Analogous traits

Homologous: 

a.     Cats and dogs are both considered domesticated animals and they both share a homologous trait with their pelvises and paws. Cats usually have a small stature and are quick on their four legs. Some have tails and some don’t. They adapt quickly to their environment and are a form of a companion for humans. Because of their quickness, light on their four legs, and keen senses, cats are known to hunt, kill, and extinct small prey.

Dogs also move about on four legs. Because dogs are bred for various activities, their sizes, colors, and shapes vary. Humans have also considered them to be companions not only for personal but also for medical reasons such as depression. Dogs have been used for hunting, protection, and farming needs.

b.                                   The pelvis of the cat                   The pelvis of the dog

                          

Both animal's pelvises share a similar structure where the legs hook, backbone attaches partially, and the birthing canal is in the similar position within the dog and cat.

Paws from a cat and dog are homologous as well because both the dog cat uses the paw to balance, feel, and for stability. Dog’s paws are usually a little rough compared to the cat’s paws whose texture is softer. The dog’s pads are different by way of structure. The cat has 7 pads on front and 5 in the back, whereas a dog has 6 paws with declaws on front paws. The shape of the dog’s paw is oval and cats are round. Cats have retractable claws depending on how the cat feels. The dog claws are always extended. The purposes of the dog’s paws/ claws are to dig, play, and sweat. Cats’ use theirs to climb, play, protect themselves and get food.

  

           DOG                                  CAT

c.     Generally, the common ancestor of dog and cat was the Dormaalocyon latouri.
They were known to have lived over 56 thousand years. They were the earliest known carnivores.

             

Analogous:

a.     Two different species that portray analogous traits are butterflies and birds.

Butterflies are insects and at the adult stage, their wings are bright, bold, and colorful. Some; however, use their subdued wing color to camouflage them from their predators.

Birds are endothermic vertebrates. They live all over the world and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Their wings are used for transportation, warning, others of danger, and mating call.

       

b.       They both have wings. The bird’s wings are attached below the neck and the butterfly’s wings are attached a second and third segment of the thorax. Structurally they are very different, wear as birds have feathers and bones, and butterfly wings are constructed of chitin and thin layers of scales. The similarities of a bird and butterfly are that they both have adapted to life in the air making it their main way of travel. Mating ritual is similar to the way of expanding the wings and sputtering them quickly appeal to the opposite sex in some cases.

c.       The common ancestor was hard to find, but I did see it mentioned that they inherited four limbs from a common ancestor. Birds’ ancestor was the Archaeopteryx which was a bird-like dinosaur. The Caddis fly was the ancestor of the butterfly. Both the Caddis fly and the Archaeopteryx derived from a terrestrial organism and is included in the tetrapod because of their four limbs that evolved.

                Archaeopteryx/ Caddis fly

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Tuesday, January 4, 2017

1. It is possible that the student continues to fall asleep during class because he works a graveyard shift, then must make sure his younger siblings get up and go to school.

2. Test

a.     I would test this hypothesis by having the student sleep a few hours before work and ask him to take a nap on his break. I would ask him to pre-make breakfast for his younger siblings at the beginning of the week and have them get ready for school the night before. By adding these steps to enable him more sleep, I could to figure out if his working the graveyard shift and attending to his younger siblings is having an impact on the student falling asleep in class.

b.    If the student follows my directions to ensure he gets the maximum sleep for a couple of weeks, then stays awake during class, this test indicates that my hypothesis of lacking sleep due to his prior obligations could be possible.

c.     If the student follows my directions to ensure he gets the maximum sleep for a couple of weeks, then continues to fall asleep during class, this test indicates that my hypothesis of lacking sleep due to his prior obligations may result in failing to reject the hypothesis.

3.  An untestable explanation that would not be classified as a scientific hypothesis would be if he has a rare form of sleep apnea, which is called central sleep apnea. With this type of sleep apnea, it is hard to detect and may cause the brain to not send the adequate indicators to the body, thus causing the person to fall asleep at any given time. It would be hard to detect this form of sleep apnea.