WEEK 8: Human Variation & Race Blog

1. HEAT: Extreme heat can kill humans in overbearing situations. Hyperthermia can result in organ failure and soon death. The body should stay around 98.6 degrees to properly function.
2. Short-term adaptation: Sweating. In higher temperatures and higher humidity, sweat won’t evaporate fully, thus leaving the human overheated. Facultative adaptation: During high temperatures the body will increase blood flow,    extract salt from the body through sweating. The salts should be replaced along with the water to properly maintain balance. Developmental adaptations: Skinny people with longer limbs are the result of environmental heat over the course of generations. The longer limbs make it easier for body heat to lose. Short fatter people tend to be around cooler environments. Cultural adaptations: Clothes, houses, air conditioners, ice, and more are examples of cultural adaptations. Humans when they get hot tend to wear less clothes, turn their a/c on, sit in a house away from the sun, and maybe indulge in a nice cup of ice cream.

1. We can learn a lot about how humans respond to environmental stresses. This can open up different sources to avoid these stresses in the future. WIthout studies, we would hinder our chances of true long term survival. If we never studied the fact that humans sweat for a reason, we wouldn’t learn what we should do to prevent hyperthermia, and we wouldn’t learn why sweat is actually beneficial. We wouldn’t learn how to replenish the water and salt that the body expelled. Thus making it harder for long term survival.
2. Race has a lot to do with climate stresses. The Eskimos tend to eat fatty foods and are more acceptant to cold temperatures. The East Africans tend to have super long limbs and are more likely harmed in colder situations. The East Africans have longer limbs that allow them to lose body heat better than the Eskimo, and vice versa. Every environmental stress over time has resulted in different human traits.

WEEK 7: Language Blog

PART 1: My girlfriend and I did this assignment together. First, I was to use no symbolic language. I found this to be difficult. I have been programmed to use body language along with spoken language. She had a hard time figuring out what I was talking about in our conversation with one another. It’s even hard to stick to the assignment because of laughter outbursts, because of the awkwardness of the whole situation. We had to make up a system of communication not previously know to us. This was fun, but we still hit walls and she didn’t have a good idea of what I was trying to say to her. Communication without symbolic language is difficult. Had we been two different cultures meeting for the first time, I would think that she would have the ultimate advantage of communicating complex ideas. I would only imagine that the symbolic culture would look down and have a sense of power over the “lesser” culture whom only uses body language along with grunts.  I myself see this everyday in our culture. Hispanic people have a slight language barrier with English speaking individuals and I see the harsh treatment, and the rude things people say about them. It’s a misfortunate clash of cultures that really limits our growth as humans to grow beyond the language and culture barriers we encounter day to day.

PART 2: Once again I found the use of just speech and no body language hard, because of the fact that I have been influenced by body, facial, hand, and head language since my birth. You can smile which shows lack of emotion. So now I have become emotionless and dull. What’s the point of speech without passion? My monotone communication has been a boring process for my girlfriend and her attention was soon lost. She felt disconnected with me and I felt like a boring person. I think speech can’t lack any element in its execution otherwise there will be “a failure to communicate!” There are indeed people who cannot read body language: the blind. Most people don’t judge the blind and treat them like crap, but from the blind mans point of view, yes there is a huge communication barrier. They cannot see the tone they are trying to set. Irritation, urgency, exaggeration, and many more emotions are set forth through body and physical gestures. I found both experiments equally hard, frustrating, and some what useless in the attempt to properly communicate with one another.

Week #5: Piltdown Hoax Blog Post

1. The Piltdown man is the discovery of a skull fragment, a jaw bone, and teeth in 1912 in a small English town near Uckfield England. It was discovered by a laborer and was given to Charles Dawson. Over the course of a few years the Piltdown man was assembled and created the illusion that England discovered it’s much awaited earliest man. I was taken with pride for England. People were excited that England had finally found what Germany, France, and other countries have found previously. Charles Dawson, Sir Arthur Woodward, Pierre Teilhard, and more were suspects in this horrible forgery that left England scrutinized and the science world in an uproar.

2. PRIDE. England wanted an early man so bad that some scientists wanted to be the one that discovered it and fabricated an elaborate hoax to obtain such royalties. The result of this forgery is a complete English embarrassment all around, both science and public.

3. Around 1953, Kenneth Oakley used a chemical process, fluorine absorption test, to conclude that the skull was dated way earlier than Dawson claimed. Upon further inspection and scrutiny, it was revealed that the bones were stained using iron solutions and chromic acids, the teeth had been filed for authenticity, and the bones were actually three different species. Human skull from the medieval times, jaw bone from a 500 year old orangutan, and the teeth of a chimpanzee.

4. If we rely on accurate techniques to obtain accurate information than, human error will be limited. When it comes to humans, there will definitely be errors. If we use as many lab tests to check and double check our human findings, then errors should be limited. Humans have great ideas, but we need to find better and accurate techniques to check our theories and ideas.

5. LIFE LESSON:   Can’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover!

Week #4 -Comparative Primate Blog Post

1. Lemurs- 3.1.4.3/3.1.4.3. Different teeth than any other primate in this assignment. They have 3 incisors, 1 canine, 4 premolars, and 3 molars , on both top and bottom. They are from Madagascar, live nocturnally, and are herbivorous.They are smaller in size so they prob tend to need more sharp front teeth for protection and diet.

2.Spider Monkey- 2.1.3.3/2.1.3.3. These have the same as every other primate in this activity except for Lemurs. They have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars. They are from Central and South America, live Diurnally. They are bigger in size. They have bigger bodies and skills, they can protect themselves easier. they hang out in trees away from certain predators.

3. Baboon- 2.1.3.3/2.1.3.3. These have the same as every other primate in this activity except for Lemurs. They have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars.They are from Africa, Asia, and Southeast Asia. They are Diurnal, they range in many varied sizes. They are truly omnivores.Live in mixed social groups which cause for giant teeth to scare off predators and capture larger prey.

4.Gibbon- 2.1.3.3/2.1.3.3. These have the same as every other primate in this activity except for Lemurs. They have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars.They are from Southeast Asia. They are Diurnal and are around 13 lbs. They eat fruit, leaves, flowers, and insects. Swing from trees, to avoid predators, and capture prey. Large teeth, especially canines, for larger prey. Smaller in size compared to other primates.

5.Chimpanzee- 2.1.3.3/2.1.3.3. These have the same as every other primate in this activity except for Lemurs. They have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars.They are from Central Africa. They are diurnal, around 80-100lbs. They are omnivorous. They live in extended communities. They are large and need to capture bigger prey so they have large incisors and big canine. They tend to be more complex mentally, like humans.

Week #3: Analogy/Homology Blog Post

1.Homologus- Chicken and Human forearm. Both are land vertebrates. Human is mammal, and chicken is Aves.
2.The chicken wing and human arm/forearm/hand, both have humerus,ulna,carpel,metacarpal, and phalenge. The chicken wing is designed for flight and the human arm is designed for movement and picking things up with.
3.Stem reptile. Humans and chicken arms/wings are both descendants of the stem reptile. Both have similar characteristics.

1.Analogous- The owl wing and the butterfly wing. The owl is an Aves, and the butterfly is an Insecta.
2. Both were evolved for flight but both arrived there taking two separate paths. The owl has 2 wings covered with feathers and contains bones. The butterfly has four wings covered in scales and contains tubular veins for support.

3.Maybe not, I think over time, because of environmental pressures, have created the ability for powered flight. Evolutionary process was formed using two different paths but same evolutionary conclusion.

Week #2- Protein Synthesis: Blog Post

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Week #1- Historical Influences on Darwin: BACKGROUND

1. I select Jean-Baptiste Lamarckian for he had a similar positive influence on Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural selection.
2. Lamarck  wrote Philosophie zoologique. He also was considered by most, including Charles Darwin , as a great zoologist and as a forerunner of evolution.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html

3. The bullet points to which Lamark’s ideas landed closely to Darwin’s would be:

-Individuals do not evolve. Populations do.

Larmak stated in 1801 “ time and favorable conditions are the two principal means which nature has employed in giving existence to all her productions. We know that for her time has no limit, and consequently she always has it at her disposal.”

This solidifies Darwin’s theories that traits passed on over time will change and evolve. I feel this would be positive effect on Darwin.

4. I feel Darwin could have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of Jean-Baptiste Lamark.
5. Darwin even stated that the first parents of Man were created by God. The Catholic Church didn’t except Origin of Species for many decade because of the literal teachings and interpretation on Genesis. Darwin I feel wasn’t affected too much because he believed his own theories and therefore brushed away criticism and hash attitudes.

Week #1 Scientific Method Scenario Discussion

1. It is a possibility that the student discussed doesn’t speak English, for he speaks only German.
2. I would test this hypothesis by getting a German speaking translator to translate the teacher’s    lesson into German for him. If he still falls asleep then my hypothesis would be falsified. If he    stayed awake then this would support my hypothesis.
3. An example of an untestable, unfalsified explanation would be that a voodoo spell was placed on the student, causing him to fall asleep every time he was listening to a lecture. Preventing him from learning anything.