Human Variation and Race

Human Variation and Race Blog

            The environmental stress I choose that negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis is living in the high altitude areas, particularly above 10,000 feet. According to the textbook, “today as many as 25 million people live at altitudes above 10,000 feet”. At altitudes of this nature, there are many reasons that this sort of elevation can produce stress on the body. Some examples of the stresses are hypoxia, more powerful solar radiation, colder temperatures, and nutritionally challenged food because of the territory. Hypoxia seems to be the biggest problem these people face that live high above sea level. It is caused by lowered barometric pressure, it is not there is reduced oxygen, it’s less potent. The body has to make adjustments to be able to use the oxygen provided. The part of the way the body adapts that was interesting to me was how the body processes glucose, which is important for the brain and heart. People that live in this high altitude regions burn glucose in a way that allows more effective oxygen consumption. The body knows what we need and changes to provide that for the individual contingent on the geographical. Amazing bodies we have.

            Short term: Somebody who travels from lower to higher altitudes need a day or two to acclimate to their surroundings. In that short time a few changes will happen for the individual, such as; increase in metabolic rate, breathing, and rate of the heart.          Facultative: The production of the red blood cells increases to carry the oxygen to body parts and tissue. It is amazing how the red blood cells have the hemoglobin, the protein accountable for moving oxygen around the body.

            Developmental: People of high altitude grow at a slower rate and tend to be shorter in size. They have greater lung and heart capacity. There is less oxygen at higher elevations and this is effecting infants in brain development and mortality.

            Cultural: High-altitude variation in humans is prevalent the populations in Tibet, the Andes and Ethiopia, who have developed the capacity to endure at elevation. These residents succeed well in the highness. These people have endured massive physical and genetic alterations, chiefly in the areas of respiration and blood flow.

            The benefits of studying human variation from this perspective can help one when traveling to higher elevations. If I was running a marathon, I would check if it was a flat run or hills and elevation. I tend to favor the Huntington Beach one because it is flat. It is already hard work why make it harder.

            I believe the study of environmental influences on adaption is a better way to understand the human variation than the use of race. The study of environmental influences on adaption is a better way to understand human variation because the environment effects all people differently.  The world we live in and the physique is constantly evolving.   I don’t see how race is a reason with how humans acclimate to their environment.

Piltdown Hoax

On December 18, 1912, in London a meeting of the U.K.'s Geological Society, archaeologist Charles Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward declared discoveries that were a game changer in the scientific world, or so it seemed. After a lengthy digging up of the Piltdown pit in England, Dawson had excavated human-resembling skull remains and a jaw, along with various animal fossils and basic tools. Dawson and Woodward publicized that ancient skull and the jaw belonged to a hominid, who lived some 500,000 to 1 million years ago. The scientific world cheered Dawson's discovery as the answer for the gap between ape and man. The first doubts about Piltdown Man’s truth surfaced in the 1920s with the finding of other primitive human remains discovered around the world. By this discovery it shed light on the original discovery that Dawson & Woodward made. None of them showed the same large brain and ape-like jaw of Piltdown Man; in its place, they suggested the opposite that jaws and teeth became human-like before a large brain developed. In November 1953, authorities of the British Natural History Museum announced these findings and publicly called Piltdown Man a fraud.

Human faults come into play in all our lives. In this particular case, it seemed Dawson wanted to be held in high esteem with his fellow scientists. It is evident that in his time he made-up many suspicious discoveries to astonish museum curators to get into various scientific societies. He wanted fame even at the cost of being a fraud. In the end he is remembered for being a fraud not a scientist.

The Piltdown Man findings were sealed up after Dawson's death in 1916 and it was not until 1949 that scientists were able to perform experiments on the fossils. The hoax was visible when modern technology showed the fossils, claiming to be around 500,000 years old, were two different species - a human skull and an ape jaw. Hence discovering the remains originated from two different species, they found miniscule scratches on the teeth, demonstrating they had been filed down to appear more human. Most of the discoveries where they say they found these skulls, the tools, had been tainted to resemble the gravel color. Later investigations, scientists performed DNA analysis on the fragments to verify where the jaw came from.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to remove the human factor from science, because humans are the scientists. But scientist have ways to prove their theories are accurate. I believe scientists should make sure what they are proclaiming is true so we protect the integrity of what is proclaimed as golden.

A life lesson that never tires out id what is usually too good to be true probably is. An example for me is on Facebook a sponsored ad of Christian Louboutin Shoes for around $200 a piece (usually $675 and up $2000 a pair). I thought what a great deal. I bought two pairs and then I started reading the reviews about this being a fraud. Deep down I knew better, I thought maybe this was a closeout sale or something. I refused the package when it got here as they were fakes and my credit card reversed charges and sent me a new credit card. The point is something too good to be true probably is.

ANalogy/Homology

Homologus Traits

1a. An example of homology is the forelimb of tetrapods (vertebrates with legs). Two different species that possess the homologus trait would be the frog and the rabbit. The frog which I would never see the similarities unless I have seen the picture (see below picture), their body stance and the way they jump to get around.

A frog is an amphibian. It spends part of its life in water and part on land. The front legs are shorter than its hind legs.

Rabbits are small, fluffy, animals with long ears, fluffy tails, and strong, large hind legs that are designed for hopping from one place to another.

1b. The homologus trait in both the frog and the rabbit is the forelimb of tetrapods. The frog has the forelimb but his feet are webbed which help him swim. The rabbit has little feet with four long toes that are webbed to keep them from spreading apart for jumping purposes. The homologus traits exhibit differences between these two species the frog uses his webbed feet to be a better swimmer and the rabbit uses his webbed feet to be a better jumper.

1c. Eusthenopteron is a prehistoric fish. It has close relationships to tetrapods. The prehistoric fish had ample fins had a sequence of bones, including elements that match to the limb bones of land vertebrates—the humerus, radius and the ulna.

2a The platypus have a sharp stinger on their heels of their rear feet and use them to sting toxic stings to their enemy. Platypus hunt underwater, the way their bodies are designed they can stay submerged for minutes at a time.

Ducks have wide webbed feet that help this species to be strong swimmers. A duck's bill is wide and compressed to serve as a scooper for gathering food.

2b. Ducks and platypuses both lay eggs, different structures of eggs.

2c. Reptiles lay eggs too.