Human Variation & Race

Maintaining our body temperature is an extremely important part of our survival. Humans are not equipped to handle extreme cold temperatures. When we are put in a situation that involves the cold, we most likely won’t survive.  When we are exposed to cold temperatures, we run the risk of developing hypothermia, which is when our body temperature drops below 94 degrees Fahrenheit.  The hypothalamus begins to fail and the core body temperature will start to drop rapidly. This makes it difficult for humans to survive in the most northern and southern hemispheres.

Even though it is difficult for humans to live in these climates, we have adapted in order to be able to survive. One short-term solution to fighting the cold is drinking alcohol. This increases the blood flow throughout the body giving the person a feeling of warmth. However, this doesn’t last very long.

 A cultural response is the use of warm clothing, living in houses, and making fires to stay warm. Some even limit their activities to times when it is the warmest. An example would be the Eskimos. They consume large amounts of high calorie foods in order to speed up their metabolic rate, which increases their production of body heat.

A facultative response would be the narrowing of the blood vessels, which reduces blood flow, called vasoconstriction. This prevents heat loss from the skin. However, this can cause frostbite, so the body also knows when to switch to dilating the blood vessels. This is called vasodilation.

A developmental response would be the genetic passing of short stocky bodies. The short bodies would have less surface area to heat, so it would be able to stay warmer. This is shown in Allen’s rule.

The benefit of studying human variation across different environments gives us insight on how well humans can adapt to the harsh environmental factors of Earth. This information is helpful because it allows us to be able to take information and spread it so others can use the practices to adapt as well. An example would be studying how the Eskimos survive in the cold weather and using that information to allow others who wish to live in those types of areas for reasons such as fishing in Alaska.

Instead of using race to understand the variation of adaptations, we should be looking at the culture of the people in each condition listed. Race really has nothing to do with the way humans adapt to their environment. 

Language Post

Shortly after beginning the first conversation, where only one was permitted to speak, it quickly became apparent how difficult this was going to be. It was difficult to start a conversation that we were able to go into depth with. The questions and answers between us had to stay pretty basic in order for us to understand each other. Even then, the conversation was hard to carry on with.

For this experiment, my partner was in control of the conversation. I decided to be the one to try and not speak. Since I couldn’t say anything, there was really no way for me to ask her questions without her getting confused as to what I was trying to say. Most of the conversation consisted of her asking the questions and changing the topics, while I attempted to answer the questions. If I compared this conversation to a balance of power, my partner definitely had the power in this conversation.

If my partner and I were to be compared to two different cultures, she would be the one who would have the advantage of communicating complex ideas. Even though my culture may understand body language with each other, it is not enough to relay complex information to each other. Unfortunately, the culture who has the advantage of using language to communicate will most likely feel superior to the culture who cannot. This can be seen between the interaction of human and wild animals. As humans, we communicate with language while wild animals communicate in their own way that humans do not fully understand. Many humans feel as though they are superior to animals because of our ability to intellectually communicate with each other.

The second conversation was definitely easier, but was still difficult in some ways. I always talk with my hands, so it was extremely difficult to prevent myself from doing that. This time, we could have a slightly more in depth conversation, but due to the lack of emotion it was difficult for us to talk about things that involved feelings or opinion. Afterwards, we both compared the conversation to text messaging. There is no feeling and just using words without feeling can easily cause confusion.

This experiment shows that the use of signs in language is extremely important.  Just using words alone isn’t enough. When receiving the information from a person’s body language when conversing, the feelings about the conversation become apparent. We can tell if one really wants to be having the conversation or not. It also gives us insight to what their opinions are on the matters being discussed.

Being able to read a person’s body language can help us survive in certain situations. It allows us to tell if the person we are with are willing to help us if we are in need or not. By reading body language we get a real sense of their feelings toward us rather than just relying on what they say. This also becomes apparent when reproduction comes into play. When dating, body language is a huge factor when determining if someone is into you or just wants the date to end.

I am sure there are people who have a hard time reading body language, however it is difficult to identify them. I cannot think of a situation when reading body language is not important. I feel as though it is important in every situation. It even allows us to tell if someone is lying or telling the truth. The only situation in which reading body language isn’t available is when we are talking on the phone. However, I don’t necessarily think this makes it unimportant.

Piltdown Hoax

     The Piltdown Hoax started in 1912 in the village of Piltdown in England. A geologist, Charles Dawson came out with a discovery of a piece of an ancient skull he had found when digging in a gravel pit. This skull was said to be about 1 million yeas old. It was a human jawbone. This was significant because it would have been the oldest human remain discovered. It would have also shown that the oldest people might have been in Europe rather then Asia or Africa. It wasn't until around 1953 that the Piltdown bones were reanalyzed using new dating technology. It was discovered that the bones dated back about 100 years and belonged to a female orangutan. There was also evidence the bones were filed down and stained to look much older then they actually were. The scientists involved really had nothing to say. A few were no longer living, while the others just kept their mouths shut on the issue. This was devastating news in the field of human evolution.

     Even though scientists devote their lives to finding out the hard facts, they are still only human. As humans our fault is that we tend to think selfishly sometimes. In this case, the scientists working on the Piltdown project had motive to fake their findings in order to advance their careers. Even though it is unknown who was actually in on the hoax, each one is a likely suspect. Unfortunately whoever was involved let their need for personal gain effect findings that could have changed our theories of human evolution tremendously.

     About 40 years after the Piltdown discovery, new scientific dating processes were starting to become a popular tool when examining fossils. At the Natural History Museum, fluorine tests were performed on the bones. This tested how much fluorine had accumulated in the bones and teeth which allowed for scientists to get an accurate age of the bones. Scientists also used a microscope in order to further examine the teeth. They were able to see they had been filed down to make the perfect shape of a humans. 

     I do not think it is possible to remove the human factor from science. We need scientists to make new discoveries. We can't rely solely on technology. Even that can have its own flaws. This hoax has given insight to scientists to further analyze findings to make sure this kind of thing does not happen again. Removing the human factor from science would not allow for certain advances in certain scientific fields. For example, we cant just rely on technology to go out and dig up fossils. Technology could help analyze it, but we need the human factor to find it in the first place. 

     After learning about this hoax, information cannot always be trusted at face value, no matter how reputable the source is. It is important to get a second opinion, especially from one who is objective to the finding. Seeing how easy it was for the scientists to fake their findings at Piltdown shows that it is just as easy for others to repeat the process but in different aspects of science.