Human Variation and Race

1. High Altitude is an environmental stress that negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis. When breathing, in high altitudes, the low air pressure makes it difficult for oxygen to enter the human vascular system, causing oxygen deprivation, also known as hypoxia: hypo, meaning low or little and oxia referring to oxygen. Hypoxia starts with the failure to take on normal physical tasks without exhaustion. This “high altitude sickness” also includes symptoms such as: lack of appetite, vomiting, headaches, distorted vision, fatigue, and difficulty thinking clearly. In some cases, the lungs and brain begin hemorrhaging and causes death within days. Also, due to high altitudes, added stress is placed on lungs, arteries and heart, which increases the risk of heart failure.

2. However, humans have adapted to high altitude stress through short term, facultative, developmental and cultural adaptations:

· Short Term: Our bodies begin adapting to the high altitude by increasing its breathing and heart rates to almost double the norm, even during resting. As the heart pumps harder to increase oxygen to cells, our pulse rates and blood pressure peak. These series of heart modifications are very stressful on the body especially for those with weak hearts.

 

· Facultative: In high altitudes our bodies produce more red blood cells and capillaries in order to efficiently carry more oxygen throughout the body. Our lungs, in turn, increase in size to process that oxygen and carbon dioxide. To enhance transfers of gas, our bodies also increase the vascular network of muscles. This results in successful acclimatization to low oxygen pressure.

· Developmental: Populations are most successful when their ancestors have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years. Natural selection plays a significant role in developmental adaptation for populations to live in high altitudes. Primary solutions for those who live in high mountain areas include: increased production of hemoglobin and increased lung expansions to increase oxygen in blood. Some populations adapt to breathing faster in order to intake more oxygen resulting in broad arteries and capillaries allowing for higher rates of blood flow and greater amounts of oxygen to muscles. A study proved that villagers, who reside at 15,000 feet, have 10 oxygen-processing genes that are not usually found in lowland populations.

· Cultural: There are many cultural adaptations to higher altitudes. Mountain climbers usually use oxygen tanks to aid in breathing in order to achieve peaks that are over 5 miles high. Many athletes, for greater lung expansion and capacity, train in higher altitudes. This physiological change, results in increased fitness levels when competing in lower altitudes.

3. There are many benefits of studying human variation from this perspective across environment clines. For example, if we are headed to Big Bear or Mammoth for a winter trip to the snow, it would be very useful to know that our bodies will be lacking oxygen and might go through hypoxia. This will probably change the way we hike up the hills or maybe change the agenda to allow for more resting time.

4. I don’t think that we would be able to use race to understand the variation of high altitude adaptations because race has no impact on how our bodies adjust to different levels of oxygen. The study of environmental influences on adaptations is a better way to understand human variation than by use of race because humans are unique in their given uses of environmental stresses. It allows for a better comprehension of physical adaptations under certain altitudes, whereas race only pertains to phenotypic characteristics and geographical ancestry.

Language

Part 1:

This week I engaged in a 15 minute conversation where I was not allowed to speak!! This experiment was extremely difficult for me. I am a person who is very verbal, enthusiastic and passionate about expressing my thoughts. With this being said, these 15 minutes felt like an ETERNITY for me! I chose to carry my typical morning conversations with my husband and kids—without the speaking part (of course).  When I began trying to express my thoughts through physical antics, my husband seemed puzzled, then very confused, and finally laughed at me saying, “it was awkward because I couldn’t communicate verbally, which comes natural to us”. My kids were getting very confused they wanted to know why I couldn’t just talk to them instead of acting out my thoughts. When I was using gestures to communicate with my kids it brought me to the feeling of when they were babies: I had to use so many hand gestures and movements to connect with them because that was their “language”. I felt like I was a baby trying to communicate with a parent. After an extensive five minutes, my husband eventually altered his way of communicating with me; using hand gestures and speaking slowly (as if I really did speak another language). I feel that if we represented two different cultures meeting for the first time that I would have had the advantage in communicating complex ideas. I think that the speaking culture would have a “snobby” and maybe even irritated attitude towards the culture that doesn’t use language because they know what they are trying to communicate but all they are getting in response would be antics. Babies and toddlers, everywhere, have difficulty communicating with spoken language and it affects adults and older children that do interact with them.  As adults we try to interact with babies by overly expressing our emotions and speaking slowly and loudly to convey our feelings and words. In the experiment, this is how my husband was trying to convey his thoughts to me while I couldn’t speak. I definitely felt like a baby.

Part 2:

In the second half of the experiment, I engaged in another 15 minute conversation, however this time without any physical signals, vocal intonation or body/facial movements. I could not last the entire 15 minutes! This experiment was very difficult for me because I naturally use a lot of body and facial expressions to communicate. Every two minutes I realized I would raise and lower my voice or smile.  I carried on this rather boring conversation with my husband. He said, “I lost all track of our conversation due to the monotonous tone…it was really, really boring…sorry”. This experiment “speaks” for itself (haha).  Signs are so important to our language and our ability to communicate effectively. These “non-speech language techniques” play a large role in our communication on so many levels; it’s how we read others body language and how we are able to adapt to others emotions and antics while they speak. It pushes our language farther than just words, its feelings, passions, and insights.  There are many people who do, however have difficulty reading body language. I think it might be the way they grew up—maybe they weren’t social or brought up in a manner to think much of body language. I think an environmental condition that might have a benefit to not reading body language would be in the coldest places on Earth; where no one would want to stand in the freezing cold to move their faces or open their arms while speaking, allowing the cold to take hold of them.

Overall, I felt that this experiment reinforces the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words”.

Piltdown Hoax

In the early 1900's, Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist, claimed to have found ancient human skull remains while digging in a gravel pit in the small village of Piltdown. His findings fooled scientists for 40 years. With the help of Arthur Woodward and Father Teilhard, Charles Dawson soon became famous. With news that the the first remains of an early-human skull were found, many were skeptical ye, didn't express their doubts.  When The Trio, (Charles Dawson, Arthur Woodward, and Father Teilhard), discovered the second set of remains, the scientific community was ecstatic that the missing link between ape and humans were found. Findings after findings, the trio were becoming famous world wide. After Charles Dawson's death in 1916, the Piltman fossils had stopped being found. In the 1920's, ancient human remains were found in Asia and Africa. After testing, these fossils were dated back to approximately 100,000 years after the Piltdown Man. In contrast, the Asian and African remains were LESS human, and brought up the validity of the Piltdown Man remains. After World War 2, new turning points rose in the scientific community such as Fluorine Dating Testing. In 1949, scientists did fluorine tests on the Piltdown Man and arrived at the conclusion that these remains dated back to only 100,000 years before (relatively young). In 1953, a full scale analysis was done and revealed that the artifacts were stained and some of the fossil was cut with a steel knife after fossilization had occurred. They also revealed that the teeth had been filed down and parts of the jawbone were broken off to secure its real identity, a female orangutan. Although there hasn't been a guilty suspect found, theories link the hoax back to Charles Dawson who found the first and last set of Piltdown Man fossils. His clear motive, as an amateur archaeologist, was fame for his conservative campaign for science. Some people blame Arthur Kieth because he needed proof to finalize his Human Evolution Theory. After the case, more than half a dozen other archaeological findings were found; all forged by Charles Dawson.

Even though scientists are curious, creative and persistent, they do carry human faults. Some human faults that came into play in the Piltdown Hoax were national pride and self interest. These human weaknesses negatively impacted the scientific process because it led The Trio to forge all their findings to become known in the scientific community as well as change the aspect of life and evolution for world.

The positive aspect of the scientific process that was responsible for the revealing of the hoax was the 1949 Fluorine Test. By measuring the fluorine content found in fossils, scientists were able to roughly date them. In 1953, scientists conducted a Full Scale Analysis using microscopes to reveal staining, cutting, and filing.

I don't think its possible to get rid of the "human" factor from science to limit the chance of errors like the Piltdown Hoax. I wouldn't want the "human" factor from science because as humans we are curious and creative. Without such "human" factors, there would be no reason for science. I think the technology we have today gives room for scientists to be human. Technology can test hypothesis and prove of falsify theories and still allows the scientist to "think outside the box", by human nature.

The life lesson that I took from this historical event is not to believe everything, until I analyze it thoroughly, or until it has been scientifically prove and backed with technology. I also learned not to let some human faults determine the outcome of hard work. Fame and pride should not affect the scientific process, however, curiosity and creativeness should.