Brrrrrrrr It's Cold

   

   The environmental stress I have chosen is cold weather. This environmental stress can negatively impact the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis. An example of this would be the profound effect that changes in weather can have on the overall health of a human being and their well being. There have been known cases of large rises in mortality rates in cold waves. Cold weather can cause direct deaths from sicknesses such as hypothermia, influenza, pneumonia and more. Homeostasis is the body’s process of attempting to maintain a certain desired state of stable physiological balance.  Humans must maintain homeostasis to stay alive. No matter what the out door temperature is the human body must maintain its inner temperature by using hormones to control the body’s conditions. Cold weather negatively impacts human’s homeostasis process by hurting our chances of survival by disturbing this process. Cold weather can negatively affect the process by causing sicknesses such as frostbite and hypothermia that your body will have to work on eliminating rather than giving the main focus to the homeostasis process. When frostbite occurs, your tissues are basically freezing, meaning that the skin has reached 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Growing up in Missouri, I have definitely had my fair share of time in the cold weather. I have found that the places affected by the cold most due to poor insulation and preparation tend to be noses, ears, feet, cheeks and hands. Hypothermia is another sickness cause by these cold weather temperatures. Hypothermia is when the core temperature of your body is at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for a long period of time. This will disrupt the body’s homeostasis process and in turn the brain will not work as well as it should be, you could loose consciousness, muscles will grow weak, and it will become hard to breathe. For many people, hypothermia can result in death.

                  Dealing with the cold is a part of our life therefore humans have adapted to this stress. Modern day humans have it pretty easy to prevent a lot of these negative disruptions. A short-term adaption would be heaters. People are able to stay warm nowadays is in their own homes. No longer do we rely just on blankets and fireplaces, but almost all homes have heating and air conditioning systems now. This is such a positive adaption for humans in relation to cold weather stresses. If the weather gets cold you juts go to a machine on your wall and hike up the temperature so that you and your family can stay warm. I was in St. Louis this past winter break and even when the temperature was below 20 degrees and there was inches of snow outside, my house was nice and toasty thanks to these modern heating systems.

         A facultative adaption would be where you choose to live. Facultative means it is occurring optionally in responses to certain circumstances, for example this is why I choose to live in California; to avoid the cold weather. Where you decide to live will obviously affect the type of weather you will have to deal with and can help prevent you from suffering in the cold.

   A developmental adaption that would be found currently would be the use of tools and proper clothing. Many people travel from different locations, from the heat to the cold and back all of the time. A way that they have been able to do so and stay healthy in these varying and sometimes extreme temperatures is by being prepared with the proper clothes and gear. People take trips to climb snowy mountains, go skiing, and many more winter activities that require warm clothes. New fabrics have been developed and in turn helped humans to become more easily adapted to these cold weather conditions for longer periods of time. For those people who are crazy enough to brave these extreme conditions, another positive human adaption is the development of new survival tools available for purchase at many stores across the country. People that just to climb snowy mountains now have an upper hand because they can buy picks, sleeping bags, and hiking tools that were specifically made to help them in the cold

         A cultural development could be food and diet.  Diet is important for humans when it comes to surviving in the cold and this is exhibited in other animals as well. Bears and other animals that hibernate consume many high calorie and fatty meals before hibernation to help their bodies work and stay warm and healthy. Think about a cold winter day, your nose is stuffy and you don’t want to get out of bed, so what does your mom make you? Soup. Although humans don’t hibernate, the food we consume does help us to stay warm and healthy during cold weather. People love to eat soups and hot teas or cocoa during the winter months to warm up their bodies.       

        

   Studying anything having to do with human variation always has a positive benefit because you are gaining knowledge that will only help you in the future. Knowledge is power and this information will help us to hopefully save peoples lives in the future by coming up with preventative methods. This information can be used in many productive ways, one being how doctors use it to treat patients that have been affected by these cold weather caused sicknesses.

         Race is not something that defines a human being in any way, shape, or form. If someone is cold, they are cold and their skin color or ethnicity is not going to make a difference in the situation. The study of environmental influences on these adaptions is a much better method of understanding, learning, and preventing than learning about how to do so through race. Racial traits may be one part of a person, but they do not impact how the person will react In extreme weather conditions. It does make sense for scientists to take age into consideration when researching new methods and ways to stay warm in the cold though, just because this can play a strong role in how people react.

It's a Hoax, Folks (The Piltdown Hoax Blog Post)

Shira Diamant

Piltdown Hoax Blog

The Piltdown Hoax was an event that is perhaps known as one of the most famous frauds in the history of modern day science. In the early 1900s, Piltdown was an archeological site located in England where mammal fossils, such as human and ape, were found together. However, in 1912 an ape’s jaw was discovered at a site nearby by Charles Dawson. The apes jaw was unlike one seen before due to the fact that it featured a worn-down canine tooth, like a human has. The discovery took the community of paleoanthropologists by storm, making them come to the conclusion that the fossil was indeed the remains of a creature that featured a human cranium with an apes jaw. The men involved with finding the Piltdown man were Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward, and Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. During their time excavating at Piltdown, the three men found some very strange objects at the site, but nothing as unseen as the Piltdown man.  The science community was certain that this discovery connected the missing link that would serve as the merging gap between man and ape. The discovery at Piltdown supported Darwin’s original theory and proved that humans had indeed evolved from apes, which was contradicting to all other fossilized evidence of the time period. Many paleontologists were excited about the discovery at Piltdown, however many still remained suspicious of the evidence provided. Some began to point out things wrong with the fossil and even provide new ideas of what they thought it was. Dawson kept the evidence of the Piltdown man alive when he allegedly made another discovery in 1915 of similar artifacts at a different site. This second discovery silenced many of those who doubted the first Piltdown man, but some were still not fully convinced of its authenticity.

 By 1953, nothing had been proven otherwise until a geologist named Kenneth Oakley met Joseph Weiner at a conference. The two began discussing their shared doubts regarding the Piltdown, and started to compare notes. The men decided to run multiple tests on the Piltdown artifacts in order to find out a precise dating and time period/range. What the men discovered was shocking; the bones were not 500,000 years old like everyone was told, around about 100,000 years old.  This discovery also showed that many of the fossils had been altered so that they would appear older. It was even apparent that the teeth had been shaved down to resemble the human canine tooth. The whole scientific community was deeply effected by these new discoveries and frankly very embarrassed. The fossils found at Piltdown were not genuine and were even believed to have been placed there by someone. What many thought to be the scientific discovery of the century had turned out to be nothing but one of the biggest jokes in history. At the time Dawson, Woodward, and Teilhard de Chardin were all “accused” of being the mastermind of the elaborate hoax.  Father Pierre remained fairly quiet when everything went down and didn’t speak much to defend himself or not, leaving many people very suspicious.  Charles Dawson, of course, became the prime suspect because he made the first and last finds at Piltdown. Arthur Woodward is viewed as the one who was tricked the most because he kept searching for more pieces of the Piltdown man even after Dawson died. The reaction to the Piltdown hoax by the science world as well as regular society forever changed people’s views on the true credibility of science. Before this hoax people believed all scientists to be honorable and scholarly men, no one ever expected anyone could pull something like this off. Scientists were embarrassed and humiliated and recognized this as a setback.

            Scientists may have a different nature about them being that they are naturally curious, creative and persistent; however, they are still human and human beings do have flaws. In this scenario many human faults come into play such as selfishness, pride, vulnerability, and the overpowering/persistent need to rise to the top. These faults, as well as many more, definitely impact the scientific process. Science is supposed to be based upon facts and research, but when all of these human faults come into play it is easy for the scientific process to get off track. Whoever was responsible for the Piltdown Hoax let their pride and thirst for fame get in the way of the scientific process. By letting these emotions get mixed in with the work being done at Piltdown, many of the things we knew about science were somewhat turned around by the discovery.

            There are many positive aspects of the scientific process, and these aspects are what lead to the discovery of the fraud lying within the Piltdown man hoax. The positive aspects of the scientific process are that it allows questioning and testing. If Kenneth Oakley hadn’t of had the doubts he did and wasn’t allowed to voice them, we may still be studying the Piltdown man as a real thing in our classrooms today. The beauty in the scientific process is that it allows questioning and ideas to spur and be tested, there is always a way to search and strive for an answer. Many tests were set to test the Piltdown man fossils, one being a fluorine test. The fluorine test allows the fossil bones to be dated. This is so because fossil bones actually absorb fluorine while they are in the soil and from water. This shows that fossils that have been around the same foil for a long amount of time should consist of around the same amount of fluorine. This test proved that the bones were not even close to how old Dawson revealed them as. Another test done was on the Piltdown teeth. By taking x-rays and observing the teeth under the microscope, scientists were able to see that the teeth had actually been filed down to resemble those of a human. It was also discovered that the jaw had come from an orangutan and nothing more.

I believe it is impossible to remove the “human factor” from anything even science because we are human and that can never change. People have different drives in science; some want to cure, some want to change, and sadly some just want to make a name for themselves. I believe the best way to begin to “remove” or decrease this human factor in science is to simply educate. Knowledge is the best tool we have and by informing the public on recent discoveries as well as informing scientists on the right and wrong things to do, another hoax like this can be avoided. I personally do not believe the human factor should be completely removed from science because it is a motivation. The human factor played a role in creating the Piltdown man, however it also helped in uncovering the truth of the fossils. There are going to be all types of people in life and in the field of science but by keeping our eye out on suspicious finds and staying up-to-date I believe the human factor will not come into play in such a negative way again. People are aware of the hoax and can now prevent these things by doing extra research and testing’s. The human factor is what sets us apart from all other living things and can continue to influence the science world in a positive manor.

What is most important in a situation like the Piltdown man is to learn and grow from it. There is a lesson in everything and I believe that this hoax has taught people not to just believe everything you see or read. The hoax actually reminds me a lot of the Internet. Many people nowadays believe that if it is on the Internet, it is real and factual. But the truth of the matter is, I could open my own website in a matter of minutes and post false information about almost anything and everything. The Piltdown hoax has hopefully taught not only the scientific world but also society as well to not always trust unverified sources and that it is okay to second-guess and ask questions. Knowledge is powerful and events like the Piltdown hoax only give us more knowledge on what to do in the future and how to improve our ways right now. 

Homology/Analogy

Week 3 Homology/Analogy Blog Post
by Shira Diamant

1. Homologous Traits

The homologous trait I have chosen is the relationship between the front fins of whales to the bones in the human arm. Human beings are mammals belonging to the primate grouping. Humans use their arms in everyday life for survival, work, everyday tasks and more. Whales are very large marine mammals of the order of Cetaceans. Whales have the general shape of a fish, on a much larger scale. They have forelimbs that have been modified to form flippers, one or sometimes two blowholes used to breathe, and a strong horizontal tail. Whales use their front fins to swim, steer, and survive in the ocean. Many mammals have very similar limb structures. Both the whale and the human have a somewhat large upper arm bone. This bone is known on the human as the humerus. The lower part of the arm limb is constructed of two separate bones. The larger bone, called the radius in human arms, and than opposite that a smaller bone on the other side referred to as the ulna in humans. These species all additionally have a collection of tiny bones in the area around the wrist, which in humans is called the carpal bones. These bones are what lead to the length of the fingers or the phalanges. For humans the arm is slimmer and used to function for the things we need it to do in every day life, from sports, to cooking, cleaning, writing, and more the arm plays a huge role in how efficiently we are able to get tasks done. The whale’s front flipper also has a humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, phalanges and metacarpals. The differences are the scales and shape of the bones proportionally to the body as well as the use of the whale fin in comparison to the human arms. Proportionally, the human humerus bone is longer compared to the whales. The Human radius and ulna are laid out differently in the human as well; possibly because humans have elbows to bend and whales do not. Both whales and humans have five phalanges. The reasons these two mammals have the same overall bones yet a different structure is due to their function and purpose. Whales need their fins to help them swim and steer their large bodies through the oceans whereas humans rely on their arms to help them lift things and complete a large percentage of daily activities. The human arm has more versatility than the whales fin, but they both serve the purpose for which they need to. When researching, I discovered that the whale fin was closely related to cat legs/arms, as well as bat wings. In turn these three mammals were all related back to the general structure of the human arm. When comparing the human arm and the whales front fin it makes sense that a primate would be the common ancestor of the two species considering that is where humans have evolved from. Although this seems far fetch, both whales and humans are mammals and would have a common ancestor somewhere in the mix.

2. Analogous Traits

The analogous traits I have chosen are the wings in both the butterfly and the bird. Birds and butterflies did not evolve from the same common ancestor however they both evolved wings for flight. Birds are warm-blooded vertebrates that lay eggs. They are easily distinguished by their wings, beak and their feathers. Birds use their wings to fly. Butterflies are nectar-feeding insects. They are considered any of the various insects of the order Lepidoptera. They usually have four colorful and broad wings, a smaller body, and knobbed antennae’s. Butterflies, like birds, use their wings to fly. Birds wings are somewhat modifications of their front legs. The birds wings are supported by internal bones than covered in skin, muscles and feathers. They have what we would consider a thumb and first finger, which have significantly reduced in size and are used as claws. The birds have feathers on their forearms, fingers and wrist that form a dome like shape for which air passes once under the wing and than over the top, this vacuum like process is what gives the birds flight. Butterflies wings are very different structurally. Instead of their wings being a modification of their legs, it is an entirely separate body part. The butterfly’s wings are sets of membranes that are stretched between a pair of hollow tubes. The stretched tubes are filled with fluid that comes from the insect’s body cavity. The butterfly is able to use its wings to fly by warming the muscles up and opening them in the direction the sun is. So the butterfly’s wings function as a way of flight and as a solar heater. Also, unlike birds butterflies do not have feathers but beautiful colored scaled that cover their wings. Yes, both birds and butterflies have wings that enable them to fly, however their wings do different things because they are proportionally so different that flight for a butterfly is much different than flight for a bird. The bird and butterfly would not have a common ancestor; they are analogous traits in terms of wings. The bird lineage and the insect lineage developed wings separately and independently from one another. The common ancestor of these two is unknown, however I do believe it is possible that the common ancestor did possess this or a similar trait. Both the butterfly and bird do have wings however the structures are different even though they both use them to fly.