Week 5 Blog

1.       SOLAR RADIATION:

Some of the negative impact that solar radiation can have on the human race is changes to the blood, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. Although all are recoverable in small doses a constant exposure could eventually kill all human life.  Astronauts are subject to cataracts, cancer, and becoming sterile from over exposure.

2.       We have adapted in the following ways:

a.       Short-term: The pigmentation in the skin adjusts by increasing the longer it is subjected to exposure. An example would be getting sunburned.

b.      Facultative: Tanning can be considered a facultative adaptation as the skin produces more melanin with long exposure to UV rays.  If a person who enjoys tanning isn’t in the sun as often as the tanning period, their tan will slowly fade.

c.       Developmental: A developmental adaptation is the amount of darker complexion populations in regions of the world that were exposed to more of the sun’s harmful rays over time. The African continent is directly affected by the solar radiation and over time human’s skin tone, or concentration of melanin increased in these zones for protection.

d.      Cultural: Culturally the amount of skin products such as Sunscreen, tanning lotion and SPF ratings we put on these products is a direct product of humans trying to avoid damage to their skin.

3.       By studying the human variations in different groups, across the world, we are able to see how humans are reacting to certain stresses.  We can see if one group is able to ward off disease better than another, and take those positive aspects and give them to other regions of the world so they can benefit as well.

4.       I would argue that Solar Radiation and the climate created different races to enable humans to thrive in the geographic location they are in. Environmental influences can help find solutions to an issue in a region of the world quicker that a race of people. With the United States being so racially diverse, trying to pin point an issue here in matters of health by race would be foolish.

Now with technology advancements, most humans can thrive in any part of the world should they choose to live there.

The Meltdown in Piltdown

Piltdown Blog Post

                The Piltdown Hoax took place in Piltdown England, in 1912.  An amateur archaeologist named Charles Dawson said he found fossilized bones of a very old human. He claimed they were the missing link between humans and apes. I believe the scientific significance at the time was that they found the oldest human remains ever and that it caused more questions than gave answers. It also was believed to be somewhat true, although skeptical, for so long.  In 1953 the bones were proved to be an elaborate hoax using bone staining, and filing of the teeth of an Orangutan and Skull of a Humanoid Fossil skull. Scientists of the era secretly questioned the validity of the find, but Dawson kept “finding” more fossils at the site. After his death, no more fossils were ever found, leading to the scientific community to question harder and begin testing the finds.

                Scientists are human, and so human nature can kick in for the most deceptive of traits.  In the Piltdown Hoax, it seems you had an eager and ambitious man in Dawson, and Arthur Smith Woodward a scientist who wanted to prove a previous theory of his own on brain size, and figured this was the facts to back up his theory. So ambition and a thirst for validation fueled an elaborate hoax that baffled the scientific community for years.

                Utilizing microscopic examination, the teeth were discovered to have been filed down to expose them as fraudulent.  In 1949 the Fluorine Absorption test was available and used on the Piltdown fossils. The test revealed that he fossils were modern and not an ancient humanoid. The way that Fluorine testing works is that bones as they fossilize in the ground, will absorb fluoride from underground water.  The longer the bones are underground, the more fluoride they absorb and a date can be estimated from this amount.

                I don’t believe you can remove the human factor from science. Even if you created robots to do all the digging, and testing of fossils, as in this case, you still have humans programming the robots that are doing the job. I don’t think you can program conscience so I wouldn’t want to remove the human aspect from science. Eventually the truth is revealed, and those that are trying to mislead science will be found out.

                I think when it comes to the scientific process, you need to have multiple sources for a checks and balances system. You can’t take any one person’s word for it unfortunately. 

Truth

     I believe Science should be more democratic.  All too often we hear things such as, "Man shouldn't interfere with mother nature" but then you have these same people rescuing beached whales.  If mother nature beached that whale, shouldn't you leave it on the beach to die?  Morbid as it sounds, by pushing that whale back into the water, you are doing exactly what you are preaching not to do.  Interfering with nature! If we had a world run democratic science forum, we could tell countries like China, stop polluting the air! And actually enforce it for the sake of all human existence. If the majority of scientists agree on something it should be adopted world wide as fact until proven otherwise.

Homologous and Analogous

Homologous and Analogous

Homologous:

      A.      Humans and Apes share many homologous traits, from their eyes, to their thumbs.
B.      The tail bone or coccyx in Humans and the coccyx in Apes are homologous in that humans       evolved from primates and eventually “lost” their tails but the tailbone is the vestigial from that evolutionary process. You can see the size difference in the picture below.
C.      The best answer to the common ancestor of these two was the Homo Pan Last Common Ancestor that lived roughly 6 million years ago. I was unable to find any evidence of fossilized HPLCA but there are numerous references as the common ancestor to both Humans and Apes. 

      D.

      Analogous:

       A.      Two species that have Analogous traits are Whales and Fish

       B.      Both of these creatures have a body part that puts them in motion. The Whale as the flipper, and Fish has the fins. They both are similarly shaped and provide the different species with motion and movement.

       C.      If you go back to single celled organisms I’m sure we all are related in one way or another. And though I haven’t found a common ancestor by name, I researched the EVOGRAMs of Fish and Whales and found that the common ancestor had scales and fins, but most likely air pockets to breathe air as well.
       D.

DNA STRAND

Below you'll find my DNA strand, enjoy and hopefully you can decode quickly!

ATTTACCAAGTACCGAUUTGGGTTATACGTTAAATCGCCG

Week 1 -- Scientific Method Scenario Blog Post

1.        1.   Hypothesis: The student needs to get more sleep before class.

2.      2.  Test:

a.       Have the student go to bed an hour earlier than normal before this class on the night before.

b.       If the student is able to stay awake during the class, this fully supports my hypothesis.

c.       If the student falls asleep still with the extra sleep, then this falsifies my hypothesis.

3.       3. An untestable explanation of this student falling asleep is that this student is lulled to sleep by invisible rabbits that massage his shoulders in this class.