Human Variation and Race

I chose the environmental stress of the cold. I grew up where it could go as low as -40 degrees so I have experienced the measures it takes to "weather the cold". The cold can have a negative impact on the survival of man.

When there are extreme cold temperatures or long exposure to cool temperatures it can cause severe recreations in your body. The most severe is death by hypothermia. Hypothermia  is a condition that causes abnormally low body temperature, normally dangerously low. It can also cause frostbite, a medical condition that freezes a specific part of the skin. Short term allows the circulation to return to the parts affected. Long term frostbite can cause permanent damage to the exposed skin. The results of pennant damage is removal or if untreated gangrene. This could cause minimal usage of hands and feet. It could also cause an infection in the body.

When you don't have ways to adapt and address the cold it could also limit your general movement. You would want to limit you body to the exposure so it would cause you to hold your body together in a crouched huddling position to try and keep the heat from escaping your body.

The cold can also make you susceptible to getting illnesses. If these illness occurs it is harder to recover if you are still exposed the the cold weather and nothing to shelter you from it. This will also make it more difficult to complete daily tasks. When your ill you get exhausted easily which makes it hard to find the motivation and strength to carry out any necessary actions.

Short-term adaptation of exposure to the cold is the Metabolic Rate of the human body. It has shown to increase in the humans that have constant exposure to the cold climates. The Metabolic rate can increase up to 30% in the winter, even when the body is still. This is a reaction that can also decrease when needed. Also, constant exposure to extreme weather can assist your body into adjusting to the cold and not feeling such an extreme difference.



A Facultative adaptation is called Vasoconstriction. This is when the body's blood vessels and arteries constrict which causes less blood flow. This reduces the radiation of heat and causing the body to retain it's heat. Which keeps your body internally warmer.


The Developmental adaptation is when the humans of a cold region develop short and robust body types. This cause them to retain more heat (layers of protection from the cold). Larger bodied humans tend to be more to insulated by fat. Thus even people from colder states have been known to consume more calories in the winter months. They say that is a response to the cold weather.



The Cultural adaptation of the cold is clothing.  Warm clothing was a reaction of wanting to be mobile in the cold weather. People used furs and leathers to shelter themselves. Nowadays people have clothing with insulation to protect them from the elements.


I think it is important to understand the adaptations of humans to the cold  because if you encounter that type of environment you will know how to survive. There is severe consequences to not being able to protect yourself from the cold, ultimately death. If we all experience a severe climate change there will be a way to survive if you have an understanding of the adaptations to it.

I think knowing how these adaptations have an influence on how we look is important because it gives us a simple understanding as to why we all look different from eachother. It is a mere reaction of our body to the environment we dwell in. Looking at just race doesn't give as much insight to the internal reaction of the human body only a way to be categorized by our appearances.

Language Blog

Part 1:

First conversation occurred without any use of verbal language, writing or sign language (ASL). I felt it was difficult to have a conversation with any detail. I don't know of a way to articulate too many details without speaking or writing. It is like playing Charades. It takes way too long to portrait information to another using this method.

My partner that was attempting to have a conversation with me in this manner was getting frustrated because it was harder to convey anything with real meaningful content. He would try to have a more basic conversation in order to make it easier. Then he started asking more questions so it could be more of a simple reply on my end.

I feel I was more in control of the conversation due to my lack of communication. My partner had to cater to my abilities or inabilities. My partner had control of the subjects and the limits of the topics though.  He would bring up topics or subjects that were easier to convey responses to. He would simplify the information more and more until it seemed to be a comfort level that we could attempt to communicate at. After a few minutes, my partner would just ask me questions that I could basically answer yes or no, with minimal detail.
I think we both had different power in the conversation. I had the power of limitation and he had the power of content as well as topic.

 If my partner and myself represented two different cultures, I believe he would have all the power. He would be able to articulate way more complicated information than I could. He could articulate to larger masses of people. I would only be able to show others basic ideas with a smaller number of people and it might not even be conveyed.

I think a speaking culture would have superiority over a non speaking culture. You can work in mass if your able to communicate need and wants at a easier level. You would be able to communicate details that would be pertinent to many functions as a community and a progressing society. Also cultures believe it is a more dignified way of communication.

I can't think of any modern culture that does not have a way to communicate. Often times there is a lack of communication or misinterpretations due to language barriers. When people are unable to understand each other it can feel like we are on different planets. If you want to compare our communication with children, I could say in the beginning they are unable to speak. We have to start interpreting their cries, their motions and their fussiness. We start learning what they need and want through repetition and knowing their basic needs and wants.

Part 2:

Second part of this assignment I found difficult as well. I am known for being active with my hands when I communicate. I also use a lot of facial expression when I communicate. It was hard to control what I believe to be a natural reaction for me when I communicate. I was distracted by eliminating all the factors I needed to complete this assignment.

My partner understood all the information I was communicating but he was distracted by my lack of emotion and lack of movement. He is use to me portraying myself a certain way so he was anticipating more than just words. He thought it was harder to take me seriously because it was hard to know if I was being sarcastic, silly or serious.

This experiment showed that how we express ourselves physically is almost as important as the words coming from our mouths. Our tone makes people know the emotions behind the content. It's a way of expressing ourselves without having to use all the words. Physical expressions alert us if someone is lying, is uncomfortable, portraying something other than their words, love, respect, kindness and irritation.

Benefits to being able to read people's body language can help you survive by knowing if someone is going to harm you. It can help you gain resources by portraying trustworthy behavior. It can help you reproduce successfully because you are able to portray attraction or love.

I believe there are people that have difficulty reading body language. Generally I believe people that do not possess the ability to read people are often socially awkward. Generally they are easy to spot. They stand too close when people are clearly uncomfortable. They continuously push for a relationship that someone is clearly trying to avoid but be kind.  I believe it is sometimes a positive thing not to read body language because you don't sense all the negative output you may be receiving and can go about being happy. Another positive thing about not being able to read people is if they are good manipulators, sometimes they will use more physical effect to get want they want.

Piltdown Hoax

In the year of 1912, in the small city of Piltdown, a man named Dawson made what seemed to be an amazing discovery. He was considered an amateur archaeologist in the scientific world but was digging through some rubble one day and found what was believed to be the oldest "Human" in England.

Once Dawson made this proclamation, he invited Woodward a leading Archaeologist to assist in this investigation. Then more well known scientists joined the investigation in hopes to be a part of what could be the biggest discovery in connecting the ancestors of the chimpanzee and apes to the Human.

Arthur Keith was very supportive in this discovery because it supported his version of evolution. He believed the human "Big brain" occurred prior to the upright walking. Which is the opposite of what is believed and supported today.

Hinton was a young volunteer Biologist. He also had a hand in this investigation and possibly assisted in creating the fake Primitive Human. He was desperate to make a name for himself in the Scientific World.

People did not want to question this discovery because of the involvement of Woodward. He was very well respected in the science field. People did however question it behind closed doors.

This discovery was believed to be over a million years old. Might even be the oldest in the world. The skull structure was possessing a animal like jaw with human like teeth.

Forty years had past, it was decided to once again test the Piltdown Man's skull. There was a new chemical system in place that can help put a time on the age of the skull. The new technology showed the skull was of an earlier age. Possibly only 100 years old. The skull was made up of a female chimpanzee with filed down teeth. The bones were stained to appear to be extremely aged.

Obviously the members of the scientific community was appalled.  They couldn't believe someone would falsely make such a huge significant discovery. This influenced other scientists because now they were trying to make comparison discoveries believing this was what they were searching for in order to find the connection in their own findings.

When Scientists are worried about making a name for themselves or looking for Scientific prestige unfortunately some are willing to sacrifice truth, integrity and any form of ethics. This can put science into a holding pattern or reproduce inaccurate information. This can make other scientist try to achieve something that doesn't exist and waste a lot of valuable time.

Scientists are continually trying to become more accurate with the information provided on artifacts and fossils. It was extremely beneficial that throughout time they continually tried to answer "How old is the Piltdown Man?" The new technology was used to create a more accurate depiction of age on the skull. It was discovered the skull was fairly new and not of the ancestor of the ape and man.

What can we do to eliminate the human factor in the scientific methods to ensure this type of false information does not happen again?  Nothing. It is humans curiosity that makes science discoveries grow. Accessing and using critical thinking is how the information is discovered. So without "human" factor science would be stagnant.

What can we learn from this discovery? Keep questioning, keep testing, challenging and discovering. One great man's word cannot be taken for fact, it takes some form of a Scientific Method to ensure the information provided is validated.