1.    High altitude negatively impacts the survival of humans because for starters, not everyone can survive being in a high altitude. Once a person reaches a high altitude, they start breathing more, taking in more breaths, as their body tries to increase oxygen intake. However, no matter how fast you breathe, your body will continue to get less oxygen in your circulatory system, which means you’ll have less oxygen in your muscles which effects your daily performance. Being at a high altitude also increases water loss, which can lead to dehydration. It can also speed up your metabolism, yet also suppresses your appetite, this will cause a person to eat more then they need to. Being exposed to high altitudes also increases glucose and insulin in the body, which can lead to acute altitude hypoxia. A person may also experience headaches, nausea, lethargy, dizziness and not be able to sleep very well. People can adapt to living in a high altitude over time. Those that are native to high altitudes usually have a larger lung capacity. But high altitudes can create a lot of problems if a person hasn’t or is unable to adapt to that environment.

      2.  Cold temperatures place a lot of stresses on the body. The mortality rate grows rapidly in the cold.      There are more deaths as a result of cold temperatures then there are hot temperatures. 

The short-term adaptation, is how we heat up the body in cold temperatures. This is done by shivering. Shivering occurs when a person is in air temperature under 77 degrees Fahrenheit.  Shivering is a body function that is a response in humans and other animals, when their core body temperature drops. Shivering helps maintain homeostasis. Skeletal muscles shake in small movements, creating warmth as they expand energy.

                        

         

 The Facultative adaption on your body happens when you are exposed to cold weather, and your body temperature drops, the low temperatures cause your blood vessels and arteries to narrow, which restricts blood flow and reduces the oxygen going to your heart. Your heart must pump harder to circulate blood through the constricted blood vessels. This results in your blood pressure and heart rate increasing.  

 

Development adaptation for cold is: Human bodies adapted to the cold, by a change in their body shapes. The human body evolved in ways to help stay warm. Some of the changes are short, wide bodies which help conserve heat. Also living in cold climates, their main source of food is through hunting, causing humans to eat a lot of meat, having a shorter body would have a shorter digestive tract, helping efficiently process the food.

                                                           

      

Cultural adaptation to the cold is: Layers, we are able to put on multiple layers to help us stay warm, so we aren’t exposed to the cold. Dressing in layers creates an air space between the skin and cold, this space helps insulate your body. Layers are also looser, which allows for better blood circulation which helps maintain your body temperature.

                   

       

                              

3.   The benefits of studying human variation from the perspective across environmental lines is beneficial because it helps us understand how people have adapted, and how they are able to survive in these environments. It’s amazing how adaptable the human body is, it’s constantly evolving to adapt to whatever comes its way. It’s also very interesting to see how our ancestors may have adapted, in the environments they lived in.  I am really into studying my own ancestry and I find it very interesting to see how things have changed over the years for my own ancestors. Looking back to my family tree from the 1400’s is truly amazing to see how the human race just evolves and adapts, when life around us is constantly changing-from the weather, to catastrophic events, to pandemics like we are experiencing now. We adapt. I feel this information is very useful to help us, we are a culture that travels a lot, and due to this knowledge we know how to prepare- for instance if we are going to Iceland, we will bring warm clothes, as we know it’s cold there. If we are going to Hawaii, we’ll bring summer clothes, as we know its very hot- through this knowledge we are able to plan our lives, and live our lives with some understanding of what to expect.

   4. I wouldn’t say race but the environment helps us understand the adaptations I listed in #2. For instance I mentioned that our bodies changed and adapted to the cold climate, people in cold climates  became shorter and rounder. Eskimos are known to live in cold climates, such as Russia, Alaska, and other cold climates, and the average height of an Eskimo Man is 5 feet 4 inches.  When you compare that to the rest of the world where the average height is taller then that, you see that it’s not a race thing at all, as Eskimos are not a race,  its just how you adapt to that environment. Studying environmental influences helps us to understand the people better, and how the adapted to each situation.  

Language

Part 1:

A) This was a very interesting assignment, and I went into it not really knowing what to expect. The partners I had the conversation with were my kids, my son Dylan is 25 and my daughter Amber is 15. I think my kids thoroughly enjoyed this assignment as they could say whatever they wanted to, and verbally I couldn't say anything in return. I found myself using a lot of hand gestures to try and get my point across, and as I did this, they would actually slow down their speech, almost as if they thought I couldn't understand what they were saying to me. I found it very difficult to communicate with them. They tried to ask me what I was going to make for dinner, and it's really hard to describe what you are cooking with just hand gestures. The whole thing created a lot of laughter, but also a bit of frustration. 

B) The person that was in control of the conversation was my 25 year old son. He is the one that initiated the topic and kind of controlled the entire conversation.  It got to the point where he would ask questions and I would nod yes or no. It almost became a guessing game for him, he'd ask like are you making spaghetti, Tacos, and would expect me to nod yes or no. By the way, he never was able to guess correctly.  It  got very difficult trying to express myself and I did feel excluded at times, my kids would start talking to each other, and there wasn't really a way for me to jump in and get my thoughts across, so yes, I did feel left out at times. 

C) I think the person that verbally speaks has a better advantage in communicating. They can use language, hand gestures, and many other techniques to get their point across, while the person that can't verbally communicate can only use gestures and such, which not everyone is able to fully understand. An example of this, is I have an Aunt that is fully deaf and mute, I've known her my entire life, but I've never been able to fully communicate with her, nor have a conversation. I babysat her kids, I have always known her, but our communication always went through my uncle or my cousins. So I think those that can't communicate verbally do have a disadvantage, they have limits on who they can fully communicate with on a daily basis. Even in today's culture,  there is a huge deaf community and a lot of people are still unable to communicate with them. So I think it does make it harder. I also have seen people treat the deaf culture very rudely. My aunt and I were once at a common relatives house, and she & I were outside when a delivery person walked up to the house and started talking to my aunt, not knowing she couldn't hear-  and he got very rude with her.  I was just a young kid so I wasn't sure how to intervene, but I remember the delivery person treating her very rudely, because she was unable to hear him. The thought she was deaf never crossed his mind. He just had an attitude and took for granted that everyone communicated as he did.

Part 2: 

A) Again, the partners I used were my kids. I found this to be really interesting. I tried to keep my voice flat, not using any alteration in my tone, and not using hand gestures or anything. Not using hand gestures was hard for me, as I am always told I speak with my hands a lot. I found this part of the assignment to be more difficult, as I wasn't able to use any facial expressions, voice my expressions or anything. My kids didn't have any difficulty communicating with me, but they both felt I was angry or upset, as I just talked in a very flat tone. I showed no expression which is rare for me and they both left the conversation feeling I was upset. 

B) I think this showed my kids and I  that body language is very important. It's part of who we are and how we communicate. It's important to be able to smile when talking, as well as using hand gestures, as they can help to describe things. Using a flat tone is like receiving a text and you don't know if the person is angry or just being themselves. You have to be able to use expression, excitement in your voice, as well as other ways of communicating. I think it helps get your point across and also helps people know where you are coming from, your mood and how you are feeling. You can tell a lot about how a person is feeling by their body language, we yell when we are mad, if we spoke in a flat monotone when mad, who would know we were mad? Same as with being happy, if we weren't allowed to smile and laugh, but only talk in a flat tone, who would know we were happy? Language is connected through verbal words, actions, and so much more. 

C) I think body language is important because you are able to tell a lot about a person. People even become body language experts, which shows just how important body language is. I think one advantage to being able to read body language is you can kind of tell what a person is thinking subconsciously. People use body language when being protective of people, and may not even realize that how they are standing next to someone, may be in a protective manner. People can often say they are fine, but their body language may say differently like if they have their arms folded, or are shaking, etc. If you see someone exhibiting this type of body language you can reach out to them, and try to help them. They may not want to talk about it and verbalize what's going on, but you can be there and support them, knowing they need something. Body language truly shows a lot about how a person is doing. I think by the use of body language it helps a person communicate love as well, they say actions speak much louder then words, and body language proves that. Anyone can say "I love you" but when you see it in a persons actions, such as affection, hand holding, kissing, hugging, you know these are all connected to how a person feels about you. If there's someone you can't stand, you most likely won't go up and hug them or hold their hand. Most only show affection to those they truly care about. 

D) I think there are people that have difficulty reading body language, my daughter for one! When ever she talks to me, she thinks i'm smiling, and I'm NOT! If I say i'm not smiling, she argues with me that I am. So I found myself trying to have a different expression when I talk to her, as she always thinks i'm laughing when we talk. She'll be totally serious or can be crying and she thinks i'm smiling and laughing at her, so I think she has a very  hard time understanding body language. So the look on my face (body language) is not giving her reliable information. 

The Piltdown Hoax

In 1912 in the small village of Piltdown, in Sussex, England one of the greatest hoaxes of all time took place.   Amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson was digging for fossils at the Pleistocene gravel beds when he discovered what appeared to be remains of a human like skull. Dawson was very excited about his find and called upon a colleague, Arthur Smith Woodward, who was an employee at the Natural history museum. Smith-Woodward started working alongside Dawson, and they soon discovered a set of teeth, a jawbone, more skull pieces as well as tools that were from long ago. These tools made them believe they belonged to the species they had found. They eventually pieced the skull fragments together, and it seemed very human like, but wasn't quite human. Scientists believed this could be a human ancestor from thousands of years before. The common ancestor we share with other primates. This discovery was huge news and shared with everyone, people in France, Germany, and other countries were trying to find fossils of our common ancestor so the news was some of the biggest. Some however, doubted this find from the beginning, Several prominent scientists questioned the authenticity of this find. Most scientists truly believed this was the find, everyone was hoping to find. This would have proved Darwin's theory one hundred percent, about natural selection. For many years, people believed this to be the true remains of one of the earliest human ancestors. In the 1920's and 1930's people were starting to have doubts. Scientists started to discover the remains of other human ancestors, and none of them showed the large brain or ape-like jaw of the Piltdown man.  They also had new technology that could date bones, by using fluorine to test the bones. These tests were used a lot starting around 1939. They would later have carbon dating technology which would support their findings even more.  The Piltdown gravels were found to be much newer then the fossils would have been, this made people start calling the Piltdown man into question. In 1953 a group of paleontologists got together and for the first time ever, called the Piltdown man a fraud. They had done an intensive study of the remains, which proved they were a modern human skull, less then 600 years old. The jaw and teeth were from an orangutan, and the tooth was from a chimpanzee. Some of the bones had been filed down, to be convincing. The bones had also been covered in a chemical, to make them appear older then they actually were.  A lot of scientists were very angry and upset about the deception, as it  cost the field of science a great deal. It delayed acceptance of another ancient  early human found in South African in the 1920's. Also many respected scientists were deceived. 

The human faults that came into play here, were greed, and dishonesty. Scientists all want to have that one big moment they will be remembered for. So many were anxiously trying to find this one common ancestor that they let greed get the best of them. This actually slowed down the study of human evolution. In 1925 Raymond Dart found a fossil in South Africa, which he actually believed to be the earliest human ancestor, but due to Piltdown man, very few wanted to accept his find, they accepted Piltdown man as the earliest. Dart would eventually be found to be honest with his findings.  Sadly this kind of stuff still takes place in the scientific world, in 2000 Japanese archaeologist Shinichi Fujumura buried stone tools he had collected from previous digs, only to unearth them later and claim they were fresh finds. 

Around 1939, paleontologist Kenneth Oakley discovered a chemical analysis called fluorine testing. Fossils absorb the fluorine from soil and water, so fossils that have been in the soil for many years together would have roughly the same amount of fluorine. They used this to test the Piltdown man, and this is how it was discovered he was maybe 50,000 years old, not 500,000 years old. They had also used a file to ground down the teeth. 

I don't think it is possible to remove the human factor from science, who else is going to do the archaeological digs, date the fossils and chart the remains they find. Humans have done more for the scientific world then they have hurt it. Greed will most likely always get in the way of people, but in the end science will tell the truth. The truth always comes out in science. The scientific method will always expose the truth. I would not want to remove the human factor from science, I think we need it to be able to challenge each other, share discoveries. 

I don't think you can take anything at face value, each person should do their own research and come to their own conclusion. If we take things at face value, we will fall for anything. Eventually the truth always comes out, especially in science. One should do their own research, there's enough information available now a days, to make research easy and accessible. A hundred  years ago, most of us would have probably believed Dawson, as we wouldn't have been able to do our own research or knowledge, which is why I believe so many trusted his findings. But in today's day and age, we have a ton of knowledge at our fingertips. We all need to research and draw our own conclusions, not just trust what we are told.  

                                                                                                                                                                

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