Assignment 7

HEAT and the BODY

1. Heat affects the human body greatly. Humans maintain a stable body temperature and warm-blooded creatures. We have evolved and adapted to heat in a number of ways, like sweating and skin color. Exposing our bodies to extreme amounts of heat can put us in danger. Not drinking water, long periods of exposure to heat, and even excessive exercise can cause a heat stroke or heat exhaustion and ultimately lead to death.

2. a) Sweating is a short term adaption to heat. Sweating is the body's way of getting rid of heat by producing water to our skin which then is evaporated, taking heat with it.

   b) A facultative adaption to heat would be skin color. In hotter climates, the skin would tend to be darker than that of a cooler climate. Darker skin would reduce the amount of radiation the body received and absorb the heat. Places like Africa, Brazil and even the Middle East, we would see darker skin color because there's more sun while in Canada, Russia, and Alaska, we would see lighter skin color.

   c) A developmental adaption to heat would be the shape and size of our bodies and even bipedalism. Taller, slimmer people be found more in hotter areas. They would have lesser surface area for the sun to hit. Bipedalism also did this for our ancestors as well. To escape the heat of Africa, evolution allowed us to stand upright and evade heat better.

   d) A cultural adaption to heat would be the use of air conditioning or sunscreen. Air conditioning is the reason why people can live in Southern California. Before air conditioning, popular cities lied in the East, like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Houston can give credit to becoming popular because of air conditioning. Sunscreen is used to protect our bodies from the heat as well. Using sunscreen reduces radiation our bodies come in contact with and allows us to go to the beach more than we should.

3. Studying the way heat effects our body is useful. By knowing how heat effects us, we can make things like air conditioning and sunscreen to prevent dying from it. Humans are ingenious. The temperature reaches 110F outside, we avoid it with our creations, like buildings and fans.

4. Race can only be used to understand facultative adaption because it's the only adaption it pertains to. Really, race can't even be used. Race is more to describe where someone comes from, not the color of skin. Environmental variations helps people understand this concept. Being dark skinned is just a way to reduce the exposure of heat as would sweating smaller droplets to evaporate faster is a way of cooling for some people.

Assignment 6

Part 1

This experiment, in where we were asked to communicate only by hand motion and body language, I found to be not as difficult as I thought it would be. I conducted this experiment with my brother. We are only 10 months apart and have been with each other since we were practically born. The relationship that my brother and I have definitely made communicating with him much easier and he was usually able to understand what I was trying to say to him.

My brother was a little thrown off at first when I tried communicating with him, seeing as I did not tell him what I was doing until I described it to him without using language. He started laughing at first and was a little confused, but he finally picked up on what I was doing and started looking at the hand gestures I was making.

I definitely think the speaking culture would have a lot of the same reactions my brother first did. After a while though, I do believe a lot of people would understand what is going on and eventually try to understand what the person that can’t speak is saying. I also think that the person that has to use hand motions and body language would have an easier time communicating complex ideas to the other. Think about it, not everyone will know your language. There are some symbols, however, that are universally known, like Santa Clause and Mickey Mouse. For example, a Russian man may not understand you when you ask him where you can get a car, but if you use your hands and make gestures for where, I, and car, he would understand you more clear and better I believe.

I’d also bet a lot of people have dealt with someone that can’t speak nor hear. If you don’t know sign language, it’s obviously harder to communicate with them. A lot like dealing with someone that doesn’t understand your language, communication through your hands and recognizable symbols is a key element. Language can’t always be depended on; the way we can ultimately communicate without language will get anyone farther, unless you know every language in the world.

Part 2

         For the second part of this assignment, we were asked to speak to another without any emotions, gestures, movements, or vocal intonations. I again did this experiment with my brother (without telling him at first what I was doing) and was not able to last that long without laughing or making a variation in my voice. It was much more difficult than the first part of this assignment for me.

         The parts in the conversation in which I was able to keep a straight face were awkward to say the least. When there was no awkward conversation, there was no conversation at all. Without being able to laugh, use my hands, and express emotions of hate and happiness in my face, my brother didn’t even seek out to start a conversation with me.

         The use of language and non-speech language goes together like spaghetti and meatballs. Without one or the other, it’s very difficult to communicate. Using just a monotone voice and non-emotional face is a very reasonable means of communicating, but like in my experiment, the conversation quickly ended. Same goes for using non-speech language; although it is possible, it’s harder to communicate and would only be used when necessary. Using the two to communicate is kind of essential now days.

         I think there are always people that have trouble with understanding body language, from the teenage boy watching his crush twirling her hair to the congressman giving the stink eye from across the room. A lot of people have trouble reading body language and factors the way they interpret a situation or conversation. Talking over the phone could provide an environmental situation in which no body language can be exhibited. It can be an advantage to calling someone over the phone you wouldn’t want to talk to, breaking up with someone, or even sounding tougher than you are face to face so you couldn’t show body language.

Assignment 5

1.      The most notable hoax in the scientific world, the Piltdown Man. Piltdown quarry was located in Sussex, England and was the site where Charles Dawson discovered fragments of bones. This ancestor of man was named Eoanthropus dawsoni, or the Piltdown man. Shortly after his discovery, Dawson enlisted the help of Arthur Woodward, England leading geologist of the Natural History Museum, and some others for his quest of more fossils. In 1912, Dawson stated to the scientific community that he had discovered bones of an ancient primate. Scientists were enthusiastic to hear this news because they finally had fossils of their own, like other great countries of their status. There was no real objection to the findings at first.

         However, fossils in Asia and Africa were found in the 1920’s. These fossils would prove the findings in Piltdown to be false. The fossils in Asia and Africa were found to have lived hundreds of thousands of years after and have a lesser human skull than that of the Piltdown man. Also, after closer investigations, scientists found that teeth were filed, the bones were stained, and the jaw was broken to not show the obvious signs of its true origin. Most of the blame fell of Dawson himself, the amateur geologist, because he was the only one to have found fossils at the sight. Dawson wanted to be apart of royal society and is probably the reason for his doings. Woodward was also a suspect, but was ruled out because he kept digging even after Dawson had died.

2.      Humans are able to lie, cheat, and deceive. Most of us would love to be awarded for our actions, famous, and rich. These ambitions humans possess can cause and push some of us to do things that we wouldn’t normally do. In Charles Dawson’s case, I believe this is what happened. He wanted to be famous and accepted in royalty and did what he thought was necessary. Also, scientists were looked up to in those days, trusted. Trust came into play in the Piltdown man hoax when everyone simply believed Dawson and took his word on what he said and found.

3.      After World War 2, a new method of dating fossils came to light. By measuring the fluorine content of fossils, scientists are able to roughly date them correctly. It was also found that the fossils had been artificially stained to give them a sense of datedness. Finally, looking at the teeth under a microscope revealed scratch marks, evidence that they had been grinded down by a file of somewhat to give it the desired shape. By doing this, it was discovered that the bone was only about a hundred years old and was from a female orangutan.

4.      I don’t think you can remove the ‘human’ factor from science. There is always going to be a chance for a human to take advantage of something, whether it’s from the finding of fossils to the reason why the sun shines.

         Without the human factor, there would be no science. Science depends on human minds. No other animal or machine could possibly produce what we have (yet). Without human thoughts, ideas, and dreams, could we have put a man on the moon? No. We need the human factor in science to make discoveries, figure out why things work the way they do, and consistently push the limits of science and life.

5.      We can all learn from Dawson’s deception. You should never trust anything by their face value. Scientists implemented the scientific method for this reason. A man at Starbucks tells you he owns AT&T. Another man tells you he traveled through time to stop global warming. Would you believe them? I wouldn’t. I would do research; prove that what they are telling me is true. Once I find proof on the owner of AT&T and time travel, I’d be more likely to believe them. Trust nothing until proven correctly. 

Assignment 4

Body Size and Sexual Dimorphism

LEMURS

1.         Lemurs reside on the Madagascar and Comoro islands off the coast of Africa. Some live in trees in the thick rainforest jungles, which is why they are called arboreal.  Others live in desert areas that are hot and dry making them adaptable to their environment.  Most lemurs can by found in the forest simply because more food can be found there.  Lemurs are primarily nocturnal and rarely nest in one place for too long to avoid predators.

            Lemurs vary in size from different species, but within their own species, the male and female are relatively the same. However, lemurs do show a sexual dimorphism between the colors of their fur.  Typically, males have a plain color fur, such as black, while females have more bright color furs, like brownish shades and contrasting colors. Sexual dimorphism plays a little role in avoiding predators because the main threat to lemurs is deforestation and a change of fur color won’t help with their survival in that sense of matter. For mating purposes, the female’s brighter colored fur attracts males and betters their odds for reproduction.

            While body size does little in sexual dimorphism, it does play a role in their survival. Most lemurs are small and lightweight, which allows them to stay high up in the canopies and away from predators. Jumping from tree to tree is the main source of traveling so being small and agile is essential to arboreal lemurs.

SPIDER MONKEYS

2.         Spider monkeys live in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. Like lemurs, spider monkeys travel from tree to tree with lanky arms and are considered arboreal too. When they are born, they tend to stay close to the mother and depend on her for survival. Since humans usually hunt these monkeys for food, they tend to stay clear of us and are easily scared off. One main difference between spider monkeys and other primates is that they do not possess a thumb but a stronger tail.

            There’s little difference between male and female spider monkeys. Sexual dimorphism is almost non-existent. The female does however make a high-pitched screech that wards off predators and can be used to determine male from female.

            Like lemurs, spider monkeys are also small and lightweight. This enables them to live in the trees. Their strong, muscular tail acts as a third arm and supports their weight when hanging from limbs since they do not have thumbs.

BABOONS

3.         Baboons are very adaptable to different environments. They are typically ground-dwelling primates during the day and seek shelter in tall trees or cliffs during the night. They tend to stay near water on savannah-like plains. Baboons are social primates and are usually found in groups of thirty or more. While females stay with their troop for most of their lives, males are know to travel in and out of other troops as well.

            Unlike lemurs and spider monkeys, baboons do show a lot of sexual dimorphism. The first would be the weight and body size. Males can grow up to twice the size of females. Secondly, the different colors of fur. Females have more of a brownish coat while males are more grayish. Thirdly, the female flashes her behind to males. The females bottom swells and becomes bright pink to attract males. Lastly, tooth size is a factor. The canines of a male baboon can grow up to four times longer than that of

females.

            These sexual dimorphisms help with the survival of baboons, especially the males. Like I stated before, males can travel from one troop to the next. Displaying these long canine teeth to other males is a way of being accepted into the troop and mating with multiple females. The canine and body size of males is also to protect them from predators. Since baboons are mainly ground-dwelling primates, they may come in contact with leopards, cheetahs, and even humans. By having a group of large males with long canines, they can fend off or scare predators away

GIBBONS

4.         Gibbons are common in areas of India, Indonesia, and China (Southeast Asia). They are a bit different from the rest of these primates. Although they do live in tropical rainforests, they do not make nests like the others. Gibbons are arboreal and can move very fast while swinging. The only main threat to gibbons is increasing deforestation.

            Like lemurs and spider monkeys, gibbons show practically no sexual dimorphism. The males are a bit larger than the females. Male and females are mates for life, so there is no need for a ‘show of attraction’ if you will. The males and females do have different calls. These calls are to warn other gibbons in their group of predators and to keep away gibbons outside of their group from coming into their territory. The female usually starts these calls and can be an indicator to determine male from female.

            The gibbons are small, lightweight, and agile which allows them to maneuver from branch to branch avoid predators on the ground (including humans).

CHIMPANZEES

5.         Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, live in social communities within African rainforests, woodlands, and grasslands. While they can walk on all fours, they swing from tree to tree, collecting and eating food. Chimps also do their nesting in trees. They, like us, are omnivores and eat meat, fruits, and insects. They are also known to use tools to get to food and water.

            Since chimpanzees and humans are closely related, it’s only right that we would have some same sexual dimorphisms. Males are both heavier and taller than the females. Male and female are very similar in appearance. A female chimp and her child have a special bond and can often be seen together, making it relatively easy to find a female.

            While the females care for the infant chimpanzees, the males are left to defend their group. The bigger stature males possess is an advantage to fend off predators. Like baboons, a group of large, male chimpanzees can be threatening to a predator. Also, the stature of a male can be used in finding a mate and reproducing with females.

SUMMARY

Overall, New World Monkeys show less sexual dimorphism and body size between their species. While spider monkeys and chimpanzees show little difference, baboons show noticeable difference between male and female. Also, Old World Monkeys are typically not tree-dwelling primates. A male gorilla or baboon would have trouble swinging from branches because they can grow to be very heavy. So while lemurs, spider monkeys, and gibbons can brisk through canopies to evade their predators, baboons display a bigger stature and huge teeth to fend off enemies. 

Assignment 3

1. Homologus Trait

a. A rabbit and frog may not seem closely connected but they can be linked together. One is a mammal and the other an amphibian. 

b. The homologus trait that these two animals possess are forelimbs. Although they do not look exactly alike, they are relatively the same internally. However, they can serve different purposes for each animal. While both use a hopping technique to evade predators, rabbits use their forelimbs more for balancing while eating vegetation (not catching food) and frogs can use their forelimbs to shove food into their mouths or actually catch food. Each also have 5 'fingers', if you will, but serve different purposes. The rabbits 'fingers' have recessed while the frogs have grown to enhance swimming. Rabbits and frogs both have forelimbs, but evolved and adapted to their environments. 

c. My research led me to the Eusthenopteron. The fish would have developed forelimbs in their fins which eventually led to them becoming a land creature. Evolution then took its course and each developed their own use for the forelimbs.







2. Analogous Traits

a. A fish and a whale are two different species. Fish have gills while whales are mammals and need breathe air because they have lungs.

b. A fish's fin and a whale's flipper serve the same purpose, to help the animal swim. They may look alike on the outside, but they do differ on the inside. A fish's fin is composed of a single bone while a whale's fin contains hidden 'fingers' inside. Again, these two different types of fins help serve the same function, which is to swim and maneuver in the water. 

c. They do share a common ancestry. The fish would have gave rise to amphibians, which then gave rise to reptiles, which then birds and mammals split from. The same structure from the fish fin would have been carried throughout the evolution process. Whales, originally being land mammals, returned to the sea and then basically evolved fins on their own.

Assignment 2

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Assignment 1: Darwin vs. Wallace

1. Jean-Baptiste Lamark, Georges Cuvier, Charles Lyell, and Thomas Malthus all had a connection with Darwin that led to his theory of evolution, but Alfred Russel Wallace had a greater influence. Wallace and Darwin's ideas were very alike I believe. They both went on similar trips to islands filled with creatures never seen before coming up with relatively close beliefs. Both also shared the same theory of natural selection in which a dominant trait of a species, in any given environment, will be passed on to the offspring so they can ultimately survive. Wallace even "decided to seek Darwin's help in publishing his own ideas on evolution (Understanding Evolution)." At that point, Darwin noticed how similar their ideas were and boosted Darwin to finally publish his book after 20 plus years. While most of the credit is awarded to Darwin, Wallace deserves as much credit due to the similarity and cooperation between the two. 

2. A few of the questions apply to Wallace and his affect on Darwin. First, when the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. Species that inherit the necessary trait to survive in their environment will survive. With that being said, however, survival is not enough. Secondly, in order for natural selection to occur, reproduction must occur over and over and over again. Unlike the hypothetical example that Lamark had made about a giraffes neck getting longer over, Wallace and Darwin shared the thought of giraffes having a variation in neck lengths, the longest would survive, and henceforth would reproduce creating longer-necked giraffes outlasting all the others.

3. The last two questions, 'Could Darwin have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of this individual?' and 'How did the attitude of the church affect Darwin and his eventual publication of his book On the Origin of Species?' have the same answer for my argument. Yes, Darwin could have developed his theories without Wallace. They both had similar ideas and Charles Darwin did not publish his book until after he sought out recognition from his profound peers. Sure, Darwin probably would have eventually published "On the Origins of Species" but he did it sooner because he recognized from Wallace that he wasn't the only one with those ideas. Same goes for the church affecting Darwin. In those times, religion was powerful. No one dared go against it. Who would want to be the person that came out and said the church was wrong? Darwin waited more than twenty years to get his book out there to the public and only after he realized he wasn't the only one thinking about the history of all species. 


Understanding Evolution - http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_14