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.