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Human Variation and Race Blog

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The biggest issue with cold weather is that it lowers our heart rate. A slow heart rate does not ensure the proper blood flow throughout the rest of the body. This means that our brain and muscles will be blood deficient. This explains the reason for our body to shiver and have goosebumps on our body during cold weather. This is also an example of a short-term adaptation. The cold can negatively disturb homeostasis by lowering the body temperature causing the body to release nerve cells in our body to react. A disruption in homeostasis can cause yourself to feel dizzy, broken breaths, memory loss, and much more horrible things. All these effects can lead to a lower chance of survival in the wild. A short-term adaptation to the cold is when our legs get numb, which creates less blood flow. This then leads to a conservation of body heat, warming our body to adapt to the cold environment. A facultive adaptation to cold climate stress is when our nerve impulses to our brain are trig
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Piltdown Hoax

1. The Piltdown Hoax was essentially a discovery by a group of scientists that introduced new fossils relating humans and apes in the course of evolution. This is called a hoax because the findings were not true, but it did fool a lot of people for nearly 40 years. These fossils were found in the early 1900s by amateur geologist Charles Dawson and anatomist Arthur Woodward. Although there were more people involved, these two were the main scientists behind this event. The fossils were found in a small town called Piltdown, hence the name. Despite these discoveries being a hoax, it somewhat sparked national attention towards Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. As expected, the initial reactions to "Piltdown man" were so surprising and shocking. The fossil, which was a jawline with some teeth on it, suggested a human-like structure millions of years ago. Many people and the scientific community viewed this as a connection between man and ape. These findings elevated Dawso
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Homologous and Analogous Traits

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Homologous Traits a. The two species I have selected are the bird and human. These two species are totally different now, but their ancestors may have shared some traits that were homologous based off adaptations and environment change. The bird is classified as a chordate because it has a backbone, while the human is a mammal or primate. So, with this in mind, the two species are distinctively different. b. The homologous trait between each specie is the bone structure of their hands.The structure in the bird's wings and the anatomy in the human's hands are very identical, suggesting that they are homologous traits. In birds, they possess a wrist, elbow, hands, and humans have the exact same. However, the actual function and shape is very different because birds need to have elongated fingers in order to fly. Obviously, humans don't have this shape. Despite this, the bone anatomy in the bird and human suggest that the two species did evolve from a common ancestor and w
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Evolution Blog-week 1

Thomas Malthus, I believe, had the most impact on Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. Malthus' input to evolution, somewhat challenged and raised a question about evolution. He wondered: if humans were to exceed the supply limit and resources were dwindling, then we humans will experience a decline in population. In other words, he says that if people don't have the resources to live, they will perish. This idea is somewhat relative to Darwin's philosophy of survival of the fittest. The human population will soon outperform the production limits of the universe. One of the points listed above mentions that resources are limited. This is a positive correlation with Malthus because they believe in the same outcome. Both insist that once resources become scarce, then organisms must compete for them. Another point mentioned above is that organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts. This is basically the idea of
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