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Race and Human adaptations

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  High Levels of Solar Radiation: The sun is one of the most important part of our natural world. It creates light, plants use it for photosynthesis which in turn gives us oxygen, it heats our otherwise cold planet. But like anything, too much of a good thing can have disasterous consequences. While overheating can be an immediate signal that you've been in the sun too long, another, more long term, consequence could be, the acceleration of cosmetic aging, skin cancer, and other consequences. To adapt to this, humans developed a melanin production which is a pigmentation of the skin due to two clines, high UVR and low UVD, thus giving us the spectrum of skin color we see today.  Faculative adaptation: One way humans have adapted to the suns rays are by tanning. Tanning is an adjustment of phenotype due to an environmental stressed, than returns to its natural state in days, if not a few weeks depending on how severe and continued stressors. To do this the human body increases ...
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Science and the Hoax That Helped Mold It

The year is 1908 in Piltdown, UK., Charles Dawson is said to have been given a fragment of a skull, an ancestor to humans, a ‘missing link’ they called it, despite the ‘missing link’ idea being incorrect, by workmen. Charles, whose history of forgeries had yet to be unearthed, is said to have taken this monumental discovery. 4 years and multiple returns to the supposed sight later, he would be in front of the Scientific community proclaiming its significance. Arthur Woodward, the keeper of the geological department at the British Museum, was shown the fragments and bones that Dawson had supposedly discovered and accompanied him for 4 months, never once finding anything himself, never once questioning the validity of this. After Dawson death in 1916 not another fossil was found in Piltdown, despite Dawson seemingly finding an abundance of them. It would take almost 50 years and leaps in technology, such as Fluoride-based tests, for the truth to be revealed.  Charles Dawson, who live...
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An example of a homologous animals would be crabs and spiders. Both of these animals came from the Arthropoda. This would in turn split off and evolve into Crustaceas, i.e crabs and lobsters, and Arachnida, i.e spiders and scorpions. While crabs are sea creatures that have lived underwater for hundreds of millions of years they have, like the spider, developed a hard exoskeleton made of chiton, they molt, and have jointed legs. Crabs are creatures that troll seabeds, they are omnivores that typically eat algae, and are referred to in some circles as ‘sea bugs’. Crabs are found all over the ocean, rivers, and even on land (though still nearby water). Spiders on the other hand are land based creatures that form webs as a way to capture their prey, they have 8 legs and tend to be in small, isolated spaces. Spiders can also be found around the globe and it’s thought the widespread of spiders have been helped by the international shipment of produce. Both of these creatures, crabs and spide...
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 Jimmy and the Hypothesis of Falling Asleep  The situation:   About mid-way through the semester, in a class you are taking on campus, you become increasingly irritated by a student (Jimmy) who sits in the back of the class.  The student always manages to fall asleep about 15 minutes into the lecture.  Normally it wouldn’t bother you, but occasionally he lets out a snore that breaks your attention and disrupts the class.  The instructor has repeatedly asked the student to work harder to stay awake, but he is not having any success. How do we go about trying to figure out why Jimmy is falling asleep in class?  The scientific method! Jimmy is has been falling asleep 15 minuets into the start of class. This leads me to believe that Jimmy is not getting enough sleep at night and therefore needs some kind of stimulant to keep him awake.  The test: To  alleviate  this tiredness, I will be giving Jimmy a cup of coffee 25 minuets before the...
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