1. Heat impacts human’s homeostasis by impeding the bodies ability to function normally.Elevated temperatures cause skin cells to burn and muscles to function abnormally. Heat also causes water loss which causes dehydration.

2. Short Term: Sweating in response to heat stress. 

Developmental: Long, extended frames and extremities in humans.

Facultative: Fainting

Cultural: Air conditioning

3. It allows for scientists to segregate different gradual evolutionary forces from one another. Allowing for easier tracing and studying. 

4. Different races of people have different adaptations to their respective native environments. Dark skin for warmer climates being an example of this. Today the color of skin does not dictate the environment you are from, therefore race is a poor indicator of variation in terms of adaptation.

Conversation without sound is more of a challenge than people may realize. Emitting sound is a quintessential part of how we as humans conduct our lives day to day. There is so much we rely on that involves speech that without it, our lives become highly inefficient. In my 15 minutes of silence I found myself often struggling to get even simple tasks accomplished in terms of communicating basic terms. My partner asked me what my name was and articulating it without sound or writing was impossible for me. Since I’ve never had to communicate without sound, I had no skill set to draw upon to help maneuver through a conversation with another person. It was just a lot of pointing and head shaking. My partner had to act more as a facilitator than as strictly a responder, as I was only really able to confirm or deny things throughout the talk with any sort of efficiency. The conversation as a whole was very laborious and not conducive to any sort of quick and timely back and forth.

With the difficulty on my part to even communicate simple things, my partner ended up leading the conversation almost entirely. He asked the questions, I attempted to respond in a timely manner and with some form of accuracy. If there would have been multiple people that I would have had to try and communicate with, I likely would have had to pause often to wait for the others to allow me time to respond. Not to mention the lengthy pause while they attempt to interpret my words. The power of the conversation is definitely in the hands of my partner. They can control the entire flow of the conversation and I’m subject to their tempo due to my inability to respond quickly.

If I was trying to talk to a culture that had a spoken language and mine didn’t, I feel that the other culture would have the advantage solely on the basis that they could communicate faster with their own kind and therefore bring about more examples to help get their point across to me and mine. Not only that, but you can only point and paint so many things. There are limitations that aren't seen in speech. Furthermore, the speaking culture would likely see themselves as more advanced as the my speechless culture. This would create a whole separate set if issues itself. A modern day example of this would be seen between humans and chimpanzees to an extent. Though there is no mutual spoken language shared, there is common ground through symbols and pointing that can help bridge the gap.

      Speaking without any sort of cues to indicate tone or any sense of emphasis to any part of the conversation was awkward and clumsy. This was easier to do than not speaking at all, but it made it hard to indicate any sort of emotion or feeling. Truthfully it resulted in a lot of frustration and laughter on both parties accounts due to the conversation being so dull. Without any physical embellishments to help guide each other through the other persons intentions for their statement, it was tough to move along the conversation. 

     Non-verbal “signs” within our verbal construct are absolutely critical to communication. Without them the words and phrases are meaningless and emotion is never interpreted. You can tell what a person is feeling strictly from watching their body. From frowns to laughs to clenching, all of these things translate to understanding to the other person and allow for clear communication.

     The adaptive benefit to gaining the ability to read body language is ideal for higher level communication. It allows for higher thought and the ability to capture and elicit emotion. Being able to sense fear by reading someones body language could help keep someone alive. Clear communication could help direct a person to water that’s not easily visible or allow groups to discuss hunting areas and paths to places they've been. Body language emits emotion and plays a vital role to attracting mates, this would allow for more communication between males and females. Someone with some sort of social disorder may have an issue interpreting body language. This would have been a deadly issue to have back in the days of hunting and gathering as clear communication was vital.

Piltdown Hoax Blog Post 

In a tiny town named Piltdown in 1912 a scientist named Charles Dawson made a discovery that shook up the scientific world. The fossil skull and jawbone that Dawson found that day were thought to complete the evolutionary chain by linking apes to humans. The finding was particularly earth shattering at the time, as the global scientific community was in a sort of race to find the missing link of the evolutionary chain. This chase was not dissimilar to the space race between the Soviet Union and the USA in the second half of the 20th century.

For 40 years “The Piltdown Man” was championed as the premier anthropological find of the era. But in 1940, science caught up with this discovery and the bones were tested with a fluorine test. The resulting find was that the human-like wear pattern on the teeth had been created by artificially filing down the teeth from an orangutan jaw. The skull pieces were found to have come from an unusually thick boned human skull. It had simply been boiled and stained to match the color and antiquity of the Piltdown gravels. This discovery ended up being a giant hoax.

The issue with the entirety of “The Piltdown Man” is that science was so eager to answer the evolutionary questions that were unanswered between apes and men that they ignored the protocol of the process and the typical skepticism that accompanies the methods that dictate discovery in the field. Scientists wanted to find the bridge from apes to humans so badly that they ignored blatant holes in the story to get the answer they desired. The testing of the hypothesis with a complete set of tools is what proved the skull to be a fraud. Instead of just taking the find at face value, the bones were tested with a process that was not subject to the wanted outcome of the masses.

Removal of the “human” factor is what was needed to successfully prove “The Piltdown Man” to be false. But in science, especially in a discovery as great as this was supposed to be, it’s nearly impossible to remove the human element from the equation. A scientist in the field of anthropology will want to make a discovery like that, it would define a career for an eternity. But science has a process and a finality to it that allows for you to feel and desire a certain outcome, but following the scientific method provides for a certain outcome. Guard the feelings you have for the outcome you want, because science may very well disappoint you. Whatever is will be, and that’s just the way science wants it.

Analogous and Homologous Traits

1. For your homologous traits provide the following information (25 pts): 

a. Briefly describe (not just identify) the two different species that possess the homologus trait. (5 pts)

The tailbone of a human (the coccyx) and the tail of a monkey are examples of homology. The tailbone is called the tailbone because of the shared lineage.

b. Describe the homologus trait of each species, focusing on the differences in structure and function of the trait. Why do these homologus traits exhibit differences between the two species? Make sure your explanation is clear and complete. (10 pts)

The human tail bone and the ape tail share similar bone structure up to the actual extension of the tail from the human body. There are many shared muscle groups between apes and humans in the coccyx region, therefore indicating the two species likely shared a common ancestor but diverged as they evolved. The difference today is obviously that humans no longer utilize a tail.

c. Who was (generally, not specifically) the common ancestor of these two species and how do you know that ancestor possessed this homologus trait? (5 pts)

The common ancestor between humans and apes is whichever hominid accomplished the bridge to bi-pedal walking. That was the divergent breaking point in the evolutionary tree.

d. Provide an image of each species in this comparison. (5 pts) 

2. For your analogous traits provide the following information (25 pts): 

a. Briefly describe the two different species that possess the analogous trait. (5 pts)

The fins of a bird and the wings of a penguin are analogous traits. One is a bird and the other is not yet both possess fins to navigate a similar environment.

b. Describe the analogous trait of each species, focusing on the similarities in structure and function of the trait. Clearly explain why these analogous traits exhibit similarities between the two species. (10 pts)

Though the fin of a fish and the wing on a penguin are not evolved from the same ancestor but they serve the same function in their respective environments. The wings and the fins are structures almost exactly alike and are utilized for propulsion in water.

c. All pairs of organisms share some common ancestor if you go back far enough in time. Could the common ancestor of these two species have possessed this analogous trait? How do we know these traits are analogous and not genetically related from common descent? (5 pts)

It’s possible that they shared the trait. Though the mutual ancestor of penguins and fish was likely some type of flying reptile, so the function likely diverged for awhile until the timeline of the penguin lead it to adapt to a water environment from the air. 

d. Provide an image of each species in this comparison. (5 pts) 

 

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by the mechanism of natural selection seeks to add a sense of order to the way evolution has essentially played out over time. These mechanisms help explain the conditions and reasons as to why the course of change has occurred the way it has. Darwin's work paralleled the Thomas Malthus' viewpoints found in the published book "An Essay on the Principle of Population." In this book, Malthus argues that the human population will never outgrow its own ability to feed itself. Malthus' view of looking at human behavior as a group versus as an individual is what was groundbreaking at the time. Charles Darwin adopted this viewpoint when he developed his theory of evolution, taking humans and placing them under the same logic that applies to animals. This very idea takes into account the Darwinian mechanism of "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do." This concept played an integral role in the development of the theory. Without understand humans as a species, and not just as an individual, the rules and mechanisms would not be applicable. The church rejected Darwin and his theory seeing as it did not fall in line with the words of the bible, but that didn't stop Darwin from publishing his theory.

Source: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_07