Human Variation & Race

1. High Levels of solar radiation be detrimental to humans in the following ways. It can cause humans to get skin cancer because of overexposure to the UV rays. To much exposure to solar radiation can cause sunburn when the skin cells are damaged. It can also have a negative effect on our immune system making it harder to fight off illness. It is also known to damage vision if you absorb the solar radiation through your eyes.

 

2.

• There really isn't a short term adaptation to solar radiation the body doesn't react very quickly to this kind of stress. That makes UV radiation very dangerous and something that should be protected against.
• Humans Facilitative adaptation to this stress is our ability to tan. After excessive exposure to UV rays our skin becomes darker as a defense mechanism against the solar radiation. Melanin is produced as we get exposure to the sun. There are two types of melanin, pheomelanin which is red in color and is seen when someone gets a sunburn. The second is eumelanin which is dark brown and seen when you get a tan. Melanin protects the body by absorbing solar radiation.
• An example of developmental radiation is people who have very dark skin that is passed down from generation to generation. This adaptation has changed the DNA of those members of the population because of the long term stress caused by solar radiation. Their skin pigment can not change like a tan, it offers permanent protection from the UV rays damaging effects.
• An example of cultural adaptation is wearing clothes to protect skin from harmful UV rays, but more importantly the development of sunscreen which acts as a shield for the skin and protects against the sun suns damaging effect on skin.

3. The benefits of studying human variation is that we learn how our bodies react to certain environmental stressors. This will lead to us learning the risks associated with different environments. Also we will be able to protect ourselves from these risks. One example is studying how the sun's rays are absorbed into our skin and developing sun screen that stops a certain amount of those rays from damaging skin. Another example is studying diseases such as rickets and learning why a lack of sun can be so detrimental to our health. Eventually this will lead us to cures and treatments for those diseases.

 

4. I would look at race to understand variations of adaptations because most races were geographically isolated at one point in time which means they were subject to similar environmental stressors. This means you can see the long term effects of certain environmental stressors by looking at race. However, it would be better to look at areas with a specific environmental influence rather then race because our society has become very integrated and people not longer live in only one geographic area so just because a person is a member of a particular race does not mean they were subject to the similar environmental conditions. To study all other aspects of how our environmental stressors effect us you should look at people from a specific geographic group that has the environmental stressor you are looking at. It does not matter what race the people are as long as they are exposed to the same stressors.

 

Language Post



 

      This experiment was easy, however sometimes communicating your thoughts in a coherent way was difficult. At first when I was not aloud to speak, write, or use sign language to talk it was difficult to communicate complex ideas. I had to use hand gestures and act things out when I wanted to say something. This led to some pretty funny interpretations of what I was trying to say. I noticed that my partners changed the way they talked to me, instead of saying things that would lead to a conversation they worded things in a way where I could give a simple "yes" or "no" answer by nodding my head, or made it simple enough to where I could just point to convey my thoughts. If me and my partners represented two different cultures, my partners definitely had the advantage in their ability to communicate complex ideas. It is nearly impossible to convey a complex thought without speaking. The speaking culture might have the attitude that the culture that only uses symbolic language is not as intelligent as themselves. Immigrants in our country can have difficulty communicating in English if they are not used to speaking it in the country they are from. This means that people who do speak to them in English must make their sentences simple, and rely on hand gestures to make their thoughts easier to understand. This does not mean the immigrants are stupid. It takes a lot of time to understand the complexities of the English language, and you wouldn't speak the same to a person who is just learning English compared to someone who has spoke it their whole life.

    

      I did not make it the full 15 minutes without using physical embellishments. For the most part I only used speech with no emphasis on my tone of voice. My partners were making fun of me because I was so monotone with what I was saying. It was just the words coming out with no emotion behind them. It was easier to communicate only using speech then only using hang gestures. However, I had to add a lot more words to my sentences then I usually would. Instead of pointing to where something was I had to describe it very well so that I could be understood. This experiment made me realize that non speech language is very important to adding depth to our communication. Everyday we use a mixture of verbal and non verbal communication in our speech. If you take one out of the equation speech becomes difficult and in some cases makes it so you cannot communicate some ideas. There probably are people who have difficulties in picking up on the subtleties of body language. Reading body language is important because people do not always mean what they say. Body language allows you to pick up on sarcasm as well as other things. It also allows you to pick up on sarcasm as well as other things. It also makes a person able to communicate some thoughts when silence is necessary. Such as when soldiers use body language to communicate their strategies when verbal communication could alert the enemy to their presence. I cannot think of a situation where being able to read body language could be detrimental to a person.