High Altitude

Beautiful view of the high altitude location of Tibet.

          High Altitude can negatively impact the survival of humans through Hypoxia, solar radiation, cold temperatures, low humidity, wind, reduced nutrition base and rough terrain. Hypoxia is when the human body has in sufficient levels of oxygen in the body tissue, or oxygen deficiency. This is the most dangerous to humans effecting their lungs, heart, and brain. Hypoxia leads to increased infant deaths due to the fetus not getting enough oxygen through the mother. Mothers have a higher chance of preeclampsia due to the elevation and higher chance of a miscarriage. If a baby survives to birth, they are more prone to be premature and/or have low birth weights putting them at a disadvantage to surviving.

Here is a child that has survived birth at a high altitude despite the odds. 

          Solar radiation can affect the skin color of a person through hemoglobin, protein carotene, and melanin, under the outer layer of skin which helps protect humans from UV radiation. With more solar radiation, depending on genetic bases for hemoglobin levels, can make a person more prone to skin cancer. For example, most Europeans have fair skin meaning their hemoglobin is far more relaxed from those that live closer to the equator. This makes them burn and peal painfully without developing a nice bronze tan. This also makes them more susceptible to skin cancer. Skin cancer usually develops later in life, meaning adults who develop skin cancer already have the ability to conceive meaning natural selection will not work in this scenario.  Also, offspring are affected with solar radiation with neural tube defects such as spinal bifida. With lack of vitamin D, which can come from UV, can also prevent bone development, cause rickets, bow legs, and other skeletal deformities. Natural selection can occur with vitamin D deficiency because skeletal defects in women can cause a misshapen pelvis which prevents her from reproducing. Solar radiation can kill any human exposed to UV, but also prevent humans from reproducing if there is a lack of exposure.

Here is a picture of the cold conditions in high altitude.
The person in this picture is covered in thick, warm clothes.
Also. within these clothes is a small child
Staying warm huddled together and staying busy while out in the cold.

          Living in a high altitude means colder temperatures meaning higher chances of hypothermia and frostbite. Winds will amplify these chances. Also, these locations mean difficult living conditions for other animals and plant life making substance difficult to find. With high altitude come low humidity making rapid dehydration a serious issue. All of these issues have the same major issue for humans, cold means humans burn more calories trying to stay warm, meaning they need more nutrition, with lack of game, humans will have to exert more energy trying to scout out food, exerting more energy, also creating a situation for dehydration.

Warmer temperatures in high altitudes, however,
the land looks barren and the only animals in sight belong to this farmer.

          Even though these stresses seem to make life in high altitudes impossible, humans have found a way to make it work. The first step is acclimating to high altitude, which all happens within one’s body and can be shown physically, except for increase breathing. Acclimating to high altitudes would make a person’s heart rate increase, metabolic rate will increase, and productions of red blood cells will also increase. Shortly after leaving the high altitude, the human body will return to normal. Those that choose to stay in these conditions find other ways to beat the cold by either increasing basal metabolic rate or fat insulation of vital organs. The ladder is only in places that show short temperature drops, not prolonged cold, as this would not be able to prevent frostbite from taking appendages. In consuming high calorie, fatty foods one can increase their basal metabolic rate which will create extra body heat.  Due to culture and technological advances survival is not as heavily based on intake or body acclimation. Buildings, homes with heating, fire, heavy clothes all keep people alive in high altitudes. Medicine and science have also created oxygen tanks, inhalers, and other assisted breathing contraptions. People tend to stay active while out in the cold and they might sleep in huddles at night to stay warmer. 

Another small child with his mother. They are wearing warm clothes and the clothes are distinctly made from their culture. Even the ox has a decorative blanket saddle. Nothing keeps these Tibetan people down, not the cold, lack of oxygen, or even age.

  

          Due to bottle neck, human variation isn’t very diverse. In studying extreme environmental differences and comparing the human body’s ability to adapt we not only see what humans are capable of, but we can see how our environment causes adaptation, mutation, and evolution forcing diversity in the human species. Studies of humans living in such conditions for long periods of time can give insight to secrets that only these people posses. For example, these studies have shown that people living in higher altitudes tend to live longer and have a lower risk of coronary artery disease. Exposing oneself to these harsh living conditions, can eventually show signs of a positive nature. Having a mild form of hypoxia from high altitude will improve the heart function. This might be particularly beneficial for someone with genetic heart problems. Perhaps an environmental change will increase life expectancy more than medicines. At least this is a good alternative for holistic type people.

Race is a newer term that was invented to describe groups
of people based on what was physically visible.
Race is only skin deep and will not show the adaptation
of these Tibetan people. To get a further understanding of
adaptation, one must take a look under the skin.

          Race is such a difficult thing to determine or distinguish between people. Basing characteristics, such as skin color, hair color, hair type, and other characteristics, is not a valid way to determine a person’s adaptations to environment. Natives to high altitudes have solar radiation causing a darker skin tone, much like those that live close to the equator, but they are not the same people. The only true physical indication of environmental locations would to use animals such as polar bears. Yes, they have white (or clear) fur like other arctic animals, however, it is their body surface compared to their size that make them ideal for the cold weather. Humans tend to have a similar tendency as this, with taller, skinnier people in more warmer climates, and shorter, compact people in colder climates. I feel that this comparison, like skin color, is too vague to distinguish a person’s environmental region. Looking at a human’s ability to overcome environmental stress gives a more clear distinguishing factors that race cannot do. Most environmental adaptations are below the surface of the skin, and race is only skin deep.

Picture taken from the reading this week. I felt like this was a great example of how two different people in high altitudes can be similar, but yet different.

Piltdown Hoax

                The Piltdown hoax was the discovery of fossils that resembled both human and ape bones. This was believed to be evidence that humans evolved from apes. A jawbone found resembled that of a primate, but the teeth still fully intact in the jawbone was like human teeth. This discovery was made by three men, archeologist Charles Dawson, paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward, and paleontologist Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. They made their discovery in a town called Piltdown, in England in 1912. This was a proud discovery for England, as primitive human remains were found in France, Germany, and in Asia, but not England. This discovery not only included England in this group, it also gave them the oldest found primitive human fossil. Since this find was of such great importance the fossils were kept under lock and key preventing scientist from examining the remains. Those that might have been skeptical did not vocalize their ideas because of Woodward’s high reputation which was associated with this find. In 1920 more remains were found in Asia and Africa with younger remains of human ancestors, but these remains had more ape like features than that of the Piltdown Man. This raised suspicions that the Piltdown man might not actually be real.

                A scientist is first and foremost a human, with human traits, and human qualities. Just like every other human, they can fall victim to a lie. The brain’s first reaction to learning new information is to accept it as true, then it goes through its knowledge relating to the topic presented, deciding if in fact it is true. If there is a doubt or if there are emotional ties, a human can be swayed to a side without verifying. This is what happened to the scientist of the Piltdown Hoax. England, not finding any remains of early humans, was discouraged and jealous of the other countries that had such discoveries. The moment Dawson announced his discovery England was elated so much so, they didn’t take the time to verify if the facts were true. At this time, scientist were gentlemen and scholars meaning they were trust worthy and out to discover the truth, not make lies. The idea of a scientist creating a scientific hoax was just not plausible to people at that time. Their innocent naïve nature as well as the hope for this to be true obscured the scientific process that should have been at the forefront of this discovery.

Even though the scientist of 1912 got caught up in the hoax of a man evolving from an ape, it was science that was able to call this a hoax. In the early 1900s there was not a valid system in place to properly date fossils. However, by 1953 there was great improvement on this front as well as many other improvements for fossil discoveries. Scientists were finally able to conduct a full scale analysis of the actual jaw bone discovered by Dawson at the Piltdown site. Fluorine analysis was done which dated the jaw to be only 100 thousand years old, not a million years as was claimed by Dawson. They further investigated and found that the staining on the bone was artificial. In fact, what was discovered was the jawbone belonged to a 100 year old female orangutan. This jawbone was already fossilized when it was cut by a steal knife to fit the appearance of a human ape hybrid. Any and all ape like traits where either broken off or cut off by the steal knife making it difficult at first glance to tell it was the jawbone of an orangutan. They discovered scratches on the teeth which showed that the teeth were actually filed down to look like early primitive human teeth. This filing was done on the cusps and the canine tooth. 

                It is absolutely impossible to remove the human aspect from science. It is like asking if humans could be removed from scientist. This is not possible as they are one in the same. Until science can create artificial life to do the jobs of scientist, human and science will always be a pair. Even if it is possible to create an artificial scientist either by robotic mean, or by de-humanizing a scientist, I do not think it is a good idea. I think that mishaps like the Piltdown hoax will happen with human scientists, but I believe that this is all a part of life, growing, learning, and developing. There will always be unforeseen obstacles in the way and hindsight is always 20/20, but there will be a learning curve and valuable lessons will be learned from each hurdle.

                The life lesson learned here by scientist is not to be so naïve and trusting of people’s word, no matter how enticing it sounds. Keep a skeptical mind, ask question, and evaluate the proof first hand. If the facts are not made available, then this should be a warning sign that this could be a hoax. Dawson did a great job with this con, by filling this void England had for not having primitive human fossils. Whether Dawson acted alone, or if he had brought in help from Martin Hinton, or Arthur Keith, or Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, or even Arthur Smith Woodward, he accomplished his goal. The likely hood that Woodward was in on the hoax is highly unlikely as he kept on digging after Dawson’s death hoping to find more fossils, but he never did find any more. Dawson was using Woodward for his reputation to solidify his hoax. Having a priest as a party to your discovery adds trust worthiness. When the discovery of Piltdown man was a hoax the Father was quiet on the subject, not sure if he was in on the scam or if he was embarrassed to be fooled by Dawson. Arthur Keith was a leading anatomist who had the most to gain from this discovery as it validated his theory on human evolution. Martin Hinton became a zoologist and discoveries of similar cute bones were stained in the same fashion as the Piltdown man was found on the trunk of his old car. All signs point to a con-artist, but now scientist know to not take truth on a bias whim, or by someone claiming it to be true.

Homology/Analogy

Homology
Looking at pandas you would never know that they posses 6 digits. One digit is considered to be a"false thumb" however you can only see this in their skeleton. On the surface pandas only show 5 digits. This sixth digit is homologous to a humans wrist bone (see first visual). They may be shaped differently but both are hiding beneath the surface.What is interesting is you can also make the argument that the pandas opposable thumb could be analogous of humans opposable thumbs (see second visual). Both humans and pandas reside in the carnivora order.

Analogy
Two different species with analogous traits, would be the koala bear and the panda bear. Koalas live in the coastal regions of Australia spending most of their time in the Eucalyptus trees eating their leaves. The koala has evolved to having opposable digits to make climbing trees and eating leaves easier. Their feet consist of the first 2 digits are opposable to the other 3 digits. Pandas have also evolved an extra "thumb" that is opposable to help with eating bamboo. Pandas are known to live in China. Both opposable digits for the panda and the koala are specifically to assist with food intake. Pandas are in the carnivora order and koalas are in a sub order within the group.

Protein Synthesis

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Charles Darwin and Evolution

Charles Darwin had great respect for Jean-Baptiste Lamark, even though he is one of few scientists that did. I believe that Lamark had the most influence in Darwin’s development of natural selection and this is why Darwin shows such support for Lamark despite his unpopularity with their peers. Darwin’s theory is very different than Lamark’s, but there is a fundamental similarity that Darwin built his natural theory. This similarity is the change in traits of animals through lineages by environmental factors. The how is what Lamark was wrong but in his time genetics did not exist and how traits were passed from parent to offspring was anyone’s guess.

Lamark might have been incorrect with his theory inheritance of acquired characteristics, but he was a great zoologist that contributed great ideas to the scientific community. Lamark did extensive studies on insects and worms which lead to him being the first to coin “invertebrates”. He was also the first to coin the term “biology”. Though, this was not one of his biggest points, Lamark argued that the earth was much older than believed in his time. Lamark also had a perfection theory. This theory is not completely accurate; however it did support his theory of evolution caused by environment. Again these theories are not correct but with the perfection theory we are better able to understand his thought process. This perfect theory is that nature is constantly improving, trying to create the perfect world. Over time everything is changing and evolving. In this theory extinction did not exist. These “extinct” species were less than perfect, so they simply evolved into a better species. [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html]

Like I stated above, Lamark and Darwin both stated in their theories that environment affected the characteristics of the animals, they differ with the how and when.  Lamark used a giraffe as his example of his theory. Resources being limited, in his example, giraffes ate all the leaves on the bottom of the trees and could not access the higher leaves. This is the premise of his theory; a change in the environment will cause traits of the animal to change. Lamark believed that the need to consume the leaves at the top of the trees would create fluids and forces to target the area that needed to evolve for survival. In the example of the giraffe, the neck would need to elongate to reach the higher leaves. Due to these animals’ evolution they were able to get resources providing them a better chance at reproducing. Lamark believed that “a trait acquired by an animal in its lifetime can be passed on to offspring”. Looking at this theory in retrospect it seems silly. However, if you were not aware of genetics or sex-link, this theory is not so far out there. Later, we are able to say that this is not possible due to the advances in science and technology. The only way offspring can inherit traits from their parents are from genetic information within the sex cells. This means that the giraffe isn’t somehow forcing his neck to grow. Simply, the giraffes that are born with longer necks will be able to access the leaves and then pass their long neck trait to their offspring. The giraffes that have shorter necks will not be able to access the tops of the trees and therefore will not as likely to reproduce, meaning they will not be able to pass the short neck gene on to offspring. So the only giraffe offspring will be a product of tall neck giraffes, and the cycle continues showing evolution over generations.

Darwin could not have developed his theory without Lamark. Lamark’s theories have the same basic principles as Darwins. Lamark was missing a vital piece of information causing his theory to not be accurate. This was a good starting point for Darwin, and he already knew which part of the theory was not accurate. Reading other people’s views can open your mind and finding more possible outcomes is easier than if you are the one in the work. What I mean by this, is Lamark could have tunnel vision and not able to come to any other explanation. Someone like Darwin, who is on the outside looking in, could more easily come to other conclusions.

The church in Darwin’s time did not have an open mind, even though Galileo changed the view of the universe by proving the earth not being at the center of it. The church was not about to hear questions or views of how we came to be if it was not as described in the bible. This type of thinking was considered heresy. Darwin knew in stating his findings publicly would mean severe criticism to his name and his family. His life, his wife’s life, his whole family’s life, would change forever in the worst possible way.

My 2 items on a dersert island

If I was stranded on a desert island I would take 2 very impractical items for my emotional well being and nothing more. I would take a picture of my beautiful family so I could always look at their faces to comfort me, and remind me to push forward. I would also bring a journal to write in so I could document my days on the island, or to write letters to my wonderful baby girl.