Kevin Mundo

1.High levels of solar radiation can impact a human in many ways if they are exposed too much to the suns UV-rays then their can be a big chance of them getting skin cancer especially if the person has low melanin. Melanin in this case is what makes your skin darker and browner in order to protect your skin and body from the sun causing DNA changes and or skin cancers like Melanoma. This has allowed for people with darker skin to adapt and be able to survive in tropical latitudes and places where the sun is usually the most intense. Although some ultraviolet radiation is needed for the outer skin in order for the body to be able to produce vitamin D, too much of it could also breakdown folate in the body which then causes anemia. This also allows for people with weak pigmentation to survive better in far northern colder latitudes because dark skin could prevent people from receiving that UV rays that we do need and thus not producing enough vitamin D. This shows how we humans can adapt to different climates and altitudes in either short or long adaptations and therefore we are a very massive species compared to others. 

2.One way Humans have definitely adapted to this is, developmentally.

1.First off they have developed and reproduced generations of light skinned people in cold climates and darker skinned people in hotter climates. 

2.They have developed over time stocky shorter bodies, which help them keep warmer in colder climates because of more mass the body has

3.The more mass, the more blood cells which means over time we have grown in cells and therefore tissues and organs have grown internally too overtime. 

4.More hair; people over time became hairier and also  let their hair grow more in order to stay warmer in colder climates. In hotter environments people keep it short or go bald to stay cooler. 

3.There are many benefits to studying human variation from this perspective across environmental clines because in this way we can know the differences between humans and how they can adapt and then build tools to help them out whenever they do travel or have to face those climates or altitudes that they're body does not adapt to as quickly. A good example of how this can be productive is by allowing us to know certain things so we can build things like sunscreen for people and prevent cancer and other skin diseases which is one of the biggest most important benefits to studying these environmental clines. 

4. The way I would use race to understand the variation of the adaptations is that it is a certain feature that the body developed in order to better suit itself wherever it was living and protect itself from too much or not enough ultraviolet radiation to the skin and therefore produced more or less melanin. The study of environmental influences on adaptations is a way better way to understand human variation than by the use of race because the human adaptations show us why we are the color we are and how it how it happened. Race on the other hand  is constructed off of social ideas and not actual facts . There for looking at it and understanding race from and environmental adaptations point of view is way better because color/race is just an adaptation and not a why to classify someone. 

Language

Kevin Mundo

PART 1

When involving myself and another person in a conversation without any version of symbolic language on my behalf was more difficult then I imagined. What usually would take 2-3 minutes to convey across to someone took a whole 15 minutes and it wasn't much that we got across to each other. I had to use a lot of hand movement and a lot of facial expressions as well as body language. I had to give a lot of thumbs up and thumbs down or nod up and down when something was mutual. The thing that was tricky was that sometimes I would say something and it would take forever for my partner to understand exactly what word I was trying to say, so I would have to kind of act it out for him to understand as well as uses noises for guns and objects that can be identified by noises. Yes my partner did alter the way he communicated with me because of my absence of communication it seemed to me ilke he was asking questions most of the time trying to understand me then actually conveying something to me. So in a sense his language didn't change but he did also use a lot of facial and body expressions to make sure we were both on the same page. His sentences and questions were reduced and straight to the point in order to be able to understand and ask questions quicker. 

It definitely felt like he had a tool with language so he was in charge of the conversation he was asking me most of the question and I was nodding or making facial expressions to agree or disagree. In this case if a conversation is seen as a balance of power between two or more individuals the one with the most power in this case was my partner because he was able to talk and explain himself clearly. When you can get your word across clearly and you're the one asking questions to someone you do not understand you feel more in power then the other person although not too much because you still might not fully understand the other person. However on the other hand the other person feels powerless when trying to explain something with no symbolic language and using hand symbols and references only because half the time he is not being understood so he has to work twice as hard just to get his message across. 

When comparing two different cultures one that uses spoken language and one that doesn't; the culture which uses a spoken language has the advantage of communicating complex ideas within their population because they can get ideas and messages across much faster and more efficiently where their society will understand if they make a law or rule. The culture with the spoken language might look down upon a culture without a language because language is a big tool and it makes us humans what we are. Language and symbols to communicate are a big advancement that led to many great things like laws, poems, art and government. WIth language we have been able to accomplish many things and at a much faster pace, with no language there is no way you can have a structure or a form of government. 

PART 2 

When communicating with my partner without any physical embellishments like hand signals, vocal intonation, nor head, facial or body movements we found it very difficult to engage into the conversation and we had to ask questions twice when we did not understand what we were saying without using facial expressions to reassure. Our conversation was very boring and monotone-like my partner seemed frustrated and did not seem to want to engage in my conversation. I was starting to bore my partner and they had difficulty understanding exactly what I wanted and how I felt about certain things because I did not use any hand or facial signals to suggest my opinions and feelings. 

It wasn't as difficult as not being able to talk but it really took the excitement and the wanting to communicate with my partner in this way.

This experiment definitely says a lot about not only our use of language but our use of "signs" in our language like hand signs, body signs, facial signs and signs in general and how important they are. When it comes to communicating in person we definitely need to use signs and body language to convey across our message and concepts; this can build a society. When a person can read another persons body language they can tell a lot, with certain words their body language can show whether they fully agree with you and or whether they fully know what they and yourself are talking about. A person's body language can also show negativity, carelessness , positivity or care when saying certain things or certain words. 

There are may adaptive benefits that come with possessing the ability to read body language. When you have the ability to read body language it can help you survive in the sense that you can read not only peoples' body language but animals' body language that may seem threatening and therefore this can save your life because you can read and sense harm or danger coming from someones body language and avoid a situation like that. You can obtain resources like this by reading peoples body language and keeping them happy knowing what they want and what they need exactly in order for you to be able to receive your resources. This can also help reproduce successfully in the sense that you have to be able to read someones body language when it comes to reproducing because you can know who and who not to reproduce with and who wants to and who doesn't as well . Body language can tell you that and much more about a person that is why it is very critical . 

Yes, there are definitely some people that have difficulty reading body language and you can sometimes identify them because most of them aren't so social and keep to themselves. They probably feel like outsiders but its not because they have a problem they just may not be able to read body languages and feel like others don't want to talk or vice versa they may talk too much when someones body language is showing that they clearly do not want to talk. A situation where not being able to read someones body language would be beneficial would be when a nurse or doctor is telling you something that could be totally wrong with you but his/her body language is unreadable then this could be a good thing because you won't be worried about something that may not be too big or could be solved. 

Homologous vs Analogous

1. Frog & Rabbit 

a. A frog and a rabbit; they look totally different and have different skin, colors and eat different things but they have homologous traits when it comes to their forelimbs and certain bones in their bodies. 

b.  They have very similar functions when it comes to their forelimbs and how it developed because a frog uses their limbs as much as a rabbit, except that some frogs jump higher and faster distances then rabbits. This is due to their prey being quicker then a rabbits prey. We can see that a frog has longer forelimbs, hands, legs, and fingers because it uses and lives off of them and its tongue. It needs these long and sticky hands along with long fingers to stick onto the trees and leaves of its habitat. A rabbit has smaller forelimbs and bigger legs for fast rapid movements; a very fast hop instead of high jumps. A rabbit usually has bigger prey and bigger teeth to chew it down with as well. 

c. Generally the common ancestor of these two would have been a fish with homologous structures which went on to land and then evolved by its needs and environment around it. A lizard could have also been a possible ancestor but could have also came from a fish long ago. They all have similar forelimbs as a homologous trait and all evolved differently due to their placement or adaptation.

d.  

2. Shark Fin and Dolphin Flipper

a. Both the Shark and the Dolphin live in the sea and both seem to be very similar in structure because of their color shape and size. However they are not quite similar when it comes to ancestry or common descendant. 

b. They may have just developed similarly due to being in a similar environment. They have similar fins except the dolphin has a flipper and their is a difference in bone structure there. The dolphins use their flippers quite more often the the shark uses his fin. The dolphin needs its flippers to due the long jumps it does in and out of the sea. sharks just need the fins to swim same traits different attributes. 

c. First off the dolphin is a mammal so it is probably more closely related to another animal; rather then the shark which is a fish. So in this case we cannot say they had a common descent. We know that these traits are analogous because not only is the bone structure different in their fins/flippers but one one of these animals is a fish the other is considered a mammal still so they obviously evolved looking so alike because they both were raised up in the sea. 

d. 

DNA Molecule

AGGTTACCGUTAAGCTATGCTGTTATGGAGTTCAAATATACCCATCGACC

Darwin & Lamarck

Kevin Mundo

1. I think an individual who had one of the greatest influences on Darwin' development of his theory Natural Selection was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. He has somewhat of a positive influence towards Darwin's ideas because he too believed that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws which was similar to what Darwin had said with Natural Selection which stated that those animals that were better equipped with traits that adapted to the society were selected naturally by nature to survive and have better access to resources due to their stronger genes. 

2. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck contributed to the scientific community because he was one of the early proponents of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws, which was something similar to what Darwin was trying to explain with Natural Selection. Lamarck also gave the term biology a broader meaning and he established the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, which was called soft inheritance. They both thought life had changed slowly over time and was still changing over time. 

3. The bullet points that can be related to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck are the ones that say "if the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different," and "Who gets better access to these limited resources?" as well as "Organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts." This all relates to Jean's theory of Soft Inheritance as well as his belief that evolution occurred due to and according with natural laws. This strongly supported Darwin's views and could have been a strong reason why Darwin believed in Natural Selection. Although they both had very similar ideas they also had very different ideas as well. 

4. At first Darwin was hesitant to present his ideas to the world and it took him about 23 years to build a good foundation on his ideas and his thoughts. So maybe Darwin still would have developed his theory of natural selection but Lamarck definitely had an impact on him gaining confidence and then sharing his concept with the world. So I think yes, Lamarck had a positive impact on Darwin and his theory at the time because he was another person who believed somewhat what Darwin believed.

5.  The attitude of the church affected Darwin and the publication of his book in many ways. First of all since what he believed kind of contradicted and went against what the church believed he knew he could be looked down upon and his reputation as a naturalist and coming from of a family of physicists and scientist, would be ruined. Darwin was afraid this would happen so he withheld his concept from the public for quite some while. If he was wrong he knew it would be embarrassing so he waited until he was more certain and got ideas and concepts from others that were very similar like Lamarck's theory. 

What the Question Tells Us .

The question "do you believe in evolution?" can tell us a lot about the questioner, it tells us that they know about some type of order or pattern and they have seen this pattern evolve over-time.  It tells us that the questioner is sophisticated themselves and study or know about science and nature. It also tells us that the questioner is unsure himself about the question or else he would not be asking the queston. Another way that the question could be asked in order to narrow it down and not let it be so broad is by asking if one believes in living things adapting to nature and or weather. This in some sense entitles evolution because people and living things can adapt which can enable a theory of evolution but perhaps be misperceived by the adaptation to different environments and not actually evolving.