Huma Variation & Race

1. High levels of solar radiation. This has negatively impacted the survival of humans because if not properly equipped to tolerate the radiation, it can cause illness and death.
2. Short term - sunburn
   Facultative – skin tanning
   Developmental – dark photo-protective pigmentation
   Cultural – Sunblock
3. The benefits of studying human variation over environmental clines is that it gives a greater understanding to the origin of variations. How the variation began, and why it changed.
4. Looking at race to explain the variation to high levels of radiation does not paint a clear picture. As race is the product of this environmental cline, not the other way around.

Language

Part 1

I would not say that I found this experiment easy, but it was not that difficult. When I speak I am very animated, so although I had to remove the words, the gestures remained and I was still able to communicate my point for the most part. My partner was able to understand me, and he thought it was quite fun. It was like playing charades (which we enjoy). I will admit that he may have had an upper hand because he is my boyfriend and has had to learn how to learn how to translate my non-verbal communication.

If we were two different cultures meeting for the first time, I believe that I would have the upper hand. Words are not effective when attempting to communicate with someone from a different culture or who speaks a different language. Body language however, and facial expressions, are pretty much the same across the board. Effectively communicating with the absence of words is advantageous. The speaking culture may be frustrated, because they find symbolic language easier, as my partner did at the beginning of our exercise. But after they begin to think bigger- think outside of their box- they will see that alternate ways of communicating are just as effective. It is a bit like those with more severe cases of autism. Speaking can be quite difficult. So those who work with them have to think of alternate ways of communicating.

Part 2

I was not able to last the full 15 minutes using only speech. I tried, but controlling my facial movements seemed impossible. I sat on my hand and stared in one spot so that I could keep myself from making hand gestures or body movements, but that did not keep the tone of my voice steady. My partner had a hard time understanding me, as I can be quite sarcastic, but without the inflection in my voice he could not tell if I was being sarcastic or not. This experiment clearly demonstrated the importance of “signs” in our language. When I initially thought of non-speech language techniques, only hand gestures and shoulder shrugs came to mind. This clarified the vast amount of non-speech language used in conversing, and the important role they play in effective communication.

I know from personal experience that there are people who have a difficulty reading body language. This is a setback. Reading body language is important for many reasons, one of which is honesty. For myself in particular, my non-speech language keeps me honest, because it always tells the truth. Being able to read the body-language of others can make you a human lie detector. Lastly, to me, reading body language is always beneficial.

Piltdown Hoax

1. The Piltdown hoax occurred in Piltdown, England. The fossil was discovered in December of 1912 by Charles Dawson, however, the hoax was not exposed until 1953. Dawson brought this find to Arthur Smith Woodward. This discovery affected the scientific community because it was said to be the missing link between apes and humans. This find proved that man formed the large brain prior to walking upright.
After World War II, accurate testing for fossil aging was discovered. The flourine content of the find was tested, and the results showed that the bones were only 100,000 years old. In 1953, a ful scale analysis began, and it was found that the bones had been stained, pieces cut, and teeth filed. The jaw bone was actually only 100 years old and came from a female Orangutan.
Before this discovery, scientists found fossils in other areas that did not match the Piltdown finding and believed there to be a misconnect. However, allegations were never brought forth.

2. In this case, national pride negatively impacted the scientific pride. In general, just taking into account the human factor, self-pride, self-interest, the desire for fame and recognition, among other reasons, can make science unreliable. There is a need for obscure objectivity in science, which including the human side, can make science unreliable.

3. Positive aspects of the scientific process that were responsible for revealing the skull fraud included modern advances in fossil age testing, more development in the difference in fraudulent staining and natural staining, and being able to notice the difference in natural teeth grinding patterns and fake ones. Another aspect of the scientific process is comparison. Comparing the differences between fossils found elsewhere brought about the questioning of the Piltdown man.

4. I do not believe it is possible to remove the "human" factor from science. It can be reduced, but as long as a human is involved, there will be human error. Humans create the technology that helps prove that these fossils are a certain age, or ground a certain way; so humans can beat it. If there were a way to exclude the human factor in regards to error and fraud, I would definitely want to remove it from science. However, to removed the human factor from potential fraud, would also remove the positive factors humans bring to research. Which include creativity, curiosity, intrigue, and discovery. In my eyes, that benefit does not exceed the risk.

5. The lesson I learn from this event regarding taking information at face value from an unverified source is that, you can't. Research always needs to be done. In science, there will always be a need to take a look at any situation from an alternate perspective. Though it is very tough to prove certain things in science, all theories and discoveries need to be proven the best way possible at that time. Also, they need to be retested with future developments in technology, just as in the case of the Piltdown discovery. Verification is always necessary.