Final Blog- Environmental Stress

For my final blog post I chose the cold as the environmental stress. This stress effects us more directly as we are a tropical species, our bodies have adapted better to warmer climates. The cold can bring about changes in our homeostasis in the forms of  shivering, frost bite, hypothermia and even death. It was important for our early ancestors to quickly adapt to changing climates, not just for survival but it was important for migration.

 The quickest and initial method of relieving the cold, is the ability to shiver. This is done by muscles contracting and expanding quickly in order to generate heat. This action also conserves heat in the body.  The start of this action might be signaled by goosebumps or the raised hair follicles on our bodies. This response is leftover from the time when our ancestors had fur, the point being the raised hair gives us an added layer of warmth. Although since we no longer have hair you just see raised skin. Excuse the image finding a proper representation of movement is somewhat difficult in a photo.

A developmental change to the environment would be the way our body stores body fat and it's overall shape. Someone who live in colder climates will tend to be more heavy and have a rounder body. This shape is the most effective at storing both heat and fat. Providing internal organs with a protective layer.  The extra layers would be effective than the skinny body we would see in someone who lives in a hot environment.

Clothing is major part of how we stay warm. As mammals it is important for us to stay at a certain temperature. Although like our ancestors we no longer have fur. Clothes allow us to regulate our body temperatures through the effective layering of material. Someone may only wear a sweater and or scarf when it becomes a little chilly outside. Those who live or work in the arctic may have more in terms of special gloves, goggles, boots, and heavy jackets.

 Environmental studies provide scientists an important look at how our world is affecting us as a species. Within each climate and region we have differences that allowed us to survive and adapt.  While race may provide some answers as to why these changes took place race varies from person to person, while an environmental adaption will be constant within those people. Studies such as these help us unlock more about ourselves as a species as well. It might give us insight into our ancestors would have survived such conditions.

 

Language Blog

   Using language be it spoken, written or gestures is a very important part of social development and helping a species thrive.

  Having being limited to facial expressions, hand gestures and body language didn't feel very difficult at all. I was still very much able to express mood and intent with no words. My volunteer began asking me more questions than normal however, because I wasn't able to be very specific they had to piece together some parts of the conversation. I never really noticed how much is said with our expressions and hands. In a meeting of cultures I feel the most advanced in terms of communication would have the bigger advantage. Being able to coordinate with others, like planning an attack or hunting strategy guarantees their survival as they would be stronger in number. In our society those whose main forms of communication are ASL put them at a slight disadvantage to the rest. Even though most interaction is done with social media and technology basic tasks such as going to the market or going to school can hinder them. Without words it may be harder for them get attention and express a specific need. I can imagine someone who may have a food allergy having trouble explaining the situation in a diner or restaurant. Likewise those trying to engage with someone who may be unable to speak will most likely have a hard time understanding.

 This exercise I felt was a bit more challenging. Changing the tone of our voice is a natural reaction to certain events. Being angered may cause you to change expression and without being able to tell if that person was angry it would also be hard to establish the cause. I was not able to complete to full 15 minutes before I finally had to change tone in order to express urgency. My partner also couldn't tell if I was being sarcastic or not and at one point became frustrated. They described it to texting or messaging someone. You read the message but you have to spend the extra time trying to figure out if that person is being serious or not. The people who have difficulty reading body language I think might be men. It is a common joke that men for some reason can not understand their spouses/girlfriends when they are upset. Does it remain true for everyone I don't think so, but you can easily see how it would be a problem. Building relationships and social interaction sometimes involve reading cues in body language. A salesman might pick up on the nervous and uncertain behavior of a buyer. A police officer will read the person they are trying to arrest in order to determine if they are hostile or not. Without those certain cues these situations become unpredictable and dangerous.

However there is one benefit in not being able to read body language. During a fight or battle no matter what the species being able to hide injuries is an excellent way to hide weakness. If something has an injured leg, limping would immediately signal to enemies that there is a vulnerable point of attack. So being able to conceal this would be very beneficial.