Its Getting Hot in Here...

Heat is an environment stress that effects us all. Heat can very much cause discomfort and harm to the human body. If an environment gets too hot, living beings can actually die from the effects.

First, a reaction to heat is sweating. Sweating is our body's natural way of wetting the skin so the air can cool us down. Heat can also be discomforting in the way it can burn our skin. It can have the effect of a light pinkish-red color all the way up to the painful blistering, which I've unfortunately have had personal experience with. this tends to affect lighter tone skins more do to the fact of lower pigmentation in the skin. I have also personally witnessed the third effect which is heat stroke where the body becomes overheated and the organs and body functions start to shut down. Depending on the level of heat exposure, our bodies can actually shut down at certain levels.

A short term adaption to heat would be the process of sweating because it quickly provides the body with a counter attack on the heats affects. It doesn't alter our genes in any way, it just helps cool us down.

That being said, I also think that sweating can be a Facultative adaption because sweating lasts until the heat goes away but our body is still cooling down minutes after. It takes longer to stop sweating and to cool down than it did to get hot and to start sweating.

Darker skin can be the developmental adaption because the hotter and more sun exposed locations will produce more golden and sun kissed skin tones than places where there is minimal sun exposer and it rains a lot. In a place like that there might be more pale and lighter skin tones. Even if a lighter skinned person lives in a sun exposed area they are more likely to get burnt damaging their skin, which leads to preventatives like sun screen and big hats.

Cultural adaptions are a bit creative. From what I've seen in our California culture, to escape the heat a water source is the go to escape. A lake, a pool, the ocean, some sprinklers; anything will do when it comes to staying cool. For others who hate bodies of water as humans we have created air conditioners and fans to soothe discomfort. I also think that cultural adaptions we have are big hats and sunscreen like I mentioned before but also umbrellas and canopies, etc.

The benefits of studying heat adaptions
by humans is to learn how to better our ways of surviving and adapting to the heat. Especially with the problems of global warming and climates changes it is beneficial to know what can help us survive through all conditions.



Environmental influences are better to study than race because studying the environment gives us all the people that live there not just one race. Because each climate is different just like how each individual is different even from the same race it combines the people living in an area together rather than a race which can be distributed over continents. By studying it this way, the group of people living in that environment will have something in common .. the environment. No matter what race they will have the environment in common which will help in the research of the effect of heat on individuals in that climate.

Have to stay cool one way or another! :)

 

To Speak or Not To Speak...

No Symbolic Language

• I found this part of the experiment to be slightly difficult but not as hard as I thought part 2 was. I am actually taking a Sign Language class this semester so I found it hard not being able to use that form of language alongside not being able to speak. I found myself fluctuating my tone of sounds a lot to get my partners attention and show what I was trying to express. No words, but a lot of hums, mmms, and small noises and pointing (A LOT OF POINTING). My partners got most of the things I was saying but none of the more complex ideas. It proved difficult for them.
• I caught my partners humming a few times and pointing more than when we were just talking before we started the experiment. We got a good laugh after the 15 minutes. They could have been just making fun of me but from previous class experiments I think my actions were rubbing off on them after a few minutes. It was interesting to see how I tried to figure out ways to express my ideas and thoughts to my partners and how they tried to figured out what I meant without my saying it.
• I don't think that 2 different languages would have an advantage in communicating ideas in an outside environment. I think they would both have a disadvantage because neither one understands each others culture or language. Unless one of the cultures went to the other cultures community and was surrounded by other individuals of that culture then I could see how one culture/language would have an advantage over the other.
• The individual from the speaking culture might find the speechless culture ignorant or not as intelligent as them because they have a "less structured" language or lack there of. As humans I think we tend to take misunderstanding as stupidity or ignorance when that is not the case.
• I actually have a personal story of a time at my job when a deaf couple came into my store and were trying to ask where a certain item was. At that time I only knew minimal sign language so I ended up using my finger to point and written language to guide them through the store. This encounter actually encouraged me to take my sign class. When interacting with those who don't speak our own language we resort to new ways of communication such as hand motions etc. where sometimes we have to get creative and out of our box to close the language barrier.

No Physical Language

• In all I did finish the 15 minutes but I admit I stopped about 6-7 times because I found it so difficult to do. I felt like a robot and a person in a straight jacket not being able to move or get excited. Not being able to move my hands was the absolute hardest thing to do for me personally because I am a very eccentric person in my expressions. Keeping a mono tone and not fluctuating my tone of voice was challenging as well also because I am usually an eccentric talker, as my friends like to say!
• My partners couldn't stop laughing because I was having a hard time trying to not move or fluctuate which in turn didn't help me and probably caused half of my 6-7 pauses. They could hardly keep a conversation going because they said it was weird to talk to me when I was so stoic.
• Using signs and tone of voice help explain our story and express the feelings we are trying to portray about the topic at hand. Using non-language signs gives the people we are talking to a glimpse into our actual feelings about what we are talking about; it shows how excited, mad, sad, happy we are about something and its important because we can say certain things that can be either happy or sad or good or bad and our expression and actions show the difference.
• People who are blind are unable to read body language which sometimes can be a disadvantage. Being able to read body language can be useful in a dangerous or stressful situations or also if someone is lying. For example Reading body language is key for police when they are interrogating someone who could or could not be lying about a crime. Also reading body language can protect someone from a stranger maybe trying to harm or commit a crime upon someone.

This experiment truly was an eye opener. I never realized how loud I was and how much I move my hands. It was so hard to alter my way of expressing that it was almost agonizing to do because I was forcing myself so hard not to do what I am so accustomed to. It was really cool and interesting to see how others and myself reacted to this fun language experiment!