Human Variation & Race

1. High levels of Solar Radiation can cause skin cancers, sunburns and cataracts can develop in the eyes if there is a prolonged exposure.

2.

• A short term solution can be to get out of the sun and avoid it if possible. Go inside a building and you can even apply sunscreen to block the solar rays from the sun. 
• A humans Facilitative adaptation to the skin is the ability for a lighter skinned person to tan. Longer exposure to the Sun's UV rays allows our skin to change color and turn darker due to Melanin. There are different types of Melanin and people with light complexioned skin usually produce Pheomelanin. Melanin acts as a protective biological shield against UV radiation. 
• An example of a developmental adaptation to solar radiation is that dark skin people pass down their dark skin from generation to generation. This development has helped the generation have better protection from the sun and solar radiation. The DNA of the generation has changed due to this development. 
• An example of a cultural adaptation would be that a culture might wear certain clothing, like a hat to protect them if they have little or no hair. In some cultures, people use sunscreens and certain materials that help to block most of the radiation from the skin. 

3.The benefits of studying human variation this way is that we can get a peek of how different cultures use various methods to do certain things like protect themselves from solar radiation. The information we obtain from other cultures can help to give us a better understanding of how they act and perform tasks.

4. I would use race to mark the differences in all cultures. Not all cultures are the same and therefore, we can get new information from them which might help us in a way. The study of environmental influences on adaptations is a better way to understand human variation than race because a cultures practices are usually passed down from generation and a different culture might look at it differently because that culture doesn't do it. Discrimination based on race is a easy thing to do and it doesn't matter what race a person may be, as long as they are all exposed to the same conditions to realize the difference they make to protect from it.

Language Experiment

Part 1. At the beginning of the first part where I couldn't use any hand signals or talking, was difficult. My partner that was conversing with me was a little puzzled on why I was doing this. They then asked more questions that were a yes or no answer. If the person that was speaking to me was in a different culture, I think they would have a greater advantage in communicating more complex scenarios because of the use of hand signals, noises, or other gestures. The speaking culture might find it harder to decipherer the culture that doesn't use symbolic language.

Part 2. I could not go the full 15 minutes without using any embellishments. The thing that made it difficult for this experiment was my use of hand signals when I was speaking. If I wanted to tell someone a location of an object, I would often point or make a gesture of where it was. My partner that I was speaking to usually told me to repeat the question again that I previously asked and thats when I used my hand signals to help them better understand. The non-speach language that we use basically everyday can help us better explain what we are trying to say and can also help the person on the other side of your conversation have a better understanding also. There can be people that have difficulty reading body language but if you are very expressive of it, everyone should be able to somewhat get an understanding of what you were trying to communicate. I don't think there would be any benefit of not reading body language.