WLAC Anthropology Natural Selection & Becoming Human Papers

Assignment 1

1. WATCH NINA JABLONSKI’S TED TALK BUT DON’T WORRY ABOUT ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS UNTIL I REVISE THIS ASSIGNMENT. 

INTRODUCTION: Natural selection: You, be learning more about natural selection soon. Meanwhile, hereàa start; itàwhat you need to understand the questions on this worksheet.

ålective pressure-eans that when a genetic trait is beneficial to an organism, in this case, to the human body, it will be ålected for it will be passed from parent to offspring and in this way it will persist in a gene pool.

A beneficial trait helps human individuals survive (get food and avoid predators), thrive and reproduce )e. give birth to healthy offspring and be able to keep them alive and thriving until THEY can reproduce. And so on.

Remember: What is beneficial under certain climates and conditions might no longer be beneficial when conditions change.

SKIN COLOR PART ONE

Watch this short TED talk by anthropologist, Nina Jablonski.  Then answer questions 17 through 23. Do some googling if you need to.Skin Color is an illusion Link

SKIN COLOR IS AN ILLUSION

17. What reproductive benefits from reduced absorption of UV radiation could be driving natural selection for dark skin? (Think about reproductive benefits before answering.)

lower risk of sunburn

lower risk of skin cancer

increased vitamin D synthsis

protection of stored folate

18. What is a cline? What is clinal variation? (Use your own words; do not quote wikipedia or other internet resource.) 

19. Picture our class in an actual classroom. I ask you all to line up around the edge of the room in order of height. When you are lined up I ask you where we should draw the line between the short people and the tall people. Where do we draw it? Can we do it? Why or why not? (It is NOT because the ideas of short and tall are subjective.) 

20. We are back in the classroom. I ask you to line up again, this time in order of skin color, from darkest to lightest. I ask where we should draw the line between dark-skinned students and light-skinned students. Where do we draw it? Why is it impossible to decide where to draw the line? (Again, it is NOT because the idea of skin-color is subjective.) 

21. According to Jablonski, what protective skin coloring was beneficial to humans near the equator? Why was it beneficial? Aside from cancer what did it protect humans from losing? Hint: it is something needed for a healthy pregnancy and birth.

22. According to Jablonski, in colder climates, where there is less sun, what does dark skin prevent absorption of?   Hint: itàsomething that humans need for strong bones. Thereàa disease people get if they don have enough of it.

23. Identify two physiological effects of solar radiationthat likely acted as selective pressures in shaping the pattern of clinal variation of human skin color.

PART TWO  

Read this short article and summarize:  Cheddar Man: DNA shows early Briton had dark skin

Then answer these two questions

1. What is surprising about Cheddar Man?

2. How did people in Britain respond to the news?

Assignment 2

1. Watch this short video. Summarize and reflect.
2. Watch this short TED talkThe Beauty of Human Skin in Every Color    11 mi

Assignment 6

PALEOANTHROPOLOGY – BECOMING HUMAN

Watch the 3 parts of this Homo Naledi video and absorb them well. 

Lee Berger tell how he and colleagues discovered two new species. 

Discovering Homo Naledi Part 1

Discovering Homo Naledi Part 2

Discovering Homo Naledi Part 3

Now watch two of Lee Bergeràscientific colleagues – Juliet Brophy and Marina Elliott – describe their experience of the discovery of naledi and then answer QUESTION TWO and THREE below.

What homo naledi teaches us about being human

On the Edge: Exploration and the Origins of Humanity

QUESTION TWO:

1. What are the 5 main points of each of these two short talks? 

QUESTION THREE: 

2. Can you imagine doing this kind of scientific work? (Paleontology, not specifically caving!) 

Assignment 7

Watching several short videos and answer TWO questions:

1. GENETICS BASICS

Read this short article and watch these 2 short videos. Absorb the information in each one. 

https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/genes-genetic-disorders.html

Genetics Basics: Chromosomes, Genes, DNA

BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA (3 mins)

2. NATURAL SELECTION 

A mutation in one individual animalàDNA can produce a new trait in that one animal. The new trait might provide some kind of ADVANTAGE for the animal that helps it ADAPT to changing conditions. It may improve its “fitness” for a particular environment in particular conditions. That animal survives and thrives and reproduces and so the advantageous trait gets spread throughout the population and many animals are born with it. 

Watch the 4 short videos and then answer the QUESTION ONE:

QUESTION ONE: 

In each of these 4 videos we see a DNA mutation that produced an advantageous trait in an animal. What trait emerged in each of the 4 examples and how did it help the animal adapt, survive and thrive? 

Sickle Cell (4 min)

Peppered Moth (2 mins)

The Grants and Darwin’s Finches (16 mins)

Natural selection and the Rock Pocket Mouse