Biology and the origin of life

[Fucky McFuckerson]

I am studying biology in school right now (its a requirement), and we are doing the origin of life this week. I did not realize there are so many theories, and all have evidence, some more than others. I got into a conversation with a fellow student about the evolution of man and the different skin colors of the world and how that came about. As evidence shows, man has evolved to its surroundings by having darker skin (more melancholy) in hotter climates, while those in colder climates have lighter skin (less meloncholy). The only one that debunks this theory, are Inuits, whom have dark skin, yet live in probably the coldest climate in the world...which would support the theory of them migrating to that area a long time ago.

Does anyone by into this theory? What other theories seem logical? What other origins of life seem plausible? Do some of the theories cross over into a theology and leave a scientific explanation?

 

[JLMACN]

This theory makes perfect since.

We can see this amoung common animals such as Fish, Bears, Lion (cats), etc....

Hope you like your biology class. I am taking an Anthropology class next semester for one of my requirements.

5000

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

This theory makes perfect since.

We can see this amoung common animals such as Fish, Bears, Lion (cats), etc....

Hope you like your biology class. I am taking an Anthropology class next semester for one of my requirements.

5000

Science as a whole is bananas, so much stuff to retain. As I am not a theoist, I am not 100% sold on science either. However, I do give people like ThaG props for actually learning and understanding this madness!

I llke math becuase it stays constant and hase been for centuries. There is either a right answer or a wrong answer!

Ona side not, i have the oppurtunity to take a "Religions of the World" class as an elective...im on the fence about it.

 

[JLMACN]

I am sure ThaG will shine a bright light on this subject.
I am a big Math nerd too, being that I am studying engineering.

Engineering is a science as well.

What are you majoring in?

As for that Religions of the World, its prolly real similar to the class I took. I like the class becuase I learned about religions such as Hindu, Islam, Judaism, Jainism, etc....

you will learn about religions you never heard about, which is what I liked. It also showed me just how religions is a product of people and their culture, not vice-versa as many think.

Good luck homie.

5000

 

[2-0-Sixx]

The only one that debunks this theory, are Inuits, whom have dark skin, yet live in probably the coldest climate in the world...which would support the theory of them migrating to that area a long time ago.

I think it's because they migrated much more recently from Asia and also they have an extremely high diet of seafood, which eliminates worries about Vitamin D.

As far back as the 1960s, the biochemist W. Farnsworth Loomis had suggested that skin color is determined by the body's need for vitamin D. The vitamin helps the body absorb calcium and deposit it in bones, an essential function, particularly in fast-growing embryos. (The need for vitamin D during pregnancy may explain why women around the globe tend to have lighter skin than men.) Unlike folate, vitamin D depends on ultraviolet light for its production in the body. Loomis believed that people who live in the north, where daylight is weakest, evolved fair skin to help absorb more ultraviolet light and that people in the tropics evolved dark skin to block the light, keeping the body from overdosing on vitamin D, which can be toxic at high concentrations.

[...]

The weaker the ultraviolet light, the fairer the skin. Jablonski went on to show that people living above 50 degrees latitude have the highest risk of vitamin D deficiency. "This was one of the last barriers in the history of human settlement," Jablonski says. "Only after humans learned fishing, and therefore had access to food rich in vitamin D, could they settle these regions."

[...]

People in the tropics have developed dark skin to block out the sun and protect their body's folate reserves. People far from the equator have developed fair skin to drink in the sun and produce adequate amounts of vitamin D during the long winter months.

Jablonski hopes that her research will alert people to the importance of vitamin D and folate in their diet. It's already known, for example, that dark-skinned people who move to cloudy climes can develop conditions such as rickets from vitamin D deficiencies. More important, Jablonski hopes her work will begin to change the way people think about skin color. "We can take a topic that has caused so much disagreement, so much suffering, and so much misunderstanding," she says, "and completely disarm it."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/text_pop/l_073_04.html​

I posted a thread about skin evolution sometime ago, located HERE

 

[ColdBlooded]

Be wary of the religion classes they can be sleepers on the difficulty. My Islamic history class was waaaaaaaaay hard.

 

[JLMACN]

CB.....I couldnt agree more!

I totally underrated my religions class, But I still got an 'A'

5000

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

One of my co-workers is in world religions and his final involved him actually finding a Buddhist priest an interviewing him. Thats nuts.

@2-0-Sixx

Awesome info. Thanks for digging up that old thread, ill take a look when I have some more time this afternoon.

 

[ColdBlooded]

by having darker skin (more melancholy)

That's a joke right?

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

I don't know what competing theories you are talking about but its pretty much accepted the single origin is from sub sahara africa. this is through tracing mdna and looking at the diversity in each region. and I think you mean melanin not melancholy. and yes I believe the eskimos and the natives all came from asia.

Yes, melanin...my mistake.

The conversation with the classmate was over origins of different ethnicitys in different areas of the world, the subject for the week is origin of lifeforms. I blended 2 different topics into one...thats my bad...but it has to do with evolution ina whole.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

That's a joke right?

No, it was mistake on my part. You shouldnt type things out while talking on the phone to a software devolper, all the while overlooking an outsourced virutal predictive dialer system.

 

[ThaG]

I think it's because they migrated much more recently from Asia and also they have an extremely high diet of seafood, which eliminates worries about Vitamin D.

As far back as the 1960s, the biochemist W. Farnsworth Loomis had suggested that skin color is determined by the body's need for vitamin D. The vitamin helps the body absorb calcium and deposit it in bones, an essential function, particularly in fast-growing embryos. (The need for vitamin D during pregnancy may explain why women around the globe tend to have lighter skin than men.) Unlike folate, vitamin D depends on ultraviolet light for its production in the body. Loomis believed that people who live in the north, where daylight is weakest, evolved fair skin to help absorb more ultraviolet light and that people in the tropics evolved dark skin to block the light, keeping the body from overdosing on vitamin D, which can be toxic at high concentrations.

[...]

The weaker the ultraviolet light, the fairer the skin. Jablonski went on to show that people living above 50 degrees latitude have the highest risk of vitamin D deficiency. "This was one of the last barriers in the history of human settlement," Jablonski says. "Only after humans learned fishing, and therefore had access to food rich in vitamin D, could they settle these regions."

[...]

People in the tropics have developed dark skin to block out the sun and protect their body's folate reserves. People far from the equator have developed fair skin to drink in the sun and produce adequate amounts of vitamin D during the long winter months.

Jablonski hopes that her research will alert people to the importance of vitamin D and folate in their diet. It's already known, for example, that dark-skinned people who move to cloudy climes can develop conditions such as rickets from vitamin D deficiencies. More important, Jablonski hopes her work will begin to change the way people think about skin color. "We can take a topic that has caused so much disagreement, so much suffering, and so much misunderstanding," she says, "and completely disarm it."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/text_pop/l_073_04.html​

I posted a thread about skin evolution sometime ago, located HERE

Great post, I didn't know this

 

[ThaG]

I am studying biology in school right now (its a requirement), and we are doing the origin of life this week. I did not realize there are so many theories, and all have evidence, some more than others.

Which theories did you discuss?

If you're interested, I can provide some more info on the subject

 

[ThaG]

videos from the first OoL symposium at Harvard:

http://origins.harvard.edu/InaugSymp.html

 

[ParkBoyz]

I am studying biology in school right now (its a requirement), and we are doing the origin of life this week. I did not realize there are so many theories, and all have evidence, some more than others. I got into a conversation with a fellow student about the evolution of man and the different skin colors of the world and how that came about. As evidence shows, man has evolved to its surroundings by having darker skin (more melancholy) in hotter climates, while those in colder climates have lighter skin (less meloncholy). The only one that debunks this theory, are Inuits, whom have dark skin, yet live in probably the coldest climate in the world...which would support the theory of them migrating to that area a long time ago.

Does anyone by into this theory? What other theories seem logical? What other origins of life seem plausible? Do some of the theories cross over into a theology and leave a scientific explanation?

You also forget that the equatorial Natives of central America contradicts this theory as they lack frequencies in pigmentation seen in other equatorial peoples such as Africans and Australians. The theory however, fits well within the range of micro-level diversity nonetheless.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

You also forget that the equatorial Natives of central America contradicts this theory as they lack frequencies in pigmentation seen in other equatorial peoples such as Africans and Australians. The theory however, fits well within the range of micro-level diversity nonetheless.

Native Australian=Aboriginal people (and they as about as dark as humans can come next to native Africans), as all the white people orginate from other countries such as Britian and Germany. Australia was originally used for penal transportation...pretty much it was a big ass prison for british criminals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Australians

Not sure which Africans you speak of, but all native Africans have pigmentation in them, even northern Africans.

 

[ParkBoyz]

^I'm referring to the deeply pigmented Nilotes and Bantu who have a higher concentration nearer to the equator. Most Africans are pigmented due to recent common ancestry, though if you'd observe people like the Khoisan, the natives of southern Africa where the UV radiation isn't as intense as can be seen in the equator, you'll notice a shift as the Khoisan adapted to a sub-equatorial environment. Same as some Northwest Africans like the Amazigh berber, though they tend to also be substantially mixed. For reference to what I'm saying merely observe the condition of unmixed Africans, like Nelson Mandela who are lightly pigmented, but descended from 100% Bantu and Khoisan elements.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

^I'm referring to the deeply pigmented Nilotes and Bantu who have a higher concentration nearer to the equator. Most Africans are pigmented due to recent common ancestry, though if you'd observe people like the Khoisan, the natives of southern Africa where the UV radiation isn't as intense as can be seen in the equator, you'll notice a shift as the Khoisan adapted to a sub-equatorial environment. Same as some Northwest Africans like the Amazigh berber, though they tend to also be substantially mixed. For reference to what I'm saying merely observe the condition of unmixed Africans, like Nelson Mandela who are lightly pigmented, but descended from 100% Bantu and Khoisan elements.

This can be caused by mutated genes, the same reason why some people are albinos. Not all people living near the equator are going to be dark and not people living away from the equator are going to be light...there are always excpetion sin a DNA gene pool. Some Vientnames are darker than others, some Hawaiians are darker than others, and so on and so fourth.

This is what i found on Bantu, albiet from Wiki:

Bantu is a general term for over 400 different ethnic groups in Africa, from Cameroon to South Africa, united by a common language family (the Bantu languages) and in many cases common customs.

In other words, youll have to be a bit less general.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

And the Berber, come in many skin tones. Thougth they are lighter in color, they still have pigmentation in the skin. They are also on the way up to Morocco and Greece, where you begin to see the skin tone start to fade to lighter colors.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

Just a reminder, this is the earths equator. Berbers are fairly far north of the equator.