Piltdown Hoax Blog Post

1. Begin by giving a brief synopsis of the Piltdown hoax, including when and where it was found, by whom, and varying affects this had on the scientific community. Also include how the hoax was discovered and the varying responses it received from the scientist(s) involved and in the related fields of human evolution. (5 pts)

The fossils of the Piltdown man were discovered in a village in East Sussex, named Piltdown. An amateur archeologist Charles Dawson and his group of workers and 2 archeologist, claimed to found a piece of an ancient human skull in 1912. Throughout history, significant human fossils were never uncovered in England, until the trio came across what they thought to be the missing link between apes and humans, known as the pilt down man. Not long after, there were fossils found in Asia and Africa that caused scientists to question the validity of the Piltdown man.  In roughly 1949 scientist discovered a new method of dating or finding out how old fossils are by measuring the fluorine content. After that, the Piltdown Hoax was unraveled.  The teeth were even filed down in order to resemble human-like structure. The jaw bone dated back less than a hundred years and it was a female Orangutan. Now known to forger hundreds of other archeological discoveries; as far as motive and evidence it was Martin Hinton.  This was an amazing discovery and it amazes me how Martin Hinton got away from it for so long; it took over seventy years of evolution to find out the Piltdown man was a Hoax.  Due to this discovery scientist were appalled and were destined to not let this hoax, or anything even vaguely smelling of a hoax, happen again. It has caused scientists to be much more detailed and specific in their findings. When in doubt, keep doubting until something can be proven true.

2. Scientists are curious, creative and persistent by nature, but being human, they also have faults. What human faults come into play here in this scenario and how did these faults negatively impact the scientific process? (5 pts)

It took almost 40 years to prove the fraud. The scientists of the time that the bone was discovered did not have the right equipment to verify the authenticity of the fossil. They assumed that it was the missing link, and jumped to quick conclusions, as humans often do. The ego’s and greed of humans were apparent. The inventions in technology after world war one included the fluorine test.  The staining on the fossil was superficial, which is surprising that scientists didn’t discover this before. I thought that it would be obvious that the teeth had been manipulated, however it fooled even trained professionals. It negatively impacted the scientific process because it proved how easily people could be fooled, as well as how quickly ‘scientific proof’ could be overturned.

3. What positive aspects of the scientific process were responsible for revealing the skull to be a fraud? Be specific about scientific tools, processes or methodologies that were involved in providing accurate information about the Piltdown skull. (5 pts)

Because of the fluorine test that they invented around 1949, they found out it was an Orangutan that dated back less then 100 years ago; not ancient at all. The bones were also determined to have chromic acid stains and iron solution alterations to make them look older. After further analysis it was also proven that the teeth had been filed down, as well as pieces of the jaw bone broken off to resemble that of a human.

4. Is it possible to remove the “human” factor from science to reduce the chance of errors like this happening again? Would you want to remove the human factor from science? (10 pts)

I doubt it’s really probable to take the human factor out of the research. Science answers questions, and humans are the ones that develop these questions. Who would be pursuing science if not for humans? And how would humans remove their faults from their existence? Those can argue perfection and absolute truth, but most of us humans know that such a thing is something to strive for, but is not quite attainable. Rather than removing the human factor from science, maybe encourage the evolution of science to counter the human factor. When in doubt, keep doubting until you can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that something is true. And even then, there is a possibility it will be proven wrong later. Such is the beauty, and fault, of science.

5. Life Lesson: What lesson can you take from this historical event regarding taking information at face value from unverified sources? (5 pts)

Never take anything as face value when dealing with science. Or even life in general. It is always good to over analyze, as opposed to under-analyze. Even in my life, I am taking my time with schooling, because I don’t want to rush through and realize once I get all of my degrees, that I chose the wrong profession. Take your time and be sure about things, look before you

Comparative Primate

A: Environment:

Lemurs live in a tropical paradise home spending most of their time in the trees. They can only be found in Madagascar and other neighboring Comoro islands living in the tops of trees and live in groups amongst the rainforest canopy. Their environment is a moist tropical lowland rainforest or in the rainforest mountains.  Some lemurs live in a dry bush land desert area located in the southern parts of Madagascar. Lemurs can also be found in farmlands due to their habitat loss from people clearing parts of the rainforest for cropping sugar and other resources.

 Spider monkeys can be found in tropical forests from southern Mexico to Brazil. They require large patches of undisturbed forests and specialize on nourishing ripe fruits within the forest. Their environment in which they live in enables them to move speedily though trees. Spider monkeys are threatened by people there habitat is destroyed by the continued agriculture and residential development.

Baboons can be found in parts of Africa. They live up in the trees and climb down when hunting for food. They can be found in open woodlands, grassland, savannas or some live in the rocky hillside county.

Gibbon is small class of primate monkeys. They spend almost most of their times living in trees. These animals are also endangered due to their destruction of their homelands. They are a territorial type of ape that live in the upper canopy of the lowland rainforest of South East Asia. Gibbons feed on insects leaves and fruits and flowers that there environment provides for them.

Chimpanzees can be found in the forests of Central and West Africa.  They habituate themselves to African low land rain forests, woodlands, and grasslands, in mountainside forests, and the savannah. The chimpanzee lives both in the trees and on land. They are a brilliant type of monkey that uses their resources from there environment as tools to use for food and other necessities.

B: Locomotor patterns:

Lemurs are quadruple type of primates that walk on all fours limbs. They are also well-known leapers that leap from tree branch to tree branch and from the ground onto trees. lemurs are Fairley well climbers due to their environment which consist many of trees. 

Spider monkeys live in trees and are very acrobatic monkeys they move from tree to tree with speed and can also hang on their tails. A spider monkeys locomotion is that different compared to others they are a quadruple type of monkey that uses suspensory locomotion 

Baboons teeth do not look anything like that of ordinary monkeys It is said that the shape of their teeth have been changed to look the way they do because of their genes environment. Baboons also walk on all four limbs they can be seen moving around on their heels and toes.

Gibbon: It is said that when gibbons swing, their wrist will naturally dislocate until the gibbon finishes its swing. They also have long hands and feet, they swing from tree to tree with their hands hanging on the trees like a hook type motion. Gibbons have a type of locomotion movement called biaxial movement. The gibbon’s ball-and-socket joints allow them great speed and accuracy when swinging moving through trees. Although gibbons spend most of their times in trees they are rarely are seen on the ground, when they are on the ground they are able to walk on two legs.

Chimpanzees normally walk on all fours limbs and walk on their front arms using their knuckles, and they can stand and walk upright. By swinging from branch to branch chimpanzees can move quite efficiently in the trees. Chimpanzees also have a firm grip and are also capable of holding objects with their hands. Because chimpanzees have such a firm grip they are capable of swinging from tree to tree with there arms.

C:

 Lemurs: lemurs were originally the type of monkey that lived the entire world but became extinct in all parts of the world because of other predators. Because Madagascar is a branch of Africa and separated from it thousands of years ago lemurs are now the only thing living there and have no known predators there. These animals adapt to all environments but only live in Madagascar a place full of trees makes them able to leap from branch to branch.

Spider monkeys are the type of monkey that become easy prey for many animals when they are on the ground so they are rarely seen on the ground so these animals learned to adapt to their environment consisting mainly high up in trees they became more flexible and are able to move swiftly through trees. Gibbons are very like spider monkeys they are very acrobatic and flexible due to their environment which consist mainly of trees. Because these two animals become easy prey for other animals when they are seen on the ground these monkeys spend most of their times in trees Therefore, making them adaptable to the trees around them. So these two types of monkeys are able to move swiftly through the forest tree branches.

Baboons are very different from other types of monkey they don’t swing from tree branch to tree branch mainly because of their environment, baboons don live in rainforest like other monkeys so they are not the swinging type. Baboons walk in a heel to toe type of motion due to them spending most of their time in trees.

Chimpanzees are adaptable to all types of environments. These types of monkeys are extremely brilliant they have a large size brain like that of a human. Why these monkey have developed a type of brain similar to humans is questionable it could mean that they are evolving and are the furthest type of monkey that has evolved. There locomotion pattern changes to the type of environment they live in. they are capable of swinging from tree to tree and there brain learns to develop into their environment.

C.    

Each and every one of these types of monkeys has been influenced by they’re environments. If you were to compare each and every type of monkey you will find similar types of traits. It’s a matter of where these monkeys were placed these monkey learned to adapt to their environment (like humans adapt to their environment when were placed in the dessert, mountains etc.) thus changing their genes and physical features to look different from each other. So the locomotion patterns these monkeys can be compared for example the locomotion types of the spider monkey and the gibbon are similar due to that fact that they spend most of their times in trees. Not only has environment which consist of trees for most of these monkeys become a factor of influence in the changing of locomotion patters but also natural predators that prey on sorts of monkeys has influenced there locomotion patters some monkey use their trees to their advantage to flee predators.

                                                                   

SPIDER MONKEY

BABOON

Chimpanzee

Gibbon

Lemurs

Homologus and Analogus traits

Homologus

The bat, a human, a mole, a tree screw, a wolf, a sea lion, and an elephant all evolved from a common ancestor,and they share common anatomical traits.As we can see in these  comparisons the forelimbs of the bat, a human, a mole, a tree screw, a wolf, a sea lion, and an elephant, the limbs look different on the outside and though they vary in function, they are very similar in skeletal structure. More significantly, they are from the same structures when in the embryo. Structures that are embryologically similar, but have different functions, are called homologous structures. Though these animals look different, a comparison of homologous structures indicates that they are similar.  In fact This suggests that these animals evolved from a common ancestor.

Analogous

For analogous traits I chose to use the example of a human eye and an octopus eye. Both humans and octopuses evolved what is referred to as camera eyes. Its called camera eye because it consists of a lens projecting an image onto a retina. The common ancestor of the octopus and of man possessed this analogous trait and adapted it so it could see.

Protein Synthesis :Blog post

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WISH YOU THE BEST IN DECODING!