I am sure that you have seen countless commercials about anti-aging cream or cream to get rid of sun spots, but is getting old so bad? What is more, is it something that we can stop? And why are so many of us afraid of it? In the following blog I will discuss why joints pain as we get other, the formation of sun spots, and the change of hair colour and the extra hair in other parts.
       So why does the back and other joints hurt as we get older? Between our joints we have a layer of cartilage shaped like disks that keeps them moving smoothly and cushioning when moved. As we get older the cartilage in knees is the first to begin to degrade because of “a lifetime of walking, exercising, and moving.” When this cartilage gets to be such a small amount the bone comes in contact with each other and this causes inflammation of the surrounding tissue. Around “27 million American adults over the age of 25 have osteoarthritis,” and this is the condition that the lack of cartilage causes. Now the reason for the aching of the back is similar but different as well. The vertebrae itself begins to literally degrade. We have 7 cervical 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar vertebrae, and even though the cervical and thoracic are much thinner it is the thicker lumbar that suffer the most. Like the knees the spine has cartilage called disks between them, but, again, just like the knees the lumbar take on most of the weight of the torso. I am not saying that the cervical or thoracic vertebrae are unimportant, but if the lumbar vertebrae is damaged, just walking can take a toll because the spinal cord will not be in the secure potion vital to make walking comfortable.
       What is worse than not feeling like yourself is not looking as you did. I am sure you have seen dark spots on the skin of elder adults, these are the effect of years and years of sun exposure. Many older adults have them because it was not until recently it was found out that the sun was the cause of these, before they were called liver spots because it was theorized it was the livers fault for these spots. The reason that these spots are more prevalent in older adults is because, unlike younger humans, the skin is unable to regenerate when exposed to UV rays. But unlike the missing cartilage of the knees or spine, these sun spots present no danger. Although there are some who see these spots as “unsightly” and choose to have them removed “by electrosurgery, laser treatment or cryotherapy.”
       Now unlike the pain and sun spots which are new to the body, the change of hair colour to white is actually something we all had. All humans start off with white hair. It is not until “it gets pigment, melanin, through specialized cells called melanocytes.” As the hair grows it is given this special pigment. But why the hair changes colour is still under examination. The most prevalent and likely theory is we are given a set amount of these cells, so as we get older the cells are being used up and with some older adults this is when the hair begins to turn white. Some think that it is caused by stress, this is true, but when there are more than a few strands void of colour it means that the individual is running out of these pigment cells.
       On the subject of hair, I am sure that you have noticed your father or grandfather having hair in their ears and nose...but not much on their heads in some cases. The reason for this is because even though they are all hair, they all go through different stages of growth; anagen, catagen, and telogen. The head hair usually stops at the anagen stage but the hair on the arms and legs go to the catagen stage for a few weeks. In this stage the hair grows but then stops at a certain length. When this happens it goes into the telogen stage which means that it “stops lengthening and eventually falls out naturally through shedding or external trauma such as pulling.” As we age, especially males, the exposure to the hormone testosterone can disrupt the predetermined growth period. According to Dr. Sarah Baker from Northwestern University, “testosterone causes hair to grow in the beard, pubic, and underarm area, and it causes hair to shrink on the scalp, which develops into hair loss or hair thinning.” This is why a large percent of older adults who are balding are men, who have a great amount of the hormone testosterone, and not women, who have a small percentage of testosterone but more of the hormone estrogen.
       As you can see, there is nothing to be scared about; I know I said that there is nothing worse than not feeling like yourself or looking like yourself, but it is worse when you don't come to terms with it. When we are children we pretend to be “all grown up,” but then when we get there, we realize that we can not stop it. There are countless lotions, pills, dyes to cover up our age, but in actuality, we cannot cope with the fact; we get old. We get wrinkly, we get weak, we lose our hair, and we cannot to anything about it. Eventually we have to come to terms with the fact that we are children, we are adults, and we are the elderly. But there is nothing wrong with that. It is not as if it is only you who will go through it; all humans have and will continue to HAVE go through old age. You need not be afraid of old age, embrace it, enjoy it, and above all...accept it.
       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover. 

       Hands. To think something made up of 14 phalanges (finger bones), 5 metacarpals (the bones that attach the fingers to the wrist), and 8 carpals (bones in the wrist) in each hand, has to do with so many things we do in the day. From turning off your alarm, getting a drink of water, to answering your cell phone, you do it automatically without really realizing your hands are amazing. It is because of hands we have gotten this far. Now I am sure you are wondering “what about monkeys and apes, they have hands!” Very true, and I will get into that in a minute. In the following blog I will discuss what makes up the hands, and the amazing things those humans with and without hands can do.
       Now all primates from monkeys to apes to humans have hands, but no other animals do. What is more is all hands have the same make up. We all have the same phalanges, metacarpals, and carpals; the only difference with the bones is in some of the larger apes they are thicker than those we humans have. Even though hands are pretty much the same on the inside, when it comes to the surface they could not be more different, but yet the same. With humans whether we be males or females, we do not have much hair on the top of our hands. When looking at the top of apes and monkey hands they have much more hair on them. At around the knuckles at the top of the fingers the amount of hair is similar to us humans. But with the palm of the hands, all primate hands, with the exception of apes and monkeys having longer palms, are the pretty much the same. All humans and most ape and monkey palms do no have melatonin (a hormone that decides the darkness of a species). But chimpanzee and gorilla palms are as dark as their hair. Also, no primate hands have hair on the palm. Reason for this is because we need the skin to create traction to grab onto things; be it trees, bananas, or a cell phone. And if you would look at your hand you can see the creases. These creases are the cause of when we were in the womb and had our hands clenched and help us when we grab on to things. Ape and monkey hands have these too.
       With all this talk about primates and our hands, why do only primates have hands? The answer is one word: evolution. From our earliest evolutionary ancestors we were adapting to living in trees. If we had flippers our evolutionary ancestors would have been assumed to be adapting to life in the water. But why were we not given claws instead of hands? Claws would be effective in tree life, but we have our own sort of claws, in a flattened form which we call nails. There is also a theory that our hands were made to fight with; whether it be fighting over food or a mate, which we still do today. When clenched and made into a fist, we have less of a chance to cause self injury. If we had claws and fight the way we did, we do, they would be seriously damaged, we would be seriously damaged. We should find ourselves lucky we have hands, because give humans claws with one little dispute, there would be a lot less, if any, humans around.
       That said, there are humans who were either born without hands/arms or have lost them. When this happens there is only one option left; to use the feet. There are amazing people who put so much work into making due with their feet as both feet and a hands/arms. One example of a person who was born without arms is Mark Stutzman, get ready for this, the archer. The tools he uses are not altered for his condition, they are regular run of the mill bow and arrows. “He uses a mechanical release attached to a sling around his right shoulder. To pull the trigger, he uses his jaw. When he shoots in tournaments, he doesn't enter as a disabled shooter.” If he manages to do this, he can do all he needs to do with his feet. From eating even driving, which he does, like his archery, without the car being modified; even a stick shift. If you would like to see an example of his archery: https://youtu.be/Ea552U65-0w Even though these accomplishments are truly amazing, he was born without arms. I am not saying that those who lose their arms are any more amazing, but you can not help but think of how your life would be without arms. An example of this is of a boy, Liu Wei, who lost is arms when he was electrocuted during a game of hide and seek. Liu Wei was made famous because of his entry into the show “China's Got Talent.” In this program he played the piano, and eventually won the contest. I have know this for a while, but what left me with my mouth agape was as I researched him, I found out he had lost his arms 2 years before competing and winning this contest. It is amazing how much dexterity someones toes can take on when they need to, nevertheless learning how to play the piano with them. “After his first performance he told judges with a winning adorable grin: 'There's no rule that says piano can only be played with hands.'”If you are interested to see Liu Wei play the piano: https://youtu.be/X9DilOIZMu4
       It is truly amazing what the human body is capable of when one vital element is missing. If humans evolved to have flippers, we may be at the mercy of dolphins. Likewise, without hands, we could not do anything we do now; one because no hands and two because it would not have happened. All our buildings, computers, cars, bridges, we owe it all to our hands in the first place. I understand that the brain plays a vital part, but what is the use of Henry Ford having the brains to build a car without the tools to do so, IE. hands. But like the examples I gave, I am sure we could get by with our legs and feet; and there are those out there who were born or lost their legs and use, you guessed it, their hands to walk on. In reality, if we lost one extremity or organ we would not be complete. That said, we got this far because we humans and we are adaptable. It is almost unthinkable how much we own to those little bones in our hands.

       It has been theorized that the pyramids of Giza are alined with the stars in Orion’s Belt, but along with this theory is that the Sphinx is alined with the constellation Leo. It is amazing how much we know about the pyramids, but not many people know about the Sphinx. I am sure that the figure of it is worldly known but not many know why or how it was built. In the following blog I was requested I cover the why, how, and recovery of shepep ankh ('living image'), the Sphinx.
       Now the Sphinx is what we would call a zoomorphic figure, despite of its human head. Unlike the pyramids, in which stones had to be carried and placed, the Sphinx was carved from the limestone bedrock. If you would look at the image below, you can see the same striations that are on the chest of the Sphinx are the same as on the surrounding walls. Even though this is obvious once you know where to look, we have no idea how long it took to carve it. With several thousands of years of how we used to do things lost, I am afraid that our new way of doing things along with our new technology we are ignorantly blinded by all that is new to understand more of the old.

       Something else that we thought we knew was recently shot down. What we thought we knew is that the Sphinx was built by Khafre, which is not true. The reason for this is because in the 19th century on the Giza plateau an 'Inventory Stele' that was found reads that the Pharaoh Khufu, who ruled before Khafre, ordered that a temple be built next to the Sphinx. All this can tell us is the Sphinx is probably the work of Pre-dynastic times. So far we pretty much have an idea of how it was carved, but still having no idea how long or who is was that built it.
       Good news though, we have several theories of why it was built. As I said in the beginning of this blog I talked about the alignment of stars. I believe that since Khufu and his successors are buried in the Giza pyramids this is the reason it was “known” it was on of them who carved the Sphinx. Not only that but the sophistication of the alignment. Many do not think that the ancient Egyptians were bothered with astrology and the pyramids are only coincidentally in line with Orion's Belt, but perhaps at they would look to the stars they saw a familiar shape. The constellation Leo's shape has an uncanny resemblance to that of the Sphinx (see comparison below). This ties in with the following theory of why. Some believe that it was built was a sort of “astronomical observation device that marked the position of the rising sun on the day of the spring equinox in the time of Leo the Lion, which lasted from 10,970 to 8810 BCE. This interpretation is given support by the leonine shape of the Sphinx.” Another assumption made by orthodox archaeologists is it is mearly a memorial or “some sort of talisman or guardian deity.” 

       At the beginning of this blog I said I was requested to cover not only the how it was carved or why it was built but also the recovery of it. You must be thinking, why would a huge statue like the Sphinx need to be recovered? Well, let us say about a thousand years or so had passed before the first attempt to recover it, the winds and sand had buried the Sphinx up to its neck. We know this because Tuthmosis IV made a tablet recounting a dream the Sphinx had given him to free it from the sand is still between the paws. The paws is all Tuthmosis was able to free. There were more excavations after that, but in the reign of Rameses II, the sands once again buried it. As time passed there was some restoration done by Marcus Aurelius which is still visible today, but, as luck would have it, it was buried again. It was not til 1925 when the entirety of it was cleared. But due to several factors such as pollution and increased humidity in the 1980's it underway a restoration; which was a disaster that had to do with using wrong materials to attempt the restoration. With entirely new materials and methods, the restoration is still under way.
       After writing this blog, I am at war within myself. What I mean by this is I want us to find out the answers to all the questions we have, but at the same time, I do not. The hunt, the intrigue is something that keeps us going. If we do find out the answers instead of asking how, we will most likely be asking what next?
      Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover. 

       ...otherwise known as the famous Easter Island. Today marks the 293rd anniversary of the re-discovery of this island. I say “re-discovery” because it was apparent this small island, 63 square miles created by volcanoes, had been inhabited long before it was found once again. This blog has been requested by a reader to discuss the history and monuments of said island.
       Rapa Nui was re-discovered by a Dutch sea captain named Jacob Roggeveen. He is the one that dubbed it “Easter Island” because he found it on April 5, 1722, which happened to be Easter. Even though he is credited with discovering the island, he was not the first to set foot. Not much is known about exactly who inhabited the island, but there are theories that those from the Marquesas islands were those inhabitants. As you would expect from an environment not touched by humans, the island was very forested. Now, sadly the island does not house many trees, but it does attract tourists. One main reason for this are the moai.
       The mo-what now? The moai (pronounced mo-eye), are the stone heads that are found all over the island. There are 250 just surround the perimeter of the island; all exactly half a mile apart from each other. But the awe does not stop here. There are 600 more of these moai statues scattered all around the island, all were not completed. The moai are not the only item in abundance. By this I mean the island also has a few volcanoes of which helped create the moai. I am not saying volcanoes made the moai , but that all of the moai were made from material the volcano makes. Most of them were made with tuff which is “a light, porous rock formed by consolidation of volcanic ash.” The others were made of other material the volcano, such as basalt, trachyte, and scoria.
       Moai statues that surround the island measure 30 feet high and the weight is up to 82 tons. To give you an idea how heavy these are, one ton is equal to 2000 pounds or 907.184 kilograms.25 baby whales (one is 3 tons) together would be lighter than just one of these moai. So just how did they transport them within exactly half a mile from each other, not only that but to get them away from the quarry? The answer to this is a question; how did the Egyptians transport their blocks? Rolling technology. They would cut down trees, de-bark them to make them smooth, and place the object on several, drag/roll it, and take the tree it already rolled on, put it in front, and continue with this method. That said, it does sound easy, but pushing or pulling 82 tons is no walk in the park. Depending on the size it would take 50 to 150 people to move it.
      We still do not know why they made these huge faces, some with shoulders some just the head, but there are several theories. The one that makes the most sense is that these represent their ancestors. Even though we can theorize on how they moved these works of art or why, we can never truly know. For example, if they did use the roll technology, how did they get it on the logs? If they carved them when they stand, they would have to be very careful when placing it on the trees, and if they carved them on the ground they could not roll it over and to just place it on the logs would take several hundred if the maximum amount to pull one is 150. It is frustrating to to know exactly how things were done, but it is exciting to theorize. It is also wonderful how we still have such artifacts, moai, the pyramids, stone henge, to excite our brains with one question: how?
       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.