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Plurals of Bones

7/29/2016

The following is a list of the bones in the human body in singular on the left (in parentheses I have put the common name of certain bones) and in the plural on the right.

Skull Skulls
Clavicle (collar bone) Clavicles
Scapula (shoulder blade) Scapulae
Sternum (breast bone) Sterna
Rib Ribs
Humerus Humeri
Ulna Ulnas or Ulnae
Radius Radii or Radiuses
Carpal Carpals
Metacarpal Metacarpals
Phalange Phalanges
Vertebra (spine) Vertebrae
Ilium Ilia
Ischium Ischia
Pubis Pubes
Coccyx (tail bone) Coccyges
Femur Femora
Patella Patellae
Tibia Tibiae
Fibula Fibulae
Tarsal Tarsals
Metatarsal Metatarsals

So if you ever thought to yourself how to speak of many patellae or humeri, now you know not to just add and “s” at the end. I am aware this is an especially short fun fact, but it is, nevertheless, fun. I hope you enjoyed this Friday's fun fact! If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.

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Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

7/15/2016

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In a website about physical anthropology an entry about a priest is the last thing you would think would be on it. But De Chardin was not your run of the mill type of priest. From 1912 to 1914 he worked in the paleontology laboratory of the “Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, studying the mammals of the middle Tertiary period (perhaps inspired by his amateur naturalist father).” Although when he studied at another site in Europe he was part of the most controversial “finding” of paleoanthropology. What I mean by this is he was part of the team that discovered “Piltdown Man.” This “finding” was not a finding at all, it was a fraud (taking teeth of an orangutan and the cranium of a human) of which some suggest De Chardin was part of the hoax. Although, this whole affair is what got De Chardin interested in human paleontology.
  A reading of Henri Bergson's “Creative Evolution” convinced him of the fact of evolution. “He lectured in Paris on the science of biological evolution, but his teachings were seen as a challenge to the Catholic theology, though he never meant them as such. He remained a devout Christian all his life, but he was effectively silenced by the Church, forbidden to lecture or publish on his theological and scientific perspectives, and exiled from his native France.” This turn of the events did not slow him down though. In 1929 he oversaw the excavations at the “Peking man” site (link to blog in which I spoke of Peking man: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-homo-erectus-pekinensis). After his tour in China he took part with the American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desert organized by the American Museum of Natural History with the real life Indian Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews (a possible subject for a future fun fact Friday).
     As a learned individual he published many books of which a few were centered around evolution. That said, his view of evolution was not the Darwinian “natural selection,” his mindset was that it was an “élan vital” or vital force that drove evolution. He also had the thought that we, as humans, have stopped physically evolving, but that our minds were the ones that still had some to go. "For the observers of the Future, the greatest event will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and a human work to make."
     Who knew that a man of the cloth would take such an approach on something that is still controversial in the church. I mean, he is seen as a paleontologist. I hope you enjoyed this Friday's fun fact! If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.

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Diarrhea...cha cha cha

7/8/2016

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You must be thinking what sort of fun fact the subject of diarrhea can have. I have to admit, I was also skeptical, but after reading up on it, it is a lot of fun; to read up on, not to have. It is surprising how much this uncomfortable illness is a big part in natural selection, even in modern life. The reason diarrhea is seen as a force of natural selection is because how it can cause dehydration. This is mostly true in those who had cholera, which is an infection of the small intestine and is often fatal. Cholera manipulates the body to suit its own purpose. Once in the body it produces toxins that make the “intestine's cells leaky.” This results in the expulsion of traces of cholera (“gives the cholera bacteria a ride into the world, so that they can find another hapless victim.”), but also gets rid of the good bacteria in our bodies that are trying to fight off the infection.
     Even though with a deadly infection like cholera diarrhea does not seem to be any help, it is beneficial in the long run. What I mean by this is it helps us get rid of what is making us sick or sends up a red flag that something is wrong. Shigella bacteria for example, this is an intestinal disease that can cause diarrhea to become bloody. But, unlike cholera, this is not deadly and mild cases can clear up on their own within a week, all thanks to diarrhea. In cases like this the body contracts the muscles of the gut “in an attempt to flush out the bacteria as quickly as possible.” It is when drugs, like Lomotil, that decreases this contraction can the infection be prolonged.
     It now seems to be common knowledge of why people get sick, and this is all thanks to Darwinian medicine, or evolutionary medicine whose goal is “to understand why people get sick, not simply how they get sick.” Everything from the benefits (or drawbacks) of diet, exercise, even being clean can be thanks to this type of medical study. So, a way to steer clear of coming down with diarrhea is to make sure your water is not contaminated, make sure food is well prepared, and just...wash your hands to avoid giving yourself, or someone else diarrhea. This is why the most common ages of those who get shigella infection are those between 2 and 4 years.
     Well, was this not a fun but slightly disgusting and...paranoid inducing fact? I really hope I have not made some of you readers paranoid. Look on the bright side, if you have not had diarrhea for years, you are leading a good clean life. If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.

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Giants

7/1/2016

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Or rather Gigantopithecus (giant ape). When you read “giant ape,” a King Kong image must come to mind, but this ape was nowhere near as towering as Kong. Gigantopithecus is estimated to have been 9 – 10 ft (2.7 – 3 m) when standing erect and weighing in at 600 – 1200 lbs (272 – 544 kg). I use “estimated” because only their mandibles have been found (image below compares Gigantopithecus mandible with one of a human). “Based only on the jaws and teeth, however, researches can attempt to reconstruct both the animal and its way of life.”

The mandibles of the the Gigantopithecus have only been found in India and China to be more exact. Much like the hobbit of the last FFF, the Gigantopithecus was found by chance. The first recorded finding, or realization was done in 1935 by a German paleoanthropologist, Ralph von Koenigswald, when visiting an apothecary in Hong Kong. After realizing what he had found (it was a huge molar tooth), he continued by naming it “Gigantopithecus blacki;” blacki in honour of Davidson Black, the discoverer of Peking Man (earlier blog about Peking Man: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-Homo-erectus-pekinensis). Another “sighting” of Gigantopithecus was not until 33 years later, but this time, in India, and, once again, this just happened to...happen. An Indian native, Sunkha Ram, was in possession of a Gigantopithecus mandible since 1944, by the suggestion of his father to keep it because “they might come in handy some day, and in 1968 they did. Sunkha heard of a Yale paleoanthropological expedition, and taking a piece of the mandible he went to find them. When he found Grant Meyer, the paleoanthropologist, Mayer immediately gave him some rupees for it, and requested that Sunkha sell him the entire mandible. Mayer was going to name this “new” fossil find Gigantopithecus “bilaspurensis,” but later changed it to Gigantopithecus “giganteus,” because the species had been named “Dryopithicus giganteus,” by the first man, Guy Pilgrim, who had found trace of the Gigantopithecus in India, but in 1915.
So when did this giant of an ape live? Gigantopithecus lived from 13 million years ago (the start of the Pleistocene Era), til 200,000 years ago. That is right, we missed out on seeing/meeting giants and hobbits. But the extinction of Gigantopithecus was simply because they could not adapt as we can. Reason being is their diet was mostly of fruit and/or bamboo, and with the drastically changing climates of Earth, which include a few ice ages, the Gigantopithecus basically starved to death. There are hopefuls that think the legend of big foot in the United States is true and thus evidence Gigantopithecus still lives, but when you stop to think about where the mandibles were found. It seems very unlikely Gigantopithecus could survive in the drastically changing weather of the U.S. Although, that said, Jane Goodall, does believe that there is a bigfoot (Sasquatch, yeti). Her reasons are when speaking with Native Americans they have described hearing the same sounds and two have seen it...them.
It is exciting to think that even though we have passed our chance to meet hobbits, Jane Goodall's extensive research may have uncovered that Gigantopithecus, or at least a descendant is roaming the United States. As we look back on what has come before our species, before humans, and how long they roamed the Earth, our species is still in its infancy. Yes, we have agriculture, technology, and so on, our true test will be time. The Gigantopithecus for example, they were here for 12,800,000 years, while our time here is just a spit in the bucket compared to theirs. After a million years will Homo sapiens still be here or will we too go extinct? We can only wait.
With that thought, ends another fun, and exciting, fact for this Friday. If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.

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Plurals of Bones

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Diarrhea...cha cha cha

Giants

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