Biology, Genetics, and Evolution
Biological Anthropology is one of the main subsects of anthropology. It differs from other parts of anthropology by focusing on the past of humans, instead of current trends. It encompasses how humans evolved overtime, links to early primate species, and the archeology of discovered remains such as bones. In order to better understand present humans, it is important to first understand humans of the past. To be able to organize these found differing traits and characteristics, scientists created the naming system of taxonomy. Taxonomy is used to group things that have similar traits such as gene structure or behavior. It is used a tool to display similarities and differences of both humans of the past and present in order to better understand humans as a whole.
Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence
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| The taxonomy system used to classify a monarch butterfly Copyright Rice University/OpenStax, under CC By 4.0 license |
In order to understand present day humans, it is important to study those from the past. In the case of having a sweet tooth or a desire for sugar, the article "Is a "Sweet Tooth" Genetic? by Stephen Wooding, explains the biological reason for this phenomenon. A major concern from early humans was the availability of food, as in calories. Calories are the main source in food that gives energy to humans, with more energy, more rigorous activities such as hunting and gathering food can be done. With more resources gathered, survival was more prominent. Foods that contain sugar tend to have more calories, so the taste of sweetness was a sign that a specific food had more sugar, meaning more calories. Overtime, humans today still carry this desire for sweet things or better called a "sweet tooth". Without the study of early humans traits, the explanation for thus occurrence would be unknown.
Is a "Sweet Tooth" Genetic? by Stephen Wooding
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| A tastebud in the human mouth on a microscopic level. Ed Reschke/Stone/Getty Images |
Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist who created a system to classify all living things called the Linnaeus system. He was fascinated with plants and how they interacted with their environment. The naming system was made in order to have a better understanding of the world around him. He used a binomial system that consisted of the genus name and species name in order to group certain plants with each other. He is regarded at the father of taxonomy for his naming system and it is still widely used today.
A Film about Carl Linnaeus | Natural History Museum
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| Systema Naturae created by Carl Linnaeus. |
The Cheddar man was a skeleton found in Gough's cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset dating back to the early 1900's. It contained many scientific benefits as it was found very well preserved and almost made up the entire skeleton. With this level of preservation, scientists were able to extract enough DNA to be able to make a model of what he would have looked like with complete skin and hair. He had dark hair and blue eyes. With this discovery, scientists were able to form connections between the early humans in the region and humans of today that still reside in the same region.
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