What is Life ? Earth is the only planet in the Universe from which life is known; the cradle and home of humanity, and of all known forms of life.
Life is a concept in biology. It is about the characteristics, state, or mode that separates a living thing from dead matter. The word itself may refer to a living being or to the processes of which living things are a part. It may refer to the period when a living thing is functional (as between birth and death).
What is Biology ?
The Science of life is called Biology: people who study life are called biologists. A lifespan is the average length of life in a species. Most life on Earth is powered by solar energy: the only known exceptions are the chemosynthetic bacteria living around the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. All life on Earth is based on the chemistry of carbon compounds, specifically involving long-chain molecules such as proteins and nucleic acid. With water, which all life needs, the long molecules are wrapped inside membranes as cells. This may or may not be true of all possible forms of life in the Universe: it is true of all life on Earth today.
What is Evolution?
Evolution is a theory, an idea with lots of evidence supporting it such that it is called a Law of Nature. It explains why some animals and plants are so good (and some so bad) at passing on their genes and body-type to future generations of their children. What it means is that a species changes over generations and can even split in two new species.
The theory of evolution was developed by Charles Darwin back in 1859. He said that evolution worked through natural selection. Natural selection means that some individuals in a species are better at surviving and mating than others, and will thereby have more children, have more of their genotypes in future generations. Natural Selection is Nature Breeding Life
Rabbit live all over, and have dark fur. But in a place where it snows a lot, white fur would be an advantage. A white furred rabbit would be harder to see and is more likely to survive and have children. These children will inherit its mum or dad’s white fur. Eventually all the rabbits living in the cold place will have white fur.
This is called ‘survival of the fittest’ meaning survival of the white fur gene-type in future generations after the current generation is dead.
Evolution also explains how one species can become two, like with the rabbits. We call this Speciation. The white rabbits are better fits where it snows but dark brown rabbits fit better where it snows less. With time, the different rabbits will become different species, both living in their own, separate environment.
Evolution says that all living things are related. This means that if will go back far enough in time, all animals, all plants and every other living thing, had one ancestor. Evolution led to that one species becoming many more until today when we have millions and millions.
Some animals are more closely related than others. The more closely related animals are, the more they look and act alike. Swans and geese look and act so similar because they are closely related. A sparrow looks very different to a swan but both still have beaks, feathers and can fly so are related but less closely than the swan is to the goose.
we look very different to a swan or a sparrow but we do have similarities. We both have two eyes, both have two legs, two arms (adapted to wings in a bird), one head, one heart, a nose and ears. We share all of these things and more with birds so, although we are very different, we are also related to birds.
Evolution is an important part of palaeontology. Many of the extinct animals found look like they have bits of different animals stuck to them. Many fossil birds are found with teeth. This is because birds evolved from Dinosaurs which do have teeth. Eventually birds lost their teeth and now no living bird species has them.
So evolution means we share a history with all the animals around us but also all the animals that are extinct. It means we are a part of nature and not better than it or above it. And it means that we should treasure those connections with nature and better protect them from our own, sometimes destructive, ways. This is the second part of Darwin’s Law: All life is related to all other life through common ancestral species. This is represented on a Tree of Life diagram by Darwin.
The idea of a Tree of Life is similar to the idea of a Family Tree. A phylogenic Tree of Life is a portrayal of how organisms are related as ancestors (parents) and progeny (children) in their evolutionary history. It is based on the evidence that all living things are related by common descent or through a common ancestor species . The evidence for phylogeny comes from palaeontology, comparative anatomy, and DNA sequence analysis.
The main product of phylogenetics is a phylogenetic tree or tree of life. This is a diagram showing a pattern of ancestor/descendent relationships. Information may be related to geological periods or estimated dates. A biological classification is another type of product.
The points of branching represent where one species evolves into to two different species.
To say it another way , A phylogenetic tree is a tree showing the evolutionary interrelationships among various species or other entities that are believed to have a common ancestor. A phylogenetic tree is a form of a cladogram. In a phylogenetic tree, each node with descendants represents the most recent common ancestor of the descendants, and edge lengths correspond to time estimates. Each node in a phylogenetic tree is called a taxonomic unit. Internal nodes are generally referred to as Hypothetical Taxonomic Units (HTUs) as they cannot be directly observed.
What Is anthropology ?
Anthropology is the science of _Human_ Life !
Wayne County Community College District’s Ant 153 introduces students to physical anthropology one of the following four subfields of anthropology:
1) PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY or BIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, the focus of this class, discovers the truth of the biological theory and facts of human evolutionary origins and human physical diversity ; it does this based on especially _fossil_ evidence and the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and modern biology. However, the ideas ( especially language and culture) of the three other subfields listed below are important in understanding the unique characteristics of _human_ evolution.
2)ARCHAEOLOGY and 3) ETHNOLOGY explore the development of culture through the Truly Civilized Stone Age and so-called Civilization, examining artifacts, material culture, fossil remains, etc. and examining theories about Modes of Making a Living from cooperative/egalitarian foraging and horticulture to large scale domestication of plants and animals with private property, greed, economic classes, the state and male supremacy. ETHNOLOGY OR SOCIO-CULTURAL-HISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGY , also gives an understanding of diverse customs , histories, traditions and religions , economic classes, nations and “race” in the present historical era of capitalism and globalism.
4 ) LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY investigates language or symbolic communication, like culture, an exclusive human capacity enabling us to share knowledge and experience with people remote from us in time and space; and like culture , shaping our worldviews and perception and interpretation of events.
Anthropology is the science of human beings in all times and places; study that is historical, systematic and objective, that is to say scientific, based on logical consideration and testing of material evidence, and natural theories ; from 100's of thousands of years ago to the present; from Detroit to the other ends of the Earth. This is in contrast with understanding humans based on whims, superstition, untested intuition , uncritical faith or unquestioned authority or supernatural beings. It is an understanding of human societies and individuals biologically and historically, that is as they have changed and developed ,evolved ,over time and many generations of individual selves. It seeks to be truly holistic in approach and scope , looking for the _whole_ truth, nothing but the truth. It welcomes contributions to its understanding of people from all the other academic disciplines, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It even considers respectfully and sympathetically systems of thought and belief from cultures very different than our own
(((((((((( Quiz
September 19, 2023
Anthropology 153 – Professor Charles D. Brown
Quiz # 1 - Due in one week ; September 26
1) What is Life ?
2) What is Science ?
3) What is Biology ?
4) What is Anthropology ?
5) What is Evolution of Life ?
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