Yin, Steph. "Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 29 Mar. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/science/ancestral-climates-may-have-shaped-your-nose.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Ftrilobites&_r=0>.
In the article “Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose,” Steph Yin explains how the shape of our noses can actually indicate what kind of climate region our ancestors lived in. This is due to the fact that noses warm and humidify the air we breathe, so in colder and drier climates, noses that are more suitable for this task are biologically favored. According to a study at Penn State, “Over all, people whose parents and ancestors came from warm, humid climates tended to have wider nostrils, whereas those from cold, dry climates tended to have narrower ones. Correlations between nostril width and climate were strongest for Northern Europeans, the researchers found, suggesting that cold, dry climates in particular may have favored people with narrower nostrils.” This explains why people from tropical regions in Asia and Africa tend to have wider noses than someone of European descent. It also shows that narrower nostrils are more efficient at heating and hydrating cool air. The researchers at Penn State also showed that nose shape is heritable by studying the relationship between shared genes and nose shape in a large group of people. “This is important because natural selection can act only on characteristics that can be passed from one generation to the next,” said Todd Yokley, a biological anthropologist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Discoveries such as this speak to our ever-changing understanding of the implications of natural selection and evolution. It is interesting to see the reasons behind characteristics we rarely give any thought to in terms of biology, such as nose shape. This is a real life example of a topic we are studying in biology right now. It also seems to be related to a recent case study we did in class that showed the evolution behind skin pigmentation.
This article was clear, concise, and to the point. It did a great job explaining the study and addressing the implications. There were many expert opinions included, which added credibility to the article. However, towards the end, the author mentioned skin pigmentation’s role in determining nose shape and size, but did not elaborate on the topic. This was frustrating because it made the article feel incomplete. Overall this was a very interesting and informative article.
I read Maggie’s review of the article "Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose." Her review was very well written. First, her reference to a study on the subject matter and the incorporation of a quote added credibility to her review. Second, her summary of the article was concise and to the point. Third, her connection of the article to society was quite relevant.
ReplyDeleteAlthough her review was generally well written, there were a few aspects that could have been improved upon. First, she could have gone into greater depth on the extent of differences in nose size that arose based on region. Second, she could have elaborated on skin pigmentation’s role in determining nose size and shape, as it is addressed in the article.
This was an informative review. While I was not aware that climate influenced nose shape, it seems quite reasonable and obvious after reading the article and
Yin, Steph. "Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose." The New York Times.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.
Maggie did a great job on her review of “Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose,” by Steph Yin. I particularly enjoyed Maggie’s extensive use of quotations. By including the ideas of Todd Yokley, a biological anthropologist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver as well as the study itself, Maggie establishes a sense of authority and accuracy in her piece. Quotations add yet another layer of expertise to her review which has made it more than a simple summary. Quotations from leading researchers can add emotion and intrigue to the current investigations making for an even more fascinating review. An additional element upon which Maggie flourished was in her relevance paragraph. By emphasizing that her article discusses “a real life example of a topic we are studying in biology right now” Maggie demonstrates enthusiasm for her topic and engages the reader. A third element Maggie did well was in her discussion of the study. Instead of providing facts and figures straight away, Maggie used context, such as explaining the significance of natural selection, in order to introduce her ideas. This made the review easier to read and much more understandable. It gave a sense of importance and intrigue to her review.
However, Maggie did have two areas of her review in which she could improve. Primarily, I would recommend that Maggie include more analysis to go along with her quotes. This is exemplified in the case where she used an excellent quote about what the study has found, but failed to go on and discuss what that means. Essentially, her review was lacking a bit of the “review” aspect and I felt I was just reading the actual article. To improve this Maggie simply needs to stop herself from letting the article write the review. This is important to understand as the whole point of these reviews is to assert different ideas and viewpoints that make the issue more fascinating to learn about. Additionally, I would encourage Maggie to explain how her article related to the skin pigmentation activity we did in class. This is because, many like myself, fail to remember what that lab was about. Thus, it would be helpful if Maggie had given a quick description of why the two are related.
Overall, Maggie did a brilliant job of creating a well-written piece that illustrates new research being done on nose and your nationality. This topic is a fascinating one as it demonstrates the principles of natural selection and brings what we read in the textbook to life. I found it fascinating to learn Northern European noses are more efficient at retaining moisture and heat, while those of the tropics are less efficient. However, this is logical as Northern Europeans are faced with cold dry weather and must have specially adapted noses in order to maintain homeostasis. On the other hand, people of the tropics do not need to store moisture or heat and thus their noses evolved differently.
Maggie’s review of Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose was a very interesting review. I liked how she was really thorough and gave details on why the shape of noses can indicate what kind of climate region our ancestors lived in. This helped me understand the logic of this theory and strengthened her review as it helps the readers have a deep understanding of what she is talking about. In addition, the fact that she had a summary of the findings of the Penn Study aided me in understanding this topic better and gave me some additional, interesting information about it. Finally, the last thing that I thought Maggie did very well was incorporating a quote from Todd Yokley, a biological anthropologist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, as it made her review more detailed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this review was extremely interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Maggie could have elaborate a bit more on the topic of genes as I thought it was a bit rushed. This would have made the review more thorough, so by just adding one or two sentences she could have avoided this problem. Moreover, I would have liked for her to talk more about the skin pigmentation case study and relate it more to the nose shape study. By adding one or two more sentences about this topic she could have added even more details about the relation between climate and evolution.
Overall, this review was captivating and taught me about a topic that I was not familiar with. I had a vague knowledge about evolution of the body but had never read any articles on it, except the case study done in class, so by reading Maggie’s review I learned new things and broadened my own knowledge about the evolution of body parts.
In Maggie’s review, she did a great job of summarizing the article. I was able to fully understand what the review was about. In addition, she did a great job of including a quote from a Penn State study that explains how the different nose shapes indicate different climates. Lastly, I enjoyed how Maggie explained why she enjoyed learning about this finding.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think Maggie could have added a more detailed reason as to how this finding affects society. Additionally, I think Maggie could have improved her review by elaborating when she mentioned shared genes because that was the first and only time she mentioned it.
I decided to comment on Maggie’s article review because the title intrigued me. I was curious as to how a climate could alter a facial feature. After reading her review, I learned that the nose changes in order to help the human breathe well in the climate because they warm and humidify the air we breathe. I thought this was extremely interesting to my personal life because I have both Asian and Northern European ancestors, so I could have either a narrow or wide nose. Ultimately, I have a wider nose, which indicates I inherited my mom’s genes for my nose.
Yin, Steph. "Ancestral Climates May Have Shaped Your Nose." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.
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