Are Some Human Gene Sets More Adapted For Thermal Stress and Greater Extremes?

Species must adapt to their environment or they become former species, extinct. They either adapt or die even if the changes are abrupt they must cope, reproduce, and survive or else. Guess what? Humans are no different in this regard. Whereas, humans can modify their environment - heating, air-conditioning, etc. they still have to deal with the outside conditions, unless they wish to go live in caves in the future, or underground. Of course, then they must adapt to those new conditions, you see the point?

One of the biggest issues is thermal or heat stress. In fact, in the Journal of Ergonomics (volume 16, issue 5, 1973) there was an interesting paper titled; "Thermal Stress and Thermal Comfort" by RK MacPherson with an abstract which stated;

"The factors which determine the level of heat stress and the difficulties inherent in its measurement are discussed. The degree of thermal comfort or discomfort is shown to be a useful measure of thermal stress and methods for the determination of the preferred temperature are described. Objective measures of heat stress such as its interference with sleep and its effect on mortality in the aged are shown to agree with the subjective measure of thermal comfort. Means for the mitigation of heat stress in hot climates are outlined."

The paper fully discusses this. In many regards, if you believe you are climate comfortable you are, so much of this also has to do with psychological aspects also, although make no mistake, it's a real physiological issue, with many caveats, and an abundance of applications once these factors are taken into consideration. Certain recessive gene traits seem to be more suited to the harsh cold environment, whereas other gene sets are better suited for hotter, or more humid climates, or both.

Still, with all this said, the human species with all its DNA and choices seems to be able to rapidly adapt within 10 to 20 or more generations, and the individual in any one-life time seems to be able to gap almost half the distance over time, a 1-3 years or less for instance. The ideal temperate climate for a Caucasian seems to be 70-79 degrees for the greatest life-longevity, although their top range leaves a little bit to be desired compared to the other human gene sets.

On the colder scale of things, they seem to adapt closer to the Eskimo gene set, and do better than a Pacific Islander or African Tribesman for instance. It is amazing the diversity of the human species and what each of these gene sets can do in the way of adaptation to their environment. I guess it is for this reason that I am not very worried about humanity and the global warming theory, humans can deal with it, or well, they wouldn't be here today, you see? Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.


Article Source: Lance Winslow