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Raw Paleo Diet Forums => Science => Topic started by: TylerDurden on December 21, 2016, 07:38:03 pm

Title: Inuit found to have derived cold-adaptation genes from Denisovans "apemen"
Post by: TylerDurden on December 21, 2016, 07:38:03 pm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4052228/Inuit-people-caveman-genes-helped-extinct-type-human-survive-Ice-Age.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4052228/Inuit-people-caveman-genes-helped-extinct-type-human-survive-Ice-Age.html)

This is further debunking of the Out of Africa theory. It also annihilates the old theory that we  humans are all supposedly heat-adapted due to dubiously-claimed recent African origins  and unable to therefore handle cold climates without technology.
Title: Re: Inuit found to have derived cold-adaptation genes from Denisovans "apemen"
Post by: JeuneKoq on December 26, 2016, 08:48:25 pm
Well, depends how cold the climate is, or becomes in winter. I mean, even with their Denisovan cold adaptation gene, and their raw meat and fat diet, the Inuits still rely on fur and shelter (technology) to survive the arctic cold. I'm not saying they're heat-adapted, they are just not as cold adapted as you suggest.
Title: Re: Inuit found to have derived cold-adaptation genes from Denisovans "apemen"
Post by: TylerDurden on December 26, 2016, 09:27:29 pm
Well, let's put it this way, the Inuit cannot be said to be heat-adapted. Also, not even the darkest-skinned hominid could either ever fully adapt to the hottest, driest climates on Earth all year round, without protection. I suspect that any hominid, given enough time, could adapt to the coldest or hottest parts of Earth without the use of technology, but this would likely require a few more 100s of thousands of years of extra natural selection.

There are other problems with your nitpicking. For example, wild animals use all sorts of non-technological,non-evolutionary methods to keep warm or cold. For example, emperor penguins huddle together en-masse in order to conserve heat. This is what Tierra del Fuegans also did  - they also, on an evolutionary level,  had 1 degree higher body temperature than other hominids.
Title: Re: Inuit found to have derived cold-adaptation genes from Denisovans "apemen"
Post by: JeuneKoq on December 29, 2016, 07:04:42 am
Nitpicking? You talk about how Inuits having Denisovan genes debunks the fact they need technology to survive in their cold climate, I tell you they actually do need their fur coat and igloos. Simple as that.
Title: Re: Inuit found to have derived cold-adaptation genes from Denisovans "apemen"
Post by: TylerDurden on December 29, 2016, 11:49:06 am
Nitpicking? You talk about how Inuits having Denisovan genes debunks the fact they need technology to survive in their cold climate, I tell you they actually do need their fur coat and igloos. Simple as that.
What I meant was that you had also implied that it was impossible for humans  to ever adapt naturally to arctic climates. I stated, more or less,  that it would have been possible over time, since other mammals had managed to do so, especially since some of the methods those mammals used involved no evolutionary adaptation. For example, there is the snow-cave which both humans and arctic animal use to seek shelter:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_cave (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_cave)

The point being that even arctic animals sometimes need natural extra , er, "technology" in the form of snow-caves.

My reason for being a nitpicker on this subject is due to my own past experiences. I once visited a centre for Palaeolithic research in Lower Austria. This was way back before the global warming scenario. The culture I was reading about existed c. 60,000 years ago. The temperature at the time I arrived(mid-October) was very cold(easily -10/ -20 plus extra for  wind chill). All I could see were a few reasonably faithful, modern  reconstructions. The original, palaeolithic tents were apparently made out of mammoth bones covered in furs. Now, men in those days had no access to matches, gas or electricity, so access to fires would have been sporadic due to high winds, storms, floods, the sheer difficulty of setting up a fire in a wet climate etc.etc. Wearing poorly-fitted furs would not have protected them much against the cold either(they did not have gore-tex or other modern materials after all). One would also  expect the year-round average temperature to have been much colder than when I was there, given the Ice-Age at the time.  Now, given the extra 1 degree Celsius body-temperature the Tierra del Fuegans had, one could reasonably assume that the average human/Cro-Magnon at the time could have maintained average body-temperatures as high as, say, 39.7 Celsius. Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius would have been unlikely since enzymes in the body start deteriorating above that point. Mammals can attain up to 39.7 Celsius, well, goats do, so humans could feasibly adapt to that, being themselves mammals:-
https://www.goldennumber.net/body-temperatures/ (https://www.goldennumber.net/body-temperatures/)

Then, when we take into account other factors such as the fact that years on a raw diet lead to better blood-circulation and better toleration of the cold as a result, according to testimonials, and that those raised on a mostly raw diet from birth would have benefitted even more, along with improvements created by natural selection, one can see that full adaptation to the arctic climate could have come within reach. And then there is Wim Hof.... I am hoping to emulate him somewhat  in the next few months, though I doubt I will be brave enough to run around in the snow for hours in just shorts and trainers and socks like he supposedly does, if only out of embarassment.