Intro Blog Assignment

This is late. Darn, technology. Belated greetings.

Hello, class! My name is Jose Torio and I am an MCB major. What caught my attention about this class is the name itself: "Evolution and Human Disease." I thought it interesting to learn about health in the context of our environment and our interactions with others, as well as health in the global perspective and factors that contribute to incidence of infectious diseases. Last semester, I took a class about international health policy last semester and was looking for more classes to take that related to my interests in public health, so I thought this class would help me better understand the field in some way. Also, I have intentions of going to medical school. I believe this class will help me become acquainted with the field and how we can apply the anthropological perspective on disease into the field of medicine.

Three blogs that are relevant to this class:

"Lab-Rat" (Scientific American)

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/

"Busting Myths about Human Nature" (Psychology Today)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/busting-myths-about-human-nature

"John Hawks Weblog"

http://johnhawks.net/weblog

Interesting Blog Post from "Busting Myths about Human Nature":

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/busting-myths-about-human-nature/201204/race-is-real-not-in-the-way-many-people-think

While browsing the blogs I saw as interesting, I came across this blog posting that discussed the social construct of race. It explains that there is no biological evidence that could distinguish one human from the other. Race is based on physical differences between groups of people, such as skin color, that define a person to one of these groups who shares the same physical features. There is no biological element that could prove that people are confined to certain groups. In fact, biological evidence shows us that we are more similar than different, as humans share similar genes. Even though there are variations of genes, scientists have found no way to segregate people based on these variations.

The blog also briefly discusses how race can affect our health. Race often defines social structures for particular groups, such as access to health care and racial self-image, can impact how our bodies and immune systems develop. The effects of racism can have many health implications caused by racial inequalities that prevents a person from the same opportunities as other, more privileged racial groups.