Winter may reveal a significant part of your DNA.
Whenever the icy cold weather rears its ugly head, most of us struggle to keep warm. But for a select few, the freezing winter weather is nothing more than a change in their surroundings, and they easily manage to keep the cold at bay. The question is, why are some able to handle the cold better than others?
Are you one of the lucky few who can handle the winter weather with little effort?
How our progress as a society has impacted our one and only home
Our impact on the planet’s climate has become clear as day in recent times.
Most of us thought that the Industrial Revolution was a major contributor to CO2 levels. We now know that atmospheric CO2 levels are at least 50% higher at the moment than before the start of that key moment in our history.
And that was just the start of global warming.
Methane levels have reached seriously perilous levels. Over the past century, methane concentrations have risen by an astonishing 150%. The heat produced by methane and nitrous oxide is a major attribute of the current climate crisis.
What measures have we taken to address the climate issues we are facing
Well, for one, the accelerated adoption of the renewable energy sector is a step in the right direction.
The solar panel revolution began nearly 100 years ago, and has since become the dominant clean energy force in modern-day society. The advancement of the solar sector has seen new types of solar panel systems being developed all over the world.
Global warming has devastated the world. The recent weather that has essentially halved the nation has proven that the situation is getting out of hand.
The West Coast is getting temperatures in the triple digits, while the East Coast is dealing with a snowstorm that has grounded most flights, leading to waves of people being forced to reschedule their Spring Break plans. The NOAA has been issuing warnings at a rapid pace in recent weeks.
A new development has shown that human science has shown us that some of us may hold a unique trait that allows us to handle the freezing cold weather better than our neighbors.
The National Institutes of Health has found that our DNA holds the key to dealing with the winter weather.
Your ancient DNA lineage may be the key to dealing with cold weather
The National Institutes of Health recently stated that those of us who have Neanderthal DNA within us may be able to deal with winters better than those who don’t have the ancient line of DNA.
The history of humankind has changed over time, and the findings made by science have shown how our brains and bodies have adapted over time.
A recent study used a 3D virtual reconstruction of a Neanderthal ribcage to attempt to understand their body structure and biology. It found that Neanderthals had a “bell-shaped” thorax that had significantly longer ribs than modern humans.
The findings go beyond the size of Neanderthal ribcages
The study also found that Neanderthals most likely had high-energy metabolisms that had a unique brown adipose tissue that generated heat deep within them.
Neanderthals most likely needed a high-calorie diet to generate enough energy in their bodies to stave off the cold weather climate they lived in. The human DNA is remarkably adaptable, and through the new study, we now understand how some of us who have this ancient line of DNA are able to deal with the cold.
We now know that Neanderthal DNA in modern humans affects a wide range of evolutionary traits, like how skin reacts to sunlight, as well as the new findings that prove that some of us can deal with cold weather much more easily than others.
Which side of the evolutionary divide do you fall on?