A look into the science of skin.

In an article this week in the New York Times, brainpower was correlated with the complexity of nerve synapses. Leading researcher Dr. Grant, who has studied the interconnectedness of neurons, likened this connection to technology; “From the evolutionary perspective, the big brains of vertebrates not only have more synapses and neurons, but each of these synapses is more powerful - vertebrates have big Internets with big computers and invertebrates have small Internets with small computers.” The brain has been made analogous to a computer before in order to study evolutionary adaptation. However, the brain was not the organ being studied, rather it was human skin.

Have you ever wondered why we have hair only on the tops of our heads and the rest of our skin is relatively bare? Why does our skin come in so many pigmentations? And why does our skin sweat? Dr. Nina Jablonski kept asking why and attributes these adaptations to the need to keep our brain cool. I first heard Dr. Nina Jablonski speak about her most recent book, Skin: A Natural History, in early 2007. I was absolutely enthralled and two hours raced by as she articulated her fascination with skin. Dr. Jablonski divulged into why our skin appears and acts the way it does from an evolutionary standpoint. Her findings showed that about two million years ago our ancestors were running long distances in Africa under the heat of the equatorial sun. To keep their brains cool, sweat glands became more prominent. This in turn let brain size expand and evolve. In the fossil record, it shows after this increase in brain size, Homo sapiens left Africa to migrate into Mainland China.

Skin:A Natural History

So skin was an evolutionary adaptation to keep our large brains cool and working effectively. Skin color, Dr. Jablonski surmised, was what regulated our body’s reaction to the sun and its rays. Dark skin evolved to protect the body of those of our ancestors close to the equator. Those ancestors further away evolved light skin in order to take in Vitamin D in less sunny climates. After her talk about Rosacea, which is a condition of constant blushing found in Eastern European nationalities, I asked Dr. Jablonski why. She told me this might have been attributed to ancestors of light skin being overly bundled and getting over-heated. It might have been an adaptation to release heat and cool the brain from the only exposed skin.

In her lecture, Dr. Jablonski did not stop with touching upon evolutionary adaptations, she also delved into how we associate and identify through our skin. We decorate our skin, clothe it, paint it, tattoo it, scar and pierce it. She elucidated skin as an intimate connection with the world as well as our presentation of individuality. Skin: A Natural History and Dr. Nina Jablonski have gained national recognition. She was even invited as a guest on the Colbert Report to talk about her findings. It is rumored that she is following up Skin with more in-depth research. Until then, this is an outstanding look at a very under-appreciated organ, one that might have made the complex nuances of our brain and its synapses possible.

Watch Dr. Nina Jablonski on The Colbert Report:

Recently during “girl’s day” with my mom - my mom made a comment that made me take a second take about technology. I was texting on my iphone and she tsked under her breath and said; “People don’t talk anymore, it’s all text this and email that, soon language will be obsolete!” My first instinct was rebuttal, after all email, texting and cell phones all facilitate communication. But she had a point, communication, as she knew it back when she was my age is going the way of dinosaurs. Instead of simply writing a letter or speaking to someone in person, many people prefer facilitation with technology.

All during this week, I have been seeing reminders that communication is powering ever new and faster technology while leaving technical carnage in its wake. Pay phones booths with the pay phones ripped out and discarded, corded telephones being thrown away, floppy disks and typewriters being recycled because they are no longer the most efficient devices.

During the Academy move to Golden Gate park, staff has helped the internal Greenteam recycle a quarter ton of e-waste at Green Citizen. Green Citizen is a company that recycles computers and e-waste at a small cost so that electronic components don’t end up in landfills. What astonished me when sorting through the recycling was that the items that were being recycled were mainly data storage devices. Floppy disks, slides and CDs stacked up by the thousands. Often I don’t think about the technology that has seamlessly molded into my life but in this move, I have thought a lot about how that technology has created a great deal of waste. Companies and individuals are now seeking out more responsible ways of recycling but much of it still ends up in landfills.

In the need to keep up with data storage, archives at the Academy have turned from slides to digital scanning, GPS mapping has replaced paper topography, and Skype is keeping researchers in touch rather than phones. It is so important in research to be able to communicate effectively in the remote field areas as well as with colleagues all over the world. Technology is also growing exponentially. In my lifetime alone, I have seen the Internet created, email, cordless phones, mobile phones and GPS. It is an incredible communication age and how we interact is being re-defined but at what cost? Academy policy over the last decade has been to find ways to either donate computers and technology to third world countries or find means to recycle them here. Researchers have seen first hand where electronics and e-waste can end up and what a horrible impact it can have on the bio-diverse environments.

There is a great detriment to faster and expanding communication. While younger generations excel with the technology, older generations are being alienated with technology that seems foreign. As well, the need and demand for better and faster technology creates a pile of obsolete devices and adds to the environmental crisis. This week one comment gave me pause and really made me reconsider if all this technology is a good thing. I don’t have an answer but in my concern for the environment - musing over technology this week has made me reconsider if the need for instant communication outweighs its negative waste impact…