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from the next-up:-compare-top-tier-athletes dept.
Bajau people, an ethnic group of "sea nomads" in Southeast Asia, have evolved bigger spleens that aid their frequent diving activity:
In a striking example of natural selection, the Bajau people of South-East Asia have developed bigger spleens for diving, a study shows. The Bajau are traditionally nomadic and seafaring, and survive by collecting shellfish from the sea floor.
Scientists studying the effect of this lifestyle on their biology found their spleens were larger than those of related people from the region. The bigger spleen makes more oxygen available in their blood for diving. The researchers have published their results in the academic journal Cell [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054] [DX].
Located close to the stomach, the fist-sized spleen removes old cells from the blood and acts as a biological "scuba tank" during long dives.
The Bajau people live across the southern Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and, according to rough estimates, number about one million people. "For possibly thousands of years, [they] have been living on house boats, travelling from place to place in the waters of South-East Asia and visiting land only occasionally. So everything they need, they get from the sea," first author Melissa Ilardo, from the University of Copenhagen, told the BBC's Inside Science programme.
Also at Scientific American and GEN.
(Score: 3, Informative) by idiot_king on Sunday April 22 2018, @02:40PM (9 children)
Race realist idiots incoming in 3...2...1...
But seriously though, this is fantastic. Just goes to show how antifragile humans are to their environment.
Makes me wonder how humans on the surface of Mars or the moon will change to adapt to their environments.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BK on Sunday April 22 2018, @02:57PM (7 children)
Not sure what you mean by 'race realist idiots'. Can you at least set up a strawman for us? Or if its complicated, a car analogy could help.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @03:55PM (3 children)
I think he means people that claim races are different, and all people do not belong to the same magical group. In other words the "sane".
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @06:43PM (2 children)
There is more variation within a single race than between the average of any given race. This story is actually a good example of how environment affects biology, so any group of people that has been disenfranchised and systematically actually CAN blame their oppressors for the plight of their progeny.
Fools like you just desperately want scientific excuses for your various levels of bigotry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @08:10PM
Sorry, but it is not. The spleens in question were actually smaller than usually reported (see my other post).
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Friday April 27 2018, @09:29AM
Depends on the attribute. For intelligence and strength, yes. For skin-colour, no.
Yup, there are lots of racist idiots looking for any excuse, but I find it's best to be slow to land that accusation on anyone specifically.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @04:21PM (2 children)
Hang out on soylentnews for a day and you will see lots of idiots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @05:15PM
You've already met their king!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday April 22 2018, @11:57PM
Adaptation to environment, sort of a survival trait?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @08:07PM
No, it shows how low research standards have fallen. Compare the spleen volumes to those reported in other papers and they are actually smaller than usual (see my post below for refs).