Did Sweating Evolve To Keep Us Cool Or Expell Excess Salt?

Status
Not open for further replies.
DdoubleD said:
I'll try the peanuts first because I want to eat them. Whether or not I notice the same affect, and after I've run out of peanuts, I'll drink a saline solution and also report what I find. I don't want to add the extra salt to my food because I don't want to acquire a taste for it.

As far as sea breezes compared to inland, I'm not sure what you are looking for. Lower temperatures and breezes tend to remain more constant around coastal areas. Also, coastal areas are somewhat hazy, providing a sort of shade from the sun's direct glare. Inland, the combination of high humidity, heat, and stagnant air is a miserable environment. As far as sweating, I will sweat much more in the inland environment I just described because the body is trying to cool itself but the high dew point and stagnant air prevents it from doing it efficiently.

Not sure what you are looking for, but I would prefer 115 degrees in the shade in an arid environment with a small breeze over 95 degrees in the shade in a humid environment with no breeze. However, if you surround my 115 degree shade with concrete (radiating 140+ degree heat), I might change my mind. I ride a motorcycle and I have to wear jeans right now in 110-115 degree weather to insulate my legs from the much hotter heat coming off the road.
Click to expand...
That's a really interesting response DdoubleD. Thanks for your cooperation with the sweating experiment. :)
 
Link between cystic fibrosis and Caucasian 'sweatiness' and affinity for the sea

Just to add the latest developments of this thread. I just started to read Frank Ryan's 'Virolution' ("the most important evoltionary book since Dawkins' Selfish Gene"), and I quote:

"Cystic fibrosis is one of the commonest of genetic diseases...U.S born Caucasian children affects roughly one in 2,500 (Asian Americans is roughly one in 30,000)...scientists discovered the genetic cause is a single gene which codes for the transport of salt and water across membranes...The same genetic malfunction causes excessive amounts of salt to be lost in sweat..."
Click to expand...

I think there is connection between this and Caucasian 'sweatiness' and affinity for the sea.
 
common_sense_seeker said:
I think there is connection between this and Caucasian 'sweatiness' and affinity for the sea.
Click to expand...
:facepalm:

No.

As per usual you’re cherry picking an out-of-context factoid and selectively interpreting it to support your hypothesis. The influx and efflux of ions and ionic molecules such as Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, SO4, PO4 etc (ie. “salts”) is an integral part of cellular physiology. All types of cells require this ability irrespective of whether the organism lives in or near the ocean.

The connection you have drawn is specious.
 
Hercules Rockefeller said:
:facepalm:

No.

As per usual you’re cherry picking an out-of-context factoid and selectively interpreting it to support your hypothesis. The influx and efflux of ions and ionic molecules such as Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, SO4, PO4 etc (ie. “salts”) is an integral part of cellular physiology. All types of cells require this ability irrespective of whether the organism lives in or near the ocean.

The connection you have drawn is specious.
Click to expand...
Have you read the book Virolution?
 
I know. :cool: I’ve been tempted to send it to Pseudoscience many times, but it seems a shame to banish the useful information that people have provided as refutations to CSS’s nonsense. One more pseudoscience post from CSS will get the thread sent to the appropriate forum.
 
Much traits and adaptations evolved for more than one advantageous reason. Selection pressure is greater when there are more than 1 reasons.
 
DdoubleD said:
Also, I live in Phoenix, which is an arid environment most of the time. When it is humid (happens during monsoons), I still sweat just as much in the heat, it just doesn't evaporate quickly and I do a lot of wiping to eliminate buildup.
Click to expand...
Eureka!! My new Hot Sun/Cold Sea Ice Age Hypothesis explains the conundrum!! The oceans are much colder during the ice age which would make the sea breeze and coastal environment less humid. See thread 'Why is the moon not spinning then?'.

Offshore dry winds in the ice age!!!
 
Last edited:
Ladicius said:
Actually most animals in the heat sweat from their tongues.
Click to expand...
That's not sweat, it's saliva. Those are salivary glands, not sweat glands. And the salivary glands are not in the tongue, they're distributed around the mouth.

Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians all have salivary glands. The purpose of saliva is to moisten food to make it easier to eat, so obviously fish don't need them.

But yes, dogs and several other mammals open their mouths and let saliva evaporate to cool their bodies. Most mammals have sweat glands (cetaceans don't, for obvious reasons), but in most species they aren't nearly as effective as ours, and in some they're practically vestigial.

The mammary glands evolved from modified sweat glands.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
That's not sweat, it's saliva. Those are salivary glands, not sweat glands. And the salivary glands are not in the tongue, they're distributed around the mouth.

Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians all have salivary glands. The purpose of saliva is to moisten food to make it easier to eat, so obviously fish don't need them.

But yes, dogs and several other mammals open their mouths and let saliva evaporate to cool their bodies. Most mammals have sweat glands (cetaceans don't, for obvious reasons), but in most species they aren't nearly as effective as ours, and in some they're practically vestigial.

The mammary glands evolved from modified sweat glands.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info Fraggle. Helps with another thread of mine..
 
common_sense_seeker said:
Eureka!! My new Hot Sun/Cold Sea Ice Age Hypothesis explains the conundrum!! The oceans are much colder during the ice age which would make the sea breeze and coastal environment less humid. See thread 'Why is the moon not spinning then?'.

Offshore dry winds in the ice age!!!
Click to expand...
This could help explain island biodiversity disproportionation Island biogeography: ecology, evolution, and conservation. The ice age islands would have a maritime climate which allowed a moist onshore breeze, giving sustained rainfall patterns. The continents such as Africa, would be arid dustbowls due to super high temperatures giving a prevailing offshore wind. Anyone see what I'm getting at?
 
Also note:

The fear of drowning is the only phobia that we humans are born with.


Do you have any evidence to that. because I really don't believe that.

At some point in time in the Soviet Union they were experimenting delivery in or under water, I vaguely remember new born baby swim
 
arauca said:
Also note:

The fear of drowning is the only phobia that we humans are born with.


Do you have any evidence to that. because I really don't believe that.
Click to expand...

I would also add that kids are born with a fear of heights and, once they can see and move, will tend to avoid dropoffs.
 
Mod note:

common_sense_seeker,

This thread was nothing more than a collection of nonsense pseudoscience topics (on your part) that were all efficiently dispelled by various people. Now you’ve performed necromancy after a year with possibly the worst pseudoscience in the thread to date. It’s bordering on inane trolling. Beware.

Thread locked (as it deserves) and sent to Pseudoscience (where it belongs).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top