Week 2: A Humerus collection of Bones and a Mind blowing Paper
This week is a week of development and preparation for the semester. Thus far I have been working with a Professor at Phoenix College in the Liberal Arts department. We have finally worked out a direction and project we want to work. Taking X-ray scans of skeletons from Egypt explicitly of the Femur and Humerus bones measurements will be made of the thickness of the bone, looking to see how age affects bone thickness through time. These bones are skeletal remains because of this we are unable to know the exact age of each skeleton, but we can identify them in an age range. There are four age ranges that they all fit into 15-20, 21-35, 36-49, and 50+. As well as age, sex will be looked at too. Next week the scans will be organized into groups because there are over a hundred scans. A method will be developed to randomly select a group of them to be measured and analyzed.
Also something worth noting this week I read a paper by Randall H. McGuire. The title of the article is The Meaning and Limits of the Southwest/Northwest. He goes into detail about how where a person grew up, what school someone went to, and every experience a person has had will shape what questions someone will have and how they even approach a site. He goes into depth about when American and Mexican archaeologists work together and how their different backgrounds can create confusion and friction. Each side has different techniques and schools of thought about what questions to ask and even how to excavate a site. Although the paper is for Archaeologists, I believe that many young scientists will have their minds blown just like mine. The article opened my eyes and made me realize that I will have a natural bias in science no matter what. But being aware of the problem will help me tackle this issue better and try to look at my experiment design and data interpretation with a much more careful eye.
-- John Burns
A couple of questions. Are you going to be using an x-ray machine? Have you all determined that part of the bone is significant to measure?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article you read. I can see how environment can create bias. For some reason I have not considered the aforementioned in relation to science. I find that quite interesting to say the least. I was thinking this could also stifle scientific discovery too so it is important to keep an eye out for bias behavior.
I already have a collection of X-rays that I will be using. And in regards to the bones being used in the case of the femur its much easier to measure because of how large it is. But the humerus was also scanned so I decided to use that data too.
DeleteWhat a great project you're working on. Being able to examine skeletal remains is like taking a step back into time. Also the article sounds very interesting. I enjoy reading especially when you read a piece that makes you have a revelation. I often find myself pondering on those moments for awhile. Good luck on your project. I look forward to your findings.
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