Thursday, June 30, 2011

Epicanthic Folds and Carbon Monoxide

Epicanthic Folds and Carbon Monoxide.
Andre Willers
29 Jun 2011

Synopsis:
Fats in epicanthic folds , spread over the eyeball , acts as warning for dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide . This will be evolutionary dominant (like nosehairs for smoke)

Discussion :
The mutation package was part of the changes to the refugees in the Tibetan Plateau .
Not only changes to the oxygen exchange mechanism to tolerate high altitudes , but also a sensor about dangerous build-up of carbon monoxide .

The carbon monoxide comes from the use of charcoal (low weight) in a low-oxygen environment (ie high altitude) .
It was also cold . So , environments had to be sealed and heated .
High altitude was crucial . Low partial pressure of oxygen . The CO effect would be more marked .

How would the warning surface ?
I do not know , but theorize that it would be a prickling and irritation of eyeball as CO interact with epicanthic fats to form irritants .

The children with certain types of fats in their epicanthic folds had very strong advantages . Like survival .

Their descendants populated the lowlands ( Han , Mongols) . In yurts and snowed in Chinese houses , if their eyes started to prickle , they got out and avoided CO poisoning .

Human perverseness :
Their descendants liked CO : ie smoking . Got nothing to do with nicotine .
You would get the same reaction by blowing a metered CO concentration over the eyeballs .

Andre

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