Life Science Orientation Proposal for a Municipal Nursing School (RN Program)
Hello everyone, this is sunset. This year marks my 20th year as a part-time lecturer for welfare systems and assistive devices at a nursing school. I am currently revising my syllabus and updating my teaching materials for this year, so I am writing this article in the hope that you will find these points helpful. The image at the beginning shows people of various races living on Earth—Black, White, and Asian—and the reason I have included such a diverse group will become clear as you read through the article.
First, let us consider the question: what is welfare for humanity? As the jungles of Central Africa dried up and turned into deserts and savannas, Homo erectus, a human ancestor that had evolved to walk upright on two legs, appeared. Standing upright allowed for the development of a larger brain and freed up both hands, leading to human characteristics such as culture, language, the use of fire, and the development of tools. 1.8 million years ago, struggling for food, Homo erectus embarked on a 'Great Journey' out of Africa to survive. This was the first human expansion outside of Africa. Much later, about 400,000 years ago, Neanderthals appeared in the Middle East from Europe. Then, about 40,000 years ago, our direct ancestors, Homo sapiens, emerged, triggering the second 'Out of Africa' expansion.
Now, let me briefly explain the Human Genome Project proposed in 1990. The sequence of 3.6 billion DNA base pairs is called the genome, and the project aimed to decode this entire sequence. With the help of computers worldwide, including those in Japan, the decoding process progressed, and it was largely completed in 2000. A brilliant anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig extracted and decoded the genome from Neanderthal spinal fossils and compared it with the genomes of various races around the world. He found that Negroid people who remained in Africa during the second 'Out of Africa' expansion had no Neanderthal-derived genes because they had no contact with Neanderthals. However, Neanderthal-derived genes were discovered in all other races, including Whites and Mongoloids. Approximately 2.3% in Whites and about 2.7% in Mongoloids. Furthermore, the genome of the Denisovans, discovered in Siberia, has also been decoded within the genomes of people in mainland China and Japan. It is understood that Negroid people are the original race of Homo sapiens, and all other races have evolved through a history of interbreeding with other groups.
40,000 years ago, Africa
The number of Homo sapiens who left was about 10,000. The number of Neanderthals who had been in Europe since 200,000 years ago was about 6,000. It seems like such a small number that they could be considered an endangered species, yet the encounter between these two human groups, flickering like a candle in the wind, led to the current population of 8 billion people. As evidence of how such a miraculous survival was possible, consider the Shanidar 1 fossil, one of 10 Neanderthal fossils discovered in the Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq. It was a 60,000-year-old male, aged 40–50. He had a crushed left eye socket, difficulty walking due to right-sided paralysis and deformity, and several fractures in his right hand along with a missing forearm. While he could not hunt, there are traces that his wounds healed and he survived for a long time afterward. This is considered the oldest evidence of human welfare, where he was cared for and supported. In primitive life, physical disabilities and illnesses posed a decisive disadvantage to survival, making life difficult.
However, given that the population of the first group of Homo sapiens is estimated to be around 10,000, they would normally be considered an endangered species. The fact that their descendants have increased to 8 billion on Earth is a miracle beyond imagination. It would seem that those who were injured and could no longer hunt would have no fate other than starvation, but human history is one where people shared meager prey, cared for one another, cooperated, supported their frail companions, and lived huddled together. That is where the unique nature of human prosperity lies. We have survived difficult situations through the foundations of human existence: welfare, medicine, education, bonds with our companions, and sociality.