High altitude is harmful to a human's ability to have proper homeostasis for two reasons: firstly, high altitude is usually accompanied by extreme climates. Secondly, air pressure makes it difficult for the human body to efficiently use the oxygen in blood. High altitude air actually has the same amount of oxygen as sea level air, but our lungs are specifically wired to extract oxygen at sea level. High altitude has less air pressure, which means the air is thinner. This thin air makes it difficult for human lungs to get the normal amount of oxygen. This leads to hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation. Symptoms range from lack of appetite, vomiting, headaches, and fatigue to pulmonary and cerebral edema. These last two can be deadly if one does not return to normal altitudes in a matter of days.

In the short term, our bodies deal with high altitude by increasing breathing and heart rate. We also tend to get higher blood pressure. Later, with regard to facultative adaptation, our bodies create more red blood cells and capillaries so that more oxygen can be carried. Lungs get larger as they work to separate oxygen and carbon dioxide, and muscles grow larger vascular networks to transport more gases. An example of developmental adaptation to higher altitudes is the production of more hemoglobin, which is the part of blood that carries the oxygen. In Peru and Bolivia, this is also accompanied by increased lung expansion. One example of cultural adaptation to higher altitudes is the way in which the people of the Andes mountains treat their food. Because the climate is hot during the day and freezing at night at high altitudes, they began preserving their potatoes by freeze-drying them. After harvesting the potatoes, they set them out in the sun to dry during the day, and then they leave them out at night to freeze.

The benefits of the study of human variation are important because science is a wholly human endeavor. While most humans may live at or close to sea level, there are some who brave high altitudes on a daily basis. Their experiences are just as important to science as anyone else's. Studying the ways in which certain peoples have adapted to higher altitude can be helpful particularly in the field of medicine. For instance, during a football game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007, one player from Pittsburgh named Ryan Clark suffered an injury that led to the removal of his gall bladder and spleen. It turned out that Clark was a carrier of the sickle cell trait. At normal altitudes, it was not a problem. But Denver is one mile above sea level, and the thin air combined with his sickle cell trait proved to be too much for his body. After this incident, Clark was never able to play in Denver again. Situations like that are one big reason it is important to understand high altitude and the effect it has on the human body.

Race is simply a superficial idea that stems from adaptations made by specific people groups. It is a bi-product of environmental influences and has no real scientific application. If I understand correctly, it is sort of a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" issue. In this case, environmental adaptations certainly came first, and race came second. The first was natural, and the second is the work of society. Race might be a worthwhile and useful topic for a sociologist or a historian, but not an anthropologist. I think racism is largely based on laziness. Race has become an easy way to form judgement of people we do not know. Rather than do the work of understanding other people individually, people use stereotypes.