User:Aubreydosky/sandbox

Defining Race
The United States Census is not the only resource to offer a definition of race, by means of human categorization. There are various definitions for race as it is commonly, and wrongfully, used interchangeably with ethnicity. According to National Geographic in February of 2019, race is defined as distinctive physical traits one holds that carries over into a larger group of people with the same to similar physical traits. The United States Census lists the only options to ones race as: White, Black/African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Included within the white race is Middle Eastern and Northern African although, there has been numerous attempts to create a separate category. The National Public Radio (NPR) came out with an article in January of 2018 informing that the proposal of a separate category was rejected, again, due to the belief more research is needing to be done in order to confirm such origins can be considered a race over an ethnicity. Ethnicity, according to National Geographic, is a broader term which encompasses a common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic or cultural origin or background one holds that is shared among a group of people. Race and ethnicity are defined as separate terms though, in daily life it can be unknowingly misused due to the tedious specifics of each term's definition.

Scientific Study
Race, in the definition of one's physical appearance can be traced back to the beginning of human existence and the precise location of one's ancestors. In 2009, Nina Jablonski presented at a TED convention the data collected from NASA satellite TOMS-7 (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer). The data proved to scientists, of all concentrations, that one's race was predetermined based off of the levels of ultraviolet radiation at which their ancestors had resided in. This was shown via the satellite by varying colors of the Earth’s surface illustrating the intensity levels at various regions and points. Jablonski cited the highest levels of ultraviolet radiation being at the equator coinciding with higher melanin levels to act as a natural sunscreen to those in high ultraviolet zones therefore, creating a darker skin complexion. The data collected from TOMS-7 concluded the fundamental basis of one’s skin color, race, having no correlation to the set of stereotypes socially created but solely on one’s ancestor’s choice of geographic location. The evolution of the skin color spectrum was then created by the mixing of such races to then create humans of various colors, no longer the extremes. Jablonski mentioned a well-respected naturalist, biologist and geologist who opposed this correlation, Charles Darwin, though she claims his inability to link one’s race with the exposed ultraviolet light upon one’s skin is because NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was not around during Darwin's time in the 1800's in order for him to see the technological evidence.