The human hand turned out to be older than the monkey's. types of monkeys

Hand In our hand there are several joints of varying degrees of mobility. The shoulder joint is spherical, due to which the humerus can move in a wide range. It can spin like a propeller in almost any direction. Elbow joint

Mechanical arm Neil White and Paul Chappel have been developing a mechanical prosthesis for years. At first, he could only perform simple operations, such as opening a door lock with a key and opening a tin can. The actuation of the fingers was carried out with

The arm of our Yoni is significantly (almost twice) longer than his leg.

Of the three parts that make up the arm, the hand is the shortest, its shoulder is the longest, and the forearm is the longest.

With the chimpanzee in the most straightened vertical position, his hands go down significantly below the knees (Table B.4, Fig. 2, 1), reaching the middle of the lower leg with his fingertips.

The arm of a chimpanzee is covered almost throughout its entire length with rather thick, stiff, pitch-black hair, which, however, has a different direction, length and density on different parts of the arm.

On the shoulder of the chimpanzee, this hair is directed downward, and is generally thicker and longer than the hair on the forearm and hand; on the outer back of the shoulder they are more abundant than on the inside, where light skin is translucent; there is almost no hair in the armpit.

On the forearms, the hair is directed upwards, and again it is longer and thicker than the hair of the hand; on the inner side of the forearm, especially near the elbow and at the base of the hand, they are much rarer than on the outer side.

On the back of the hand, the hair reaches almost to the second phalanx of the fingers, the inner side of the hand is completely devoid of hair and covered with skin somewhat darker than the skin of the face (Plate B.36, Fig. 1, 3).

The brush is very long: its length is almost three times its width; its metacarpal region is somewhat longer than its phalangeal region.

The palm is long, narrow, its length is ⅓ more than its width.

Fingers

The fingers are long, strong, high, as if inflated, somewhat tapering towards the ends. The main phalanges of the fingers are more slender and thin than the middle ones; the terminal phalanges are much smaller, shorter, narrower and thinner than the main ones. The third toe is the longest, the first toe is the shortest. According to the degree of descending length, the fingers can be placed in the following row: 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 5th, 1st.

Examining the fingers from the back, it should be noted that they are all covered with thick, bumpy skin, covered with hair only on the main phalanges.

On the borders of the main and middle phalanges on four long fingers (No. 2-5), we observe strong swelling of the skin, forming, as it were, soft-callus thickenings; much smaller swellings are present between the middle and terminal phalanges. The terminal phalanges end in small, shiny, slightly convex, dark brown nails, bordered on the outer edge by a narrow darker stripe.

In a healthy animal, this nail border barely protrudes beyond the flesh of the terminal phalanx of the fingers and is gnawed in a timely manner when the nails grow; only in sick animals do we usually notice overgrown nails.

Let's move on to describing the lines of the hands of our chimpanzee.

Hand lines

If we take the hand of a chimpanzee described by Schlaginhaufen "om, belonging to a young female chimpanzee, as an initial comparative sample, then the development of lines on the palm of our Yoni turns out to be much more complicated. (Table 1.2, Fig. 1, (Table B.36, Fig. 3 ).

Table 1.2. Chimpanzee and human palm and sole lines

Rice. 1. Lines of the palm of the Yoni chimpanzee.
Rice. 2. The lines of the palm of a human child.
Rice. 3. Lines of the sole in the Yoni chimpanzee.
Rice. 4. Lines of the sole in a human child.

Table 1.3. Individual variation of palm and sole lines in chimpanzees

Rice. 1. Lines of the palm of the left hand ♂ chimpanzee (Petit) 8 years old.
Rice. 2. Lines of the palm of the right hand ♂ chimpanzee (Petit) 8 years old.
Rice. 3. Lines of the palm of the right hand ♀ chimpanzee (Mimosa) 8 years old.
Rice. 4. Lines of the sole of the left hand ♀ Chimpanzee (Mimosa) 8 years old.
Rice. 5. Lines of the palm of the left hand ♀ chimpanzee (Mimosa) 8 years old.
Rice. 6. Lines of the sole of the right foot ♀ chimpanzee (Mimosa) 8 years old.
Rice. 7. Lines of the sole of the left foot of a ♀ chimpanzee (3 years old).
Rice. 8. Lines of the palm of the left hand of a ♀ chimpanzee (3 years old).
Rice. 9. Lines of the sole of the right foot of the ♂ chimpanzee (Petit).

The first horizontal line (1st, or aa 1) is pronounced in Ioni and has the same position and shape as in the diagram, but it is somewhat complicated by additional branches; shortly after its departure from the ulnar part of the hand (just at the point of its intersection with the vertical line V, located opposite the 5th finger), it gives a sharp spur (1a), heading to the base of the inner edge of the phalanx of the second finger, resting against the first transverse line at its foundations.

The second horizontal line (2nd, or bb 1), located in its original part a centimeter proximal to the previous one, begins with a small fork from the vertical V line; this fork soon (at the point of its intersection with the vertical IV line) merges into one branch, which, at the point of its meeting with the vertical III line, makes a sharp slope towards the horizontal 1st line at its intersection with the vertical II line (dd 1) located opposite the axis of the index finger.

The third horizontal line (3rd or cc 1), located in its original part of centimeters 5 proximal to the previous line 2nd, starts from the very edge of the ulnar part of the hand and tends to go up along its entire length, at the points of intersection with V and IV vertical sediment is already only a centimeter from the 2nd line, and at the meeting point with the vertical III completely merging with the previous (2nd) line. By the way, it should also be mentioned that line 3 at the beginning of its path on the ulnar edge of the hand receives a short horizontal branch, and in the middle of its path (in the center of the palm) it is broken and its continuation should be considered horizontal line 10 (a detailed description of which given below).

Of the other larger, transverse lines of the palm, the following should also be mentioned.

The fourth line (4th, or gg 1) begins at the ulnar edge of the palm at the origin of the 3rd horizontal line and goes in an oblique position straight down to line 1 (or FF 1), crosses this latter and gives three small branches , of which two (4a, 4b) fork-like diverge at the bottom of the tubercle of the thumb, and one (4c) goes down to the lines of the wrist of the 7th and 8th (ii 1).

Almost next to the initial segment of the 4th line there is a groove parallel to it - the 5th horizontal line, which (at the meeting point of the 5th horizontal with the V vertical) goes down obliquely, crosses the III vertical line and reaches almost the first spur (1a) first vertical line I.

The sixth horizontal line (6th) begins a centimeter lower than the previous one, going straight almost horizontal, somewhat rising line, ending shortly after its intersection (at the meeting point of the 6th with line VII) two weak branches 6a and 6a.

The seventh horizontal line (7th, or hh 1) is at the base of the hand with 2 small branches directed obliquely and up along the lowest part of the little finger tubercle.

The eighth horizontal line (8th, or ii 1) is short, weak, almost converging with the previous one, only located lower and more radial.

The horizontal 9th ​​weakly expressed short line runs in the very center of the palm 1 cm proximal to the segment of the 10th horizontal line.

The tenth horizontal line (10th), located at the top and in the middle of the palm, parallel to the 2nd horizontal line (bb 1) in its middle section (located between IV and II vertical lines), spaced from the previous one at a distance of 1 cm, represents my view is an excerpt from line 3rd (cc 1).

Referring to the lines that cut through the palm in vertical and oblique positions, we must mention the following: I vertical line (FF 1) starts at the top at the first transverse line (I, or on aa 1) at a distance of 1 cm from the radial edge of the hand and, wide bordering the eminence of the thumb with an arc, descends almost to the line of the wrist (7, hh 1).

On its way towards the central part of the brush, this I vertical line gives several branches: the first branch from it, according to our designation 1a, departs at the level of the end of the segment of its upper third, almost opposite the weak transverse (9th) line, goes obliquely inward to the medial part of the palm, crossing the 4th and 6th horizontal lines of the hands; the second branch (1b) I of the vertical line departs from it 2 mm lower than the previous one (1a) and has almost the same direction as it, but ends slightly lower than the previous one, reaching the 7th and 8th carpal lines (hh 1, ii 1 ) and, as it were, notching them.

Inside from the I vertical line, just from the depression near the thumb, there is a sharp furrow VII, the most prominent of all the lines of the hand; this line, enveloping in a steep arc from above the very tubercle of the thumb, crosses somewhat below the middle of lines Ia and Ib (FF 1) and continues downward in an oblique direction, reaching the lines of the wrist (7th), cutting line 4 (gg 1) on its way ) and lb.

Of the other more or less prominent vertically directed lines of the hand, four more should be mentioned. A short (II) line (corresponding to ee 1 according to Schlaginhaufen "y), located in the upper quarter of the hand, going just in the direction of the axis of the second finger, starts almost from the gap between the 2nd and 3rd fingers and goes straight down, merging with its the lower end with the line I (FF 1) (just in the place where the segment of the 10th horizontal approaches it).

Line III is one of the longer lines in the palm of your hand (corresponding to dd 1 according to Schlaginhaufen "y).

It starts at the top with a weakly expressed groove directly opposite the axis of the middle finger, slightly notching the process from the transverse line 1 (aa 1), with a sharp line crosses line 1 and line 2 (at the confluence of the latter with line 3), crosses line 9, 10 and, deviating towards the ulnar part of the hand, passes just at the place where the lines 4 and 6 cross and goes further even lower, crossing the end of the line 5 and a branch from the 7th horizontal, reaching the very line of the wrist (7 th).

IV vertical line (kk 1 in the terminology of Schlaginhaufen "a), located opposite the axis of the 4th finger, begins in the form of a weak groove (noticeable only in known lighting), extending from the gap between the 3rd and 4th fingers and heading straight down This line becomes more distinct just above line 2. Descending lower, this IV vertical line successively intersects 3rd and 9th horizontal lines and imperceptibly fades away, somewhat short of the 5th horizontal line.

V vertical line, the longest of all the vertical lines of the brush, is placed against the axis of the 5th finger and starts from the transverse line at its base, goes down, successively cutting the transverse lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and, as it were, meeting oblique lines extending from the 7th line located on the wrist.

In good light, in the upper part of the brush, above line 1 (aa 1), a small horizontal jumper x is visible between the vertical lines IV and V.

Of the other more noticeable lines of the brush, we should also mention the long oblique line VI, cutting through the lower part of the brush, starting from the lower branch of the 2nd line and going obliquely down to the points of intersection with its three lines la, lb and 6th horizontal and further down to the place of its confluence with 1c, heading to the line of the wrist (7th).

Now we turn to the description of the lines located at the base of the fingers.

At the base of the thumb we find two obliquely divergent lines meeting in the greater emargination of the hand: VII and VIII; from the lower of these lines - VIII, the envelope of the thumb, there are four smaller lines radially diverging downwards, crossed in the middle of the tubercle of the thumb by a thin transverse fold; the upper of these lines, VII, has already been described.

At the base of the index finger and the little finger, we find three lines each, starting separately at the outer edges of the fingers and converging at the inner corners between the fingers. Slightly above the base of the middle and ring fingers we find single transverse lines.

In addition to these lines, we find three additional arcuate lines connecting pairwise different fingers: 2nd to 3rd (a), 4th to 5th (b), 3rd to 4th (c).

1. From the outer edge of the second finger there is an arcuate line (a), heading to the inner edge of the third finger, suitable for the transverse line at its base.
2. From the outer edge of the fifth finger (precisely from the middle transverse line of the base) there is an arcuate line (b), heading to the inner edge of the fourth finger, suitable for the transverse line of the base of this latter.
3. An arcuate line (c) connects the bases of the third and fourth fingers, leaving the angle between the 2nd and 3rd fingers, heading towards the angle between the fourth and fifth fingers (namely, to the transverse line at the base of the ring finger).

We also find double parallel lines at the base of the second phalanges of the fingers (from the 2nd to the 5th).

At the base of all nail phalanges (1-5) we again have single transverse lines.

Thus, the palm of our Yoni, especially in its central part, is furrowed with a thin binding of 8 vertically directed and 10 horizontally directed lines, which can be deciphered only after an unusually minute and thorough analysis.

The relief of the palm of our Yoni is much more complex, not only when compared with the hand of a chimpanzee proposed by Schlaginhaufen, belonging to a young female, in which we see at most 10 main lines, but also when compared with other sketches of the hands of young chimpanzees that I had at my disposal: a young chimpanzee who lived in the Moscow Zoo since 1913 (judging by his appearance, he is somewhat younger than Ioni) (Table 1.3, Fig. 8), an 8-year-old female chimpanzee nicknamed " Mimosa »(Table 1.3, Fig. 3 and 5) and 8-year-old chimpanzee Petya (Table 1.3, Fig. 1, 2), kept (in 1931) in the Moscow Zoo.

In all these cases, as the figures show, the total number of main lines does not exceed 10.

Even the most cursory examination of all the presented hands shows that despite the large variation in the relief of the palms, the loss of some lines and the displaced position of others, despite the difference in the patterns on the right and left hands of the same individual (Fig. 1 and 2, Fig. 3 and 5 - Table 1.3), - nevertheless, we can easily decipher the name of all lines by analogy.

On all five handprints, the horizontal transverse line 1 (aa 1) has the most indisputable and constant position, the 2nd horizontal one merges with the first in its final stage (as it happens in Fig. 8, 1), then it goes completely independently (as in the Schlaginhaufen "a) diagram in Figs. 3 and 5, it only gives a branch to the first horizontal one (as is the case in Fig. 2).

The 3rd horizontal line (cc 1) varies more than the previous ones, both in size (cf. Fig. 8, 5 with all others) and in location: while in Fig. 1, 3, 5, 8 it has completely isolated position (and in the latter case gives only a weak branch upward), in fig. 2 (as in Yoni) it flows into the second horizontal line, completely merging with it in the radial section of the brush.

The 4th horizontal line, clearly expressed in Yoni, is also clearly identified in Fig. 5; in fig. 8 and 2, we analogize it only approximately, judging by the direction from the tubercle of the little finger to the bottom of the tubercle of the thumb and by the triple branching (it is possible that we mix it with the 5th or 6th horizontal). This last transverse line 6 is indisputably exactly localized only in Fig. 1 and 5, having exactly the same position and direction as that of Yoni, and in fig. 2 and 3, we tend to fix only its initial segment, located on the tubercle of the little finger, going from bottom to top.

Of the other horizontal lines presented in the attached figures, one should also mention the lines at the base of the wrist, presented either in greater (as in Fig. 8), or in fewer (as in Table. 1.3, Fig. 1, 2, 3) , and the line of the 9th, passing in the middle of the palm, which is available in one of all 5 cases (exactly in Fig. 3).

Turning to the vertical lines of the hands, we must say that they are all easily determined by analogy, on the basis of topographical position and mutual relationship with the lines of the hands already described, although in detail they find some deviations from what Yoni has.

The position of line I is most constant (as we see in Fig. 8, 2, 1); in fig. 5, 3 we see how this line shortens and tends to approach (Fig. 5), and perhaps even merge with line VII (Fig. 3).

Of the other vertical lines, III (available in all 5 figures and only sometimes slightly deviating from its usual position against the axis of the third finger) and V, going to the little finger, are well expressed.

In contrast to what Ioni has, this last V line in three cases does not retain its position to the end (against the axis of the 5th finger), but goes, in the direction of VI, as it were, merges with this last line, taking into itself segments all other vertical lines (IV, III, II, I), as is especially noticeable in Fig. 8, 3 and partly in Fig. 1. In two cases (Fig. 2 and 5), this V line is completely absent.

IV vertical line, with a single exception (Fig. 1), is present, but it varies greatly in size and shape. Now it is very short (as in the case of 8 and 1), now it is discontinuous and long (Fig. 5), then it is sharply deviated from its usual position against the axis of the 4th finger (Fig. 3). Line II, going to the index finger, is observed only in one case (Fig. 3).

] The view is supported by the diagram and description of Schlaginhaufen "a, who believes that the cc 1 line consists of 2 parts.

It should be emphasized that the difficulties of this analysis increase when operating with a hand cast from a dead animal in the form of a wax model, where the relief of the lines changes dramatically depending on the lighting conditions. That is why, for correct orientation and notation of lines, it was necessary to trace each line under versatile lighting, looking through it from all possible points of view and only in this way establishing the true path of its following: starting and ending points, as well as all possible connections with the nearest contacting linear components.

All sketches of the hands, at my suggestion and with my complicity, were made from life thin. V. A. Vatagin, in the 2nd case - from the dead, in the 3rd and 4th - from live specimens.

I take this opportunity to gratefully note the assistance rendered to us (me and artist Vatagin) in sketching by M. A. Velichkovsky, who helped us in handling living chimpanzees when sketching their arms and legs.

The hands of modern great apes may have evolved after our common ancestors evolved the human type of hand.

Man differs from chimpanzees, his closest evolutionary relatives, not only in the size of the brain and the almost complete absence of wool. For example, our hands and theirs are arranged differently: in humans, the thumb is relatively long and strongly opposed to its neighbors, and the rest are short, in chimpanzees, on the contrary, the thumb is shortened, and the rest are noticeably longer than in humans. Such a limb device helps monkeys climb trees, as far as the human hand, it is believed that it is ideally suited for wielding tools and a variety of fine work. That is, the fact that we can draw, play the piano and hammer nails is the result of a long evolution of human anatomy that began 7 million years ago, when the predecessors of humans broke away from their common ancestor with chimpanzees.

Chimpanzee hand. (Photo by DLILLC/Corbis.)

Reconstruction of an Ardipithecus ramidus limb. (Photo by Euder Monteiro/Flickr.com.)

The human hand, despite its antiquity, turned out to be a very multifunctional tool. (Photo by Marc Dozier/Corbis.)

However, William Youngers ( William L. Jungers) and his colleagues at the State University of New York at Stony Brook believe that the human hand has not evolved so much and has remained a rather simple anatomical “device”. The earliest tool created by man dates back to 3.3 million years ago, however, if you look at the skeleton of Ardipithecus Ardipithecus ramidus, who lived 4.4 million years ago and belongs to the evolutionary group of people, then we will see that his hand resembles the hand of modern man rather than the hand of a chimpanzee. In other words, the human hand acquired its characteristic appearance even before our ancestors learned to use it. Moreover, there was a hypothesis that it was so among our most ancient predecessors, who had just diverged in evolution from chimpanzees.

To test this hypothesis, anthropologists compared hand and finger anatomy in a variety of modern primates, including common apes, great apes, and humans themselves. Several extinct species were added to them: Ardipithecus, Neanderthals (that is, real people, albeit of a different variety than modern ones), Australopithecus Australopithecus sediba, who lived about 2 million years ago and which many consider the immediate ancestor Homo, and great apes of the genus Proconsul, whose remains are 25 million years old.

On the other hand, some anthropologists generally doubt that this work makes sense: in their opinion, it is impossible to draw such conclusions based only on the analysis of the skeleton of the hands, and in order to talk about what kind of hand our ancient ancestor, need more data.

Here we cannot help but recall another study that we wrote about in 2012: its authors, employees of the University of Utah, came to the conclusion that the hand of the first people was intended not so much to perform complex manipulations, but to (which, by the way, other primates cannot do). Although in that article the authors adhered to the hypothesis that it was the monkey hand that turned into a human one, and not vice versa, here too tools were dispensed with as the driving force for the formation of the human hand. One way or another, no matter how our ancestors used their hands, they turned out to be quite well adapted for complex and subtle manipulations with objects.

How did this erroneous figure come about? First, only those regions of DNA that code for proteins were compared. and this is only a tiny fraction (about 3%) of all DNA. In other words, the remaining 97% of the DNA volume was simply not taken into account when comparing! Here is the objectivity of the approach! Why were they ignored in the first place? The fact is that evolutionists considered non-coding sections of DNA "junk", that is, "useless remnants of past evolution". And this is where the evolutionary approach failed. In recent years, science has discovered the important role of non-coding DNA: it governs the work of genes encoding proteins, "turning on" and "turning off" them. (Cm. )

Today, the myth of 98-99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees is still widespread.

It is now known that differences in gene regulation (which are often difficult to even quantify) are as important a factor in determining the difference between humans and monkeys as the sequence of nucleotides in genes itself. Not surprisingly, large genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees continue to be found precisely in the initially ignored non-coding DNA. If we take it into account (i.e. the remaining 97%), then the difference between us and chimpanzees rises to 5–8%, and possibly 10–12% (research in this area is still ongoing).

Secondly, in the original work, no direct comparison of DNA base sequences was made, but rather crude and inaccurate method was used, called DNA hybridization: individual sections of human DNA were combined with sections of chimpanzee DNA. However, in addition to similarity, other factors also affect the degree of hybridization.

Third, in the initial comparison, the researchers took into account only base substitutions in DNA, and inserts were not taken into account, which contribute greatly to the genetic difference. In one of the comparisons of a given section of chimpanzee and human DNA, taking into account inserts, a difference of 13.3% was found.

Evolutionary bias and the belief in a common ancestor played no small role in obtaining this false figure, which significantly slowed down the receipt of a real answer to the question of why man and ape are so different.

Therefore evolutionists forced to believe that for some unknown reason, hyper-fast evolution took place on the branch of the transformation of ancient apes into humans: random mutations and selection presumably created for a limited number of generations a complex brain, a special foot and hand, an intricate speech apparatus and other unique human properties (note that the genetic difference in the corresponding DNA regions is much more than the common 5%, see examples below). And this is while, as we know from actual living fossils, .

So there was stagnation in thousands of branches (this is an observed fact!), and in the human genealogy there was an explosive hyper-rapid evolution (never observed)? It's just unrealistic fantasy! The evolutionary belief is untrue and contradicts everything that science knows about mutations and genetics.

1. The human Y chromosome is as different from the chimpanzee Y chromosome as it is from the chicken chromosome. In a recent comprehensive study, scientists compared the human Y chromosome with the chimpanzee Y chromosome and found that they "surprisingly different". One class of sequences within the chimpanzee Y chromosome differed by more than 90% from a similar class of sequences in the human Y chromosome, and vice versa. And one class of sequences in the human Y chromosome in general "had no counterpart on the chimpanzee Y chromosome". Evolutionary researchers expected that the structures of the Y chromosome would be similar in both species.
2. Chimpanzees and gorillas have 48 chromosomes, while we only have 46. Curiously, potatoes have even more chromosomes.
3. Human chromosomes contain genes that are completely absent in chimpanzees. Where did these genes and their genetic information come from? For example, chimpanzees lack three important genes that are associated with the development of an inflammatory process in the human response to disease. This fact reflects the difference between human and chimpanzee immune systems.
4. In 2003, scientists calculated a difference of 13.3% between the areas responsible for the immune systems. 19 The FOXP2 gene in chimpanzees is not speech at all, but performs completely different functions, having different effects on the work of the same genes.
5. The section of DNA in humans that determines the shape of a hand is very different from that of a chimpanzee. At the same time, interestingly, differences were found in non-coding DNA. The irony is that evolutionists, guided by the belief in evolution, considered such sections of DNA "junk" - "useless" remnants of evolution. Science continues to discover their important role.
6. At the end of each chromosome is a repetitive strand of DNA called a telomere. Chimpanzees and other primates have about 23 kb. (1 kb is equal to 1000 nucleic acid base pairs) of repeating elements. Humans are unique among all primates, their telomeres are much shorter: only 10 kb long. This point is often overlooked in evolutionary propaganda when discussing the genetic similarities between apes and humans.

@Jeff Johnson www.mbbnet.umn.edu/icons/chromosome.html

In a recent comprehensive study, scientists compared the human Y chromosome with the chimpanzee Y chromosome and found that they are "surprisingly different." One class of sequences within the chimpanzee Y chromosome was less than 10% similar to a similar class of sequences on the human Y chromosome and vice versa. And one class of sequences on the human Y chromosome "had no counterpart on the chimpanzee Y chromosome" at all. And in order to explain where all these differences between humans and chimpanzees come from, supporters of large-scale evolution are forced to invent stories about rapid overall rearrangements and the rapid formation of DNA containing new genes, as well as regulatory DNA. But since each corresponding Y chromosome is single and completely dependent on the host organism, it is most logical to assume that humans and chimpanzees were created in a special way - separately, as completely different creatures.

It is important to remember that different types of organisms differ not only in the DNA sequence. As evolutionary geneticist Steve Jones said: “50% of human DNA is similar to the DNA of bananas, but this does not mean at all that we are half bananas, either from head to waist or from waist to toes”.

That is, the data indicate that DNA is not everything. For example, mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum and cytosol are passed unchanged from parents to offspring (protection against possible mutations in mitochondrial DNA). And even gene expression itself is controlled by the cell. Some animals have undergone incredibly strong genetic changes, and despite this, their phenotype has remained virtually unchanged.

This testimony is a tremendous support for reproduction "after its kind" (Genesis 1:24-25).

Differences in behavior

To get acquainted with the many abilities that we often take for granted,