Each student will be required to consider the chapter in Ehrlich titled "Sun Exposure is Beneficial" for the final paper, which will count as the final exam. The format of this paper should be the same as in previous writing assignments.
With the rise of skin cancer, which is thought to be caused by ultra-violet light that comes from the sun, many people believe that sun exposure is harmful. It does increase the risk of skin cancer, but are there benefits that outweigh that risk?
After reading this chapter in Ehrlich's book, it seems clear that any argument for the benefit of sun exposure revolves around the decreased risk of death by coronary heart disease (CHD) as a function of exposure to the sun. The problem is that there are two other theories that could account for decreased risk of death by CHD: diet and temperature.
To focus the paper, use the initial observation that decreased CHD death rates in various countries and regions seem to be strongly correlated with latitude and then use abduction to determine which of the three theories (sun exposure, diet, and temperature) best explains this observation.