Climate Effects on Human Evolution and TechnologyKey human adaptations evolved in response to environmental instability. Climate Fluctuation Paleoanthropologists – scientists who study human...
Evolution
The Long Evolutionary Journey to the Human BrainWe have more neurons in our cortices than any other species, courtesy of an early technology –...
The Neanderthal Diet—From Teeth to GutsSome populations of Neanderthals were definitely more carnivorous than others. By Dr. Anna GoldfieldArchaeologist One of the...
Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the ‘Beagle’Darwin to understand the convergence of disparate scales of geological and human history. The event now known...
Softer, Processed Foods Changed the Way Ancient Humans SpokeConsidering language from a biological perspective led researchers to the idea that new food processing technologies affected...
How Seeing Snakes in the Grass Helped Primates to EvolveVision is a window onto the world, its qualities determined by natural selection. Evolution has favoured the...
Lucy’s Shattered Bones: Our Ancestors Lived a Dangerous Life in TreesHumans stand out among all the mammals as being the only species to totter about on two...
The Evolutionary Origins and Significance of Drug AddictionBy looking at drug addiction from an evolutionary perspective, we may understand its underlying significance and evaluate...
Stone Tools Date Early Humans in North Africa to 2.4 Million Years AgoArchaeological excavation at Ain Boucherit, Algeria. Mathieu Duval, Author provided Ancient stone tools found in what is now Algeria show early humans likely spread across Africa more rapidly than...
Drawing the Human AnimalCharles Le Brun, The relation between the human physiognomy and that of the brute creation / Wellcome...
Violence in Ancient Rome: Behavioral and Ideological EvolutionInside Rome’s Colosseum visitors can view the chambers that once held animals and contenders below the arena...
Homo Sapiens: Beyond DNA to Symbolic CommunicationSkull of a Homo sapiens (a.k.a. modern human) individual, on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural...
Human Evolution: The Many Mysteries of Homo NalediThis hand was discovered in articulation and all bones are represented except for the pisiform. / Photo...
Synthetic Palaeontology: Reconstructing Ancient Life with Modern TechnologyReconstruction of ancient life and environments is an extremely challenging problem. By Dr. William Irvin Sellers Professor,...
Natural Selection in Action: Hurricanes Irma and Maria Affected Island LizardsHolding on in hurricane-force winds. Colin Donihue, Creative Commons In the wake of two hurricanes in the Turks and Caicos Islands, researchers document for...
The Neanderthal-Sapiens ConnectionSkulls of Homo sapiens (left) and Neanderthal (right) from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. This derivative work shows the skulls...
Rhythms of Change: The Victorian Science Poems of May KendallAmmonite fossil / Photo by Becks, Wikimedia Commons Nineteenth-century England saw a major revolution in the scientific...
Bringing the Ocean Home“The Ancient Wrasse”, a detail from the frontispiece to The Aquarium (1856, 2nd edition) — Biodiversity Library Bernd Brunner on...
Lovely Grub: Are Insects the Future of Food?Emily Anthes braves locusts, beetles, mealworms and more as she asks whether eating insects is the answer...
Mother’s Milk Holds the Key to Unlocking an Evolutionary Mystery from the Last Ice AgeSunrise at noon in the Arctic. Little exposure to sun was a piece of the genetic puzzle. Bering...
Disease Evolution: Our Long History of Fighting VirusesA virus is essentially an information system (encoded in DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat. Tom...
First Peoples: Two Ancient Ancestries ‘Reconverged’ with Settling of South AmericaNew research using ancient DNA finds that a population split after people first arrived in North America...
How a Changing Landscape and Climate Shaped Early HumansLucy, born 3.2m years ago. Pat Sullivan/AP It should not be a surprise that East Africa was a...
Testing Ancient Human Hearing via Fossilized Ear Bones3D virtual reconstruction of two-million-year-old ear. Rolf Quam, CC BY-ND Beyond the cool factor of figuring out hominin hearing capacities two...
Silk Road Trading Helped Produce the Modern HorseYeah, they messed with my genes. attawayjl Research shows that the genes of the modern horse were forged...
Ancient Human Bone Reveals When We Bred with NeanderthalsBehold the femur. Bence Viola, MPI EVA Radiocarbon-dated to around 45,000 years old. By Dr. Daniel Zadik / 10.24.2014 Postdoctoral Researcher...
How Tiny Black Spots Shed Light on the Homo Naledi MysteryA replica of a Homo naledi skull. GCIS/Flickr, CC BY-ND New evidence suggests that Homo naledi didn’t deliberately deposit their dead in a...
How Yersinia Pestis Evolved Its Ability to Kill Millions via Pneumonic PlagueHow did Yersinia pestis bacteria start to target the lungs and become so deadly? National Institute of Allergy and Infectious...
African Tools Push Back the Origin of Human Technological InnovationBy about 320,000 years ago, humans in Kenya began using color pigments and manufacturing more sophisticated tools. Human...
Combining Linguistics, Archaeology, and Ancient DNA Genetics to Understand Deep Human HistoryTonelloPhotography/Shutterstock.com Each discipline tells us only part of the story. And so the truest picture of prehistory comes from...