The study of the genomes of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, has opened up new research paths that can broaden our understanding of the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens. A study led by the University of Barcelona has made an estimation of the time when some of the genetic variants that characterise our…
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Uncovering the evolution of any set of living creatures is a complex and highly detailed task for scientists, and theories and approaches that may differ over time may indeed change the fossil record. But paleoanthropologist and Stony Brook University Professor Carrie S. Mongle, Ph.D., and co-authors urge investigators to take caution on their findings. They…
Read More “Using accurate data when studying Human evolution” »
Archaeologically excavated stone tools – some as much as 2.6 million years old – have been hailed as evidence for an early cultural heritage in human evolution. But are these tools proof that our ancestors were already becoming human, both mentally and culturally? One participant of the study—who was naive to stone tools as well…
Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), has led a study published in the journal Credit: Emiliano Bruner This work proposes evolutionary changes in attention associated with the origin of the human genus and in Neanderthals, although only with Homo sapiens did this cognitive capacity attain a…
What links a finger bone and some fossil teeth found in a cave in the remote Altai Mountains of Siberia to a single tooth found in a cave in the limestone landscapes of tropical Laos? The answer to this question has been established by an international team of researchers from Laos, Europe, the US and…
Read More “Ancient tooth unlocks mystery of Denisovans in Asia” »
We need to dispel the arrogant and misguided idea that modern humans are superior to earlier human species. It is thanks in part to all our predecessors such as Neanderthals that we are who we are today. This is according to Marie Soressi, Professor of Hominin Diversity Archaeology. Credit: Leiden University The image of simple…
Read More “‘Homo sapiens is too arrogant: Call us Homo faber, the toolmaker’” »
Wealth inequality is a research topic typically reserved for humans. Now, research from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests that studying wealth inequality in animals can help shed light on social evolution. Adapting approaches from the study of wealth inequality in humans, the researchers show how wealth—in the…
What’s the link between social life and brain structure? Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute at Inserm, and elsewhere are now one step closer to understanding this connection for rhesus macaques. A grooming chain of adult female rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, an island off the coast of…
Read More “Social connections influence brain structure of rhesus macaques” »
After the Neolithic, European populations showed an increase in height and intelligence, reduced skin pigmentation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to genetic changes that lowered concentrations of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. The changes reflect ongoing evolutionary processes in humans and highlight the impact the Neolithic revolution had on our lifestyle and health, write researchers…
Read More “How modern European populations have evolved over the past 50,000 years” »
A study into tooth wear in a group of wild Japanese macaques has significant implications for the study of human evolution, a University of Otago study has shown. Macroscopic ridges on the outer surface of upper central macaque incisors [Credit: Ian Towle wt al., 2022] Lead author Dr Ian Towle and Dr Carolina Loch, of…
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