human evolution

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>

'Human Invasion' Killed Off Neanderthals

Modern humans crowded Neanderthals out of Europe, study says

(Newser) - Modern humans may have ended the Neanderthals' 300,000-year dominance of Europe through sheer numbers instead of brain power, a new study claims. The researchers say the "human invasion" 40,000 years ago left the Neanderthals outnumbered 10 to 1 by the newcomers, forcing them into fierce competition for...

Study Uncovers Big, Fat (Faced) Liars

Broad faces linked to unethical behavior, finds researchers

(Newser) - Wide-faced men tend to be a lot trickier than their narrow-faced counterparts, according to researchers who measured the faces of hundreds of business school students before running them through assorted behavioral tests. The study found that broad-faced men are three times more likely to lie and nine times more likely...

All Languages Tracked to Single African Tongue

 All Languages 
 Tracked to Single 
 African Tongue 
in case you missed it
Apr 17, 2011 8:11 AM CDT

All Languages Tracked to Single African Tongue

Study links language differences to migration route of early humans

(Newser) - The thousands of languages spoken in the world today can be traced back to a "mother tongue of mother tongues" that arose in Africa around 50,000 years ago, a new study suggests. The lead researcher, evolutionary psychologist Quentin Atkinson, borrowed a few ideas from genetic researchers, the Wall ...

'Darwin Day' Celebrated in Rural US, Quietly

Biologists take the opportunity to show kids science is 'cool'

(Newser) - How to celebrate "Darwin Day" in rural America? Very carefully, the New York Times reports: When evolutionary biologists set out on a road trip this weekend to Virginia, Nebraska, Montana, and Iowa to promote science in honor of Charles Darwin's 202nd birthday, one high school principal made sure to...

Ancient Pinkie Reveals Your New Relatives

DNA helps decode history of Denisovans

(Newser) - A 30,000-year-old finger is pointing the way to a population of humans experts never knew existed. The pinkie bone, discovered in southern Siberia in what's known as the Desinova Cave, contains DNA that scientists used to sequence the entire genome of the young girl it belonged to, NPR reports....

Poll: 40% of Americans Are Creationists

Only 16% believe humanity evolved without God

(Newser) - Creationists beliefs are on the wane but a full 40% of Americans still believe that God created humans in their current form 10,000 years ago, according to the latest Gallup poll. But the proportion of people with creationists beliefs was the lowest since Gallup started asking the question in...

Tibetans 'Fastest-Evolving People on Earth'

Mutations allow Tibetans to thrive at high altitude

(Newser) - The Tibetan people have evolved to suit their high-altitude home with astonishing speed, say researchers. Biologists who compared the genomes of Tibetans living in villages up to 3 miles above sea level with Han Chinese found that 30 genes had undergone adaptive mutations in the 3,000 years since lowland...

Scotland's Bad Weather Means More Redheads
 Scotland's Bad Weather 
 Means More Redheads 
a gem from Monday
Mar 13, 2010 10:23 AM CST

Scotland's Bad Weather Means More Redheads

Cloudier climes allowed trait to gain in population

(Newser) - The cooler, cloudier climes for northern Europe make for more redheads—particularly in Scotland and Ireland, a researcher says. About 8% of Scots sport a ginger mane, to less than 2% of all Europeans. The theory, Emily Pritchard tells the Times of London, is that genetic traits that allow sun-unfriendly...

Skull Find Shakes Up Theories on Early Humanity

Remains found in Georgia suggest mankind's evolution had Eurasian chapter

(Newser) - Theories of human evolution have been thrown into disarray by ancient human remains found in Georgia, the Independent reports. The skulls, unearthed near Tbilisi, are from 1.8 million years ago, 800,000 years before modern humanity's ancestors were believed to have first moved out of Africa. The find, scientists...

Cooking: What Separates Men From Apes (and Women)
Cooking: What Separates Men From Apes (and Women)
INTERVIEW
Jul 29, 2009 1:14 PM CDT

Cooking: What Separates Men From Apes (and Women)

And anthropologically speaking, women are always the cooks

(Newser) - Cooking—not just eating—meat is what prompted human evolution, Richard Wrangham argues in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, and he discusses his beliefs—including an opposition to the trend of raw diets—with Salon. “Raw foodists argue quite strongly that it is our natural...

Apes, Humans Share a Laugh
 Apes, Humans Share a Laugh 
Jun 4, 2009 2:04 PM CDT

Apes, Humans Share a Laugh

Commonalities show laughter is pre-human

(Newser) - After tickling two dozen apes and several children, scientists have concluded that laughter developed long before humans did. In fact, a common ancestor of both apes and humans probably emitted the first chuckle at least 10 million years ago. The study measuring 800 vocalizations found that all subjects shared the...

Staring at Disfigured Faces Is 'Instinctive'

Distorted or frozen features trigger a 'primal response' in viewers, scientists believe

(Newser) - The stares people like face transplant patient Connie Culp deal with are likely the result of instinct rather than insensitivity, Wired reports. Scientists believe that disfigured faces flummox the screening system the brain has developed to judge whether a person poses a potential threat, causing people to become transfixed when...

Bird Culture Innate: Study
 Bird Culture Innate: Study 

May 4, 2009 2:46 AM CDT

Bird Culture Innate: Study

Isolated finches develop the same song over time

(Newser) - DNA may carry the blueprint for culture, a study of zebra finches has revealed. When raised in isolation, the birds' complex mating song—usually taught by male elders—develops into a harsh clamor. But as their offspring learn the song, they tweak it slightly and recreate the melody within a...

Africans Have World's Greatest Genetic Diversity

Landmark study tracks modern humanity's origins to area in South Africa

(Newser) - The people of Africa have by far the world's most diverse genes, says a new study that sheds light on humanity's origins. Researchers—who traveled deep into remote areas of Africa to study more than a hundred populations—have pinpointed the origin of modern humans to an area near the...

Skull Hints at Caveman Compassion

Skull suggests ancient humans cared for sick

(Newser) - Scientists have pieced together the skull of an ancient human who appears to have been deformed, but survived to at least age 5—suggesting he or she was cared for in spite of the handicap. That’s evidence for the existence of compassion in early humans, a trait other primates...

Horses Tamed Earlier Than We Thought

(Newser) - Horses were domesticated 1,000 years earlier than thought, a finding that could prompt a rethinking of ancient human history, the BBC reports. A team from Exeter University found evidence of the use of harness bits on teeth—as well as horse meat and horse milk beverages—in Kazakhstan that...

How Music Boosted Human Evolution&mdash;or Didn't
How Music Boosted Human Evolution—or Didn't
analysis
Dec 19, 2008 7:35 PM CST

How Music Boosted Human Evolution—or Didn't

(Newser) - We love our iPods and stereos, but what evolutionary purpose does all of this music serve? The Shakespearean idea that "music be the food of love" is popular among experts, who say music aids courtship and therefore human survival. Another theory says music replaced another social activity: ...

Multitasking Is a Myth
 Multitasking 
 Is a Myth 
Oct 4, 2008 9:33 AM CDT

Multitasking Is a Myth

Imaging shows brain quickly switches among tasks instead

(Newser) - Pull your ears away from that cell phone: Multitasking is a myth. New research shows we can’t really concentrate on two things at once; rather, the executive functions of the brain sweep quickly between multiple tasks. It’s thought that survival and the hunt made this rapid refocusing of...

Did We Slaughter the Neanderthals?

DNA probe sheds light on early humans' doom

(Newser) - Analysis of DNA from a thigh bone is helping solve the longstanding question of what happened to Neanderthals. Did they simply die off, were they killed by more modern humans—or did the two groups interbreed? DNA from the Neanderthal bone is so different from that of modern humans that...

Humans Wired to Fear Snakes
Humans Wired to Fear Snakes
Mar 5, 2008 4:42 PM CST

Humans Wired to Fear Snakes

Scientists find innate ability to discern slithering critters in the wild

(Newser) - Evolution seems to have given humans a hard-wired ability to recognize snakes and spiders, LiveScience reports. Intrigued by the widespread fear of serpents despite the fact that most humans rarely interact with them, researchers showed groups of adults and 3-year-olds natural scenes containing various hidden animals. Both groups were consistently...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>