Why Can’t Most Humans Drink Milk?
[no-caption] Axel Schmidt/Getty Images This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. A solid white mass found in a broken jar …
Tag: Evolution
What Makes the Human Foot Unique?
Adding a chapter in the story of what makes us human. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The Myth of Badass Sperm
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) shows healthy spermatozoa emerging from a cavity within the testis. Innerspace Imaging/Getty Images This article was originally published at Aeon. …
Great Ape Haters
Isaiah Nengo on racist tweets, evolutionary misconceptions, and his ancient ape skull discovery. In a tweet from 2013, Roseanne Barr called former United Nations National Security Advisor Susan…
73,000-Year-Old Hashtag Is Oldest Example of Abstract Art
A silica flake from Blombos Cave contains the oldest example of prehistoric abstract art, and it looks like one of the most used symbols online — Read more on…
Why Can’t Apes Talk?
[no-caption] Science Photo Library/Getty Images This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. We all know that parrots can tal…
Ritual Sacrifice May Have Shaped Dog Domestication
[no-caption] Marc Lester/Getty Images In the Siberian Arctic, the Ob River flows lazily across vast, cold stretches of tundra. In the city of Salekhard, Russia, where it meets…
Ancient Girl Had Denisovan and Neandertal Parents
The history of modern humans is deeply embedded with the history of other hominid groups. Our understanding of these connections is only just beginning to unfold — Read…
As Seas Rise, Ancient Footprints Are Revealed
Archaeologists are uncovering footprints on beaches from Canada to South Africa. The oldest human footprints, one of which is shown here, were found in Tanzania and date back…
How Human Smarts Evolved
[no-caption] Sara López Gilabert/SAPIENS Suzana Herculano-Houzel spent most of 2003 perfecting a macabre recipe—a formula for brain soup. Sometimes she froze the jiggly tissue in liquid n…
Our 14,400-Year-Old Relationship with Bread
New evidence from Jordan is challenging what we thought we knew about hunter–gatherer diets — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Hominins Likely Left Africa Earlier Than Believed
Our ancestors may have been on the move out of Africa 300,000 years earlier than we originally thought — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Chimpanzees Can’t Tell Us Much About Being Human
Do we gain insight by comparing President Trump to a chimpanzee? Can we learn something useful about gender-based violence among humans by studying other primates? Can observing chimpanzees…
Agustin Fuentes’s The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional by Charles C. Roseman
The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional Agustín Fuentes Penguin, 2017, 352 pages Agustín Fuentes’ The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional (Fuentes, 2017)…
Is Cyclical Time the Cure to Technology’s Ills?
The world changed dramatically on June 29, 2007. That’s the day when the iPhone first became available to the public. In the 11 years since, more than 8.5…
Hepatitis B Viruses Discovered in Ancient Human Remains
[no-caption] BSIP/Getty Images Around the world, more than 200 million people live with an infection from the hepatitis B virus, a pathogen that can reside in the human…
The Evolutionary Enigma of the Human Eyebrow
[no-caption] Pexels This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. Eyebrows. We all have them, but what are they actually for? …
Diet and the Disease of Civilization: An Interview with Adrienne Rose Bitar
In her recently published Diet and the Disease of Civilization, Dr. Adrienne Rose Bitar argues that diet books capture the socio-political concerns of America. Looking at Paleo,…
Bonobos Spied Sharing a Feast
Bonobos congregate around a male bonobo holding an African breadfruit to get a share of the meal. Barbara Fruth/LuiKotale Bonobo Project People are weird—at least compared to other…
‘Enlightenment’ now and empathy later? by Agustín Fuentes
Steven Pinker wrote Enlightenment Now thinking he was making the case for “reason, science, humanism, and progress.” But instead produced a 556 page text filled with some interesting…
Humanity’s Story Has No End of Surprising Twists
Indigenous Australians created elaborate rock art, as shown here in Arnhem Land. P. Taçon This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative…
How Ursula Le Guin’s Writing Was Shaped by Anthropology
In creating other worlds, Ursula Le Guin showed the power inherent in constructions of culture and new realities. Marian Wood Kolisch/Flickr This article was originally published at The…
Cultural taboos around food are powerful – could vegans change ours?
As campaigns such as Veganuary become more popular could the way westerners categorise what’s edible start to shift? Yesterday marked the end of “Veganuary”, the campaign to encourage…
Cultural taboos around food are powerful – could vegans change ours?
As campaigns such as Veganuary become more popular could the way westerners categorise what’s edible start to shift? Yesterday marked the end of “Veganuary”, the campaign to encourage…