Reprieve

LATEST ARTICLES ( 510 )

• The Carnival of Evolution: Eclectic September Edition

  

  Step right up ladies and gentlemen, here for one month only under the big top is the one, the only, the carnival of evolution. Read more

  Posted on 01 September 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The “human Cow” Ate More Than Grass

  

  Paranthropines are a weird offshot of humanityParanthropus is a strange off-shoot of humanity that split from our lineage 3 – 4 million years ago. Read more

  Posted on 29 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Humans, Apes and Monkeys Share Food for the Same Reasons

  

  Why do people share food? The obvious answer is because if we didn’t we would die. An average hunter-gatherer will only be able to kill one large animal a... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Only 25% of Americans Are Creationists

  

  Last year Gallup published a survey investigating how many Americans accept evolution. The results were quite disconcerting, revealing that 46% of the American... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Did Language Evolve to Help Us Gossip?

  

  Language provides us with many benefits. It makes it easier for us to teach each other skills and facts, allows us to share knowledge of who is to be trusted,... Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Neanderthals Invented Specialised Bone Tools

  

  Around 800,000 years ago the human family split in two. One branch left our African homeland, travelling north into Europe whilst the other remained behind. Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Paternity Uncertainty, Infanticide and the Evolution of Monogamy

  

  Humans do many things that seem to make no sense, evolutionary speaking. Things like altruism, monogomy and infanticide. If we really did evolve to survive and... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why the “us and Them” Mentality Evolved

  Humans have been living in large complex groups for millions of years, and flourishing as a result. This social environment has shaped the course of our... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Chimp Seen Swimming for the First Time

  

  Chimps are famous for a lot of things, but swimming isn’t one of them. In fact they’re notoriously bad swimmers, often drowning. Some zoos even use moats to kee... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Mice Injected with Human Brain Cells Are Smarter

  

  Humans are undoubtedly the smartest animal on the planet, despite some people trying their best to show otherwise. Science has identified many aspects of our... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Chimps Are Less Susceptible to Peer Pressure Than Humans

  

  Human success stems from our social groups. By working together we can achieve more than we ever could hope to individually. In fact, the benefits of group... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Kumari Model: Did Humans Evolve in the Indian Ocean?

  

  Over the past few decades scientists have amassed a huge amount of evidence showing that humans evolved in Africa before migrating out into the rest of the... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Our Brains Are Shrinking

  

  The good folks over at superscholar sent me this fascinating infograph, showing how our brains have actually been shrinking over the past 10,000 years. Enjoy. Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Evolution of Cave Art

  

  Modern humans migrated into Europe around 40,000 years ago. Almost immediately they began decorating cave walls and continued to do so for the next 30,000... Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2013 BIOLOGY, CULTURE, HISTORY, SCIENCE

• Paranthropus’ Diet and Their Brain Size

  

  I’ve received an awful lot of email over the past few days and it’s making me feel good. I encourage you all to contact me if you want, so I can continue to bas... Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• What Came Before Bipedalism?

  

  Chimps have a special place in our culture as “stand ins” for our early ancestors. The classic ascent of man image depicts us evolving upwards from a knuckle... Read more

  Posted on 30 July 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Which Male Traits Are Being Sexually Selected For?

  

  Those of us interested in human evolution spend a lot of time looking into the past, so it can be easy to forget that evolution is an on-going process that... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Did Prehistoric People Make Cave Art?

  

  Humans have been painting caves for tens of thousands of years (and many tribes continue to do so). Some of the most famous art are from the European Upper... Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• EvoAnth on a Creationist Show

  I recently appeared on The Truth is What Matters, a creationist internet show I’ve discussed before. The folks there are perfectly friendly and wanted to have m... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Kent Hovind’s Doctoral Thesis

  Dr Kent Hovind’s was once a prominant creationist, until he went to prison for tax fraud. As a result his rate of publication has dropped off slightly, but don’... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE