Reprieve

LATEST ARTICLES ( 510 )

• Human Cows and Human Evolution

  

  People used to think of a ladder, with species gradually evolving upwards until they arrived at the perfection that is humanity. Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Sexual Selection in Humans: Beards, Chins and Maps

  

  Many researchers believe that certain human traits act as a signpost, advertising the fact that the individual has good genes, or is healthy, or just generally... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Humans Are Only 70% Chimp?

  

  Around 80% of the human genome has an equivalent section in the chimp genome. When we compare these sections we find that they’re around 99% similar. That means... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Plate Tectonics: EvoAnth v. AiG Followup

  This Monday I wrote a brief summary of my exchange with the (in)famous Answers in Genesis. One aspect of this discussion was whether or not most of the work by... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Did Language Evolve?

  

  Language is important to us modern humans so asking why it evolved seems like a silly question. After all, surely we can think of numerous benefits of language... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Can Isotopes Tell Us About the Prehistoric Climate?

  

  Yesterday Phyrangula linked to my article on the problems of trying to squeeze the ice age into a young earth creationist chronology. Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Australopithecus Sediba: Human by Accident?

  

  Australopithecus sediba, everyone’s second favourite Australopith after Lucy, was back in the news last week as more research on this fascinating specie was... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Lucy the Knuckle Walker? Answers in Genesis v EvoAnth

  

  Many moons ago I stumbled across Answers in Genesis’s reconstruction of the “Lucy” specimen (who belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis, an... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Autistic Individuals Are NOT Neanderthal Hybirds

  

  A while ago I wrote about the Neanderthal theory of autism (NAT). For those of you who don’t remember (and are too lazy to click on that link), it’s the idea... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Neanderthal with a Chin: a Human Hybrid?

  

  Humans may have been evolving for millions of years, but some of our traits only developed recently. I’m always fascinated by these modern traits, they’re... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Earlier Neanderthal Extinction?

  Today’s question comes from Cadell, a fellow Advanced Ape. He claims to be Canadian, but I’ve never heard him apologise for anything so I’ve always been... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Assasins Creed in Your Genes

  

  I’m a big fan of the Assassin’s Creed games, they’re top notch murder simulators. The premise behind them is that the memories of our ancestors are encoded... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• When Did Humans Leave Africa?

  

  Fossil evidence indicates that modern humans evolved in Africa around 195,000 years ago (McDougall et al., 2005). Genetic data confirms this, showing that all... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Birth of Farming

  

  The advent of farming was a key moment in human history. By intensively exploiting the surrounding land early farmers could gather enough food to stay in one... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Fitting the Ice Age into Creationism – Misguided Mondays

  

  Over the past week or so several creationist sites have written about how the ice age fits into the Biblical chronology. The most prominent of these being... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• EvoAnth at University

  I study evolutionary anthropology at the University of Liverpool. Frequently I frolic with the skulls of our ancestors generally have fun; as documented in thi... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Monkeys and Mirrors: Are Monkeys Self-aware?

  

  I used to have a mirror on the back of my bedroom door until some rather aggressive knocking caused it to fall off. Unfortunately there are many other mirrors... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Are Australopiths Our Ancestors?

  

  Today’s question allows me to win the award for “starting the most words in a title with a vowel.” It comes from Jose who asked (a while ago, I’m a bit... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Smart Were Our Ancestors Who First Used Fire?

  

  The discovery of fire was a key moment in the human prehistory. With fire our ancestors would’ve been able to cook food, making digestion more efficient. The... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Our Ancestors Didn’t Innovate – Misguided Mondays

  

  It’s a common creationist mantra that with the same evidence you can arrive at very different conclusions based on the “assumptions” through which you... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2013 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE