Reprieve
A discussion of research, controversy and silliness in the field of human evolution
MY BLOGS
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EvoAnth
http://evoanth.wordpress.com/
A discussion of the latest research into human origins.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 510 )
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400,000 Year Old “makeup” the Precursor to Cave Art?
During the last ice age, humans figure out that you could use naturally occurring pigments to paint on the wall. But they weren't the first to play with this... Read more
Posted on 02 May 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
The Hips Did Lie: Our Pelvis Helps Us Walk in More Ways Than We Thought
Almost every bone and muscle in our body has a counterpart in chimps. We're nothing new, evolution just tweaked things a bit. One area with the most... Read more
Posted on 27 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Homo Naledi Update Part 2: A Confusing Arm
Homo naledi is the newest member of our genus (Homo) to be discovered. And ironically, it might also be the oldest; although it has yet to be reliably dated.... Read more
Posted on 25 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Homo Naledi Update: New Juvenile Fossil Identified
Homo naledi is the newest member of our genus to be discovered. And ironically, it might also be the oldest; although it has yet to be reliably dated.... Read more
Posted on 20 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Reader Asks for the Evidence for Evolution
I assure you that we did, in fact, evolve from filthy monkey men - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth This website is all about human evolution and so takes its... Read more
Posted on 19 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Humans Needed to Adapt to the Cold Before They Could Leave Africa
Modern humans evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago. As you may have noticed, we've travelled a fair bit since then. Our flag has been planted on all... Read more
Posted on 18 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Australopithecus Sediba Swings to Strangeness
The human family is a weird bunch, with many strange offshoots. But perhaps one of the weirdest is Australopithecus sediba. It walked with a strange, twisted... Read more
Posted on 11 April 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Part Human, Part Neanderthal Skulls Hints at Ancient Interbreeding
The human family is far from a linear progression. It's a big messy bush, with loads of offshoots. Many of which came back together with a bit of interspecies... Read more
Posted on 23 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Parkour Reveals How Apes Got a Big Body
Humans belong to a group of primates called the great apes. This family also includes chimps, gorillas, and orang-utans. And we're a weird branch of primates,... Read more
Posted on 21 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Lucy Wasn’t a (tree) Swinger After All
Modern humans are very peculiar. In particular, we have this weird habit of walking upright on the ground. Although this form of locomotion now defines us, for... Read more
Posted on 16 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Natural Selection is Making Cats Friendlier?
Humans caused cats to evolve. That's not a particularly dramatic statement. After all, they're domesticated animals. Their very existence is the result of... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Ancient Interbreeding Helped Humans Fight Disease
We are now more than a decade on from the first large-scale efforts to sequence the Neanderthal genome. In the intervening years, a lot has happened. We've... Read more
Posted on 09 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Humans Evolved to Cook Their Food
Over the past few million years, our ancestors have invented some great stuff. Like sharp rocks and cool art. But arguably our greatest invention was fire and... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Humans Evolved to Prefer Red Food
What is it that makes a food appealing? Smell, texture, and many other factors play a role. But one evolutionary hang-over forgotten about is its colour. When... Read more
Posted on 23 February 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Earliest Europeans Used Ancient Toothpicks
Modern humans evolved in Africa, but soon spread around the world. However, we weren't the first member of our family to do so. Nearly 2 million years earlier ... Read more
Posted on 21 February 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Humans to Blame for Extinctions 50,000 Years Ago
Humans are really bad for the environment. But just how long we've been bad for it can be surprising. As far back as 50,000 years ago, humans arriving in a... Read more
Posted on 16 February 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Parkour Sheds Light on Evolution of Bipedalism
The classic "ascent of man" image depicts us evolving from a four-legged ancestor. Yet that doesn't seem to be the case. Even the earliest members of our... Read more
Posted on 26 January 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Was “nutcracker Man” a Seafood Fan?
The human family was once very diverse, including more than 20 species over the last few million years. Perhaps the weirdest branch on our family tree was ... Read more
Posted on 24 January 2017 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
How Old is the Modern Brain?
How far back in time could you go to adopt a baby? That's the question that comes from Eric today. He's curious as to how far our modern brain stretches back.... Read more
Posted on 07 December 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE -
Noisy Chimps Have More Friends, Hint at Social Origin of Language
We are a very social species. It's our greatest strength, allowing us to learn from and build on one another's work. In fact, it's thought our big brains evolve... Read more
Posted on 06 December 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE