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. Now we know it’s more of a bush, with […]
Category Archives: Human evolution
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 great. As such, finding […]
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 that drove […]
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 published. First discovered in South Africa in 2008, […]
Lucy the knuckle walker? Answers in Genesis v EvoAnth
This post also appeared on The Advanced Apes Many moons ago I stumbled across Answers in Genesis’s reconstruction of the “Lucy” specimen (who belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis, an […]
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 […]
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 often the last thing you […]
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 skeptical about his heritage. […]
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 living people share an African ancestor […]
Monkeys and mirrors: are monkeys self-aware?
Being able to recognise yourself in the mirror is a sign you’re self-aware, which is a key step on the road towards theory of mind and other complex thought processes. It has long been thought that monkeys cannot recognise themselves in the mirror, or can they?
