EvoAnth

The study of humans, evolution and human evolution

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Category Archives: Evolution of the brain

How much time we'd have to spend grooming if language didn't evolve.

Why did language evolve?

April 18, 2013by Adam Benton 11 Comments

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 […]

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Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primatology, Science
flirtycapuchin

Monkeys and mirrors: are monkeys self-aware?

March 21, 2013by Adam Benton 3 Comments

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?

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Evolution of the brain, Primate, Primatology, Science
fire

How smart were our fire-taming ancestors?

March 19, 2013by Adam Benton 4 Comments

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 benefits of this […]

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Archaeology, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Prehistory, Science, Technology

Why Our Brains Are Big

February 5, 2013by Adam Benton 5 Comments

This post first appeared at The Advance Apes on 1/31/13 One of the most important traits we’ve developed over the course of human evolution is our exceptionally large brains. Brain […]

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Anatomy, Archaeology, Chimps, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primate, Primatology, Science
Bonobos being more risk averse than chimps (left) and both being more pro-risk in competitive situations (right)

Competition makes apes take greater risks

August 23, 2012by Adam Benton 2 Comments

A “farmer curve” is a graph which charts the chance of an event occurring against how bad that event will be, in effect calculating how risky a particular situation is. […]

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Chimps, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primate, Primatology, Science
A sample of classic Mousterian tools, including some levallois points.

Neanderthal technology and intelligence

July 31, 2012by Adam Benton 9 Comments

For many years people have been attempting to identify differences between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis in an effort to understand why one species survived yet the other did not. […]

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Archaeology, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Neanderthals, Prehistory, Science, Technology
The three orbital cycles

Earth’s orbit and human evolution

July 12, 2012by Adam Benton 12 Comments

A while ago I wrote “the children of climate change,” a post discussing research about how climate variability may have caused the evolution of Homo sapiens’ large brain. The crux […]

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Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Science
Broca's area in chimps. Note how the left side is larger than the right.

Wernicke’s and Broca’s area in chimps – Supplementary Sunday

July 8, 2012by Adam Benton 2 Comments

This weeks top rated post is “humans have giant chimp brains” with a grand total of 3 up-votes, making it the 3rd most popular post of all time. As such […]

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Anatomy, Chimps, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primate, Primatology, Psychology, Science
The species examined in this study, along with their brains

Humans have giant chimp brains

July 3, 2012by Adam Benton 14 Comments

Humans specialise in being smart. It wasn’t our sharp teeth that allowed us to rise to dominance chain but our brains. It provides us with the intelligence needed to build […]

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Anatomy, Chimps, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primate, Primatology, Science
The chimp handedness data from the early study which shows that there is an almost even preference for the right and left hands.

We know nothing about the evolution of handedness

June 13, 2012by Adam Benton 13 Comments

Jim Thomeson – who gets a brofist for being one of the most frequent commenter here – asks I wonder about handedness. i am right handed, and my right hand […]

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Archaeology, Chimps, Evolution, Evolution of the brain, Human evolution, Primate, Primatology, Science

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About Me

Adam Benton

Adam Benton

I'm studying evolutionary anthropology at the University of Liverpool. I'm currently in my third year of an undergraduate degree, hoping to progress onto a PhD someday. I'm too interested in human evolution for my own good, so decided to write a blog on it.

Categories

Anatomy Anthropology Archaeology Chimps Creationism Evolution Evolution of bipedalism Evolution of the brain Genetics HOBET Human evolution Media Migration Neanderthals Personal Prehistory Primate Primatology psychology Psychology Question Recent evolution Red deer people Relationships Science Sexual selection Technology Uncategorized

Popular Articles

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  • @cadelllast some genetics say pre toba, some say after. Hopefully this will clear up the debate 5 days ago
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  • RT @josiemills: A testimony to revision insanity. I have 'sediba you gotta see her', sung to the tune of Blondie's Maria, on loop in my bra… 4 weeks ago
  • Dolphins use sponges to protect their snout when foraging on the sea bed. Mothers only teach their daughters how to do this for some reason 4 weeks ago
  • #EvoAnthfact: Humans can carry 6x the mass of their upper limbs without being thrown off balance. Lucy could only carry 0.5x her limb mass 1 month ago
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