Pinker thinks that things are getting better all the time but Berlinski says, nah!, no real change.
Human evolution
Free first and last chapters of Joshua Swamidass’s new book on Adam and Eve
IVP will be officially releasing it December 10.
Human evolution researchers stick Botswana origin claims with “colonialism” label
The recent claim, you will recall from our earlier story, is that modern humans came to exist in northern Botswana roughly 200,000 years ago. But, we are told, the claim relies on “unproven and outdated techniques while also excluding competing lines of evidence.” Worse—and this is the kiss of death—it exhibits “colonialism”
More Neanderthal eagle jewelry found in the Iberian Peninsula
Most likely the underlying issue for the dissenters is that the anthropologists are Darwinians and in any Darwinian scheme, someone must be the subhuman. Otherwise, there is no beginning to human history. The Neanderthals are convenient for the purpose. If we found a Stone Age laptop among the Neanderthal artifacts, the same people might still be claiming it didn’t prove anything.
The “rise of the greedy-brained ape”?
It’s helpful to be reminded that the science cognoscenti see the rest of us that way. They may see themselves that way, though vanity more likely gets in the way at the last, critical moment. No wonder so many people these days are “anti-science.”
Ola Hössjer and Ann Gauger sketch genetic scenarios for Adam and Eve
Wow. The Darwin trolls’ll miss Halloween to go after this one.
Controversial claim: First humans originated in what is now Botswana
One is tempted to wonder, how would “storytelling” differentiate the Garvan team from many other human evolution researchers?
Humans knew how to master fire earlier than thought
Why does Daniel Adler assume that the Neanderthals are not human? There is no reasonable basis for this claim anymore.
We could have come from two parents
Says a new paper at BIO-Complexity by Ola Hossjer and Ann Gauger.
Stone Age glue: Neanderthals accused of “complex thinking”
Glue was found on well-preserved tools from 50 kya.
Long stretch of Neanderthal DNA found in a modern population
Apparently, it’s the geneticists’ “worst nightmare.”
Researchers: Human neurons mature more slowly than those of chimpanzees and macaques
Interesting but not really a surprise because humans mature more slowly generally and live longer. No big news here that accounts for human uniqueness.
But if homo erectus was just an ordinary dude…
“If you bumped into a Homo erectus in the street you might not recognise them as being very different from you. You’d see a certain “human-ness” in the stance, and his or her size and shape might be similar to yours.” They lived 2 million years ago.
Our enterprising ancestors’ version of canned soup, 400 kya
“We show for the first time in our study that 420,000 to 200,000 years ago, prehistoric humans at Qesem Cave were sophisticated enough, intelligent enough and talented enough to know that it was possible to preserve particular bones of animals under specific conditions, and, when necessary, remove the skin, crack the bone and eat the bone marrow,” Prof. Gopher explains
Early humans lived in a different ecosystem, researchers say
Most interesting. If that’s true, claims that our behavior stems from challenges faced by our ancestors may need to be scrutinized. Our ancestors may not have faced the same challenges.