Human evolution

From anthropologist Barbara J. King at NPR: Did Neanderthals engage in some way with the supernatural or the sacred? Caution is required here. The bones and artifacts, after all, don’t clue us in to the meaning-making that went on in Neanderthal groups, and we can’t just overlay present customs onto the past. Perhaps the Neanderthals simply wanted to bury their companions’ bodies in order to protect themselves from predators, or disease, or both. … Given their intelligence, it seems to me likely that the Neanderthals contemplated, in some way, the mysteries of life. More. What does “religious” mean? If a skyscraper’s basement shopping mall today got fossilized, would anyone know thousands of years hence if any of the interred were Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: A tiny grape pip (scale 1mm), left on the ground some 780,000 years ago, is one of more than 9,000 remains of edible plants discovered in an old Stone Age site in Israel on the shoreline of Lake Hula in the northern Jordan valley, dating back to the Acheulian culture from 1.75-0.25 million years ago. The floral collection provides rich testimony of the plant-based diet of our prehistoric ancestors. … “In recent years we were met with a golden opportunity to reveal numerous remains of fruits, nuts and seeds from trees, shrubs and the lake, alongside the remains of animals and human-made stone tools in one locality,” Prof. Goren-Inbar said. Of the remains found on site, Prof. Goren-Inbar Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: A gene that regulates bone growth and muscle metabolism in mammals may take on an additional role as a promoter of brain maturation, cognition and learning in human and nonhuman primates, according to a new study led by neurobiologists at Harvard Medical School. Describing their findings in the Nov. 10 issue of Nature, researchers say their work provides a dramatic illustration of evolutionary economizing and creative gene retooling — mechanisms that contribute to the vast variability across species that share nearly identical set of genes yet differ profoundly in their physiology. … For their experiments, the team analyzed RNA levels — the molecular footprints of gene activity — in the brain cells of mice, rats and humans. Although Read More ›

From Ross Pomeroy at RealClearScience: Sixteen years ago, road workers detonated a controlled explosive to remove a large limestone boulder blocking a planned roadway outside of Tel Aviv in Israel. Soon after the dust settled, it became clear that the road would need to be rerouted. The workers had stumbled upon a vast cave, one that had been sealed off for more than 200,000 years! For the researchers who soon began exploring the cave’s expansive interior, it was the find of a lifetime. Now called Qesem Cave, the site has delivered a number of discoveries that live up to its explosive origin. Archaeologists found a 300,000-year-old fireplace, along with tortoise shells that showed signs of burning. Apparently, whoever live there Read More ›

From Darren Curnoe at RealClearScience: Geneticists have found clear evidence that the choices people make can have profound impacts on the evolution of entire populations, and ultimately, our species as well. Some striking examples have been found like that both women and men are currently under selection for earlier age at first birth across a wide range of societies. Other work has shown that women are under selection for later age at last birth in some pre-industrial groups, but a later age at menopause in some post-industrial populations. The upshot is that in some groups the reproductive span seems to be getting longer for both women and men. Yet other research has shown that women are under selection for increased Read More ›

From Alice Klein at New Scientist: A crafted piece of bone found in Australia looks as if it were designed to be worn in the nasal septum – making it the oldest bone jewellery belonging to Homo sapiens to be identified anywhere in the world. The finding shows that the first humans to reach Australia 50,000 years ago were as culturally advanced as their counterparts in Africa and Europe. More. Why are people who are so willing to believe nonsense about chimpanzees surprised when humans turn out to have been much more sophisticated much earlier than we had supposed? Could there be an agenda that does not rely on evidence here? See also: Code written in Stone Age art? Australia: Sophisticated Read More ›

From Stephanie Pappas at LiveScience: Stephen Hawking thinks humanity has only 1,000 years left of survival on Earth and that our species needs to colonize other planets. The famed physicist made the statement in a speech at Oxford University Union, in which he promoted the goal of searching for and colonizing Earth-like exoplanets. Developing the technology to allow humans to travel to and live on faraway alien worlds is a challenge, to say the least. But is Hawking right that humanity has only 1,000 years to figure it out? The dangers Hawking cited — from climate change, to nuclear weapons, to genetically engineered viruses — could indeed pose existential threats to our species, experts say, but predicting a millennium into Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: A subtle change occurred in our evolutionary history 100,000 years ago which allowed people who thought and behaved differently – such as individuals with autism – to be integrated into society, academics from the University of York have concluded. The change happened with the emergence of collaborative morality – an investment in the well-being of everyone in the group – and meant people who displayed autistic traits would not only have been accepted but possibly respected for their unique skills. It is likely our ancestors would have had autism, with genetics suggesting the condition has a long evolutionary history. Okay, so morality emerged and people who were different were not just cast out. But… Many people with autism Read More ›

Recently, we were hearing about how most Neanderthal DNA got deleted from our genome by natural selection. Now, from Anna Azolinsky at The Scientist: The interbreeding of Neanderthals and Denisovans with Homo sapiens resulted in advantageous Neanderthal-inherited alleles in the genomes of a diverse range of modern humans, according to genomicists. The team’s analysis, published today (November 10) in Current Biology, expands the number of loci in the human genome attributed to these ancient hominins. The results suggest that these alleles—mostly within immune and skin pigmentation genes—likely helped modern humans adapt to life outside of Africa. “The study expands our knowledge of the extent to which Neanderthals and Denisovans contributed functionally relevant genetic variation to modern humans,” Svante Pääbo, an evolutionary geneticist Read More ›

Sometimes, popular debates and commenters can put their fingers on a key issue, almost in passing. In this case, in addressing the cognitive dissonance issue triggering  many reactions to the rise of Donald Trump to US President-Elect (I confess, my own surprise* . . . ) Dilbert’s Scott Adams has dropped a real clanger of a wake-up call: Here is a money-shot clip from his current blog article, “The Cognitive Dissonance Cluster Bomb”: >>As I often tell you, we all live in our own movies inside our heads. Humans did not evolve with the capability to understand their reality because it was not important to survival. Any illusion that keeps us alive long enough to procreate is good enough. That’s Read More ›

This one, at his blog: I don’t like to nitpick much any more, but their post is exceptionally misleading. The “latest” is not that Homo naledi just fell into the Dinaledi chamber. I never said that, so let me elaborate. … The bones did not just fall into the Dinaledi chamber. I feel quite confident in affirming the original hypothesis that complete Homo naledi bodies were intentionally placed in the Dinaledi chamber, and I expect future research will continue to support this hypothesis.More. For the record, we did not think Dr. Wood thought that the bones just fell in. But the paper he critiques (which posits that the bones were not placed in the cave intentionally) would seem to leave Read More ›

From Joshua A. Krisch at The Scientist: Juric and colleagues developed a method for quantifying the average strength of natural selection against Neanderthal genes. They found that selection against individual Neanderthal alleles is very weak, suggesting that our ancient ancestors accumulated many slightly deleterious alleles, which—within their small enclaves—were hardly noticeable when inherited. But once Neanderthals integrated into larger human populations, the researchers proposed, these alleles entered the crucible of natural selection and were weeded out of modern human genomes. In the statement, Juric acknowledged that population size was but one factor. More. We actually have little idea why it happened and that is a key problem with Darwinism (natural selection acting on random mutation). In the absence of evidence, Read More ›

From anthropologist Todd Wood at his blog: First up, in a surprisingly speculative paper in the South African Journal of Science, Wits professor Francis Thackeray proposed that the bones of H. naledi had lichen stains on them from exposure to light. If correct, the resting of the bones on the surface would imply that the bodies of H. naledi were not intentionally deposited in the Dinaledi chamber but just fell in there. I say this was speculative, since Thackeray’s argument (as I understood it) was based on visual similarity of some stains on the bones to stains on some rocks that might have been made by lichens. More. Colleagues say no, the stains are not consistent with lichen growth in Read More ›

From Alison George at New Scientist: A painstaking investigation of Europe’s cave art has revealed 32 shapes and lines that crop up again and again and could be the world’s oldest code Von Petzinger, a palaeoanthropologist from the University of Victoria in Canada, is spearheading an unusual study of cave art. Her interest lies not in the breathtaking paintings of bulls, horses and bison that usually spring to mind, but in the smaller, geometric symbols frequently found alongside them. Her work has convinced her that far from being random doodles, the simple shapes represent a fundamental shift in our ancestors’ mental skills. (paywall) More. See also: Australia: Sophisticated inland campsite 50 000 years ago The search for our earliest ancestors: Read More ›

  From David Snoke here: — Advance Details for the April annual meeting next year The theme is “human exceptionalism” and confirmed speakers include Jack Collins, Ph.D., professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, and author of several books, including Science and Faith, speaking on what the Bible means by the Image of God in humanity. Jeffrey Schwarz, M.D., research psychologist at UCLA, and author of several books including You Are Not Your Brain, speaking on the rising movement of Mindfulness. Michael Egnor, M.D., neurosurgeon and professor of pediatrics at Stony Brook University, speaking on unique aspects of the human brain. Kevin Birdwell, Ph.D., manager of the meteorology program and team leader of the Atmospheric Risk Read More ›