http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/human_evolution/ Findings in human evolution. Read science articles on early humans, human and primate genetics and more. Articles and photos. en-us Thu, 15 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT Thu, 15 May 2008 01:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/human_evolution/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424130710.htm Over 600 complete mtDNA genomes from indigenous populations across the continent were analyzed and the data provided surprising insights into the early demographic history of human populations before they moved out of Africa. The extensive data analysis revealed that early human populations were small and isolated from each other for many tens of thousands of years. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424130710.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421154426.htm An anthropologist has reconstructed vocal tracts that simulate the sound of the Neanderthal voice. Using 50,000-year-old fossils from France and a computer synthesizer, the researcher has generated a recording of how a Neanderthal would pronounce the letter "e." Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421154426.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403185958.htm Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known remains of human ancestors in Western Europe. The fossil is about 1.2 million years old. That's 500,000 years older than the previous oldest known humanlike fossils from the area. The new find bolsters the view that Homo reached Europe not long after leaving Africa almost 2 million years ago. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403185958.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080320183657.htm A shape comparison of the most complete fossil femur (thigh bone) of one of the earliest known pre-humans, or hominins, with the femora of living apes, modern humans and other fossils, indicates the earliest form of bipedalism occurred at least six million years ago and persisted for at least four million years. Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080320183657.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080319104600.htm New research adds to the evidence that chance, rather than natural selection, best explains why the skulls of modern humans and ancient Neanderthals evolved differently. The findings may alter how anthropologists think about human evolution. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080319104600.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080310151958.htm Since the reporting of the so-called "hobbit" fossil from Flores in Indonesia, debate has raged as to whether these remains are of modern humans (Homo sapiens), reduced in stature, or whether they represent a new species, Homo floresiensis.Now researchers describe fossils of small-bodied humans from Palau, who inhabited the island between 1,400 and 3,000 years ago and share some features with the H. floresiensis specimens. Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080310151958.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080216175953.htm The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds. Scientists have shown for the first time that cultural traits affecting survival and reproduction evolve at a different rate than other cultural attributes. Speeded or slowed rates of evolution typically indicate the action of natural selection in analyses of the human genome. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080216175953.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080131152013.htm Scientists have reported the discovery of two common, single-letter variants in the sequence of the human genome that regulate one of the principle motors of evolution. Yet remarkably, the versions of the SNPs that increase recombination in men decrease it in women, and vice versa. Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080131152013.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092139.htm Using mice as models, researchers traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet. By feeding laboratory mice different human and chimp diets over a mere two week period, researchers were able to reconstruct some of the physiological and genetic differences observed between humans and chimpanzees. Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092139.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071219082604.htm Scientists long have focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity. Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071219082604.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214094129.htm While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage. Scientists identified 26 losses of long-established genes, including 16 that were not previously known. Next they compared the identified genes in the complete genomes of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, mouse, rat, dog, and opossum to estimate the amount of time the gene was functional before it was lost. This refined the timing of the gene loss and also served as a benchmark for whether the gene in question was long-established, and therefore probably functional, or merely a loss of a redundant gene copy. Through this process, they found 6 genes that were lost only in the human. Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214094129.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207091852.htm Although most scientists believe tuberculosis emerged only several thousand years ago, new research reveals the most ancient evidence of the disease has been found in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey. The discovery of the new specimen of the human species, Homo erectus, suggests support for the theory that dark-skinned people who migrate northward from low, tropical latitudes produce less vitamin D, which can adversely affect the immune system as well as the skeleton. Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207091852.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071204100409.htm Tooth growth suggests rapid maturation in a Neanderthal child. Neanderthal life history, or the timing of developmental and reproductive events, has been under great debate during the past few decades. Across primates, tooth development, specifically the age of molar eruption, is related to other developmental landmarks such as weaning and first reproduction. Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071204100409.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071129143817.htm Some of our closest extinct relatives had more in common with gorillas than previously thought. Fossils illustrate sex differences in growth and the costs of being a male. One of the anthropologists said "When we examined fossils from 1.5 to 2 million years ago we found that in one of our close relatives the males continued to grow well into adulthood, just as they do in gorillas. This resulted in a much bigger size difference between males and females than we see today." Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071129143817.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126170543.htm A new analysis of genetic variation among more than two dozen native populations bolsters the theory that the ancestors of modern native peoples across the Americas came via a northwest land bridge some 12,000 years ago. Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126170543.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025160653.htm Questions about human migration from Asia to the Americas have perplexed anthropologists for decades, but as scenarios about the peopling of the New World come and go, the big questions have remained. Do the ancestors of Native Americans derive from only a small number of "founders" who trekked to the Americas via the Bering land bridge? How did their migration to the New World proceed? What, if anything, did the climate have to do with their migration? And what took them so long? Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025160653.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025143311.htm Ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals suggests that at least some of them had red hair and pale skin, scientists report in Science. Neanderthals' pigmentation may even have been as varied as that of modern humans, and researchers say at least 1 percent of Neanderthals were likely redheads. Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025143311.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018123649.htm Adaptive changes in a human gene involved in speech and language were shared by our closest extinct relatives, the Neandertals according to a new article. The human form of the gene arose much earlier than scientists had estimated previously. This raises the possibility that Neandertals possessed some of the prerequisites for language. Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018123649.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017145252.htm Evidence of early humans living on the coast in South Africa, harvesting food from the sea, employing complex bladelet tools and using red pigments in symbolic behavior 164,000 years ago, far earlier than previously documented, is now being reported. Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017145252.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071012160147.htm The sequencing of Neanderthal nuclear DNA from fossil bone held promise for finally answering the question of whether the Neanderthals are ancestors of ours. However, two recent studies came to very different conclusions regarding the ancestral role of Neanderthals. Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071012160147.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071008154457.htm Researchers have created the first evolutionary history of the duplications in the human genome that are partly responsible for both disease and recent genetic innovations. This work marks a significant step toward a better understanding of what genomic changes paved the way for modern humans, when these duplications occurred and what the associated costs are - in terms of susceptibility to disease-causing genetic mutations. Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071008154457.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920145353.htm Researchers have completed a new study on Homo floresiensis, commonly referred to as the "hobbit," a 3-foot-tall, 18,000-year-old hominin skeleton, discovered four years ago on the Indonesian island of Flores. This study offers one of the most striking confirmations of the original interpretation of the hobbit as an island remnant of one of the oldest human migrations to Asia. Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920145353.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070909184006.htm To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a recent discovery which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene. Humans have many more copies of this gene than any of their ape relatives, the study found, and they use the copies to flood their mouths with amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. The finding bolsters the idea that starch was a crucial addition to the diet of early humans, and that natural selection favored individuals who could make more starch-digesting protein. Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070909184006.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070911073902.htm The earliest humans almost certainly walked upright on two legs but may have struggled to run at even half the speed of modern man, new research suggests. They proposes that if early humans lacked an Achilles tendon, as modern chimps and gorillas do, then their ability to run would have been severely compromised. Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070911073902.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070828162834.htm More than three million years ago, early hominins evolved the ability to walk upright and in doing so started us along the evolutionary path that eventually gave rise to Homo sapiens. It was Darwin who first suggested that a change of climate, giving rise to vast, arid, savannahs, may have spurred on human evolution all those millions of years ago. But what caused that change of climate? Could the formation of one of Earth's most spectacular landscapes, the Ethiopian Plateau, have been responsible for development of the great African grasslands? And if so, what were the geological processes that led to the formation of the plateau? Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070828162834.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813101018.htm Chance, not natural selection, best explains why the modern human skull looks so different from that of its Neanderthal relative. The scientists concluded that Neanderthals did not develop their protruding mid-faces as an adaptation to icy Pleistocene weather or the demands of using teeth as tools, and the retracted faces of modern humans are not an adaptation for language, as some anthropologists have proposed. Instead, random "genetic drift" is the likeliest reason for these skull differences. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813101018.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813093132.htm Two new fossils cast fresh light on a little understood and important period of human prehistory at the dawn of our own genus, Homo. One of the two fossils, an upper jaw bone of Homo habilis (KNM-ER 42703), dates from 1.44 million years ago, which is more recent than previously known fossils of that species. This late-survivor shows that Homo habilis and Homo erectus lived side by side in eastern Africa for nearly half a million years. Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813093132.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070807145140.htm In 1942, a human braincase was found in Romania during phosphate mining. The skull's geological age has remained uncertain. Now, new radiocarbon analysis directly dates the skull to approximately 33,000 years ago, placing it in the Upper Paleolithic. Though this braincase is in many ways similar to other known specimens from the period, the fossil also presents a distinctly Neanderthal feature, ubiquitous among Neanderthals, extremely rare among archaic humans, and unknown among prior modern humans. Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070807145140.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730173507.htm Researchers report the results of a large-scale, genome-wide study to investigate gene copy number differences among ten primate species, including humans. In the report, the scientists speculate how unique, lineage-specific gene copy number expansions and contractions in humans may underlie traits such as endurance running, higher cognitive function, and susceptibility genetic disease. Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730173507.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070718140829.htm New research has proved the single origin of humans theory by combining studies of global genetic variations in humans with skull measurements across the world. The research represents a final blow for supporters of a multiple origins of humans theory, according to the researchers. Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070718140829.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070716191140.htm A new study provides support for the hypothesis that walking on two legs, or bipedalism, evolved because it used less energy than quadrupedal knucklewalking. Humans walking on two legs only used one-quarter of the energy that chimpanzees who knuckle-walked on four legs did. Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070716191140.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070709114540.htm Johns Hopkins researchers have added to the growing mound of evidence that many of the genetic bits and pieces that drive evolutionary changes do not confer any advantages or disadvantages to humans or other animals. They have demonstrated that one of the major architectural markers of the human genome, DNA repeat elements that make up over 40 percent of our genome, rose to prominence without offering any benefits to the organism it inhabits. Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070709114540.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627120520.htm Evolution is not just about human origins, dinosaurs and fossils, says Binghamton University evolutionist David Sloan Wilson. It can also be applied to almost every aspect of human life, as he demonstrates in his first book for a general audience, Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives (Bantam Press 2007). Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627120520.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625085134.htm Experimental evidence reveals that chimpanzees will help other unrelated humans and conspecifics without a reward, showing that they share crucial aspects of altruism with humans. The evolutionary roots of human altruism may thus go deeper than previously thought, reaching as far back as the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625085134.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621140809.htm Human resistance to a retrovirus that infected chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates four million years ago ironically may be at least partially responsible for the susceptibility of humans to HIV infection today. Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621140809.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070619164133.htm Neanderthal man was not as stupid as has been made out says a new study published by a University of Leicester archaeologist. In fact Neanderthals were far removed from their stereotypical image and were innovators, says Dr Terry Hopkinson of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History in a paper published in Antiquity. Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070619164133.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618174710.htm Although it may sound like an oxymoron, anthropologists report the first discovery of a skull from a "pygmy-sized" giant panda -- the earliest-known ancestor of the giant panda -- that lived in south China some two million years ago. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618174710.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070531150326.htm By observing wild orangutans, a research team has found that walking on two legs may have arisen in relatively ancient, tree-dwelling apes, rather than in more recent human ancestors that had already descended to the savannah, as current theory suggests. Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070531150326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161829.htm New research confirms the "Out Of Africa" hypothesis that all modern humans stem from a single group of Homo sapiens who emigrated from Africa 2,000 generations ago and spread throughout Eurasia over thousands of years. These settlers replaced other early humans (such as Neanderthals), rather than interbreeding with them. Thu, 10 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161829.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070508072829.htm A new study showed that a certain form of neuropsin, a protein that plays a role in learning and memory, is expressed only in the central nervous systems of humans and that it originated less than five million years ago. Wed, 09 May 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070508072829.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070501075039.htm Recent studies carried out in Gorham's cave, on Gibraltar, proved to be definitive for this work, researcher asserts. Results show that the Neanderthal extinction could have been greatly determined by environmental and climate changes and not by competitiveness with modern humans. Wed, 02 May 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070501075039.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423185434.htm For nearly a century, anthropologists have been debating the relationship of Neandertals to modern humans. Central to the debate is whether Neandertals contributed directly or indirectly to the ancestry of the early modern humans that succeeded them. An anthropology professor has brought together the available data, which shows that early modern humans did exhibit evidence of Neandertal traits. Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423185434.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070420153635.htm Put a human and a chimpanzee side by side, and it seems obvious which lineage has changed the most since the two diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Such apparent physical differences, along with human speech, language and brainpower, have led many people to believe that natural selection has acted in a positive manner on more genes in humans than in chimps. But new research challenges that human-centered view. Sat, 21 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070420153635.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070412141025.htm An international consortium of researchers has published the genome sequence of the rhesus macaque monkey and aligned it with the chimpanzee and human genomes. The analysis reveals that the three primate species share about 93 percent of their DNA, yet have some significant differences among their genes. Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070412141025.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402215358.htm The cartilaginous elephant shark has a basal phylogenetic position useful for understanding jawed vertebrate evolution. Survey sequencing of its genome identified four Hox clusters, suggesting that, unlike for teleost fishes, no additional whole-genome duplication has occurred. Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402215358.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070324133018.htm A computer-generated reconstruction by NYU College of Dentistry Professor Timothy Bromage shows a 1.9 million-year-old skull belonging to Homo rudolfensis with a surprisingly small brain and distinctly protruding jaw. Dr. Bromage's is the first scientist to produce a reconstruction of the skull that questions Richard Leakey's depiction of modern man's earliest direct ancestor as having a vertical facial profile and a relatively large brain -- an interpretation widely accepted until now. Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070324133018.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322142633.htm Early humans developed larger brains as they adapted to colder climates, according to University at Albany researchers. Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322142633.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319114440.htm USC college computational biologist Peter Calabrese has developed a new model to simulate the evolution of so-called recombination hotspots in the genome. Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319114440.htm