A new analysis of two 7.2 million-year-old fossils belonging to a hominin species nicknamed “El Graeco” from Mediterranean Europe, suggests that mankind emerged in Europe and not in Africa. The new...
The evolution and spread of Homo sapiens is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in all of science. Until recently, it was believed that the origins of the species and the ancestors of every person...
Between 117,000 and 108,000 years the end was nigh for the hominins we call Homo erectus . They were the first of our ancestors to stand tall and walk upright, but even this ancient human species...
Researchers have found that early humans such as the famous ‘Lucy’ were not as smart as the great apes. Using new methods, they have been able to determine that early humans did not have the same...
Scientists have described an 11.62 million-year-old ape that moved like no other creature on Earth using its human legs and orangutan arms. A team of scientists from Eberhard Karls University of...
Most people accept that anatomically modern humans first arose in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago, but the location where that monumental evolutionary event took place on the continent has been less...
Nick Longrich / The Conversation Are we alone in the universe? It comes down to whether intelligence is a probable outcome of natural selection, or an improbable fluke. By definition, probable events...
To understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must first piece together the details of the ancient plant and animal communities that our fossil ancestors lived in...
High resolution 3D microscope images have revealed truths about early human development proving human embryos have more muscles than adults! At seven weeks of gestation a human embryo is the size of...
Birthing a human child is always painful and can be a drawn-out process threatening the lives of both mother and baby. The ordeal sometimes even lasts for days. However, chimps have a much easier job...
Farming caused the human heart to evolve less “ape-like” and be better for endurance and stamina. New research suggests human hearts significantly changed when we dropped hunting and began leading...
By Svetlana Skarbo/Siberian Times Never before has RNA - Ribonucleic acid - sequencing been carried out from so far back in time. Finding RNA on the puppy found preserved in permafrost in Tumat in...
Before the famed Australopithecus afarensis Lucy roamed the land of Ethiopia some 3.18 million years ago, one of her progenitors, an Australopithecus anamensis, met its demise in what is now the...
A visually entrapping 20-million-year-old skull is providing new data on the evolution of brains in primates. Imagine looking through a wormhole into the past and seeing your ancient origins up close...
Are we alone in the universe? This is a question most people have pondered at one time or another. Since the distances between us and the nearest habitable planets can only be measured in light years...
By Renaud Joannes-Boyau , Ian Moffat , Justin W. Adams , and Luca Fiorenza / The Conversation Humans’ distant ancestor Australopithecus africanus had a unique approach to raising their young, as...
Meet the ancient bird that had toes longer than its lower legs. Researchers have discovered a bird foot from 99 million years ago preserved in amber that had a hyper-elongated third toe. The study,...
Blame junk food or a lack of exercise. But long before the modern obesity epidemic, evolution made us fat too. "We're the fat primates," said Devi Swain-Lenz, a postdoctoral associate in biology at...
For 13 days in October of 1962, our civilization was poised on the edge of nuclear destruction. American president John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev engaged in a faceoff. The world...
Did ancient supernovae induce proto-humans to walk on two legs, eventually resulting in Homo sapiens with hands free to build cathedrals, design rockets and snap iPhone selfies? A paper published...
In China, paleontologists have announced a very important discovery of human fossils and artifacts. They have uncovered a large number of fossils of early relatives of modern humans in a cave. The...
New discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa's southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically modern...
For a people from whom one 41,000 year old finger bone fossil from a nine year old girl, along with a bracelet she wore, were (until recently) the only authenticated known artifacts, the mysterious...
Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA -based estimates, according to new research by a UCL academic. The research,...
