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Representative image of the impact of ancient retrovirus on evolution. Source: alexkich / Adobe Stock

Brain’s Evolutionary Explosion Linked to Ancient Retrovirus Infection

A new study has unraveled a mystery that is key to understanding the course of human and animal evolution. A team of genetic researchers from Altos Labs at the Cambridge Institute of Science in the...
Woman measuring her height.	Source: kei907/Adobe Stock

Cultural Practices Helped Make Women Shorter than Men in Neolithic Times

There is an assumption even today that height is determined almost exclusively by genetics. But this is based on a type of genetic determinism that underestimates the role of culture and environment...
An early human extinction event wiped out Homo erectus, dating back 900,000 years ago.  Source: emilio100/Adobe Stock

99% of Ancient Human Population Wiped Out 900,000 Years Ago (Video)

Today, our planet teems with over 8 billion human beings, a staggering contrast to the world 800,000 to 900,000 years ago. Recent scientific revelations illuminate a pivotal juncture in human...
A chimpanzee in contemplation.  Source: keks20034 / Adobe Stock.

Age of the Wise Men: What Distinguishes Homo Sapiens from Apes?

Homo sapiens represents the last of a long line of hominins that once consisted of five different species spanning four continents. Today, we are the last humans, that is, the last of the genus Homo...
Representational image of Neanderthals by a fire. Source: Jeff Whyte / Adobe Stock

Reevaluating Neanderthals: Are They Actually the Same Species as Us?

Neanderthals have been recognized as a species distinct from modern humans for quite some time. But if a trio of researchers from universities in Portugal, Italy and Spain get their way, this...
Dartmouth researchers report that apes and early humans evolved more flexible shoulders and elbows than monkeys, shown here, to safely get out of trees. Source: Luke Fannin, Dartmouth College/ Royal Society Open Science

"Downclimbing" is the Overlooked Key to Human Evolution, Says Study

One of the watershed moments in the evolution of ‘human’ or ‘ Homo ’ history is when the first hominids descended from the trees to achieve bipedal locomotion ( Homo erectus ), causing a separation...
Archaeologists in Turkey, have unearthed a partial cranium of a female, challenging the story of the origins of our human ancestors. Source: Sevim-Erol, A., Begun, D.R., Sözer, Ç.S. et al/CC BY 4.0)

Oldest Human Ancestors May Have Evolved Nine Million Years Ago in Turkey

Modern humans first left Africa and migrated to Eurasia between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago . But a fossilized skeleton with surprisingly human-like characteristics found in central Turkey suggests...
Evidence from stone tools indicate earliest humans migrated to Europe in three waves. Source: Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock

New Study Claims Earliest Human Migrants Came to Europe in Three Waves

As recently as 2021, most scholars still believed that modern humans first arrived in Europe about 42,000 years ago. But a 2022 research project produced evidence of an earlier wave of migrants who...
Representational image of the peopling of the ancient supercontinent of Sahul. Source: intueri / Adobe Stock

Virtual Reality Tracks 75,000-Year-Old Footsteps of Sahul Explorers

Newly published and ground-breaking research has revealed previously unknown information about the populating of the ancient supercontinent of Sahul, which once comprised Australia and New Guinea...
Hairless cat and a human hand. Source: vita / Adobe Stock

How and Why Humans (and Other Mammals) Lost Most of their Body Hair

For decades scientists have been puzzled and intrigued by a most fascinating question, which is: why do human beings have so much less body hair than other primates, and most other land mammals in...
The people who lived in Gough's Cave are thought to have practiced cannibalism, even making what appear to be cups from skulls of people. Source: © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

UK’s Oldest Human DNA Reveals Two Distinct Ancient Tribes of Britain

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was the most recent time in Earth’s history when the ice sheets were at their greatest extent, with the decline starting somewhere around 15,000-14,000 years ago. At...
Part of the earliest European face, a 1.4-million-year-old jawbone recently excavated from Sima de Elefante cave, Spain. Source: Atapuerca Foundation

Breakthrough: Excavators Find the Oldest European Face Ever Discovered

The discovery of a 1.4-million-year-old human ancestor in Spain was in itself a history changing moment. But to discover it looked like us, “forces us to rewrite the books on human evolution,” claims...
Britain’s Earliest Humans Found In the Suburbs of Canterbury

Britain’s Earliest Humans Found In the Suburbs of Canterbury

Hunter's tools excavated in England over a century ago have been dated to, wait for it, between 560,000 and 620,000 years ago! These latest discoveries made on the outskirts of Canterbury confirm the...
Brown bear penis bones. Source: Didier Descouens / CC BY-SA 4.0

What Do Dogs and Other Mammals Have That Humans Don’t? A Penis Bone

In a place before time, life somehow emerged on Earth. It grew and flourished. It changed. It split, and some of it went its different ways. There was life in the water and life on the land. Some...
The evidence found in north China from roughly 40,000 years ago, including advanced stone tools and ochre processing knowledge, was created by ancient humans. However, archaeologists are still trying to figure out who these ancient hominins were, and the choices are Neanderthals, Denisovans or Homo sapiens.		Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

40,000-year-old Tools Used by Ancient Humans Unearthed In North China

Archaeologists in China have unearthed a hoard of intricately crafted stone blades and ochre processing activities attributed to ancient humans living less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of...
The Cradle of Humankind visitors’ complex in Maropeng, South Africa.	Source: Olga Ernst / CC BY-SA 4.0

Denizens of South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind: The First Walking Apes

The human story begins in Africa. Of the many fascinating fossil sites in Africa, an important one is the Cradle of Humankind outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. The many caves and rock outcrops...
The human brain has three parts and for millions of years it grew in size but 3,000 years ago it began to get smaller! 						Source: alionaprof / Adobe Stock

Three Thousand Years Ago Human Brain Size Decreased, Says Study

Through the process of greater efficiency, the human brain size began to shrink about 3,000 years ago and this is a huge new revelation in human evolution. The latest research study conclusions...
Ancient DNA Sample From Indonesia Is From An Extinct Human Lineage

Ancient DNA Sample From Indonesia Is From An Extinct Human Lineage

Genetic researchers have confirmed what archaeologists had previously suspected. A 7,200-year-old fossilized skeleton found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2015 cannot be linked to...
Neanderthal skull (left) compared with a modern human skull (right). A recent study has revealed that only 7% of human DNA is unique. The other 93% of human DNA is shared with our ancient “cousins” the Neanderthals and Denisovans.                     Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

Just 7% of Human DNA Is Unique, Says Latest Large-scale Genetic Study

Among all the species of man that ever existed, Homo sapiens (modern man) is the sole survivor. But that doesn’t make us quite as special as we thought. A genetic study carried out by researchers at...
Neanderthals cohabited with modern humans in the Negev desert. Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock

Humans and Neanderthals Met and Mated 50,000 Years Ago in Negev Desert

A recent re-examination of artifacts collected from Israel’s central Negev desert has revealed important details about the development of human culture in the region, according to a new study...
Discovery of Genetic Mutation Separating Humans and Neanderthals

Discovery of Genetic Mutation That Separates Humans and Neanderthals

An international team of scientists representing Russia, Germany, and the United States have found a unique mechanism at work in the DNA of human beings that helped shape our species’ evolution, the...
Study of Fossil Apes Sheds New Light on the Human Origins Mystery

Study of Fossil Apes Sheds New Light on the Human Origins Mystery

In an exciting new review titled “ Fossil apes and human evolution ” for the reputed ScienceMag journal, the major discoveries in fossil apes and human lineage are re-examined since Darwin’s claims...
Neanderthals Found Near Rome In A Cave, “Hunted” and Eaten By Hyenas

Neanderthals Found Near Rome In A Cave, “Hunted” and Eaten By Hyenas

The ancient remains of nine Neanderthals found near Rome have been discovered in a cave. Italian archaeologistsspeculating as to how the Neanderthals found near Rome died, discovered tell-tale...
“Superhighways” of the Original Australians Uncovered by Virtual Migrant

“Superhighways” of the Original Australians Uncovered by Virtual Migrant

When the first human migrants arrived in Australia tens of thousands of years ago, they spread out across the land following a series of heavily traveled pathways that scientists have identified as...

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