Human Evolution
Category archives for Human Evolution
Common misconceptions and unproven assumptions about the aquatic ape theory
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2013 
Common misconceptions and unproven assumptions about the aquatic ape theory A Guest Post by Marc Verhaegen *2013 m_verhaegen@skynet.be It is often assumed that Alister Hardy’s and Elaine Morgan’s aquatic ape theory (AAT) suggests that more than 5 Ma (million years ago) there was a semi-aquatic phase in our past (explaining e.g. human fur loss, fatness…
Fighting Over Hobbit
Posted by Greg Laden on January 9, 2013 
The Hobbit is a book by JRR Tolkien, a just released blockbuster movie, and a hominid from Indonesia. Here, we are speaking about the hominid from Indonesia. A while back I wrote a review of a book by Dean Falk, for American Scientist. You can find that review here, and you can find a different…
Stories from the field: Jon Kalb’s Newest Book
Posted by Greg Laden on January 7, 2013 
People who do a lot of field work end up with interesting stories to tell, especially if the fieldwork is diverse and the conditions are adverse. Often, the sort of thing people want to know about is very different from the repertoire of available stories, but as long as the expectations of the audience is…
Aquatic Ape Theory: Another nail in the coffin
Posted by Greg Laden on January 6, 2013 
I just want to say that Huxley is pretty bad at swimming. I quickly add, for a 3 year old human, he’s pretty darn good at it. Amanda’s family is very aquatic, as tends to happen when everyone spends several weeks per year (or longer) on the edge of a lake. They can all ski…
Palaeowomaen: Barbara Isaac, Women in The Field, and The Throwing Hypothesis
Posted by Greg Laden on January 5, 2013 
Following on discussion arising from this post, here is a revised discussion of throwing in human evolution. The question of diversity in science, and more specifically, success for women, is often discussed in relation to bench or lab oriented fields. If you read the blogs that cover this sort of topic, they are very often…
Masters of the Planet
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2012 Yesterday I wrote about Chris Stringer’s modified version of human evolution. Today, let’s have a look at Ian Tattersall’s new book, Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins (Macsci). Tatersall’s boo, like Sringer’s, is a good overview of the newer evidence in the constantly changing field, but he goes back earlier and…
The Evolution of Modern Humans
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2012 Chris Stringer’s new book, Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth, attempts to reconcile the age-old conflict between the “Multiregional” and “Out of Africa” hypotheses of Modern Human origins. Stringer has long been identified with the “Out of Africa” hypothesis, and his criticism of the Multiregional model pretty much still…
Canadian Scientists Create Virtual Human Brain
Posted by Greg Laden on December 5, 2012 
A large scale model of a human brain has been created by a team of scientists at the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience, University of Waterloo, Ontario. This is a virtual model, inside a computer, that involves 2,5 million virtual neurons structures in a pattern resembling the overall human brain’s anatomy, including cortical regions, motor control…
A Book about Taung and “the Hobbit”
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 
The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution is by a scientist Dean Falk, who has contributed significantly to the study of evolution of the human brain, and who has been directly involved in some of the more interesting controversies in human evolution. Back when I was a graduate student…
Evolution for Conservative Christians
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2012 Lewis Black has a formula for addressing creationists. You carry around a fossil. Then, when someone starts talking about creationism, you pull it out and hold it up in plain view and say “Fossil!” Then, if they keep arguing, you throw it over their head. That makes me laugh. Despite the fact that I am…
What is Dunbar’s Number?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 10, 2012 The term “Dunbar’s Number” refers to a particular hypothesis by primatologist Robin Dunbar. It is a very simple idea with rather complex implications, and it is one of those simple ideas that gets more complicated than ideal as we look into it more and more. Eventually, the idea is required by many who contemplate it…
Philip Tobias 1925-2012
Posted by Greg Laden on June 7, 2012 Philip Tobias passed away this morning, according to a mutual friend. I’ve not heard any details. Tobias is the most important hominid anatomist to have lived in the 20th and early 21st century, having taken the chair originally established by Raymond Dart at Wits University. He literally defined several of the hominids, being the anatomist…
No new nose neurons?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2012 
Elizabeth Norton has an interesting write-up in Science Now. Some years ago, after a long period of suspicion, it was seemingly demonstrated that neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons) happened in the human nose. This research was based on the identification of proteins that would be associated with the early formation of baby neurons. Therefore,…
Human Evolution: The meaning of it all
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2012 We had a great discussion with John Hawks on the radio today. The podcast of that conversation is available via any one of the routes indicated here. We discussed australopiths, Homo, Paleolithic sex, ancient DNA and fossil casting calls. And more. Check it out. Thanks, John, for your time!
Two Journeys Through the Human Past
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2011 Recently, I mentioned two new books on human evolution, and I told you I had a print review of them coming up. Well, it’s here, in American Scientist! Yes, I know, that’s an internet thing, but it is the internet version of the print thing. Please have a look, and leave a nice comment! Or…
Two New Books on Human Evolution
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2011 The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution and Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human Life are two very recent books on human evolution, both of which I recommend, depending on your interests. The first is by Dean Falk, who has studied brain endocasts for the…
A Tutorial in Human Behavioral Biology
Posted by Greg Laden on November 28, 2011 If you read only one book this holiday season, make it all of the following twenty or so! But seriously … I’d like to do something today that I’ve been meaning to do, quite literally, for years. I want to run down a selection of readings that would provide any inquisitive person with a solid…
When Humans met Neandertals
Posted by Greg Laden on September 19, 2011 Check out this video my friend Lynn made:
Driving The Patriarchy: Demonic Males, Feminism, and Genetic Determinism
Posted by Greg Laden on July 7, 2011 Behaviors are not caused by genes. There is not a gene that causes you to be good, or to be bad, or to be smart, or good at accounting, or to like bananas. There are, however, drives. “Drives” is a nicely vague term that we can all understand the meaning of. Thirst and hunger are…
How are art and human evolution related?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 13, 2011 My interest is in developing a plausible evidence-based story of how modern humans emerged from ancestral species. This means guessing at what features of humans make us “human” and attempting to see the emergence of each of these features in the fossilized record of our bodies (bones) and behaviors (artifacts and archaeological sites). This question…
“Monkeys on our backs” by Richard Tokumei will not even make good toilet paper
Posted by Greg Laden on May 29, 2011 Richard Tokumei has written a book that is so bad he is ashamed to put his own name on it. “Richard Tokumei” is the pen name of a ‘writer/editor in Southern California [with] degrees in Humanities and Phychology from the University of California Berkeley” and he has produced a book designed to anger everyone who…
Falsehood: “If this was the Stone Age, I’d be dead by now”
Posted by Greg Laden on May 1, 2011 It is generally thought that life expectancy in the past was less that it is today for our species as a whole and in the case of industrialized countries in particular. However, this belief counts as a falsehood not because it is untrue (it is, in fact, true) but because many people get this idea…
Falsehoods: Human Universals
Posted by Greg Laden on January 26, 2011 There are human universals. There, I said it. Now give me about a half hour to explain why this is both correct and a Falsehood. But first, some background and definition.
What is the most important human adaptation?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 22, 2010 Human infants require more care than they should, if we form our expectations based on closely related species (apes, and more generally, Old World simian primates). It has been said that humans are born three months early. This is not accurate. It was thought that our body size predicted a 12 month gestation, and some…
New link between exercise and weight loss uncovered?
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2010 A recent paper provides the groundwork to establish a way for exercise to diminish appetite. Or, more likely, for sedentary behavior to increase appetite.
The Earliest Known Use of Flaked Stone Tools by Hominids?
Posted by Greg Laden on August 11, 2010 It is possible that a much earlier than previously known date for the use of flaked stone tools has been established in Ethiopia, dating to prior to 3.39 million years ago.
Sex at Dawn
Posted by Greg Laden on August 9, 2010 From Skeptically Speaking: We talk to author Christopher Ryan about his new book Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. We’ll discuss the most recent science and theories, and how social norms compare to our biological impulses. This Friday. Details here. I may have to read this book.
The Oystercatcher and the Clam
Posted by Greg Laden on July 10, 2010 One of those really cool and useful “evolution stories” gets verified and illuminated by actual research. And blogging!
Falsehood: Humans evolved from apes
Posted by Greg Laden on June 25, 2010 Is it a Falsehood that Humans Evolve from Apes? How about this one: Is it a Falsehood that Humans did NOT evolve from Apes???? Yes and no. Humans descend from a population of primates from which other apes also descended (minimally the two species of living chimps) and which was part of the panoply of…
Great Moments in Human Evolution: The Invention of Chipped Stone Tools
Posted by Greg Laden on February 10, 2010 Or not.
, which is now available for the 
