Anthropology
- Anthropology
Searching for the Tree of Babel
Researchers are using new methods of comparing languages to reveal information about the ancestry of different cultural groups and answer questions about human history.
- Anthropology
Attack of the Ancestor: Neandertals took a stab at violent assaults
The pieced-together fragments of a 36,000-year-old Neandertal skull reveal a bony scar caused by a blow from a sharp tool or weapon.
- Anthropology
The DNA Divide: Chimps, people differ in brain’s gene activity
The distinctive looks and thinking styles of people and chimpanzees derive from the contrasting productivities of their similar DNA sequences.
- Anthropology
Unified Erectus: Fossil suggests single human ancestor
A newly found fossil skull may clear up an ongoing debate about whether the human ancestor Homo erectus was a single or several species.
- Anthropology
DNA Diaspora: Humanity may share tangled genetic roots
A controversial new genetic analysis concludes that Homo sapiens evolved by expanding out of Africa in multiple waves beginning at least 600,000 years ago and then interbreeding, rather than totally replacing close relatives such as the Neandertals.
- Anthropology
A Fair Share of the Pie
A cross-cultural project suggests that people everywhere divvy up food and make other economic deals based on social concepts of fairness, not individual self-interest.
- Anthropology
The Way We Were
Dig into news, educational material, and even an online documentary about the contentious science of human evolution. This impressive Web site is operated jointly by the Institute of Human Origins and Arizona State University. Go to: http://www.becominghuman.org/
- Anthropology
Stone Age signs of complexity
Ancient engravings found in South Africa support the theory that humans began to think and behave in symbolic ways a surprisingly long time ago.
- Anthropology
The gene that came to stay
A gene thought by some scientists to foster a bold, novelty-seeking personality, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), apparently spread substantially in human populations over roughly the past 40,000 years.
- Anthropology
Evolving in Their Graves
Understanding what early, rudimentary burials meant to modern humans' antecedents—assuming early humans did, in fact, bury their dead—could help anthropologsts untangle a lasting mystery of human evolution.
- Anthropology
Human evolution put brakes on tooth growth
A new analysis of fossil teeth indicates that the slower pace of dental development observed in people today dates back only about 100,000 years.
- Anthropology
Humans in eastern Asia show ancient roots
Human ancestors lived in northeastern Asia about 1.36 million years ago, making it the oldest confirmed occupation site in eastern Asia.
