evolution
The evolution of science, science fiction, and mankind throughout the years.
Neanderthal and the Denisovans
The southern Iberian Peninsula near Gibralter was the last outpost of Neanderthal. They languished there until as late as 24kbp (thousand years before present). This area offered several survival elements They had warmth, seafood, and cliffs. With so much game gone at this point, they probably relied on food provided by the sea and cliffs. The cliffs also offered security from intruders. Climate had undergone drastic changes. A volcanic eruption 40kbp began a series of extremely cold seasons. This caused a loss of game animals and the calving of icebergs that also lowered temperatures. This is seen as the match that broke the camel's back for our cousins. Some researchers believe that Neanderthals couldn't make warm enough clothing, but that seems ridiculous. These were a people long used to living in colder temperatures. After all, aren't they built for the cold with their shortened arms, legs, and stocky bodies, just like Arctic people today?
By Monica Bennett8 years ago in Futurism
Why We Walk on Two Legs
Perhaps the greatest frustration in evolutionary biology is bipedalism. Why walk on two legs if running on all fours is faster? Well, for the last hundred years or so, we were taught we stood up to see over the tall grass of the savannah, much like meerkats. This freed our hands to carry food, make tools, and become the mighty hunter. That theory went out the window when the entire Savannah Hypothesis bit the dust. Ardipithecus and Australopithecines are now viewed as semi-woodland dwellers. Here we developed two-leggedness because we stood on branches, using the hands to steady us, employing a light touch. They have even determined how strong the touch would be as we steadied ourselves, swaying branches and what the force of a breeze would be. Some people have got too much time on their hands!
By Monica Bennett8 years ago in Futurism
Out of Africa
Today's view of human evolution is rapidly shifting from the now-defunct Savannah Hypothesis to the more believable coastal living scenario. No longer is the idea that we developed our brains while hunting on the savannah held true. Some have opted for a semi-woodland environment, but this, too, is leading us to coastal living as the preeminent ecosystem where we evolved from a small-brained biped into a large-brained one. Picture, if you will, a group of LCAs (Last Common Ancestor) living on the east coast of Africa, blocked to the west by the Ethiopian Escarpment, and to the east by the Red Sea. There is plenty of freshwater. We know this because there is a continuum of freshwater springs in this area today, produced by the movement in the East African Rift System. Seafood was plentiful. Even the old and the very young had all they could eat. There was volcanism and rift movement and occasionally openings in the rift would come about and some would leave this paradise for the interior. They may have gotten lost out in this different world and been unable to make their way back. Or, the pathway they took out of their normal environment may have been closed off by rift activity. Unless you think bipedal forms of hominids sprung up spontaneously all over Africa, this is the only interpretation. The likelihood of that is remote when you consider the extremely different environments in which this adaptation would have had to occur.
By Monica Bennett8 years ago in Futurism
Why Are We Hairless?
We are called the naked ape because we show more skin than any other primate. The gentleman in the picture appears hairless, but we know his hair has been removed for the shot. However, it may surprise you to know that we have just as many hair follicles as a chimpanzee. Our hair is just finer and much shorter. So why do we show so much more skin than any other primate?
By Monica Bennett8 years ago in Futurism
Language
So much has been written about speech and language, someone could open a library with no other topic. Some will argue that speech is different from language, but here they will be treated as one and the same. So much has been written about the FOXP2 gene lately, but language concerns more than just one gene. Since we now have the Neanderthal genome to work with, we know they also had FOXP2. Molecular techniques show the gene is older than Neanderthal, going back to at least 400,000 years ago. Did Neanderthal have language? The proof is presumptive. They lived in groups, hunted in teams, probably buried their dead, and new research shows they also made cave paintings. It seems unreasonable they did these things in relative silence. Both Stephen Jay Gould, the evolutionary biologist, and Noam Chomsky, the language guru, believed language was a side effect of a bigger brain. They believe language was not selected for, in the traditional Darwinian way, but occurred because of its association with a non-language gene. It happens that the FOXP2 is not only related to speech, but also digestion. If that is the gene that allowed for speech, then speech may be a side effect of its digestive function. Another gene related to language is CNTNAP2. Disruption in this gene is associated with both Autism and specific language impairment. Neanderthal did not have this gene, which produces a neurexin-family neural growth factor. They have to do with carrying impulses in the brain across the synapse between neurons. Language may also have been a side effect of either brain development or reorganization. The ability to gather ancient DNA may, in the future, supply answers to these questions.
By Monica Bennett8 years ago in Futurism
Humans Are Chaos
All humans are inherently evil. Science has proven time and time again that humans are born with many malevolent possibilities, even though not everyone may show it. Different factors, such as the way each human is raised and the environment they grow up in are what set the moral guidelines that suppress such evil. Although not everyone acts upon the darkness within, they are all born being capable of great destruction.
By Carolyn Hannigan8 years ago in Futurism
