Primates
Grandmothers Reduce Incidence of Breast Cancer?
By helping raise their grandchildren, grandmothers might have influenced the spread of certain genes, a new study suggests
May 09, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Why Do Babies Have Soft Spots?
Humans' big, fast-growing brains and unique style of walking explain why it takes so long for infant skulls to develop
May 07, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Superior Navigation Secret to Humans’ Success?
Greater spatial intelligence may have given modern humans an edge over Neanderthals, a new study proposes
May 02, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
A Human Evolution Summer Reading List
As you plan for summer vacation, don't forget to pack one of these recent reads on Neanderthals, human origins, new fossils or the first people in the New World
April 30, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Meat Helps Human Populations Grow
A new study links eating meat to shorter periods of nursing, allowing women to bear more children
April 25, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Snoozing Chimps Offer Glimpse of Hominid Sleeping Habits
Most chimpanzees build tree nests when it's time to go to bed, but some prefer sleeping on the ground; the same was probably true for early hominids
April 23, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
The Top Seven Human Evolution Discoveries in Kenya
For more than 40 years, fossil hunters in Kenya have been excavating a treasure trove of hominid fossils, including a few species found nowhere else
April 18, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
A New Aquatic Ape Theory
Wetlands and lake shores may have been important oases for early hominids, providing our ancestors with reliable food supplies and encouraging the evolution of upright walking
April 16, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Four Species of Homo You've Never Heard Of
Homo helmei is just one of several obscure species of our own genus that are represented by a few fossils that don’t fit neatly into existing hominid species
April 11, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Mrs. Ples: A Hominid with an Identity Crisis
In confirming the sex of one of the most iconic hominid fossils, researchers are helping explain the great physical diversity in Australopithecus africanus
April 09, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
The Earliest Example of Hominid Fire
New research reveals hominids were building fires one million years ago, pushing back the origins of controlled fire by more than half a million years
April 04, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
New Hominid Fossil Foot Belonged to Lucy’s Neighbor
A 3.4-million-year-old fossil foot shows that early hominids had more than one way of walking around
April 02, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Mystery of the Lost Peking Man Fossils Solved?
A new investigation of the famous fossils that went missing during World War II suggests that the bones may be buried beneath a parking lot in China
March 28, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
What Chimps Could Tell Us About How Humans Started Walking on Two Legs
A new study of chimpanzees suggests that early hominids evolved upright, two-legged walking to carry valuable resources away from competitors
March 26, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
New Hominid Species Unearthed in Chinese Caves?
Fossils discovered in China may belong to a new species of hominid or they may be evidence that modern humans were more diverse thousands of years ago
March 21, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Top Ten Hominid Fantasy Finds
You can't predict what the next major hominid discovery will be, but you can daydream about it
March 19, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Meet the Contenders for Earliest Modern Human
Scientists have several candidates for the title of earliest Homo sapiens
January 11, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Did Bigfoot Really Exist? How Gigantopithecus Became Extinct
Dental, dietary and environmental clues help explain why the world's largest ape vanished
January 09, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Why Do Humans Have Chins?
Scientists have several explanations for why modern humans are the only hominids that have chins
January 04, 2012 |
By Erin Wayman
Top 10 Hominid Discoveries of 2011
A look back at the year's most important and fascinating finds in the field of human evolution
December 28, 2011 |
By Erin Wayman
