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Science / Human Behavior

As a child diagnosed with autism, Temple Grandin assumed that everybody thought in photo-realistic pictures.

Temple Grandin on a New Approach for Thinking About Thinking

The famed author and advocate for people with autism looks at the differences in how the human mind operates

Cave art evolved in Europe 40,000 years ago. Archaeologists reasoned the art was a sign that humans could use symbols to represent their world and themselves.

When Did the Human Mind Evolve to What It is Today?

Archaeologists are finding signs of surprisingly sophisticated behavior in the ancient fossil record

Mary and Louis Leakey

Louis Leakey: The Father of Hominid Hunting

Louis Leakey popularized the study of human evolution and sparked the search for human ancestors in Africa

Nestlé researchers prepare to discover whether consumers will like reformulated cereal.

Can Technology Save Breakfast?

Cereal companies, maligned for overprocessing, are now using the same techniques to put some nature back in the bowl

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What Really Sparked the Hindenburg Disaster?

Seventy-five years later, opinions still vary on what caused the airship to explode so suddenly

In his new book, Moral Origins, evolutionary anthropologist Christopher Boehm speculates that human morality emerged along with big game hunting.

How Humans Became Moral Beings

In a new book, anthropologist Christopher Boehm traces the steps our species went through to attain a conscience

Modern humans may have used art to maintain ties between social groups. Traveling between distant social groups may have led to better spatial reasoning, a new study suggests.

Superior Navigation Secret to Humans’ Success?

Greater spatial intelligence may have given modern humans an edge over Neanderthals, a new study proposes

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The Definition of Home

Be it ever so humble, it’s more than just a place. It’s also an idea—one where the heart is

What's going on in this guy's head? Read How to Think Like a Neanderthal to find out.

A Human Evolution Summer Reading List

As you plan for summer vacation, don’t forget to pack one of these reads on Neanderthals, human origins, new fossils or the first people in the New World

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Meat Helps Human Populations Grow

A new study links eating meat to shorter periods of nursing, allowing women to bear more children

A piece of the elbow from Australopithecus anamensis found in northern Kenya.

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

Jorge Cham is the creator of Piled Higher and Deeper, one of many popular science-themed web comics

Science Comics Rule the Web

Where do Schrödinger’s cat and lolcats collide? On the science-themed web comics that appeal to our inner nerd and inner child at the same time

An artist's reconstruction of Homo georgicus

Four Species of Homo You’ve Never Heard Of

Homo helmei is 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

Our beliefs about the morality of beaning a player with a pitch differ from our believe about other areas of life.

High and Inside: Morality and Revenge in Baseball

Does beaning in baseball represent an ethical holdover from our earlier days of family feuds and a culture of honor?

New research suggests hominids were building fire by at least one million years ago.

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

A new study suggests that a daydreaming is an indicator of a well-equipped brain

The Benefits of Daydreaming

A new study indicates that daydreamers are better at remembering information in the face of distraction

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Who Would Live on Wall Street?

In the wake of the financial crisis, New York’s financial district is getting something new: full-time residents

Wilson says our instinct to settle down both ensures our success and dooms us to conflict.

Edward O. Wilson’s New Take on Human Nature

The eminent biologist argues in a controversial new book that our Stone Age emotions are still at war with our high-tech sophistication

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How to Become the Engineers of Our Own Evolution

The “transhumanist” movement says better technology will enable you to replace more and more body parts—even your brain

Will computer servers like these be the reporters of tomorrow?

Is the Future of Journalism Computerized?

New artificial intelligence programs can analyze data sets to produce news articles that mimic the human voice

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