What’s the point of the nose?
The human nose was thought to have evolved to help cool or heat up the air as needed. New research suggests it’s actually useless, but could help us spot Neanderthal hybrids.
Monthly Archives: May 2016
Big brains drove humans to evolve faster metabolism
Humans need a lot of energy to survive. So we eat a lot of calories. However, we also evolved a faster metabolism to process those extra calories, allowing us to fuel our energetically expensive bodies.
How people evolved since the Romans
The frequency of mutations has revealed what evolved recently in British people. It turns out they’ve been getting taller, fairer skinned, and developed more of a fondness for cheese.
Creationists invent their own mutation rate!
When creationist Dr Nathaniel Jeanson attempted to provide genetic evidence for a young earth, he was forced to come up with a mutation rate 35x greater than what has been measured and published! We look at how he came up with this number and analyse the series of flawed assumptions he makes about the data obtained from those studies.
Making a Neanderthal spear the Neanderthal way
Using Neanderthal tricks, like birch tar and bark string, to make a spear the Neanderthal way.
The secret to human success is being social, not smart?
Computer models say being social and learning from one another is how humans became successful. Whether those models line up with reality is another issue.
Vagina pheromones mind-control men?
Female pheromones might have an impact on male behaviour, but rigorous research shows it’s small to non-existent. It only slightly changed male behaviour.
DNA study confirms Noah because it gets the science wrong
A creationist claim DNA supports the Noah story, but it only does so because he uses the wrong figures and data to support his conclusions.
Chimps and humans: born murderers?
Humans and chimps both become murderers disturbingly often. Does evolution hold they key to explaining why this is the case? Probably not, but some think so
Farming evolved as it leads to more death, but even more babies
Farming evolved because it increased farmers’ fertility. It also increased their mortality, but the rise in fertility was more than enough to offset this