Homo neanderthalensis is not a species to be dismissed lightly. They weren’t especially dumb, nor especially weak. Indeed, they actually had larger brains and denser muscles than we did. On top of that, their technology was so well adapted to their environment that they were able to flourish without drastically Read more…
Is it possible to infer the intelligence of our ancestors by looking at the tools they made; or is the picture more complicated than “stupid person uses simple stone”?
One of the defining traits of humanity is conciousness or “sapience.” Arguably it’s what separates us from the beasts, so understanding its development is of prime importance when examining human evolution. To identify the origin of concious thought is to identify the very origin of humanity. However, answering such a Read more…
The social brain hypothesis suggests that our brains, specifically our neocortex, grew larger because it allowed us to remember more relationships and thus live in larger groups which gave us an evolutionary advantage. The evidence for this is rather strong, allowing us to put one piece of the puzzle firmly Read more…
By all accounts Homo neanderthalensis should’ve driven Homo sapiens extinct. They had larger brains, stronger muscles and thicker bones. Yet we are the only species of Homo alive in the world today, creating one of the most puzzling aspects of recent human evolution. How did we beat the neanderthals? Answering Read more…
One of the biggest mysteries regarding human origins is why our brains became so big (or “encephalised” in fancy shmamcy science language). Over the past ~2.5 million years our thinking organ has gradually tripled in size, but what was the advantage such growth conferred that increased our ancestor’s “fitness”? Did Read more…
Recently I examined an article that suggested we may sexually imprint on our parents and seek out mates similar to them (or at least I like to think I examined it and didn’t just waffle for 700 words). Amidst all the talk of “population homogeneity” and “assortive mating” I saw Read more…
I recently spied an article in my Google Scholar alert feed that had a rather interesting abstract. This study investigates spousal correlation and mate preference for height in the Japanese population…It also indicates a possible role of a sexual imprinting-like mechanism in human mate choice. The research found that Japanese Read more…