human evolution
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Neanderthal Genes Could Explain Why Some of Us Are Morning People
If you’re irritated by the morning people in your life, you might have Neanderthals to blame for their existence, at least a little bit. New research suggests that our hominin relatives possessed genetic variations that predisposed them to waking up early and that they passed on these genes to our Homo sapiens ancestors through interbreeding.…
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Oldest Human Footprints in North America Really Are That Old, New Dating Confirms
Fossilized human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico are every bit as old as the 23,000 years-and-change they were dated at in 2021, according to analysis published in Science. Back in 2021, researchers published work in which they used radiocarbon dating of crushed seeds of Ruppia cirrhosa, an aquatic grass, to date…
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Only 1,280 Reproductive Ancestors of Humans Once Roamed Earth, Gene Study Suggests
Humankind struggled to survive during a 100,000 year period during the early Pleistocene, according to researchers who used a computer model to discover a severe population bottleneck in our species’ ancient past. The bottleneck occurred between 813,000 years ago and 930,000 years ago, and reduced an ancestral human species to less than 1,300 breeding individuals.…
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Orangutans Got Suspiciously Close to Inventing Stone Tools in New Zoo Experiments
Captive orangutans can use stone tools without minimal direction from humans, researchers reported today. Besides an affirmation of orangutan intelligence, the finding has implications for understanding how and when stone tool use evolved in ancient human ancestors.