human origins

Scientists studying fossil human footprints in New Mexico say their age implies that humans arrived in North America earlier than thought.

Science

Fossil footprints in New Mexico suggest humans have been here longer than we thought

5:00am October 07, 2023

by Alice Fordham

A new study of fossil footprints in White Sands National Park bolsters the argument that humans may have lived in North America longer than thought.

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Archaeologists dug into a riverbank in Zambia and uncovered what they call the earliest known wood construction by humans. The half-million year-old artifacts could change how we see Stone-Age people.

World's oldest wooden structure defies Stone-Age stereotypes

3:30pm September 22, 2023

by Gabriel Spitzer

Archaeologists dug into a riverbank in Zambia and uncovered what they call the earliest known wood construction by humans. The half-million year-old artifacts could change how we see Stone-Age people.

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A newborn lies in the maternity ward of the Lens hospital, northern France. A study of crying mice could help explain some building blocks of human infant cries and adult speech.

Science

What crying baby mice could teach us about human speech

6:09pm January 07, 2022

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists have found a cluster of rhythmic brain cells in newborn mice that may explain why spoken languages around the world share a common tempo.

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Here's what archaeologists think the Upward Sun River camp in what is now central Alaska looked like 11,500 years ago.

Ancient Human Remains Document Migration From Asia To America

10:47pm January 03, 2018

by Christopher Joyce

A discovery of the remains of two infants in central Alaska provides evidence of the earliest wave of people to move from Asia into the Americas.

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A chimpanzee skull, at left, and a human skull. Scientists are probing why our brains evolved so differently despite many similarities.

Human Brains Have Evolved Unique 'Feel-Good' Circuits

2:01pm November 23, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

A comparison of brain tissue from monkeys, chimps and humans suggests that our brains produce the chemical messenger dopamine, which plays a major role in pleasure and rewards, far differently.

Chew On This: Slicing Meat Helped Shape Modern Humans

6:00pm March 09, 2016

Long before cooking was common, early humans needed extra energy to fuel bigger bodies and brains. Scientists say simple stone cutting tools likely allowed small-toothed meat eaters to thrive.

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Farming helped fuel the rise of civilizations, but it may also have given us less robust bones.

When Humans Quit Hunting And Gathering, Their Bones Got Wimpy

1:17am February 05, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Humans have lighter bones than other primates, and that change happened a lot later than anthropologists had thought. Blame our sedentary ways after our ancestors took up farming.

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