Genus of hominin ancestral to modern humans
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Jak si starší ročníky pamatují ze školy, vývoj člověka byl velmi lineární: opice, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, neandertálci a pak my. Jak ale ukazují moderní výzkumy, ve skutečnosti se po Zeměkouli pohybovalo mnoho odnoží a variant našich dávných předků. Jak to s vývojem člověka bylo, popisuje v knize Svět na počátku evoluční antropolog Tom Higham, který se výzkumem našich předků sám zabývá.
Jak si starší ročníky pamatují ze školy, vývoj člověka byl velmi lineární: opice, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, neandertálci a pak my. Jak ale ukazují moderní výzkumy, ve skutečnosti se po Zeměkouli pohybovalo mnoho odnoží a variant našich dávných předků. Jak to s vývojem člověka bylo, popisuje v knize Svět na počátku evoluční antropolog Tom Higham, který se výzkumem našich předků sám zabývá. Všechny díly podcastu Ex libris můžete pohodlně poslouchat v mobilní aplikaci mujRozhlas pro Android a iOS nebo na webu mujRozhlas.cz.
******Support the channel******Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenterPayPal: paypal.me/thedissenterPayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuyPayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9lPayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpzPayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9mPayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ******Follow me on******Website: https://www.thedissenter.net/The Dissenter Goodreads list: https://shorturl.at/7BMoBFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/Twitter: https://x.com/TheDissenterYT This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here: http://enlites.com/ Dr. Donald Johanson is the Virginia M Ullman Chair in Human Origins in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the Founding Director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. For the past 30 years, he has conducted field and laboratory research in paleoanthropology. Most notably, he discovered the 3.18-million-year-old hominid skeleton popularly known as "Lucy." Dr. Johanson has carried out field research in Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Tanzania. In this episode, we first talk about the discovery of Lucy's fossil remains, what we know about Australopithecus afarensis, and how it relates to other hominin species. We then talk about Homo habilis. We also discuss what was the first species of the Homo genus, and questions to be answered in paleoanthropology in the near future.--A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, BERNARDO SEIXAS, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, GEORGE CHORIATIS, VALENTIN STEINMANN, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, LUCY, MANVIR SINGH, PETRA WEIMANN, CAROLA FEEST, MAURO JÚNIOR, 航 豊川, TONY BARRETT, NIKOLAI VISHNEVSKY, STEVEN GANGESTAD, TED FARRIS, ROBINROSWELL, AND KEITH RICHARDSON!A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, TOM VANEGDOM, BERNARD HUGUENEY, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, JONCARLO MONTENEGRO, NICK GOLDEN, CHRISTINE GLASS, IGOR NIKIFOROVSKI, PER KRAULIS, AND BENJAMIN GELBART!AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MATTHEW LAVENDER, SERGIU CODREANU, ROSEY, AND GREGORY HASTINGS!
Scientists have identified three genes that may have played an important part in a major development in human evolution.科学家已经确定了三个可能在人类进化的重大发展中起重要作用的基因。The genes are being linked to the increase in brain size that took place in ancestors of human beings. This increase led to the development of mental abilities that define what it means to be human.这些基因与人类祖先发生的大脑大小的增加有关。 这种增长导致了定义人类含义的心理能力的发展。Researchers published two reports on their observations of the genes in the publication Cell in late May.研究人员发表了两份有关他们对5月下旬出版物细胞基因的观察的报告。The researchers believe the genes first appeared between three and four million years ago. This was just before a period in the fossil record that shows a major brain enlargement in the species from which humans evolved.研究人员认为，这些基因首次出现在三到四百万年前。 这是在化石记录中的一段时间之前，显示了人类进化的物种中的大脑肿大。The three genes share almost the exact same qualities. Along with a fourth one that seems to serve no purpose, they are called NOTCH2NL genes. They came from a gene family believed to have developed hundreds of millions of years ago. They are also important in the development of embryos.这三个基因几乎具有完全相同的品质。 除了似乎没有目的的第四个外，它们被称为Notch2nl基因。 他们来自一个据信基因家族，该家族已经发展了数亿年。 它们在胚胎的发展中也很重要。The NOTCH2NL genes are especially active in the collection of nerve stem cells in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the outer part of the brain responsible for the highest mental processes. These include language, memory and reasoning.Notch2nl基因在大脑皮层中神经干细胞的收集中特别活跃。 大脑皮层是负责最高心理过程的大脑外部部分。 这些包括语言，记忆和推理。The genes were found to slow the development of stem cells in the cerebral cortex into neurons in the embryo. The researchers say this delay leads to the production of a higher number of more developed nerve cells in this area of the brain.发现这些基因会减慢脑皮质中干细胞在胚胎中神经元中的发育。 研究人员说，这种延迟会导致在大脑该区域中产生更高数量的发达神经细胞。Pierre Vanderhaeghen is a developmental neurobiologist at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. He told the Reuters news service that, in large part, the cerebral cortex is responsible for what defines humans as a species and as individuals.Pierre Vanderhaeghen是比利时的Libre de Bruxelles大学的发展神经生物学家。 他告诉路透社新闻服务，在很大程度上，大脑皮层造成了将人类定义为一种物种和个人的原因。“Understanding how it emerged in evolution is a fascinating question, touching at the basic origins of mankind,” said Vanderhaeghen.范德海格说：“了解它在进化中的出现是一个令人着迷的问题，它触及了人类的基本起源。”David Haussler is a biomolecular engineer and the scientific director of the University of California, Santa Cruz Genomics Institute. He added that it is “the ultimate evolutionary question” and a very interesting area of research in which to work.戴维·豪斯勒（David Haussler）是一位生物分子工程师，也是加利福尼亚大学圣克鲁斯基因组学院的科学主任。 他补充说，这是“最终的进化问题”，也是一个非常有趣的研究领域。The species Australopithecus afarensis is an ancestor of humans that combined both ape-like and human-like qualities. The well-known fossil named “Lucy,” discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, was a member of that species. Lucy lived in Africa at about the time these genes are believed to have appeared.Australopithecus Afarensis是人类的祖先，它们既结合了猿类样和类人的品质。 著名的化石名为“露西”，于1974年在埃塞俄比亚发现，是该物种的成员。 露西大约在这些基因出现的时候就住在非洲。Sofie Salama is a UC-Santa Cruz biomolecular engineering research scientist. She said it would be great if it were possible to record the complete order of all of Lucy's genetic material, her DNA. But she noted that it would be nearly impossible.Sofie Salama是UC-Santa Cruz生物分子工程研究科学家。 她说，如果有可能记录露西所有遗传材料，她的DNA的完整顺序，那就太好了。 但是她指出，这几乎是不可能的。FILE PHOTO: Students attend a lecture in the auditorium of a university in Munich, Germany, May 25, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela RehleThe NOTCH2NL genes are not present in the closest genetic relatives to human beings. None were found in monkeys or orangutans.Notch2nl基因不存在于最接近人类的遗传亲属中。 在猴子或猩猩中没有发现。However, Reuters reports that the researchers did find the genes in the remains of two human ancestor species: Neanderthals and Denisovans.但是，路透社报道说，研究人员确实在两个人类祖先物种的遗迹中找到了基因：尼安德特人和丹尼索凡夫人。NOTCH2NL gene abnormalities were found to be connected problems that affect the brain. These include autism, schizophrenia and both unusually large and unusually small head size.发现Notch2nl基因异常是影响大脑的问题。 这些包括自闭症，精神分裂症以及头部大小异常大且异常小。
Who are the “Redshift Wranglers” and what can they tell us about the evolution of our universe? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back astrophysics PhD candidate Sadie Coffin from the Rochester Institute of Technology whose focus is galactic evolution, and in particular, the spectroscopy of galaxies and their lights. As always, though, we start off with the day's joyfully cool cosmic thing: the Lucy spacecraft fly-by of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, which was named after the American paleoanthropologist who discovered the Australopithecus afarensis “Lucy” fossil the spacecraft was named after. Then it's time to learn a little about Sadie, who explains how questioning the unknown is what drove her to study astronomy. Chuck, Allen and Sadie talk about the awe embodied in the study of the universe and the universe itself. Like Chuck, Sadie studies galaxy evolution, but Sadie focuses on a galaxy's light, spread into spectra, and dissecting different features in that light. You'll hear about the citizen science project called “Red Shift Wranglers” that helps Sadie sift through all the spectroscopic data, and get an awesome explanation of the doppler effect and the way red shift, which measures speed, can be used to help build better maps of galactic evolution. Find out how you can get involved with the project and join the ranks of the 3,500 Redshift Wranglers who've participated so far in “Wrangling galaxies and the universe together.” (See below for links.) You'll also hear about other citizen science projects on Zooniverse like Galaxy Zoo. Sadie talks about the value of non-experts engaging with experts in a community, and the surprising number of people who want to get involved. For our first audience question, Nina asks, “If nothing can go faster than the speed of light, why can galaxies have Z greater than 1?” Sadie's explanation gets pretty technical, so we'll let her do it in the episode. Our next question comes from Jerry, who asks, “Will we someday no longer need scientists and have AI do all our research?” Sadie, who gets similar questions all the time relative to citizen science, believes these two things can be complimentary, and that in the name of improving science we can't forgo either for the other. We finish with a discussion about what defines an act of science and a work of art, the process of questioning, and the roles of humans and machines in these processes. Plus, Sadie tells us about the science-themed travel posters by Dr. Tyler Nordgren on her walls. Chuck also gets Sadie to talk about rowing and the lessons she's taken from the sport into other aspects of her life and journey as a scientist. If you'd like to know more about the Redshift Wrangler project on The Zooniverse and get involved, or to reach Sadie, visit https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/jeyhansk/redshift-wrangler or find Redshift Wrangler on Facebook and X (Twitter). Listen to the COSMOS project episode referenced in this show with Dr. Jeyhan Kartaltepe, an astronomer and professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Watch Sadie's previous appearance in this short video shot at the COSMOS Team Meeting 2023. We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Credits for Images Used in this Episode: The inner Solar System, with the Jupiter Trojan asteroids shown in green. – Credit: Mdf at Wikipedia/Public Domain. Lucy skeleton (AL 288-1) Australopithecus afarensis, cast from Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris. – Credit: Creative Commons. Absorption lines in the optical spectrum of a supercluster of distant galaxies (BAS11) (right), as compared to those in the optical spectrum of the Sun (left). Arrows indicating Redshift. – Credit: Creative Commons / Georg Wiora (Dr. Schorsch) created this image from the original JPG. Derivative work:Kes47. Color composite JWST NIRCam image of distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-0. – Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), L. Hustak (STScI). Science: B. Robertson (UCSC), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), E. Curtis-Lake (Hertfordshire), S. Carniani (Scuola Normale Superiore), and the JADES Collaboration. Dr Tyler Nordgren's VLA NRAO travel poster – Credit: NRAO/Tyler Nordgren. #liuniverse #charlesliu #allenliu #sciencepodcast #astronomypodcast #sadiecoffin #redshiftwranglers #citizenscience #zooniverse #galaxyzoo #spectra #dopplereffect #redshift #galaxyevolution #tylernordgren #jeyhankartaltepe
Human predecessors may have survived long enough to evolve into bigger-brained creatures not by…
Human predecessors may have survived long enough to evolve into bigger-brained creatures not by eating meat, but by being flexible about what they ate. For you kids keeping score at...
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2025 is: elucidate • ih-LOO-suh-dayt • verb To elucidate something is to make it clear or easy to understand. // The writer elucidates complex medical findings for a general audience. See the entry > Examples: “Building flexible classrooms gives the building a lifespan beyond one class or even one era of pedagogy, which, as [Lee] Fertig elucidates, are sure to evolve.” — Maya Chawla, Architectural Digest, 25 Sep. 2024 Did you know? In 1974, the discovery of a remarkably intact Australopithecus skeleton elucidated a key moment in human evolution. She was famously nicknamed Lucy in reference to the Beatles' “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” but we'd still love Lucy were it simply an homage to the light she shed. You see, the Latin luc- or lux puts the “light” in many English utterances (including the name Lucy). Take, for instance, lucent (“glowing with light”), luculent (“clear in thought or expression”), luciferous (“bringing light or insight”), lucid (“clear, sane, intelligible”), and elucidate (“to make clear or understandable”). Those last two words come from the Latin lucidus, which literally translates to “lucid.” Lucidus, in turn, comes from the verb lucēre, meaning “to shine.” Elucidating, therefore, can be thought of as the figurative equivalent of shining a light on something to make it easier to see.
One hundred years ago, a paper was published in the journal Nature that would radically shift our understandings of the origins of humanity. It described a fossil, found in a lime mine in Taung in South Africa, which became known as the Taung child skull. The paper's author, an Australian-born anatomist called Raymond Dart, argued that the fossil was a new species of hominin called Australopithecus africanus. It was the first evidence that humanity originated in Africa. In this episode, we talk to science historian Christa Kuljian about Dart's complicated legacy and to paleoanthropologist Dipuo Kgotleng about what's happened to the city of Taung itself, and how paleoanthropology has changed over the last century. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was presented by Gemma Ware and written and produced by Katie Flood with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.How old are South African fossils like the Taung Child? New study offers an answerThe fossil skull that rocked the world – 100 years later scientists are grappling with the Taung find's complex colonial legacy
Scientists determined that Lucy, a human ancestor from 3.2 million years ago, couldn't have beaten modern humans in a foot race. Also, the Chinese AI company DeepSeek startled industry observers with an efficient new system. But how does it compare with the leading tech?How Lucy, Our Famous Ancestor, Runs On A Virtual TreadmillLucy is one of the most famous fossils—an Australopithecus afarensis who lived about 3.2 million years ago. Her skeleton is about 40% complete, and has been studied since its discovery in 1974. In a quest to learn more about what Lucy's life may have looked like, scientists estimated what her leg and pelvic muscles were like based on her skeleton. They then put her on a treadmill—virtually, of course.The findings? Lucy was likely not a natural runner, and the modern human body evolved for improved running performance. Host Flora Lichtman talks to Producer Kathleen Davis about these findings, and other news of the week.Flora also speaks to Anil Oza, a Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow at STAT and MIT, about the latest news on the Trump administration taking down scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control website for mentioning topics like gender, DEI and accessibility. They also discuss the National Institutes of Health resuming grant reviews after two weeks of restrictions imposed by the president.How DeepSeek's AI Compares To Established ModelsThe Chinese company DeepSeek recently startled AI industry observers with its DeepSeek-R1 artificial intelligence model, which performed as well or better than leading systems at a lower cost. The DeepSeek product apparently requires less human input to train, and less energy in parts of its processing—though experts said it remained to be seen if the new model would actually consume less energy overall.Will Douglas Heaven, senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review, joins Host Ira Flatow to explain the ins and outs of the new DeepSeek systems, how they compare to existing AI products, and what might lie ahead in the field of artificial intelligence.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.
First up this week, growing numbers of Valley fever cases, also known as coccidioidomycosis, has researchers looking into the disease-causing fungus. They're exploring its links to everything from drought and wildfires to climate change and rodent populations. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her visit to a Valley fever research site in the desert near Bakersfield, California, where researchers are sampling air and soil for the elusive fungus. Next up, scientists are trying to pin down when meat eating became a habit for human ancestors. It's long been hypothesized that eating meat drove big changes in our family tree—such as bigger brains and more upright posture. Tina Lüdecke, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and honorary research fellow at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, investigated the diet of our ancient hominin relatives Australopithecus. Her team used nitrogen isotope ratios from the tooth enamel in seven Australopithecus individuals in South Africa to determine what predominated in their diets at the time—meat or veg. This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zulg8oo
New types of snake-bite anti-venoms are designed by AI. Also, how much meat did human ancestors eat? How the Baltic Nord Stream gas pipeline rupture of 2022 was the biggest single release of methane ever caused by humans, and that Pluto met Charon, not with a bang, but more of a kiss.Using a high precision technique for spotting different isotopes of Nitrogen, Tina Lüdecke of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has concluded that a group of early hominin Australopithecus living in South Africa were predominantly vegetarian, putting the date that human ancestors started eating meat (and thence growing bigger brains) to more recently. The technique, she thinks, can enlighten prehistoric food webs and ecologies from millions of years ago.Last year's Nobel prizes showed the potential new techniques of AI to design synthetic proteins. Timothy P Jenkins and colleagues decided to try designing treatments for snakebite venoms, with remarkable apparent success. It could save many thousands of lives a year.Since the September 2022 explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic sea, many different analyses of how much methane was released have provided a variety of estimates. This week, scientists at the UNEP International Methane emissions observatory – including Stephen Harris - published a study estimating it to be a little under half a million tonnes, making it by far the single biggest human caused release of this most dangerous greenhouse gas. Yet, they say, even that is a tiny fraction of what is released overall around the world every year. And Finally, a new analysis of the original formation of the Pluto-Charon binary Dwarf Planetary system suggests they – and possibly many other Kuiper belt pairing – were born of a gentle astronomical dance and a peck on the cheek, rather than the catastrophic collision we associate with the earth-moon's fiery first date. And it may have lasted just a matter of days, according to author Adeene Denton of the University of Arizona.Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth(Photo: Gorilla feeding. Credit: WLDavies/Getty Images)
First up this week, growing numbers of Valley fever cases, also known as coccidioidomycosis, has researchers looking into the disease-causing fungus. They're exploring its links to everything from drought and wildfires to climate change and rodent populations. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her visit to a Valley fever research site in the desert near Bakersfield, California, where researchers are sampling air and soil for the elusive fungus. Next up, scientists are trying to pin down when meat eating became a habit for human ancestors. It's long been hypothesized that eating meat drove big changes in our family tree—such as bigger brains and more upright posture. Tina Lüdecke, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and honorary research fellow at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, investigated the diet of our ancient hominin relatives Australopithecus. Her team used nitrogen isotope ratios from the tooth enamel in seven Australopithecus individuals in South Africa to determine what predominated in their diets at the time—meat or veg. This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zulg8oo
In this episode of the Nature Podcast, we catch up on some science stories from the holiday period by diving into the Nature Briefing.00:53 The retraction of a controversial COVID study that promoted unproven treatmentA much-critiqued study demonstrating the now-disproven idea that hydroxychloroquine can treat COVID-19 has been retracted — more than four-and-a-half years after it was published.Nature: Controversial COVID study that promoted unproven treatment retracted after four-year saga09:10 The skin's unexpected immune systemResearchers have discovered that healthy skin — once thought to be a passive barrier — can actually produce antibodies that fight off infections. It's hoped that the finding could one day lead to the development of needle-free vaccines that can be applied to the skin.Nature: The skin's ‘surprise' power: it has its very own immune system13:02 Researchers fear Europa's icy crust may be much thicker than thoughtNew estimates, based on data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft, suggest that the ice on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa may be significantly thicker than previously thought. If these estimates prove accurate it could reduce the chances of Europa being habitable for extraterrestrial life.Science: Surprisingly thick ice on Jupiter's moon Europa complicates hunt for life20:11 Modelling the running prowess of our ancient relatives3D computer simulations of Australopithecus afarensis — an ancient hominin that lived more than three million years ago — reveals that while our relatives could run on two legs, they likely did so at a far slower pace than modern humans.Nature: Humans evolved for distance running — but ancestor ‘Lucy' didn't go far or fastSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On November 24, 1974—50 years ago this November—a pair of paleoanthropologists made the discovery of a lifetime: a set of 47 bones, hidden in the dusty, rocky hills of a fossil site in Hadar, Ethiopia. The skeleton belonged to a 3.2 million year old hominin, which came to be nicknamed Lucy.She marked the very first specimen of Australopithecus afarensis—a species of early hominins that were very likely our own ancestors. Lucy might be the most famous fossil in the world, and she's transformed our understanding of human evolution.SciFri's Kathleen Davis looks back at 50 years of Lucy with the people who know her best: Dr. Donald Johanson, founding director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and the paleo legend who discovered her, as well as Dr. Zeray Alemseged, paleoanthropologist at the University of Chicago who discovered “Lucy's baby.” They discuss what Lucy has taught us in the last 50 years, why she remains a scientific icon, and how understanding our ancestral origins helps us understand humanity.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.
Being Bipedal was a key step in becoming human. Many of our other abilities, and liabilities, began with bipedalism. On this episode:When bipedalism?Why bipedalism?We dispell some myths and establish some likelihoods about this uhique and pleuripotent trait.See the video of this episode here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZa3WwVyNeo&t=390sBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
* List of Discoveries Squeezing Evolution: Did you know that dinosaurs ate rice before rice evolved? That turtle shells existed forty million years before turtle shells began evolving? That insects evolved tongues for eating from flowers 70 million years before flowers evolved? And that birds appeared before birds evolved? The fossil record is a wonderful thing. And more recently, only a 40,000-year squeeze, Neanderthal had blood types A, B, and O, shocking evolutionists but expected to us here at Real Science Radio! Sit back and get ready to enjoy another instant classic, today's RSR "list show" on Evolution's Big Squeeze! Our other popular list shows include: - scientists doubting Darwin - evidence against whale evolution - problems with 'the river carved the canyon' - carbon 14 everywhere it shouldn't be - dinosaur still-soft biological tissue - solar system formation problems - evidence against the big bang - evidence for the global flood - genomes that just don't fit - and our list of not so old things! (See also rsr.org/sq2 and rsr.org/sq3!) * Evolution's Big Squeeze: Many discoveries squeeze the Darwinian theory's timeframe and of course without a workable timeframe there is no workable theory. Examples, with their alleged (and falsified) old-earth timeframes, include: - Complex skeletons existed 9 million years before they were thought to have evolved, before even the "Cambrian explosion".- Butterflies existed 10 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Parrots existed "much earlier than had been thought", in fact, 25 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Cephalopod fossils (squids, cuttlefish, etc.) appear 35 million years before they were able to propagate. - Turtle shells 40 million years before turtle shells began evolving - Trees began evolving 45 million years before they were thought to evolve - Spores appearing 50 million years before the plants that made them (not unlike footprints systematically appearing "millions of years before" the creatures that made them, as affirmed by Dr. Marcus Ross, associate professor of geology). - Sponges existed 60 million years before they were believed to have evolved. - Dinosaurs ate rice before it evolved Example - Insect proboscis (tongue) in moths and butterflies 70 million years before previously believed has them evolving before flowers. - Arthropod brains fully developed with central nervous system running to eyes and appendages just like modern arthropods 90 million years earlier than previously known (prior to 2021, now, allegedly 310mya) - 100 million years ago and already a bird - Fossil pollen pushes back plant evolution 100 million years. - Mammalian hair allegedly 100-million-years-old show that, "the morphology of hair cuticula may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution", regarding the overlapping cells that lock the hair shaft into its follicle. - Piranha-like flesh-eating teeth (and bitten prey) found pushing back such fish 125 million years earlier than previously claimed - Shocking organic molecules in "200 million-years-old leaves" from ginkgoes and conifers show unexpected stasis. - Plant genetic sophistication pushed back 200 million years. - Jellyfish fossils (Medusoid Problematica :) 200 million years earlier than expected; here from 500My ago. - Green seaweed 200 million years earlier than expected, pushed back now to a billion years ago! - The acanthodii fish had color vision 300 million years ago, but then, and wait, Cheiracanthus fish allegedly 388 million years ago already had color vision. - Color vision (for which there is no Darwinian evolutionary small-step to be had, from monochromatic), existed "300 million years ago" in fish, and these allegedly "120-million-year-old" bird's rod and cone fossils stun researchers :) - 400-million-year-old Murrindalaspis placoderm fish "eye muscle attachment, the eyestalk attachment and openings for the optic nerve, and arteries and veins supplying the eyeball" The paper's author writes, "Of course, we would not expect the preservation of ancient structures made entirely of soft tissues (e.g. rods and cone cells in the retina...)." So, check this next item... :) - And... no vertebrates in the Cambrian? Well, from the journal Nature in 2014, a "Lower-Middle Cambrian... primitive fish displays unambiguous vertebrate features: a notochord, a pair of prominent camera-type eyes, paired nasal sacs, possible cranium and arcualia, W-shaped myomeres, and a post-anal tail" Primitive? - Fast-growing juvenile bone tissue, thought to appear in the Cretaceous, has been pushed back 100 million years: "This pushes the origin of fibrolamellar bone in Sauropterygia back from the Cretaceous to the early Middle Triassic..."- Trilobites "advanced" (not the predicted primitive) digestion "525 million" years ago - And there's this, a "530 million year old" fish, "50 million years before the current estimate of when fish evolved" - Mycobacterium tuberculosis 100,000 yr-old MRCA (most recent common ancestor) now 245 million- Fungus long claimed to originate 500M years ago, now found at allegedly 950 Mya (and still biological "the distant past... may have been much more 'modern' than we thought." :) - A rock contained pollen a billion years before plants evolved, according to a 2007 paper describing "remarkably preserved" fossil spores in the French Alps that had undergone high-grade metamorphism - 2.5 billion year old cyanobacteria fossils (made of organic material found in a stromatolite) appear about "200 million years before the [supposed] Great Oxidation Event". - 2.7 billion year old eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) existed (allegedly) 1 billion years before expected - 3.5 billion year "cell division evidently identical to that of living filamentous prokaryotes." - And even older cyanobacteria! At 220 million years earlier than thought, per Nature's 3.7 billion year old dating of stromatolites! - The universe and life itself (in 2019 with the universe dated a billion, now, no, wait, two billion!, years younger than previously thought, that's not only squeezing biological but also astronomical evolution, with the overall story getting really tight) - Mantis shrimp, with its rudimentary color but advanced UV vision, is allegedly ancient. - Hadrosaur teeth, all 1400 of them, were "more complex than those of cows, horses, and other well-known modern grazers." Professor stunned by the find! (RSR predicts that, by 2030 just to put an end date on it, more fossils will be found from the geologic column that will be more "advanced" as compared to living organisms, just like this hadrosaur and like the allegedly 100M year old hagfish fossil having more slime glands than living specimens.) - Trace fossils "exquisitely preserved" of mobile organisms (motility) dated at 2.1 billion years ago, a full 1.5 billion earlier than previously believed - Various multicellular organisms allegedly 2.1 billion years old, show multicellularity 1.5 billion years sooner than long believed - Pre-sauropod 26,000-pound dinosaur "shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth." - The Evo-devo squeeze, i.e., evolutionary developmental biology, as with rsr.org/evo-devo-undermining-darwinism. - Extinct Siberian one-horned rhinos coexisted with mankind. - Whale "evolution" is being crushed in the industry-wide "big squeeze". First, geneticist claims whales evolved from hippos but paleontologists say hippos evolved tens of millions of years too late! And what's worse than that is that fossil finds continue to compress the time available for whale evolution. To not violate its own plot, the Darwinist story doesn't start animals evolving back into the sea until the cast includes land animals suitable to undertake the legendary journey. The recent excavation of whale fossils on an island of the Antarctic Peninsula further compresses the already absurdly fast 10 million years to allegedly evolve from the land back to the sea, down to as little as one million years. BioOne in 2016 reported a fossil that is "among the oldest occurrences of basilosaurids worldwide, indicating a rapid radiation and dispersal of this group since at least the early middle Eocene." By this assessment, various techniques produced various published dates. (See the evidence that falsifies the canonical whale evolution story at rsr.org/whales.) * Ancient Hierarchical Insect Society: "Thanks to some well-preserved remains, researchers now believe arthropod social structures have been around longer than anyone ever imagined. The encased specimens of ants and termites recently studied date back [allegedly] 100 million years." Also from the video about "the bubonic plague", the "disease is well known as a Middle Ages mass killer... Traces of very similar bacteria were found on [an allegedly] 20-million-year-old flea trapped in amber." And regarding "Caribbean lizards... Even though they are [allegedly] 20 million years old, the reptiles inside the golden stones were not found to differ from their contemporary counterparts in any significant way. Scientists attribute the rarity [Ha! A rarity or the rule? Check out rsr.org/stasis.] to stable ecological surroundings." * Squeezing and Rewriting Human History: Some squeezing simply makes aspects of the Darwinian story harder to maintain while other squeezing contradicts fundamental claims. So consider the following discoveries, most of which came from about a 12-month period beginning in 2017 which squeeze (and some even falsify) the Out-of-Africa model: - find two teeth and rewrite human history with allegedly 9.7 million-year-old teeth found in northern Europe (and they're like Lucy, but "three times older") - date blue eyes, when humans first sported them, to as recently as 6,000 years ago - get mummy DNA and rewrite human history with a thousand years of ancient Egyptian mummy DNA contradicting Out-of-Africa and demonstrating Out-of-Babel - find a few footprints and rewrite human history with allegedly 5.7 million-year-old human footprints in Crete - re-date an old skull and rewrite human history with a very human skull dated at 325,000 years old and redated in the Journal of Physical Anthropology at about 260,000 years old and described in the UK's Independent, "A skull found in China [40 years ago] could re-write our entire understanding of human evolution." - date the oldest language in India, Dravidian, with 80 derivatives spoken by 214 million people, which appeared on the subcontinent only about 4,500 years ago, which means that there is no evidence for human language for nearly 99% of the time that humans were living in Asia. (Ha! See rsr.org/origin-of-language for the correct explanation.) - sequence a baby's genome and rewrite human history with a 6-week old girl buried in Alaska allegedly 11,500 years ago challenging the established history of the New World. (The family buried this baby girl just beneath their home like the practice in ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrews who sojourned in Egypt, and in Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey, one of the world's most ancient settlements.) - or was that 130,000? years ago as the journal Nature rewrites human history with a wild date for New World site - and find a jawbone and rewrite human history with a modern looking yet allegedly 180,000-year-old jawbone from Israel which "may rewrite the early migration story of our species" by about 100,000 years, per the journal Science - re-date a primate and lose yet another "missing link" between "Lucy" and humans, as Homo naledi sheds a couple million years off its age and drops from supposedly two million years old to (still allegedly) about 250,000 years old, far too "young" to be the allegedly missing link - re-analysis of the "best candidate" for the most recent ancestor to human beings, Australopithecus sediba, turns out to be a juvenile Lucy-like ape, as Science magazine reports work presented at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2017 annual meeting - find skulls in Morocco and "rewrite human history" admits the journal Nature, falsifying also the "East Africa" part of the canonical story - and from the You Can't Make This Stuff Up file, NPR reports in April 2019, Ancient Bones And Teeth Found In A Philippine Cave May Rewrite Human History. :) - Meanwhile, whereas every new discovery requires the materialists to rewrite human history, no one has had to rewrite Genesis, not even once. Yet, "We're not claiming that the Bible is a science textbook. Not at all. For the textbooks have to be rewritten all the time!" - And even this from Science: "humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought."- RSR's Enyart commented on the Smithsonian's 2019 article on ancient DNA possibly deconstructing old myths... This Smithsonian article about an ancient DNA paper in Science Advances, or actually, about the misuse of such papers, was itself a misuse. The published research, Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines, confirmed Amos 9:7 by documenting the European origin of the biblical Philistines who came from the island of Caphtor/Crete. The mainstream media completely obscured this astounding aspect of the study but the Smithsonian actually stood the paper on its head. [See also rsr.org/archaeology.]* Also Squeezing Darwin's Theory: - Evolution happens so slowly that we can't see it, yet - it happens so fast that millions of mutations get fixed in a blink of geologic time AND: - Observing a million species annually should show us a million years of evolution, but it doesn't, yet - evolution happens so fast that the billions of "intermediary" fossils are missing AND: - Waiting for helpful random mutations to show up explains the slowness of evolution, yet - adaption to changing environments is often immediate, as with Darwin's finches Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. So Darwin's finches could diversify in just 17 years, and after 2.3 million more years, what had they evolved into? Finches! Hear this also at rsr.org/lee-spetner and see Jean Lightner's review of the Grants' 40 Years. AND: - Fossils of modern organisms are found "earlier" and "earlier" in the geologic column, and - the "oldest" organisms are increasingly found to have anatomical, proteinaceous, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic sophistication and similarity to "modern" organisms AND: - Small populations are in danger of extinction (yet they're needed to fix mutations), whereas - large populations make it impossible for a mutation to become standard AND: - Mutations that express changes too late in an organism's development can't effect its fundamental body plan, and - mutations expressed too early in an organism's development are fatal (hence among the Enyart sayings, "Like evolving a vital organ, most major hurdles for evolutionary theory are extinction-level events.") AND: - To evolve flight, you'd get bad legs - long before you'd get good wings AND: - Most major evolutionary hurdles appear to be extinction-level events- yet somehow even *vital* organs evolve (for many species, that includes reproductive organs, skin, brain, heart, circulatory system, kidney, liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, lungs -- which are only a part of the complex respiration system) AND: - Natural selection of randomly taller, swifter, etc., fish, mammals, etc. explains evolution yet - development of microscopic molecular machines, feedback mechanisms, etc., which power biology would be oblivous to what's happening in Darwin's macro environment of the entire organism AND: - Neo-Darwinism suggests genetic mutation as the engine of evolution yet - the there is not even a hypothesis for modifying the vast non-genetic information in every living cell including the sugar code, electrical code, the spatial (geometric) code, and the epigenetic code AND: - Constant appeals to "convergent" evolution (repeatedly arising vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, etc.) - undermine most Darwinian anatomical classification especially those based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. AND: - Claims that given a single species arising by abiogenesis, then - Darwinism can explain the diversification of life, ignores the science of ecology and the (often redundant) biological services that species rely upon AND: - humans' vastly superior intelligence indicates, as bragged about for decades by Darwinists, that ape hominids should have the greatest animal intelligence, except that - many so-called "primitive" creatures and those far distant on Darwin's tee of life, exhibit extraordinary rsr.org/animal-intelligence even to processing stimuli that some groups of apes cannot AND: - Claims that the tree of life emerges from a single (or a few) common ancestors - conflict with the discoveries of multiple genetic codes and of thousands of orphan genes that have no similarity (homology) to any other known genes AND (as in the New Scientist cover story, "Darwin Was Wrong about the tree of life", etc.): - DNA sequences have contradicted anatomy-based ancestry claims - Fossil-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by RNA claims - DNA-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by anatomy claims - Protein-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by fossil claims. - And the reverse problem compared to a squeeze. Like finding the largest mall in America built to house just a kid's lemonade stand, see rsr.org/200 for the astounding lack of genetic diversity in humans, plants, and animals, so much so that it could all be accounted for in just about 200 generations! - The multiplied things that evolved multiple times - Etc. * List of Ways Darwinists Invent their Tree of Life, aka Pop Goes the Weasle – Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes: Evolutionists change their selection of what evidence they use to show 'lineage', from DNA to fossils to genes to body plans to teeth to many specific anatomical features to proteins to behavior to developmental similarities to habitat to RNA, etc. and to a combination of such. Darwinism is an entire endeavor based on selection bias, a kind of logical fallacy. By anti-science they arbitrarily select evidence that best matches whichever evolutionary story is currently preferred." -Bob E. The methodology used to create the family tree edifice to show evolutionary relationships classifies the descent of organisms based on such attributes as odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Really? If something as wildly sophisticated as vision allegedly evolved multiple times (a dozen or more), then for cryin' out loud, why couldn't something as relatively simple as odd or even toes repeatedly evolve? How about dinosaur's evolving eggs with hard shells? Turns out that "hard-shelled eggs evolved at least three times independently in dinosaurs" (Nature, 2020). However, whether a genus has an odd or even number of toes, and similar distinctions, form the basis for the 150-year-old Darwinist methodology. Yet its leading proponents still haven't acknowledged that their tree building is arbitrary and invalid. Darwin's tree recently fell anyway, and regardless, it has been known to be even theoretically invalid all these many decades. Consider also bipedalism? In their false paradigm, couldn't that evolve twice? How about vertebrate and non-vertebrates, for that matter, evolving multiple times? Etc., etc., etc. Darwinists determine evolutionary family-tree taxonomic relationships based on numbers of toes, when desired, or on hips (distinguishing, for example, dinosaur orders, until they didn't) or limb bones, or feathers, or genes, or fossil sequence, or neck bone, or..., or..., or... Etc. So the platypus, for example, can be described as evolving from pretty much whatever story would be in vogue at the moment... * "Ancient" Protein as Advanced as Modern Protein: A book review in the journal Science states, "the major conclusion is reached that 'analyses made of the oldest fossils thus far studied do not suggest that their [allegedly 145-million year-old] proteins were chemically any simpler than those now being produced.'" 1972, Biochemistry of Animal Fossils, p. 125 * "Ancient" Lampreys Just Modern Lampreys with Decomposed Brain and Mouth Parts: Ha! Researches spent half-a-year documenting how fish decay. RSR is so glad they did! One of the lessons learned? "[C]ertain parts of the brain and the mouth that distinguish the animals from earlier relatives begin a rapid decay within 24 hours..." :) * 140-million Year Old Spider Web: The BBC and National Geographic report on a 140-million year old spider web in amber which, as young-earth creationists expect, shows threads that resemble silk spun by modern spiders. Evolutionary scientists on the otherhand express surprise "that spider webs have stayed the same for 140 million years." And see the BBC. * Highly-Credentialed Though Non-Paleontologist on Flowers: Dr. Harry Levin who spent the last 15 years of a brilliant career researching paleontology presents much evidence that flowering plants had to originate not 150 million years ago but more than 300 million years ago. (To convert that to an actual historical timeframe, the evidence indicates flowers must have existed prior to the time that the strata, which is popularly dated to 300 mya, actually formed.) * Rampant Convergence: Ubiquitous appeals to "convergent" evolution (vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, icthyosaur/dolphin anatomy, etc.), all allegedly evolving multiple times, undermines anatomical classification based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. * Astronomy's Big Evolution Squeeze: - Universe a billion, wait, two billion, years younger than thought (so now it has to evolve even more impossibly rapidly) - Sun's evolution squeezes biological evolution - Galaxies evolving too quickly - Dust evolving too quickly - Black holes evolving too quickly - Clusters of galaxies evolving too quickly. * The Sun's Evolution Squeezes Life's Evolution: The earlier evolutionists claim that life began on Earth, the more trouble they have with astrophysicists. Why? They claim that a few billion years ago the Sun would have been far more unstable and cooler. The journal Nature reports that the Faint young Sun paradox remains for the "Sun was fainter when the Earth was young, but the climate was generally at least as warm as today". Further, our star would shoot out radioactive waves many of which being violent enough to blow out Earth's atmosphere into space, leaving Earth dead and dry like Mars without an atmosphere. And ignoring the fact that powerful computer simulators cannot validate the nebula theory of star formation, if the Sun had formed from a condensing gas cloud, a billion years later it still would have been emitting far less energy, even 30% less, than it does today. Forget about the claimed one-degree increase in the planet's temperature from man-made global warming, back when Darwinists imagine life arose, by this just-so story of life spontaneously generating in a warm pond somewhere (which itself is impossible), the Earth would have been an ice ball, with an average temperature of four degrees Fahrenheit below freezing! See also CMI's video download The Young Sun. * Zircons Freeze in Molten Eon Squeezing Earth's Evolution? Zircons "dated" 4 to 4.4 billion years old would have had to freeze (form) when the Earth allegedly was in its Hadean (Hades) Eon and still molten. Geophysicist Frank Stacey (Cambridge fellow, etc.) has suggested they may have formed above ocean trenches where it would be coolest. One problem is that even further squeezes the theory of plate tectonics requiring it to operate two billion years before otherwise claimed. A second problem (for these zircons and the plate tectonics theory itself) is that ancient trenches (now filled with sediments; others raised up above sea level; etc.) have never been found. A third problem is that these zircons contain low isotope ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 which evolutionists may try to explain as evidence for life existing even a half-billion years before they otherwise claim. For more about this (and to understand how these zircons actually did form) just click and then search (ctrl-f) for: zircon character. * Evolution Squeezes Life to Evolve with Super Radioactivity: Radioactivity today breaks chromosomes and produces neutral, harmful, and fatal birth defects. Dr. Walt Brown reports that, "A 160-pound person experiences 2,500 carbon-14 disintegrations each second", with about 10 disintergrations per second in our DNA. Worse for evolutionists is that, "Potassium-40 is the most abundant radioactive substance in... every living thing." Yet the percentage of Potassium that was radioactive in the past would have been far in excess of its percent today. (All this is somewhat akin to screws in complex machines changing into nails.) So life would have had to arise from inanimate matter (an impossibility of course) when it would have been far more radioactive than today. * Evolution of Uranium Squeezed by Contrasting Constraints: Uranium's two most abundant isotopes have a highly predictable ratio with 235U/238U equaling 0.007257 with a standard deviation of only 0.000017. Big bang advocates claim that these isotopes formed in distant stellar cataclysms. Yet that these isotopes somehow collected in innumerable small ore bodies in a fixed ratio is absurd. The impossibility of the "big bang" explanation of the uniformity of the uranium ratio (rsr.org/bb#ratio) simultaneously contrasts in the most shocking way with its opposite impossibility of the missing uniform distribution of radioactivity (see rsr.org/bb#distribution) with 90% of Earth's radioactivity in the Earth's crust, actually, the continental crust, and even at that, preferentially near granite! A stellar-cataclysmic explanation within the big bang paradigm for the origin of uranium is severely squeezed into being falsified by these contrasting constraints. * Remarkable Sponges? Yes, But For What Reason? Study co-author Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara said, "Remarkably, the sponge genome now reveals that, along the way toward the emergence of animals, genes for an entire network of many specialized cells evolved and laid the basis for the core gene logic of organisms that no longer functioned as single cells." And then there's this: these simplest of creatures have manufacturing capabilities that far exceed our own, as Degnan says, "Sponges produce an amazing array of chemicals of direct interest to the pharmaceutical industry. They also biofabricate silica fibers directly from seawater in an environmentally benign manner, which is of great interest in communications [i.e., fiber optics]. With the genome in hand, we can decipher the methods used by these simple animals to produce materials that far exceed our current engineering and chemistry capabilities." Kangaroo Flashback: From our RSR Darwin's Other Shoe program: The director of Australia's Kangaroo Genomics Centre, Jenny Graves, that "There [are] great chunks of the human genome… sitting right there in the kangaroo genome." And the 20,000 genes in the kangaroo (roughly the same number as in humans) are "largely the same" as in people, and Graves adds, "a lot of them are in the same order!" CMI's Creation editors add that "unlike chimps, kangaroos are not supposed to be our 'close relatives.'" And "Organisms as diverse as leeches and lawyers are 'built' using the same developmental genes." So Darwinists were wrong to use that kind of genetic similarity as evidence of a developmental pathway from apes to humans. Hibernating Turtles: Question to the evolutionist: What happened to the first turtles that fell asleep hibernating underwater? SHOW UPDATE Of Mice and Men: Whereas evolutionists used a very superficial claim of chimpanzee and human genetic similarity as evidence of a close relationship, mice and men are pretty close also. From the Human Genome Project, How closely related are mice and humans?, "Mice and humans (indeed, most or all mammals including dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, and apes) have roughly the same number of nucleotides in their genomes -- about 3 billion base pairs. This comparable DNA content implies that all mammals [RSR: like roundworms :)] contain more or less the same number of genes, and indeed our work and the work of many others have provided evidence to confirm that notion. I know of only a few cases in which no mouse counterpart can be found for a particular human gene, and for the most part we see essentially a one-to-one correspondence between genes in the two species." * Related RSR Reports: See our reports on the fascinating DNA sequencing results from roundworms and the chimpanzee's Y chromosome! * Genetic Bottleneck, etc: Here's an excerpt from rsr.org/why-was-canaan-cursed... A prediction about the worldwide distribution of human genetic sequencing (see below) is an outgrowth of the Bible study at that same link (aka rsr.org/canaan), in that scientists will discover a genetic pattern resulting from not three but four sons of Noah's wife. Relevant information comes also from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is not part of any of our 46 chromosomes but resides outside of the nucleus. Consider first some genetic information about Jews and Arabs, Jewish priests, Eve, and Noah. Jews and Arabs Biblical Ancestry: Dr. Jonathan Sarfati quotes the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Harry Ostrer, who in 2000 said: Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham … And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years. This familiar pattern, of the latest science corroborating biblical history, continues in Dr. Sarfati's article, Genesis correctly predicts Y-Chromosome pattern: Jews and Arabs shown to be descendants of one man. Jewish Priests Share Genetic Marker: The journal Nature in its scientific correspondence published, Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests, by scie
durée : 00:34:25 - La Terre au carré - par : Mathieu Vidard - Le fossile de Lucy a été découvert le 24 novembre 1974 dans l'Hadar, en Éthiopie. Datée de 3,2 millions d'années, Lucy n'a pas encore dévoilé tous les secrets de son espèce, "Australopithecus afarensis". - réalisé par : Jérôme BOULET
durée : 00:34:25 - La Terre au carré - par : Mathieu Vidard - Le fossile de Lucy a été découvert le 24 novembre 1974 dans l'Hadar, en Éthiopie. Datée de 3,2 millions d'années, Lucy n'a pas encore dévoilé tous les secrets de son espèce, "Australopithecus afarensis". - réalisé par : Jérôme BOULET
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ape taxa and extinct species helps infer evolutionary relationships, while considering temporal variation adds depth to our understanding. Lucy's case illustrates the ongoing debate on species classification in paleoanthropology and the critical role of evidence in shaping taxonomic hypotheses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39837]
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ape taxa and extinct species helps infer evolutionary relationships, while considering temporal variation adds depth to our understanding. Lucy's case illustrates the ongoing debate on species classification in paleoanthropology and the critical role of evidence in shaping taxonomic hypotheses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39837]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ape taxa and extinct species helps infer evolutionary relationships, while considering temporal variation adds depth to our understanding. Lucy's case illustrates the ongoing debate on species classification in paleoanthropology and the critical role of evidence in shaping taxonomic hypotheses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39837]
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ape taxa and extinct species helps infer evolutionary relationships, while considering temporal variation adds depth to our understanding. Lucy's case illustrates the ongoing debate on species classification in paleoanthropology and the critical role of evidence in shaping taxonomic hypotheses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39837]
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ape taxa and extinct species helps infer evolutionary relationships, while considering temporal variation adds depth to our understanding. Lucy's case illustrates the ongoing debate on species classification in paleoanthropology and the critical role of evidence in shaping taxonomic hypotheses. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39837]
The discovery of Lucy in 1974 gave insight into early hominin body form but lacked hand bones. Subsequent findings revealed Australopithecus afarensis hand morphology. New discoveries and research since then, including associated hand skeletons and archaeological evidence, have enhanced our understanding of hominin hand evolution and tool use. These advancements inform us about Lucy's tool-related abilities and dexterity, reshaping our interpretation of early human behavior. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39821]
The discovery of Lucy in 1974 gave insight into early hominin body form but lacked hand bones. Subsequent findings revealed Australopithecus afarensis hand morphology. New discoveries and research since then, including associated hand skeletons and archaeological evidence, have enhanced our understanding of hominin hand evolution and tool use. These advancements inform us about Lucy's tool-related abilities and dexterity, reshaping our interpretation of early human behavior. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39821]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
The discovery of Lucy in 1974 gave insight into early hominin body form but lacked hand bones. Subsequent findings revealed Australopithecus afarensis hand morphology. New discoveries and research since then, including associated hand skeletons and archaeological evidence, have enhanced our understanding of hominin hand evolution and tool use. These advancements inform us about Lucy's tool-related abilities and dexterity, reshaping our interpretation of early human behavior. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39821]
The discovery of Lucy in 1974 gave insight into early hominin body form but lacked hand bones. Subsequent findings revealed Australopithecus afarensis hand morphology. New discoveries and research since then, including associated hand skeletons and archaeological evidence, have enhanced our understanding of hominin hand evolution and tool use. These advancements inform us about Lucy's tool-related abilities and dexterity, reshaping our interpretation of early human behavior. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39821]
Paleoanthropology is booming with discoveries, reshaping our understanding of human evolution. Lucy's 1974 find stands as a milestone, providing crucial insights into early hominins. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, remains a key reference, revealing bipedalism and dietary adaptations. Recent findings suggest bipedality evolved from arboreal upright apes, not chimpanzee-like ancestors. Earlier australopiths show bipedality predates dietary changes, indicating walking aided dietary shifts. Some australopiths may have used stone tools before significant brain enlargement in Homo. Lucy's discovery led to an explosion of insights, showing she was part of a diverse group of bipedal apes in the mid-Pliocene. Lucy remains central to understanding human evolution, highlighting the importance of her discovery in shaping our knowledge. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39820]
Paleoanthropology is booming with discoveries, reshaping our understanding of human evolution. Lucy's 1974 find stands as a milestone, providing crucial insights into early hominins. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, remains a key reference, revealing bipedalism and dietary adaptations. Recent findings suggest bipedality evolved from arboreal upright apes, not chimpanzee-like ancestors. Earlier australopiths show bipedality predates dietary changes, indicating walking aided dietary shifts. Some australopiths may have used stone tools before significant brain enlargement in Homo. Lucy's discovery led to an explosion of insights, showing she was part of a diverse group of bipedal apes in the mid-Pliocene. Lucy remains central to understanding human evolution, highlighting the importance of her discovery in shaping our knowledge. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39820]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
Paleoanthropology is booming with discoveries, reshaping our understanding of human evolution. Lucy's 1974 find stands as a milestone, providing crucial insights into early hominins. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, remains a key reference, revealing bipedalism and dietary adaptations. Recent findings suggest bipedality evolved from arboreal upright apes, not chimpanzee-like ancestors. Earlier australopiths show bipedality predates dietary changes, indicating walking aided dietary shifts. Some australopiths may have used stone tools before significant brain enlargement in Homo. Lucy's discovery led to an explosion of insights, showing she was part of a diverse group of bipedal apes in the mid-Pliocene. Lucy remains central to understanding human evolution, highlighting the importance of her discovery in shaping our knowledge. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39820]
Paleoanthropology is booming with discoveries, reshaping our understanding of human evolution. Lucy's 1974 find stands as a milestone, providing crucial insights into early hominins. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, remains a key reference, revealing bipedalism and dietary adaptations. Recent findings suggest bipedality evolved from arboreal upright apes, not chimpanzee-like ancestors. Earlier australopiths show bipedality predates dietary changes, indicating walking aided dietary shifts. Some australopiths may have used stone tools before significant brain enlargement in Homo. Lucy's discovery led to an explosion of insights, showing she was part of a diverse group of bipedal apes in the mid-Pliocene. Lucy remains central to understanding human evolution, highlighting the importance of her discovery in shaping our knowledge. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39820]
The savanna hypothesis suggests that early human ancestors evolved in open grasslands. Raymond Dart's 1925 discovery of Australopithecus africanus at Taung supported this idea. Lucy's 1974 discovery confirmed bipedalism in Australopithecus species but raised questions about their tree-dwelling habits. Studies since then have refined our understanding of ancient habitats and climates, showing that human evolution involved interactions with various environments, not just savannas. This requires a nuanced view of biomes, climates, and habitats to understand how early humans adapted and evolved. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39819]
The savanna hypothesis suggests that early human ancestors evolved in open grasslands. Raymond Dart's 1925 discovery of Australopithecus africanus at Taung supported this idea. Lucy's 1974 discovery confirmed bipedalism in Australopithecus species but raised questions about their tree-dwelling habits. Studies since then have refined our understanding of ancient habitats and climates, showing that human evolution involved interactions with various environments, not just savannas. This requires a nuanced view of biomes, climates, and habitats to understand how early humans adapted and evolved. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39819]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
The savanna hypothesis suggests that early human ancestors evolved in open grasslands. Raymond Dart's 1925 discovery of Australopithecus africanus at Taung supported this idea. Lucy's 1974 discovery confirmed bipedalism in Australopithecus species but raised questions about their tree-dwelling habits. Studies since then have refined our understanding of ancient habitats and climates, showing that human evolution involved interactions with various environments, not just savannas. This requires a nuanced view of biomes, climates, and habitats to understand how early humans adapted and evolved. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39819]
The savanna hypothesis suggests that early human ancestors evolved in open grasslands. Raymond Dart's 1925 discovery of Australopithecus africanus at Taung supported this idea. Lucy's 1974 discovery confirmed bipedalism in Australopithecus species but raised questions about their tree-dwelling habits. Studies since then have refined our understanding of ancient habitats and climates, showing that human evolution involved interactions with various environments, not just savannas. This requires a nuanced view of biomes, climates, and habitats to understand how early humans adapted and evolved. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39819]
In 1974, understanding early human evolution was limited. Lucy's discovery provided insights into one early hominin, while her species, Australopithecus afarensis, revealed broader patterns. The abundance and quality of A. afarensis fossils help understand diversity, relationships, and the pace of evolution among hominins. Lucy's ilk sheds light on crucial topics such as taxic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and the tempo of evolution within the hominin clade. They are key to unlocking the secrets of hominin evolutionary history before and after A. afarensis, offering valuable context for fossils found in southern and eastern Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39818]
In 1974, understanding early human evolution was limited. Lucy's discovery provided insights into one early hominin, while her species, Australopithecus afarensis, revealed broader patterns. The abundance and quality of A. afarensis fossils help understand diversity, relationships, and the pace of evolution among hominins. Lucy's ilk sheds light on crucial topics such as taxic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and the tempo of evolution within the hominin clade. They are key to unlocking the secrets of hominin evolutionary history before and after A. afarensis, offering valuable context for fossils found in southern and eastern Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39818]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
In 1974, understanding early human evolution was limited. Lucy's discovery provided insights into one early hominin, while her species, Australopithecus afarensis, revealed broader patterns. The abundance and quality of A. afarensis fossils help understand diversity, relationships, and the pace of evolution among hominins. Lucy's ilk sheds light on crucial topics such as taxic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and the tempo of evolution within the hominin clade. They are key to unlocking the secrets of hominin evolutionary history before and after A. afarensis, offering valuable context for fossils found in southern and eastern Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39818]
In 1974, understanding early human evolution was limited. Lucy's discovery provided insights into one early hominin, while her species, Australopithecus afarensis, revealed broader patterns. The abundance and quality of A. afarensis fossils help understand diversity, relationships, and the pace of evolution among hominins. Lucy's ilk sheds light on crucial topics such as taxic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and the tempo of evolution within the hominin clade. They are key to unlocking the secrets of hominin evolutionary history before and after A. afarensis, offering valuable context for fossils found in southern and eastern Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39818]
Owing to its morphological and temporal placement, the Lucy species, Australopithecus afarensis, plays a pivotal role in our understanding of the human evolutionary career. Though many more fossil remains were recovered subsequent to Lucy's discovery, the impact of the latter cannot be overstated not least its role as a trove of scientific data as well as its iconic nature. Research on Lucy and its species and continued fieldwork have inspired many research projects across Africa especially the Afar region of Ethiopia. One such project is the Dikika Research Project, which has discovered the earliest and most complete skeleton of a juvenile A. afarensis, dating back to 3.32 million years ago, filling in a major gap in our knowledge of the species. Here, I will briefly discuss what we learn from this skeleton about the Lucy species and what that implies to our knowledge of the many descendants of A. afarensis including our own species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39817]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
Owing to its morphological and temporal placement, the Lucy species, Australopithecus afarensis, plays a pivotal role in our understanding of the human evolutionary career. Though many more fossil remains were recovered subsequent to Lucy's discovery, the impact of the latter cannot be overstated not least its role as a trove of scientific data as well as its iconic nature. Research on Lucy and its species and continued fieldwork have inspired many research projects across Africa especially the Afar region of Ethiopia. One such project is the Dikika Research Project, which has discovered the earliest and most complete skeleton of a juvenile A. afarensis, dating back to 3.32 million years ago, filling in a major gap in our knowledge of the species. Here, I will briefly discuss what we learn from this skeleton about the Lucy species and what that implies to our knowledge of the many descendants of A. afarensis including our own species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39817]
Owing to its morphological and temporal placement, the Lucy species, Australopithecus afarensis, plays a pivotal role in our understanding of the human evolutionary career. Though many more fossil remains were recovered subsequent to Lucy's discovery, the impact of the latter cannot be overstated not least its role as a trove of scientific data as well as its iconic nature. Research on Lucy and its species and continued fieldwork have inspired many research projects across Africa especially the Afar region of Ethiopia. One such project is the Dikika Research Project, which has discovered the earliest and most complete skeleton of a juvenile A. afarensis, dating back to 3.32 million years ago, filling in a major gap in our knowledge of the species. Here, I will briefly discuss what we learn from this skeleton about the Lucy species and what that implies to our knowledge of the many descendants of A. afarensis including our own species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39817]
The discovery of Lucy, a fossil from the 1970s, changed paleoanthropology. Before Lucy, scientists saw human ancestors as rough guides, not distinct species. This mindset dominated the interpretation of fossils. Lucy's discovery, representing a new species called Australopithecus afarensis, showed the need to define species clearly. The clash of old and new views was seen in a 1981 debate between Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson. Leakey's refusal to offer an alternative emphasized flaws in traditional practices. This marked a shift towards a better understanding of human origins and diversity, despite some scientists holding onto old ways. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39816]
The discovery of Lucy, a fossil from the 1970s, changed paleoanthropology. Before Lucy, scientists saw human ancestors as rough guides, not distinct species. This mindset dominated the interpretation of fossils. Lucy's discovery, representing a new species called Australopithecus afarensis, showed the need to define species clearly. The clash of old and new views was seen in a 1981 debate between Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson. Leakey's refusal to offer an alternative emphasized flaws in traditional practices. This marked a shift towards a better understanding of human origins and diversity, despite some scientists holding onto old ways. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39816]
CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Video)
The discovery of Lucy, a fossil from the 1970s, changed paleoanthropology. Before Lucy, scientists saw human ancestors as rough guides, not distinct species. This mindset dominated the interpretation of fossils. Lucy's discovery, representing a new species called Australopithecus afarensis, showed the need to define species clearly. The clash of old and new views was seen in a 1981 debate between Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson. Leakey's refusal to offer an alternative emphasized flaws in traditional practices. This marked a shift towards a better understanding of human origins and diversity, despite some scientists holding onto old ways. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39816]
After a curious coincidence in 1924, the world's weirdest paperweight was revealed to be the fossilized remains of one of our earliest ancestors.To learn more about today's topic, check out:Lee R. Berger, & Ronald J. Clarke. (1996). The load of the Taung child. Nature, 379(6568), 778-779.Berger, L.R., Clarke, R.J., 1995. Eagle involvement of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Human Evolution 29, 275-299.Dart, Raymond A. (1925), "Australopithecus africanus: The Man-Ape of South Africa", Nature, 115: 195–199, doi:10.1038/115195a0.——— (1929), Australopithecus africanus: And His Place in Human Nature, Unpublished manuscript in the University of Witwatersrand archives.SA fossil murder mystery solved (BBC)Taung Child (Smithsonian) Australopithecus africanus (Smithsonian)
n this special episode of “The Story of Us,” we are thrilled to welcome Professor Lee R. Berger from the University of Witwatersrand. Join us as we dive into the fascinating discoveries surrounding Homo naledi and the Rising Star cave system. Dr. Berger will address the many challenges and astonishing findings that have emerged from this groundbreaking site. We will explore critical questions that have sparked academic debate and discuss the broader implications of these discoveries for our understanding of what it means to be human. This episode promises to provide valuable insights into why these discoveries are significant, both scientifically and culturally. Dr. Berger will offer his perspective on the meticulous processes involved in unearthing these ancient secrets and their impact on the field of paleoanthropology. Don't miss this engaging conversation, and remember to always keep exploring and learning! If you enjoy this episode, please like, share, and subscribe for more in-depth discussions on human origins and related topics. About Dr. Lee R. Berger: Lee Rogers Berger is an esteemed American-born South African paleoanthropologist and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. Renowned for his discovery of the Australopithecus sediba type site at Malapa and his leadership in the excavation of Homo naledi at the Rising Star cave, Dr. Berger's contributions have significantly advanced our understanding of human evolution. With a rich academic background and a commitment to public engagement, he continues to inspire and educate through his research and explorations. Tune in to hear directly from Dr. Berger about his remarkable journey and the profound discoveries that are reshaping our knowledge of ancient hominins.
Today, Dr. Todd Wood of the Core Academy of Science, summarizes his list of what I would presume is his best evidence against evolution...and it's not very good.Cards:Evidence for Evolution - Phylogenetics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf90hGT8ZeAIs it human? Ape? Both? Neither?:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1KDnYlJrJ0Irreducible Complexity PROVES evolution?!?
Welcome to 2024! Let's learn about some exciting new discoveries in our own family tree! Further reading: 476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure Unearthed in Zambia Mysterious 300,000-year-old skull could be new species of human, researchers say Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. It's time to start the new year off with an episode that has me really excited. I was initially going to include this in the updates episode that usually comes out around summertime, but I just can't wait. In 2023, scientists discovered what they think might be a new lineage of extinct human ancestors! We'll come back to that in a moment, but first I want to highlight another amazing human-relateded discovery from 2023. And just to let you know, I am going to be using the words "humans" and "people" and "hominins" more or less interchangeably. I try to make it clear when I'm talking about Homo sapiens versus other species of ancient hominin, but these are all our ancestors--in many cases our direct ancestors--so they're all people as far as I'm concerned. As you may know, especially if you've listened to previous episodes where we've discussed ancient human ancestors, the ancestors of all humans evolved in Africa. Specifically, we arose in the southern part of Africa, in areas that had once been dense forest but gradually changed to open woodland and savanna. Because there weren't very many trees, our far-distant hominin ancestors, the australopiths, no longer needed to be able to climb trees as well as their ape cousins. Instead, they evolved an upright stance and long legs to see over tall grasses, and the stamina to run after the animals they hunted until the animal was exhausted and couldn't run anymore. Once our ancestors were walking on two legs all the time, their hands were free to carry babies and food and anything else they wanted. Being fully bipedal meant that women had a harder time giving birth, since the pelvis had to change position to allow them to walk and run, so babies started being born when they were smaller. This meant the babies needed a whole lot more care for a lot longer, which meant that family groups became even more important and complicated. One thing we've learned about sociability in animals is that it leads to increased intelligence, and that's definitely what happened with our long-distant ancestors. As their brains got bigger, they became more creative. They made lots of different types of tools, especially weapons and items that helped them process food, but eventually they also made artwork, baskets, clothing, jewelry, and everything else they needed. All this took a long time, naturally. We know Australopithecus used stone tools over three million years ago, but we don't have evidence of human ancestors using fire until a little over 1.5 million years ago. Homo sapiens was once thought to have only evolved around 100,000 years ago, maybe less, but as scientists find more remains and are able to use more sophisticated techniques to study those remains, the date keeps getting pushed back. Currently we're pretty certain that actual humans, if not the fully modern humans alive today, arose about 300,000 years ago and maybe even earlier. Homo sapiens evolved from Homo erectus, which arose about two million years ago and went extinct about 100,000 years ago. They were probably the first hominin to use fire, which allowed humans to start migrating longer distances into colder climates. They might also have communicated with language. Basically, Homo erectus was a lot like us but not quite us yet. The modern-day country of Zambia is in the middle of south-central Africa, and naturally it's been home to humans and our ancestors for as long as humans have existed. One especially important part of Zambia is also one of its most beautiful places, Kalambo Falls, which is really close to the equally important and beautiful country of Tanzania.
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