A growing number of scientists have proposed the creation of a new epoch in Earth’s geologic history that would reflect the impact of humanity upon the planet. This new epoch, the Anthropocene, is proposed to have begun when humans began… Continue Reading
A new, less expensive, and faster method now has been developed and used to determine the DNA sequence of the male-specific Y chromosome in the gorilla. The technique will allow better access to genetic information of the Y chromosome of… Continue Reading
Neanderthals used these ‘manganese oxides’ in fire-making and not as previously thought for coloring. This information demonstrates the Neanderthals were highly intelligent and had advance cognitive skills. Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2016/03/neanderthals-may-have-used-manganese.html#.VtxBDOYt5eQ
Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have thus initiated the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee and, since 2010, have collected data on chimpanzee behavior, demography and resource availability across Africa following a standardized… Continue Reading
Alan Lomax’s Massive Archive Goes Online Folklorist Alan Lomax spent his career documenting folk music traditions from around the world. Now thousands of the songs and interviews he recorded are available for free online, many for the first time. It’s… Continue Reading
Westerners have a less-diverse gut microbiome compared to hunter-gatherers, but how and why these microbe collections diverged has largely remained a mystery. Now, researchers reporting in Cell Reports describe an intermediate gut microbiome from the Central African Republic’s Bantu community,… Continue Reading
Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— The small, ancient religion of Zoroastrianism is being revived in Iraqi Kurdistan. Followers say locals should join because it’s a truly Kurdish belief. Others say the revival is a reaction to extremist Islam. One of the smallest… Continue Reading
Analysis of DNA from ancient remains on the Greek island of Crete suggests the Minoans were indigenous Europeans, shedding new light on a debate over the provenance of this ancient culture. Scholars have variously argued the Bronze Age civilization arrived… Continue Reading
The story of the 1951 annual Explorers Club dinner is famous, at least among explorers, paleontologists and connoisseurs of exotic cuisine. In brief, mammoth was served. A club member and journalist reported on the menu shortly afterward in The Christian… Continue Reading
The BBC recently posted a piece that looks at a procative new anthropological theory – that the emotion and conventions surrounding romantic love developed in homo sapiens in order to discourage infanticide: “In many primates today, a mother with a… Continue Reading