'); document.write('

Early Humans News -- ScienceDaily
Read about early humans in this anthropology news section. Early human development, early human migration, culture and more. Photos.

'); document.write('

Genetic admixture in the South Pacific: From Denisovans to the human immune response
'); document.write('Scientists have looked at understudied human populations from the South Pacific, which are severely affected by a variety of diseases, including vector-borne infectious diseases such as Zika virus, dengue, and chikungunya, and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Using genome sequencing of 320 individuals, the scientists have investigated how human populations have biologically adapted to the environments of the Pacific islands and how this has affected their current state of health.'); document.write('
The chillest ape: How humans evolved a super-high cooling capacity
'); document.write('Researchers have discovered how a uniquely high density of sweat glands evolved in the human genome. Researchers showed that the higher density of sweat glands in humans is due mostly to accumulated changes in a regulatory region of DNA -- called an enhancer region -- that drives the expression of a sweat gland-building gene, explaining why humans are the sweatiest of the Great Apes.'); document.write('
Age of hotly debated skull from early human Homo erectus determined, new specimens discovered
'); document.write('A new study verifies the age and origin of one of the oldest specimens of Homo erectus -- a very successful early human who roamed the world for nearly 2 million years. In doing so, the researchers also found two new specimens at the site -- likely the earliest pieces of the Homo erectus skeleton yet discovered.'); document.write('
Modern human brain originated in Africa around 1.7 million years ago
'); document.write('The human brain as we know it today is relatively young. It evolved about 1.7 million years ago when the culture of stone tools in Africa became increasingly complex. A short time later, the new Homo populations spread to Southeast Asia, researchers have now shown using computed tomography analyses of fossilized skulls.'); document.write('
Genomes of the earliest Europeans
'); document.write('Ancient genomes shed new light on the earliest Europeans and their relationships with Neanderthals.'); document.write('
Neanderthal ancestry identifies oldest modern human genome
'); document.write('The fossil skull of a woman in Czechia has provided the oldest modern human genome yet reconstructed, representing a population that formed before the ancestors of present-day Europeans and Asians split apart.'); document.write('
Skin deep: Aquatic skin adaptations of whales and hippos evolved independently
'); document.write('A new study shows that the similarly smooth, nearly hairless skin of whales and hippopotamuses evolved independently. The work suggests that their last common ancestor was likely a land-dwelling mammal, uprooting current thinking that the skin came fine-tuned for life in the water from a shared amphibious ancestor.'); document.write('
In search of the first bacterium
'); document.write('What did the ancestor of all bacteria look like, where did it live and what did it feed on? A team of researchers has now found answers to these questions by analyzing biochemical metabolic networks and evolutionary trees. They can now even infer the shape of the first bacterium.'); document.write('
Photosynthesis could be as old as life itself
'); document.write('Researchers find that the earliest bacteria had the tools to perform a crucial step in photosynthesis, changing how we think life evolved on Earth.'); document.write('
New evidence in search for the mysterious Denisovans
'); document.write('Researchers have conducted a comprehensive genetic analysis and found no evidence of interbreeding between modern humans and the ancient humans known from fossil records in Island Southeast Asia. They did find further DNA evidence of our mysterious ancient cousins, the Denisovans, which could mean there are major discoveries to come in the region.'); document.write('
Ancient DNA reveals clues about how tuberculosis shaped the human immune system
'); document.write('A new study employing ancient human DNA reveals how tuberculosis has affected European populations over the past 2,000 years, specifically the impact that disease has had on the human genome. This work has implications for studying not only evolutionary genetics, but also how genetics can influence the immune system.'); document.write('
Neanderthal and early modern human stone tool culture co-existed for over 100,000 years
'); document.write('Research has discovered that one of the earliest stone tool cultures, known as the Acheulean, likely persisted for tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought.'); document.write('
Neanderthals had the capacity to perceive and produce human speech
'); document.write('Neanderthals -- the closest ancestor to modern humans -- possessed the ability to perceive and produce human speech, according to a new study.'); document.write('
Ancient skeletal hand could reveal evolutionary secrets
'); document.write('Evolutionary expert Charles Darwin and others recognized a close evolutionary relationship between humans, chimps and gorillas based on their shared anatomies, raising some big questions: how are humans related to other primates, and exactly how did early humans move around?'); document.write('
How did dogs get to the Americas? An ancient bone fragment holds clues
'); document.write('Researchers analyzed the dog\'s mitochondrial genome, and concluded that the animal belonged to a lineage of dogs whose evolutionary history diverged from that of Siberian dogs as early as 16,700 years ago. The timing of that split coincides with a period when humans may have been migrating into North America along a coastal route that included Southeast Alaska.'); document.write('