Featured Research

Mar. 3, 2015 — The precise dating of ancient charcoal found near a skull is helping reveal a unique period in prehistory.  The Manot Cave, a natural limestone formation, had been sealed for some 15,000 years.  It was ... full story

Feb. 18, 2015 — Neanderthals divided some of their tasks according to their sex.  A new study analyzed 99 teeth of 19 individuals from three different sites (El Sidron, in Asturias - Spain, L'Hortus in France, and ... full story

Feb. 5, 2015 — Until a few months ago different scientific articles dated the disappearance of the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) from Europe at around 40,000 years ago.  However, a new study shows that these ... full story

Jan. 29, 2015 — A study of gene regulation in 20 mammals provides new insights into how species diverged millions of years ago.  The findings demonstrate how methods and tools for genetic analysis of humans and mice ... full story

Jan. 29, 2015 — A skull provides direct anatomical evidence that fills a problematic time gap of modern human migration into Europe.  It is also the first proof that anatomically modern humans existed at the same ... full story

Jan. 28, 2015 — Genetic variations associated with some modern maladies are extremely old, scientists have discovered, predating the evolution of Neanderthals, Denisovans (another ancient hominin) and contemporary ... full story

Jan. 27, 2015 — Scientists have shed light on how naturally occurring mutations can be introduced into our DNA.  The study, which focuses on how DNA replicates every time a cell divides, helps to make clear ... full story

Jan. 22, 2015 — New research suggests pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.  The distinctly human ability for ... full story

Jan. 20, 2015 — A new computational method has been developed to identify which letters in the human genome are functionally important.  Their computer program, called fitCons, harnesses the power of evolution, ... full story

Jan. 14, 2015 — A multi-purpose bone tool dating from the Neanderthal era has been discovered by researchers, throwing into question our current understanding of the evolution of human behavior.  It was found at an ... full story

Featured Videos

Mideast Skull Find Sheds Light on Human Ancestors' Trek

AFP (Jan. 29, 2015) — A 55,000-year-old partial skull found in the Middle East gives clues to when our ancestors left their African homeland, and strengthens theories that they co-habited with Neanderthals.  Duration: 00:54
Video provided by AFP

Experts Preserving Israel's Founding Documents

AP (Jan. 20, 2015) — Conservationists in Israel are using advanced photographic technology in an effort to preserve Israel&apos;s Declaration of Independence. Signatures on it have started to fade.  It&apos;s the same technology used to scan and preserve the Dead Sea Scrolls. ( Jan. 20)
Video provided by AP

Explaining How We Differ From Our Closest Ape Relatives

FORA.tv (Dec. 22, 2014) — Explaining How We Differ From Our Closest Ape Relatives
California Academy of Sciences - Cal Academy of Sciences
Walking upright on two legs is the hallmark of the human lineage.  Understanding when and how we made the transition to this unique way of moving about the world is key to deciphering how, and why, we evolved.  Scientists have traditionally studied hands, feet, arms and legs to understand animal movement, but primates differ in body shape as much as they do in their limbs, and this is related to the ways they are designed to move about the world - whether they hold their bodies upright or horizontally, whether they hang below branches in the trees or walk above them on all fours, and more.  Over the past few decades, more bones associated with the trunk, including ribs, pelves and vertebrae, have been discovered for fossil hominins and our relatives, shedding new light on the evolution of body form in apes and humans.  In addition, new 3D computer technologies allow us to study these fossils in new ways.  These new insights into the evolution of human body form paint a striking new picture of the transition from ape to hominin, leading to a whole new way of thinking about our origins. 
Video provided by FORA.tv

Mar. 3, 2015 — The precise dating of ancient charcoal found near a skull is helping reveal a unique period in prehistory.  The Manot Cave, a natural limestone formation, had been sealed for some 15,000 years.  It was ... full story

Feb. 18, 2015 — Neanderthals divided some of their tasks according to their sex.  A new study analyzed 99 teeth of 19 individuals from three different sites (El Sidron, in Asturias - Spain, L'Hortus in France, ... full story

Feb. 5, 2015 — Until a few months ago different scientific articles dated the disappearance of the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) from Europe at around 40,000 years ago.  However, a new study shows that these ... full story

Jan. 29, 2015 — A study of gene regulation in 20 mammals provides new insights into how species diverged millions of years ago.  The findings demonstrate how methods and tools for genetic analysis of humans and mice ... full story

Jan. 29, 2015 — A skull provides direct anatomical evidence that fills a problematic time gap of modern human migration into Europe.  It is also the first proof that anatomically modern humans existed at the same ... full story

Jan. 28, 2015 — Genetic variations associated with some modern maladies are extremely old, scientists have discovered, predating the evolution of Neanderthals, Denisovans (another ancient hominin) and contemporary ... full story

Jan. 27, 2015 — Scientists have shed light on how naturally occurring mutations can be introduced into our DNA.  The study, which focuses on how DNA replicates every time a cell divides, helps to make clear ... full story

Jan. 22, 2015 — New research suggests pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.  The distinctly human ability for ... full story

Jan. 20, 2015 — A new computational method has been developed to identify which letters in the human genome are functionally important.  Their computer program, called fitCons, harnesses the power of evolution, ... full story

Jan. 14, 2015 — A multi-purpose bone tool dating from the Neanderthal era has been discovered by researchers, throwing into question our current understanding of the evolution of human behavior.  It was found at an ... full story

Jan. 13, 2015 — Two and a half million years ago, our hominin ancestors in the African savanna crafted rocks into shards that could slice apart a dead gazelle, zebra or other game animal.  Over the next 700,000 ... full story

Jan. 7, 2015 — A new study suggests that dogs may have first successfully migrated to the Americas only about 10,000 years ago, thousands of years after the first human migrants crossed a land bridge from Siberia ... full story

Dec. 18, 2014 — Many genetic mutations in visual pigments, spread over millions of years, were required for humans to evolve from a primitive mammal with a dim, shadowy view of the world into a greater ape able to ... full story

Dec. 11, 2014 — Understanding the crocodilian genome can help scientists better understand birds.  The DNA in alligators, crocodiles and gharials is about 93 percent identical across the genome.  By comparison, a ... full story

Dec. 3, 2014 — Homo erectus on Java was already using shells of freshwater mussels as tools half a million years ago, and as a 'canvas' for an engraving.  The discovery of an engraved geometrical pattern ... full story

Nov. 26, 2014 — Warfare not only hastened human technological progress and vast social and political changes, but may have greatly contributed to the evolutionary emergence of humans' high intelligence and ... full story

Nov. 18, 2014 — Researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern ... full story

Nov. 6, 2014 — A genome taken from a 36,000 skeleton reveals an early divergence of Eurasians once they had left Africa, and allows scientists to better assess the point at which 'admixture' -- or ... full story

Oct. 19, 2014 — Human geneticists have discovered that a region of the genome associated with autism contains genetic variation that evolved in the last 250,000 years, after the divergence of humans from ancient ... full story

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