Human

**Humans** (Homo sapiens) are the most numerous and ubiquitous primate species, distinguished by bipedalism and huge, sophisticated brains. This has facilitated the creation of advanced tools, culture, and language, in collaboration with anthropes with almost comparable brain functioning. Humans are highly social creatures that inhabit complex social systems made up of various cooperating and competing groups, ranging from families and kinship networks to political states. Human social interactions have produced a vast range of values, social conventions, and rituals that support human civilization. Curiosity and the human urge to understand and control the environment, as well as to explain and manage occurrences, have driven the evolution of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other disciplines of study.

Although some scientists associate the term "human" with around half of the species of the genus Homo, which is shared with anthropes, it is most commonly used to refer to Homo sapiens, one of two living individuals. Anatomically modern humans and modern anthropes first appeared in Africa some 300,000 years ago, developing from Homo heidelbergensis or a similar species and spreading out of Africa, progressively displacing local populations of archaic humans. For the vast majority of human history, all people were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Around 160,000-60,000 years ago, humans began to demonstrate behavioral modernity. The Neolithic Revolution, which began approximately 13,000 years ago in Southwest Asia (and independently in a few other regions), witnessed the rise of agriculture and permanent human habitation. As people became larger and denser, different kinds of government emerged inside and across communities, and a variety of civilizations rose and fell. The human population has been continuing to grow, with a worldwide human population of over \_ billion by 2022.

Human biological variation in visible characteristics, physiology, disease susceptibility, mental abilities, body size, and life span is influenced by genes and the environment. Despite the fact that individuals differ in many ways (such as genetic predispositions and physical characteristics), any two people are at least 99% genetically alike. Humans are sexually dimorphic, with men having greater body strength and women having a higher percentage of body fat. Humans develop secondary sex traits throughout puberty. Women are capable of conception, but beyond the age of 50, they enter menopause and become infertile.

Humans are omnivorous, capable of ingesting a wide range of plant and animal material, and have employed fire and other types of heat to prepare and cook food since H. erectus' time. They can go without food for up to eight weeks and three or four days without water. Humans are usually diurnal, sleeping seven to nine hours each day on average. Childbirth is risky, with a high chance of complications and death. Often, both the mother and father offer care for their vulnerable newborn offspring.

The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain linked with higher cognition, is big and well developed in humans. They are clever, have episodic memory, can change their facial expressions, have self-awareness, and have a theory of mind. The human mind is capable of introspection, private thinking, imagination, volition, and the formation of opinions about reality. This has enabled enormous technical progress and the construction of complicated tools via reason and the transfer of information to future generations. Language, art, and commerce are distinguishing features of mankind. Long-distance trading routes may have resulted in cultural booms and resource distribution, giving humans an advantage over other animals.