All Articles Tagged As: humans

Dawn of human matrilineal diversity (4/25/2008)

Early human populations evolved separately for 100,000 years ...> Full Article

The first humans went to America earlier than was thought (4/16/2008)

With the aid of DNA analysis of 14,500-year-old feces, researchers have now been able to show that American Indians were present in America earlier than has long been thought ...> Full Article

When Genetics And Geology Meet In Patagonia (4/14/2008)

Study argues observed changes in freshwater fish demographics occurred in response to climate change over the past three million years ...> Full Article

Ancient DNA: reconstruction of the biological history of Aldaieta necropolis (4/12/2008)

A research team has reconstructed the history of the evolution of human population and answered questions about history, using DNA extracted from skeleton remains. ...> Full Article

Archaeologist find pre-Clovis human DNA (4/4/2008)

Human DNA from dried excrement recovered from Oregon's Paisley Caves is the oldest found yet in the New World -- dating to 14,300 years ago, some 1,200 years before Clovis culture -- and provides apparent genetic ties to Siberia or Asia ...> Full Article

Study suggests evolutionary source of alcoholism's accidental enemy (4/3/2008)

Some change in the environment in many East Asian communities during the past few thousand years may have protected residents from becoming alcoholics ...> Full Article

Genetic Study Of Latin Americans Sheds Light On A Troubled History (3/24/2008)

A recent molecular analysis of ancestry across Latin America has revealed a marked differentiation between regions and demonstrated a "genetic continuity" between pre-and post Columbian populations. This study provides the first broad description of how the genome diversity of populations from Latin America has been shaped by the colonial history of the region. The research involved the collaboration of teams at universities across Latin America, the US and Europe, led by Dr. Andres Ruiz-Linares from University College London. ...> Full Article

First study hints at insights to come from genes unique to humans (3/23/2008)

Among the approximately 23,000 genes found in human DNA, scientists currently estimate that there may be as few as 50 to 100 that have no counterparts in other species. Expand that comparison to include the primate family known as hominoids, and there may be several hundred unique genes. ...> Full Article

Finding deep roots, new genome software infers ancestry with high accuracy (3/21/2008)

New genomics analysis software developed by computer scientists at Stanford appears far more adept than prior methods at unraveling the ancestry of individuals. ...> Full Article

Human family tree mapped out in new detail by genetic sequencing effort (2/24/2008)

Researchers have created the highest resolution map of human genetic diversity to date, providing insight into how groups of people throughout the world are related and adding weight to previous theories that humans originated from Africa. ...> Full Article

Ancient 'Out of Africa' migration left stamp on European genetic diversity (2/22/2008)

Human migration from Africa to Europe more than 30,000 years ago appears to have left a mark on the genes of Europeans today. ...> Full Article

Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source (2/20/2008)

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats. ...> Full Article

Humans inhabited New World's doorstep for 20,000 years (2/14/2008)

The human journey from Asia to the New World was interrupted by a 20,000-year layover in Beringia, a once-habitable region that today lies submerged under the icy waters of the Bering Strait. ...> Full Article

Unravelling the North West's Viking past (2/10/2008)

The blood of the Vikings is still coursing through the veins of men living in the North West of England ...> Full Article

Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration (2/8/2008)

Lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel important clues about a different sort of passage: the migration patterns of America's earliest humans, a new University of Florida study suggests. ...> Full Article

Globetrotting Black Rat Genes Reveal Spread Of Humans And Diseases (2/2/2008)

DNA of the common Black Rat has shed light on the ancient spread of rats, people and diseases around the globe. Studying the mitochondrial DNA of 165 Black Rat specimens from 32 countries around the world, an international team of scientists has identified six distinct lineages in the Black Rat's family tree, each originating from a different part of Asia. ...> Full Article

You Are What You Eat: Some Differences Between Humans And Chimpanzees Traced To Diet (2/1/2008)

Using mice as models, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet. ...> Full Article

Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor (1/31/2008)

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today. ...> Full Article

Evolution Of Human Genome's 'Guardian' Gives People Unique Protections From DNA Damage (1/21/2008)

Human evolution has created enhancements in key genes connected to the p53 regulatory network -- the so-called guardian of the genome -- by creating additional safeguards in human genes to boost the network's ability to guard against DNA damage that could cause cancer or a variety of genetic diseases, an international team of scientists led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center writes in the Jan. 22 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because genetically engineered mouse models are increasingly powerful tools in understanding the risks and mechanisms of human diseases -- and rodents do not have the same evolution-based safeguards in p53 function as humans -- the study also underscores the need for additional considerations in the interpretation of research using rodent models. ...> Full Article

Geneticist Uses New Computational Methods to Search for a Neanderthal Legacy and for Disease Genes (1/20/2008)

Each year, Jurassic Park seems less like science fiction. Scientists are decoding woolly mammoth DNA. They also are decoding DNA from an extinct species much closer to us in genetic makeup - the Neanderthal. ...> Full Article

Genome Scan Shows Polynesians Have Little Genetic Relationship To Melanesians (1/19/2008)

The origins and current genetic relationships of Pacific Islanders have generated interest and controversy for many decades. Now, a new comprehensive genetic study of almost 1,000 individuals has revealed that Polynesians and Micronesians have almost no genetic relation to Melanesians, and that groups that live in the islands of Melanesia are remarkably diverse. ...> Full Article

Columbus May Have Brought Syphilis To Europe From New World (1/16/2008)

Did Columbus and his men introduce the syphilis pathogen into Renaissance Europe after contracting it during their voyage to the New World? Or does syphilis have a much longer history in the Old World? The most comprehensive comparative genetic analysis conducted on the family of bacteria (the treponemes) that cause syphilis and related diseases such as yaws supports the so-called "Columbian theory" of syphilis's origins. ...> Full Article

Human Genetic Variation: Science's 'Breakthrough Of The Year' (1/1/2008)

In 2007, researchers were dazzled by the degree to which genomes differ from one human to another and began to understand the role of these variations in disease and personal traits. Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, recognize "Human Genetic Variation" as the Breakthrough of the Year, and identify nine other of the year's most significant scientific accomplishments. ...> Full Article

NIH Launches Human Microbiome Project, (12/25/2007)

Roadmap Effort to Use Genomic Technologies To Explore Role of Microbes in Human Health and Disease ...> Full Article

Losses Of Long-established Genes Contribute To Human Evolution (12/21/2007)

While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage. A group of scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz led by biomolecular engineering professor David Haussler has investigated this less-studied idea, carrying out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that have been lost across millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover second light-sensing system in human eye (12/18/2007)

Finding enhances understanding of circadian rhythms ...> Full Article

Losses of long-established genes contributed to human evolution, scientists find (12/17/2007)

The evolution of new genes is not the only way for a species to change. The loss of genes may also lead to adaptations that help species survive, but this idea has not been well studied. Now, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have carried out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that were lost during the millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. Their findings appear in the December 14 issue of PLoS Computational Biology. ...> Full Article

Genetic switch for circadian rhythms discovered (12/16/2007)

University of California, Irvine researchers have identified the chemical switch that triggers the genetic mechanism regulating our internal body clock. ...> Full Article

Same Genetic Machinery Generates Skin Color Evolution in Fish and Humans (12/14/2007)

When humans began to migrate out of Africa about 100,000 years ago, their skin color gradually changed to adapt to their new environments. And when the last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago, marine ancestors of ocean-dwelling stickleback fish experienced dramatic changes in skin coloring as they colonized newly formed lakes and streams. New research shows that despite the vast evolutionary gulf between humans and the three-spined stickleback fish, the two species have adopted a common genetic strategy to acquire the skin pigmentation that would help each species thrive in their new environments. ...> Full Article

Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane (12/14/2007)

Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts. ...> Full Article

More 'functional' dna in genome than previously thought (12/13/2007)

Surrounding the small islands of genes within the human genome is a vast sea of mysterious DNA. While most of this non-coding DNA is junk, some of it is used to help genes turn on and off. As reported online this week in Genome Research, Hopkins researchers have now found that this latter portion, which is known as regulatory DNA and contributes to inherited diseases like Parkinson's or mental disorders, may be more abundant than we realize. ...> Full Article

Are Humans Evolving Faster? (12/12/2007)

Researchers discovered genetic evidence that human evolution is speeding up - and has not halted or proceeded at a constant rate, as had been thought - indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different. ...> Full Article

Epigenetic marks a clue to multiple functions of the brain (12/9/2007)

A team of scientists has catalogued chemical tags attached to more than 800 genes from 76 human brain samples and collected the first evidence of how these special, inherited epigenetic "marks" might account for different brain functions. The results appear in the December issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics. ...> Full Article

Human gene count tumbles again (12/4/2007)

New analysis reveals several thousand genes to be spurious, leads to gene count revision ...> Full Article

Scientists Map Imprinted Genes in Human Genome (12/4/2007)

Scientists at Duke University have created the first map of imprinted genes throughout the human genome, and they say a modern-day Rosetta stone – a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning – was the key to their success. ...> Full Article

The Viking Roots of Northwest England (12/2/2007)

Collaborative study from universities of Leicester and Nottingham exploits connection between surnames and DNA ...> Full Article

Gene study adds weight to theory that native people of the Americas arrived in a single main migration across the Bering Strait (11/28/2007)

Researchers analyze 678 genetic markers in 29 native populations ...> Full Article

Researchers has identified a gene for the ability to smell the odor of sweat (11/25/2007)

Some people are oblivious to the odor in the locker room after a game, while others wrinkle their noses at the slightest whiff of sweat. Research by Prof. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover that a Handshake Could Signal High Quality Genes (11/24/2007)

Handgrip strength is an important measure of health and reproductive fitness. ...> Full Article

Ancient retroviruses spurred evolution of gene regulatory networks in primates (11/14/2007)

When ancient retroviruses slipped bits of their DNA into the primate genome millions of years ago, they successfully preserved their own genetic legacy. Today an estimated 8 percent of the human genetic code consists of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs)--the DNA remnants from these so-called 'selfish parasites.' ...> Full Article

Are there rearrangement hot spots in the human genome? (11/13/2007)

The debate over the validity of genomic rearrangement "hotspots" has its most recent addition in a new theory put forth by researchers at the University of California San Diego. The study, published on November 9 in PLoS Computational Biology, holds that there are indeed rearrangement hotspots in the human genome. ...> Full Article

All Male or All Female Litter? Sex-ratio Meiotic Drive System Identified In Fruit Flies (11/10/2007)

If you met a person who had 10 children, all of whom were girls, you would probably find this surprising. Yet this kind of distorted sex ratio does occur in groups as diverse as mammals, insects, and plants, where some parents consistently produce litters in which the sex ratio is dramatically skewed. ...> Full Article

Human Microbiome Projects to sequence 150 bacteria, sample human metagenome (11/4/2007)

A $2.3 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute will enable researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston to determine the genetic code of bacteria that colonize healthy humans and study the structure of microbial communities from five regions of the human body. ...> Full Article

Research sheds light on why humans and chimps differ (11/2/2007)

Gene splicing helps explain fundamental differences ...> Full Article

In-group Altruism And Hostility Toward Outsiders Evolved Together (10/29/2007)

SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin. ...> Full Article

Researchers posit new ideas about human migration from Asia to Americas (10/26/2007)

Questions about human migration from Asia to the Americas have perplexed anthropologists for decades, but as scenarios about the peopling of the New World come and go, the big questions have remained. Do the ancestors of Native Americans derive from only a small number of "founders" who trekked to the Americas via the Bering land bridge? How did their migration to the New World proceed? What, if anything, did the climate have to do with their migration? And what took them so long? ...> Full Article

Consortium Publishes Phase II Map of Human Genetic Variation (10/23/2007)

Scientists published analyses of its second-generation map of human genetic variation, which contains three times more markers than the initial version unveiled in 2005. ...> Full Article

Scientists map out first Asian genome (10/22/2007)

Scientists have successfully completed the first sequence map of the diploid genome of an Asian individual. ...> Full Article

Neandertals, Humans Share Key Changes To 'Language Gene' (10/21/2007)

A new study reveals that adaptive changes in a human gene involved in speech and language were shared by our closest extinct relatives, the Neandertals. The finding reveals that the human form of the gene arose much earlier than scientists had estimated previously. It also raises the possibility that Neandertals possessed some of the prerequisites for language. ...> Full Article

Researchers caution against genetic ancestry testing (10/20/2007)

For many Americans, the potential to track one's DNA to a specific country, region or tribe with a take-home kit is highly alluring. But while the popularity of genetic ancestry testing is rising - particularly among African Americans - the technology is flawed and could spawn unwelcome societal consequences, according to researchers from several institutions nationwide. ...> Full Article

Researcher discovers binocular vision gene (10/19/2007)

A team of researchers have identified an important gene responsible for binocular vision. ...> Full Article

Inconsistencies With Neanderthal Genomic DNA Sequences (10/15/2007)

Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out? ...> Full Article

The difference between fish and humans (10/13/2007)

Scientists answer century old developmental question ...> Full Article

Environmental Setting of Human Migrations in the Circum-Pacific Region (10/11/2007)

A new study adds insight into the migration of anatomically modern humans out of Africa and into Asia less than 100,000 years before present (BP). ...> Full Article

Which Came First, the Chicken Genome or the Egg Genome? (10/9/2007)

Researchers have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates? ...> Full Article

Individual Differences Caused by Shuffled Chunks of DNA in the Human Genome (9/30/2007)

Researchers offer a new view of what causes the greatest genetic variability among individuals - suggesting that it is due less to single point mutations than to the presence of structural changes that cause extended segments of the human genome to be missing, rearranged or present in extra copies. ...> Full Article

Hair untangles woolly mammoth puzzle (9/28/2007)

Researchers discovered that hair shafts provide an ideal source of ancient DNA -- a better source than bones and muscle for studying the genome sequences of extinct animals. Their research achievement includes the sequencing of entire mitochondrial genomes from 10 individual woolly mammoths. ...> Full Article

New study shows that big brothers reduce fertility (9/28/2007)

Researchers have shown that having an older brother can affect an individual's fertility. The research shows that people who have an older brother produce fewer children than those born after a sister. ...> Full Article

Male voice pitch predicts reproductive success in hunter-gatherers (9/27/2007)

Researchers studied tribe that lives much as humans did 200,000 years ago ...> Full Article

Primate Sperm Competition: Speed Matters (9/26/2007)

Researchers have found evidence that supports the theory that reproductive competition during the evolution of primate species has occurred at the level of sperm cell motility. ...> Full Article

Gene Involved In Human Language Development Also Involved In Bat Echolocation (9/24/2007)

When it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language. ...> Full Article

Computer Program Traces Ancestry Using Anonymous DNA Samples (9/24/2007)

A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background. ...> Full Article

New Research Sheds Light on Homo Floresiensis (9/21/2007)

An international team of researchers has completed a new study on Homo floresiensis, commonly referred to as the "hobbit," a 3-foot-tall, 18,000-year-old hominin skeleton, discovered four years ago on the Indonesian island of Flores. ...> Full Article

Is there really a 'mommy' gene in women? (9/19/2007)

Basic principles of biology rather than women's newfound economic independence can explain why fewer of them are getting married and having children, and why the trend may only be temporary. ...> Full Article

Gene determines whether male body odor smells pleasant (9/18/2007)

To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people ascribe a foul odor to androstenone, usually that of stale urine or strong sweat, others find the scent sweet and pleasant. Still others cannot smell it at all. ...> Full Article

Was ability to run early man's Achilles heel? (9/13/2007)

The earliest humans almost certainly walked upright on two legs but may have struggled to run at even half the speed of modern man, new research suggests. ...> Full Article

Extra gene copies were enough to make early humans' mouths water (9/10/2007)

To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in Nature Genetics, which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene. ...> Full Article

Do sisters share a closer genetic proximity than other siblings? (9/9/2007)

Daughters inherit the same X chromosome from their father. ...> Full Article

Ultraconserved Elements in the Genome: Are They Indispensable? (9/6/2007)

Three years ago, "ultraconserved elements" were discovered in the genomes of mice, rats, and humans. These are DNA sequences 200 base pairs in length or longer — some are over 700 base pairs long — showing 100-percent identity among the three species. They have been perfectly conserved since the last common ancestor of mice, rats, and humans, which lived some 85 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Selection on genes underlying schizophrenia during human evolution (9/6/2007)

Several genes with strong associations to schizophrenia have evolved rapidly due to selection during human evolution, according to new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. ...> Full Article

Pig study sheds new light on the colonisation of Europe by early farmers (9/5/2007)

Ancient DNA harvested from pigs has allowed scientists, for the first time, to accurately determine the arrival of early farmers into Europe 11,000 years ago during the latter part of the Stone Age. ...> Full Article

Genes involved in human height discovered (9/5/2007)

Whole genome study reveals first robust genetic link to height in humans ...> Full Article

Migration of Early Humans From Africa Aided By Wet Weather (9/4/2007)

The African origin of early modern humans 200,000--150,000 years ago is now well documented, with archaeological data suggesting that a major migration from tropical east Africa to the Levant took place between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago via the presently hyper-arid Saharan-Arabian desert. ...> Full Article

New research challenges previous knowledge about the origins of urbanization (9/3/2007)

Ancient cities arose not by decree from a centralized political power, as was previously widely believed, but as the outgrowth of decisions made by smaller groups or individuals, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh. ...> Full Article

Ethiopian Plateau Formation Coincided With Climate Change That May Have Spurred Human Evolution (9/2/2007)

More than three million years ago, early hominins evolved the ability to walk upright and in doing so started us along the evolutionary path that eventually gave rise to Homo sapiens. ...> Full Article

Professor unravels secrets of Guanajuato mummies (9/1/2007)

Twenty-two mummies in central Mexico-including one believed to be the world's youngest embalmed mummified fetus-have revealed clues to their identities, thanks to research conducted by a team of scientists this summer. ...> Full Article

Anthropologist Publishes Research on Warfare Paradox (8/31/2007)

Some leading scientists who have studied warfare through the ages have long suggested that humans — the males of the species, at least — have little choice when it comes to slaughtering one another in great numbers. Such warlike behavior, the scholars contend, is hardwired into the human brain. ...> Full Article

Gene Regulation, Not Just Genes, Sets Humans Apart (8/14/2007)

Duke researchers found variances in two major traits when they compared gene regulation in chimps, humans and rhesus macaques ...> Full Article

Student's Discovery Could Help Rewrite Prehistory (8/13/2007)

A little boy's natural curiosity may have turned up archeological evidence that the earliest Native Americans came from Europe, not Asia. ...> Full Article

Fossils Paint New Picture Of Human Evolution (8/9/2007)

Two new fossils, described this week in the journal Nature, cast fresh light on a little understood and important period of human prehistory at the dawn of our own genus, Homo. ...> Full Article

Early Humans In China One Million Years Ago (8/7/2007)

Chronology and adaptability of early humans in different paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental settings are important topics in the study of human evolution. ...> Full Article

U.S.-Cuban Dig Seeks Insight Into People Columbus Encountered (8/6/2007)

Researchers in an ongoing U.S.-Cuban archaeological expedition, co-led by The University of Alabama, are attempting to learn more about the native people Christopher Columbus encountered on his first voyage to the New World. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Gene For Left-Handedness (8/5/2007)

An international group of scientists, led by a team from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, have discovered a gene that increases an individual's chances of being left-handed. A report of the study is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. ...> Full Article

British Researchers Search For Cumbrian Roots (8/3/2007)

Over a hundred Cumbrian volunteers are needed to give blood samples to help researchers at Newcastle University as part of a national study which uses genetic information to reveal the history of British people. ...> Full Article

Genomics Study Provides Insight Into The Evolution Of Unique Human Traits, Including Endurance Running (8/2/2007)

Today, researchers from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC), along with colleagues from Stanford University, report the results of a large-scale, genome-wide study to investigate gene copy number differences among ten primate species, including humans. ...> Full Article

Early Modern Human Skull Includes Surprising Neanderthal Feature (8/1/2007)

New radiocarbon analysis dates human skull to 33,000 years ago ...> Full Article

How Our Ancestors Coped With Abrupt Climate Change (7/24/2007)

A research consortium, led by Professor John Lowe in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway, University of London, has been awarded funding of £3m to develop a novel approach for assessing how humans may have responded to rapid environmental changes during the recent past. ...> Full Article

Research Suggests Single African Origin Of Humans (7/23/2007)

New research at the University of Cambridge claims to have compelling new evidence that humans stem from the same single point of origin. ...> Full Article

New Research Proves Single Origin Of Humans In Africa (7/20/2007)

New research published in the journal Nature (19 July) has proved the single origin of humans theory by combining studies of global genetic variations in humans with skull measurements across the world. The research, at the University of Cambridge and funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), represents a final blow for supporters of a multiple origins of humans theory. ...> Full Article

Study Identifies Energy Efficiency As Reason For Evolution Of Upright Walking (7/19/2007)

A new study provides support for the hypothesis that walking on two legs, or bipedalism, evolved because it used less energy than quadrupedal knucklewalking. ...> Full Article

Rapid Evolution Of Non-Coding DNA Since The Split Between Human And Chimp Genome (7/18/2007)

A difference of only a few percent in DNA sequence is thought to separate the human and chimp genomes. New research published in Genome Biology identifies the subset of sequences that may have driven the evolution of our two species. ...> Full Article

Evidence Of Very Recent Human Adaptation: Up To 10 Percent Of Human Genome May Have Changed (7/16/2007)

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa. ...> Full Article

No Volcanic Winter¯ After Super Volcano Eruption (7/12/2007)

One of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history may not have had the cataclysmic effects that some scientists have proposed, Cambridge-led research has revealed. ...> Full Article

Original Human 'Stone Age' Diet Is Good For People With Diabetes (7/3/2007)

Foods of the kind that were consumed during human evolution may be the best choice to control diabetes type 2. A study from Lund University, Sweden, found markedly improved capacity to handle carbohydrate after eating such foods for three months. ...> Full Article

Applied Biosystems Helps Build Egypt's First Laboratory for Ancient DNA Analysis (7/2/2007)

Royal Mummies Tested through Collaboration with Discovery Channel and Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities ...> Full Article

Daddies' Girls Choose Men Who Look Like Their Fathers (6/25/2007)

Women who enjoy good childhood relationships with their fathers select partners who resemble their dads research suggests. ...> Full Article

Mystery Of 5,000 Year Old Glacier Mummy Solved (6/10/2007)

An Italian-Swiss research team, including Dr. Frank Rühli of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Zurich in Switzerland proved the cause of death of the Iceman ("Ötzi," 3300 BC) by modern X-ray-based technology. A lesion of a close-to-the-shoulder artery has been found thanks to a CT scan or multislice computed tomography, finally clarifying the world-famous glacier mummy's cause of death. ...> Full Article

Some Language Preferences May Be Genetic (6/1/2007)

Genetic differences may influence the type of language spoken by different human groups, according to University of Edinburgh researchers. ...> Full Article

Evidence From Ancient Graves Raises Questions About Ritual Human Sacrifice Among Hunter Gatherers In Europe (5/30/2007)

A new article explores ancient multiple graves and raises the possibility that hunter gatherers in what is now Europe may have practiced ritual human sacrifice. This practice - well-known in large, stratified societies - supports data emerging from different lines of research that the level of social complexity reached in the distant past by groups of hunter gatherers was well beyond that of many more recent small bands of modern foragers. ...> Full Article

Recently Excavated Headless Skeleton Expands Understanding Of Ancient Andean Rituals (5/30/2007)

Images of disembodied heads are widespread in the art of Nasca, a culture based on the southern coast of Peru from AD 1 to AD 750. But despite this evidence and large numbers of trophy heads in the region's archaeological record, only eight headless bodies have been recovered with evidence of decapitation, explains Christina A. Conlee (Texas State University). Conlee's analysis of a newly excavated headless body from the site of La Tiza provides important new data on decapitation and its relationship to ancient ideas of death and regeneration. ...> Full Article

Math and Language Abilities Linked to Finger Length (5/24/2007)

The results of numeracy and literacy tests for seven-year-old children can be predicted by measuring the length of their fingers, shows new research. ...> Full Article

Gene Mutation Linked To Cognition Is Found Only In Humans (5/10/2007)

The human and chimpanzee genomes vary by just 1.2 percent, yet there is a considerable difference in the mental and linguistic capabilities between the two species. A new study showed that a certain form of neuropsin, a protein that plays a role in learning and memory, is expressed only in the central nervous systems of humans and that it originated less than 5 million years ago. The study, which also demonstrated the molecular mechanism that creates this novel protein, will be published online in Human Mutation, the official journal of the Human Genome Variation Society. ...> Full Article

40,000-year-old skull shows both modern human and Neanderthal traits (4/3/2007)

Humans continued to evolve significantly long after they were established in Europe, and interbred with Neanderthals as they settled across the continent. ...> Full Article

Man's Earliest Direct Ancestors Looked More Apelike Than Previously Believed (3/29/2007)

First Humans Retained Surprisingly Apelike Features, NYU Study Reveals ...> Full Article

Human Ancestors had Short Legs for Combat (3/13/2007)

Ape-like human ancestors known as australopiths maintained short legs for 2 million years because a squat physique and stance helped the males fight over access to females, a University of Utah study concludes. ...> Full Article

Human pubic lice acquired from gorillas gives evolutionary clues (3/10/2007)

Humans acquired pubic lice from gorillas several million years ago, but this seemingly seedy connection does not mean that monkey business went on with the great apes, a new University of Florida study finds. ...> Full Article

E. coli bacteria migrating between humans and chimps (2/26/2007)

Scientists from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana have found that people employed in chimpanzee-focused research and tourism in a park in western Uganda are exchanging gastrointestinal bacteria – specifically Escherichia coli – with local chimpanzee populations. And some of the E. coli strains migrating to chimps are resistant to antibiotics used by humans in Uganda. ...> Full Article

Human Neanderthal Interbreeding (11/8/2006)

Researchers with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Chicago have published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that provides circumstantial evidence that humans and Neanderthals interbred at some point in history. ...> Full Article