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Modern humans inherited viral defenses from Neanderthals

Oct 09, 2018 (SPX)

Curiously, some snippets of Neanderthal DNA pop up more often in modern human populations than others, leading scientists to wonder if their spread was propelle...

Rift Valley's drying climate inspired early human evolution

Oct 09, 2018 (UPI)

In a new study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists argue the region's variable climate spurred early...

Neanderthal healthcare practices crucial to survival

Oct 09, 2018 (SPX)

Healthcare practices in this period of human evolution have often been studied alongside complex cultural behaviour, mostly based around research into rituals a...

Dryer, less predictable environment may have spurred human evolution

Oct 09, 2018 (SPX)

Since the discovery of a rich assemblage of human fossils as well as stone tools and other archeological evidence in the rift valley of East Africa, a region of...

Viruses influenced gene sharing between Neanderthals and humans

Oct 08, 2018 (SPX)

The human family tree is full of twists and branches that helped shape what we are today. Now, a study published in the journal Cell is reporting new details ab...

Brain organizes forgettable, indelible memories during sleep

Oct 05, 2018 (UPI)

For their study, neuroscientists in Germany recruited epilepsy patients electrodes implanted in their brains for surgical planning. The electrodes allowed scien...

Viruses affected gene flow between humans, Neanderthals

Oct 04, 2018 (UPI)

"It's not a stretch to imagine that when modern humans met up with Neanderthals, they infected each other with pathogens that came from their respective environ...

Neanderthal-like features in 450,000-year-old fossil teeth from the Italian Peninsula

Oct 04, 2018 (SPX)

Zanolli and colleagues examined dental remains from the sites of Fontana Fanuccio, located 50km southeast of Rome, and Visogliano, located 18km northwest of Tri...

Neuroscientists identify the origins of 'free will' inside the brain

Oct 02, 2018 (UPI)

Whether or not free will exists -- or whether such a distinction is meaningful -- will remain a point of contention among priests and philosophers. What matters...

How millions of neurons become unique

Sep 27, 2018 (SPX)

The brain is our body's most complex organ and consists of about 100 billion neurons. For the error-free transmission of information and for proper functioning,...

Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years

Sep 20, 2018 (SPX)

A team of scientists led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) discovered that ancient bones from the extinct Madagascan elep...

People are less likely to trust someone with a foreign accent

Sep 18, 2018 (UPI)

According to social experiments conducted by researchers at McGill University, people tend to trust people from their own "in-group" -- people from a similar li...

Blombos Cave drawing predates previous human-made drawings by at least 30,000 years

Sep 17, 2018 (SPX)

The drawing on the silcrete flake was a surprising find by archaeologist Dr Luca Pollarolo, an honorary research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand (...

Reward of labor in wild chimpanzees

Sep 13, 2018 (SPX)

"The sharing of meat following successful hunts encouraged hunt participation, as prey catchers shared more frequently with hunters than non-hunters, despite si...

Amber circulated in extensive Mediterranean exchange networks in Late Prehistory

Sep 11, 2018 (SPX)

Amber is a highly valued and unusual gemstone made of fossilized tree resin. Archaeological studies traced the exchange networks of amber raw material and decor...

Getting to the roots of our ancient cousin's diet

Sep 11, 2018 (SPX)

For example, a high-quality diet (and meat-eating) likely facilitated the evolution of our large brains, whilst the lack of a nutrient-rich diet probably underl...

Three previously unknown ancient primates identified

Sep 07, 2018 (SPX)

Since the 1930s, numerous primate fossils have been uncovered in the sandstones and claystones that make up the Friars Formation in San Diego County. Paleontolo...

Cold climates contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals

Sep 07, 2018 (SPX)

A team of researchers from a number of European and American research institutions, including Northumbria University, Newcastle, have produced detailed new natu...

Newly-sequenced genome sheds light on interactions between recent hominins

Aug 31, 2018 (SPX)

The ancient individual is only represented by a single small bone fragment. "The fragment is part of a long bone, and we can estimate that this individual was a...

Stone tools reveal modern human-like gripping capabilities 500000 years ago

Aug 29, 2018 (SPX)

The technique involves preparing a striking area on a tool to remove specific stone flakes and shape the tool into a pre-conceived design. Platform preparation ...