
The human brain grew as a result of the extinction of large animals
Research News Release
EurekAlert! provides eligible reporters with free access to embargoed and breaking news releases.
Eligibility GuidelinesEurekAlert! offers eligible public information officers paid access to a reliable news release distribution service.
Eligibility GuidelinesEurekAlert! is a service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- The human brain grew as a result of hunting small animals following the extinction of large animals - As they adapted to hunting small, swift prey animals, humans developed higher cognitive abilities, evidenced by the most obvious evolutionary change
Aridification in the central plains of China during the early Bronze Age did not cause population collapse, a result that highlights the importance of social resilience to climate change, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis. Instead of a collapse amid dry conditions, development of agriculture and increasingly complex human social structures set the stage for a dramatic increase in human population around 3,900 to 3,500 years ago.
Based on a manual recently discovered in a 3,500-year-old medical papyrus, University of Copenhagen Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt has been able to reconstruct the embalming process used to prepare ancient Egyptians for the afterlife. It is the oldest surviving manual on mummification yet discovered.
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? Research by a Texas A&M University professor may provide some answers.
Sharing the press release that I hope you will find interesting: A research team from Skoltech (Russia) and FBK (Italy) presented a method to derive 4D building models using historical maps and machine learning (ML). It is useful for understanding urban phenomena and changes that contributed to defining our cities' actual shapes.
A new study, published in Scientific Reports, uses different techniques to improve the investigation of fossilized dog feces.
New diplodocus-like dinosaur, Dzharatitanis kingi, identified from a fossil in Uzbekistan as the first rebbachisaurid found in Asia.
Many missionaries and Japanese believers were martyred during the Japanese suppression of Christianity in the 16th and 17th centuries. The martyrdom of Diego Hayato Kagayama, a chief vassal of the Hosokawa family, and banishment of Genya Ogasawara for religious believes was previously only known from reports to Rome by Jesuit missionaries. Now, a primary historical document written by Hosokawa family officials has clarified the authenticity and limitations of the missionaries' documents.
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.
The next time you eat seafood, think about the long-term effects. Will consistently eating the biggest fish or the biggest conch, mean that only the smaller individuals will have a chance to reproduce?