Tag Archives: Humans

Chimpanzees, along with bonobos, are humans’ closest living relatives. In fact, you may have heard that humans and chimps share 98.8% of their DNA. But is this actually true? And what does “similar DNA” actually mean? The truth is that the frequently cited 98.8% similarity between chimp (Pan troglodytes) and human (Homo sapiens) DNA overlooks key differences in the species’ …

When the Covid-19 pandemic reached Hawai‘i’s Hanauma Bay in 2020, the popular snorkelling site – which attracts nearly one million visitors every year – was closed almost overnight. It remained shut for seven months. The sudden absence of tourists created what scientists call a ‘natural experiment’ – it was a rare opportunity to study how quickly damaged coral reef ecosystems …

Wandering magnetic fields would have had noticeable effects for humans. Credit: Maximilian Schanner (GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany) Weak magnetic fields once exposed humans to radiation. People adapted with shelter, clothing, and mineral protection. Our first meeting was a bit awkward. One of us is an archaeologist who studies how past peoples interacted with their environments. Two of …

One day, Mars might become a home to humans. But first, there’s the cinematic, sci-fi challenge of making the Red Planet suitable for life. There’s a problem, though: The typical person can’t get to space safely. That throws a wrench into the whole “let’s move to Mars” plan in the face of extreme climate change and other existential risks on …

Scientists have trained a four-legged robot to play badminton against a human opponent, and it scuttles across the court to play rallies of up to 10 shots. By combining whole-body movements with visual perception, the robot, called “ANYmal,” learned to adapt the way it moved to reach the shuttlecock and successfully return it over the net, thanks to artificial intelligence …

Most of us carry a small trace of Neanderthal ancestry and, in some cases, that legacy sits in our legs. A single change in a muscle enzyme can subtly throttle how hard muscles can work under pressure. People outside Africa typically carry about 2 percent Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, a result of ancient interbreeding between populations. That shared history …

In a new study, anthropologists in Australia argued that hominins arrived on the continent a little later than academia previously determined. It wasn’t 65,000 years ago; it was about 50,000. “When did humans first colonize Australia?” That question propelled a team of researchers from Australia’s La Trobe University to reevaluate the validity of the accepted arrival date against material evidence. …

Brands caught using AI have continued to face backlash from consumers. Last month, Guess sparked outcry online when it featured an AI-generated model in an advertisement that appeared in Vogue. So even outside of any obvious mistakes made by AI tools, some artists say their clients simply want a human touch to distinguish themselves from the growing pool of AI-generated …

New research by UAlbany anthropologist Adam D. Gordon finds substantial sexual dimorphism in some of our early human ancestors. Credit: Ken Zirkel from the Museum of Natural History, used by permission Fossils reveal extreme sexual dimorphism in early hominins. The findings reshape views of their social behavior. A recent study has revealed that males of some of humanity’s earliest ancestors …

A child’s skeleton, found nearly a century ago in Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel in Israel, has taken on new meaning after a modern re-analysis. A fresh look at the skull and jaw, dated to roughly 140,000 years ago, suggests that the remains show a blend of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal traits. The authors say this specimen is …