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Image of ancestor with hair all over body
Why Don’t Humans Have Fur?
Humans are often referred to as “hairless apes.” But how did this trait evolve given that fur provides significant advantages to many mammals?
Why Don’t Humans Have Fur?
Why Don’t Humans Have Fur?

Humans are often referred to as “hairless apes.” But how did this trait evolve given that fur provides significant advantages to many mammals?

Humans are often referred to as “hairless apes.” But how did this trait evolve given that fur provides significant advantages to many mammals?

anthropology

a yellow-ish fish skull is held up by metal prongs, with a rack of other museum collection items in the background
Fossilized Fish Teeth Could Be Earliest Evidence of Cooking
Katherine Irving | Nov 14, 2022 | 2 min read
Study authors say the teeth, dated around 780,000 years old, push back the date humans are known to have engaged in cooking by more than 600,000 years. 
A postcard from the early 1900s depicting an Indigenous midden in Damariscotta, Maine.
Sticks and Bones, Circa 8000 BCE
Dan Robitzski | Sep 1, 2022 | 3 min read
Ancient stashes of animal bones, tools, and other artifacts are often dismissed as archaic garbage heaps, but the deposits provide glimpses of the cultural practices and environmental conditions of past Indigenous settlements.
Composite image of earliest humans and wooly mammoths
New Evidence Complicates the Story of the Peopling of the Americas
Emma Yasinski | May 2, 2022 | 10+ min read
New techniques have shown that people reached the New World far earlier than the long-standing estimate of 13,000 years ago, but scientists still debate exactly when humans arrived on the continent—and how.
Illustrated map showing where evidence was found of the earliest humans
Infographic: Mixed Evidence on Human Occupation of the Americas
Emma Yasinski | May 2, 2022 | 3 min read
Diverse lines of evidence point to humans’ presence in the New World long before the dawn of Clovis culture. But rewriting this chapter of human history raises many questions about how these early people came to inhabit these continents.
Between Ape and Human book cover
Book Excerpt from Between Ape and Human
Gregory Forth | Apr 18, 2022 | 8 min read
In Chapter 7, “More Remarkable Encounters,” author Gregory Forth relays a story told to him by Tegu, a Lio man who says he found and disposed of a dead organism that might fit the description of an "ape-man."
Between Ape and Human book cover
Opinion: Another Species of Hominin May Still Be Alive
Gregory Forth | Apr 18, 2022 | 4 min read
Do members of Homo floresiensis still inhabit the Indonesian island where their fossils helped identify a new human species fewer than 20 years ago?
A close-up of the eyespot on the wing of a forest mother-of-pearl butterfly (Protogoniomorpha parhassus)
Caught on Camera
The Scientist | Apr 18, 2022 | 2 min read
See some of the coolest images recently featured by The Scientist
Harvard University library
Students Protest Amidst Harvard Sexual Harassment Scandal
Catherine Offord | Feb 15, 2022 | 2 min read
Hundreds of people turned up to show solidarity with three grad students suing the university over a professor’s alleged misconduct, while faculty who had previously spoken in the professor’s favor walk back their support.
man in suit
Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey Dies at Age 77
Chloe Tenn | Jan 3, 2022 | 3 min read
The Kenyan fossil finder is known for his discoveries of various Stone Age artifacts and ancient human skulls and skeletons.
small, circular bones individually labeled and packaged in plastic bags
2,000-Year-Old Salmon DNA Reveals Secret to Sustainable Fisheries
Dan Robitzski | Nov 29, 2021 | 5 min read
Genomic analysis of ancient chum salmon bones and cultural knowledge from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation suggest that people in the Pacific Northwest managed fisheries for thousands of years by harvesting males and releasing females.
A young Maurice Taieb looks at a fossil.
Maurice Taieb, Geologist Who Discovered “Lucy” Site, Dies at 86
Lisa Winter | Aug 27, 2021 | 2 min read
Taieb recognized the potential importance of the Hadar Formation, where remains of the hominin Australopithecus afarensis were found only a few years later.
 Close-up view of the drapery hosting most of the red stains.
65,000-Year-Old Cave Markings Made by Neanderthals: Study
Lisa Winter | Aug 3, 2021 | 2 min read
An analysis concludes that pigments were transported into the cave, and the marks were made with intention, though their ultimate meaning remains unknown.
Amazonian Secrets
The Scientist | Sep 1, 2020 | 1 min read
Watch researchers travel to a cave deep in the Amazon to search for clues about the first humans to populate the Americas.
The Peopling of South America
Shawna Williams | Sep 1, 2020 | 10+ min read
While questions still outnumber answers, new findings from archaeology, genetics, and other disciplines are revealing surprising insights into the early cultures of the most recently populated continent.
Ancient Beads Point to Far-Flung Relationships in Southern Africa
Shawna Williams | Jul 13, 2020 | 5 min read
An isotopic analysis of eggshell beads dating back more than 30,000 years indicates that they helped build networks that stretched for hundreds of kilometers.
Aquatic Apes?
The Scientist | Apr 1, 2020 | 1 min read
Watch Reading Frames author Peter Rhys-Evans and documentarian Sir David Attenborough discuss the book The Waterside Ape and the impact it may have on our understanding of human evolution.
Book Excerpt from The Waterside Ape
Peter Rhys-Evans | Apr 1, 2020 | 4 min read
In Chapter 11, “Surfer’s Ear,” author Peter Rhys-Evans describes a key piece of evidence he says supports his hypothesis of a brief period of semi-aquatic living in early hominins.
Did Human Evolution Include a Semi-Aquatic Phase?
Peter Rhys-Evans | Apr 1, 2020 | 3 min read
A recent book outlines fossil evidence supporting the controversial hypothesis.
Children of Extramarital Affairs Were and Are Rare: Study
Ashley Yeager | Nov 14, 2019 | 2 min read
Using DNA data, researchers track family dynamics in Europe over the last 500 years and find socioeconomic status is related to married women having a child with a man other than their husband.
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