Human Origins

Author: New Scientist
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
ISBN: 147367042X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Where did we come from? Where are we going? Homo sapiens is the most successful, the most widespread and the most influential species ever to walk the Earth. In the blink of an evolutionary eye we have spread around the globe, taken control of Earth's biological and mineral resources, transformed the environment, discovered the secrets of the universe and travelled into space. Yet just 7 million years ago, we were just another species of great ape making a quiet living in the forests of East Africa. We do not know exactly what this ancestor was like, but it was no more likely than a chimpanzee or gorilla to sail across the ocean, write a symphony, invent a steam engine or ponder the meaning of existence. How did we get from there to here? The Story of Human Origins recounts the most astonishing evolutionary tale ever told. Discover how our ancestors made the first tentative steps towards becoming human, how we lost our fur but gained language, fire and tools, how we strode out of Africa, invented farming and cities and ultimately created modern civilization - perhaps the only one of its kind in the Universe. Meet your long-lost ancestors, the other humans who once shared the planet with us, and learn where the story might end.

Human Origins 101

Author: Holly M. Dunsworth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031305987X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
What should the average person know about science? Because science is so central to life in the 21st century, science educators and other leaders of the scientific community believe that it is essential that everyone understand the basic concepts of the most vital and far-reaching disciplines. Human Origins 101 does exactly that. This accessible volume provides readers - whether students new to the field or just interested members of the lay public - with the essential ideas of the origins of humans using a minimum of jargon and mathematics. Concepts are introduced in a progressive order so that more complicated ideas build on simpler ones, and each is discussed in small, bite-sized segments so that they can be more easily understood. Human Origins 101 enables students and the general public to understand the basic concepts underlying our knowledge of our evolution as a species. This small volume covers: ; A brief history of paleoanthropology, and the discovery of human's place in nature ; Evolution and the Origin of Life ; Clues to human origins from genetics ; The fossil and archaeological records ; The distinctive traits that makes us human ; The diversity of modern humans With a bibliography, glossary, and discussion of hoaxes, fringe theories, and hot-button issues, Human Origins 101 provides the perfect starting point for anyone wishing to understand how scientists know how humans evolved.

What Does it Mean to be Human?

Author: Richard Potts
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426206062
Category : Human beings
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
This generously illustrated book tells the story of the human family, showing how our species' physical traits and behaviors evolved over millions of years as our ancestors adapted to dramatic environmental changes. In What Does It Means to Be Human? Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, and Chris Sloan, National Geographic's paleoanthropolgy expert, delve into our distant past to explain when, why, and how we acquired the unique biological and cultural qualities that govern our most fundamental connections and interactions with other people and with the natural world. Drawing on the latest research, they conclude that we are the last survivors of a once-diverse family tree, and that our evolution was shaped by one of the most unstable eras in Earth's environmental history. The book presents a wealth of attractive new material especially developed for the Hall's displays, from life-like reconstructions of our ancestors sculpted by the acclaimed John Gurche to photographs from National Geographic and Smithsonian archives, along with informative graphics and illustrations. In coordination with the exhibit opening, the PBS program NOVA will present a related three-part television series, and the museum will launch a website expected to draw 40 million visitors.

Origins

Author: Lewis Dartnell
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 1541617894
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
A New York Times-bestselling author explains how the physical world shaped the history of our species When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the south-east United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea. Everywhere is the deep imprint of the planetary on the human. From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the breathtaking impact of the earth beneath our feet on the shape of our human civilizations.

Ancestral DNA, Human Origins, and Migrations

Author: Rene J. Herrera
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128041285
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Book Description
Ancestral DNA, Human Origins, and Migrations describes the genesis of humans in Africa and the subsequent story of how our species migrated to every corner of the globe. Different phases of this journey are presented in an integrative format with information from a number of disciplines, including population genetics, evolution, anthropology, archaeology, climatology, linguistics, art, music, folklore and history. This unique approach weaves a story that has synergistic impact in the clarity and level of understanding that will appeal to those researching, studying, and interested in population genetics, evolutionary biology, human migrations, and the beginnings of our species. - Integrates research and information from the fields of genetics, evolution, anthropology, archaeology, climatology, linguistics, art, music, folklore and history, among others - Presents the content in an entertaining and synergistic style to facilitate a deep understanding of human population genetics - Informs on the origins and recent evolution of our species in an approachable manner

Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins

Author: Carl Zimmer
Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780061196676
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
From the savannas of Africa to modern-day labs for biomechanical analysis and molecular genetics, Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins reveals how anthropologists are furiously redrawing the human family tree. Their discoveries have spawned a host of new questions: Should chimpanzees be included as a human species? Was it the physical difficulty of human childbirth that encouraged the development of social groups in early human species? Did humans and Neanderthals interbreed? Why did humans supplant Neanderthals in the end? In answering such questions, Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins sheds new light on one of the most important questions of all: What makes us human?

Science and Human Origins

Author: Ann Gauger
Publisher: Discovery Institute
ISBN: 9781936599042
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Evidence for a purely Darwinian account of human origins is supposed to be overwhelming. But is it? In this provocative book, three scientists challenge the claim that undirected natural selection is capable of building a human being, critically assess fossil and genetic evidence that human beings share a common ancestor with apes, and debunk recent claims that the human race could not have started from an original couple.

Origins

Author: Douglas Palmer
Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
ISBN: 9781845334741
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

The Truth about Human Origins

Author: Brad Harrub
Publisher: Apologetics Press Inc.
ISBN: 0932859585
Category : Human evolution
Languages : en
Pages : 531

Book Description
Ever since Charles Darwin first published The Origin of Species on November 24, 1859, the subject of origins has been one of the most controversial topics around. Sadly, it also is a subject that is fraught with erroneous theories and concepts. Most students today are taught that organic evolution is not a theory, but a "fact" that all "reputable scientists" accept. Disclaimers from the evolutionary community notwithstanding, such a claim is, quite simply, wrong. We believe it is time for someone to offer what renowned news commentator Paul Harvey would call "the rest of the story." That is what The Truth About Human Origins does. It tells the rest of the story as it discusses the scientific facts about mankind's beginning. For example, it investigates the "record of the rocks" as that record relates to human evolution. It demonstrates how evolutionary theory is unable to explain things like the origin of gender and sexual reproduction, the origin of language and communication, the origin of the brain, the mind, and human consciousness, and the origin of skin colors and blood types. It also examines in an in-depth fashion the so-called "molecular evidence" of human evolution.

Ancestral Images

Author: Stephanie Moser
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501729012
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
Pictorial reconstructions of ancient human ancestors have twin purposes: to make sense of shared ancestry and to bring prehistory to life. Stephanie Moser analyzes the close relationship between representations of the past and theories about human evolution, showing how this relationship existed even before a scientific understanding of human origins developed. How did mythological, religious, and historically inspired visions of the past, in existence for centuries, shape this understanding? Moser treats images as primary documents, and her book is lavishly illustrated with engravings, paintings, photographs, and reconstructions. In surveying the iconography of prehistory, Moser explores visions of human creation from their origins in classical, early Christian, and medieval periods through traditions of representation initiated in the Renaissance. She looks closely at the first scientific reconstructions of the nineteenth century, which dramatized and made comprehensible the Darwinian theory of human descent from apes. She considers, as well, the impact of reconstructions on popular literature in Europe and North America, showing that early visualizations of prehistory retained a firm hold on the imagination—a hold that archaeologists and anthropologists have found difficult to shake.