http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- What, exactly, distinguishes humans from apes? It`s certainly more than just our genes, renowned anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy told a Harvard audience recently (Nov. 18). http://www.physorg.com/news178820796.html Biology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:30:01 EST news178820796 Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news177828426.html Other Sciences Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:48:32 EST news177828426 (PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence that early modern humans living on the coast of the far southern tip of Africa 72,000 years ago employed pyrotechnology - the controlled use of fire - to increase the quality and efficiency of their stone tool manufacturing process, is being reported in the Aug. 14 issue of the journal Science. An international team of researchers, including three from the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, deduce that "this technology required a novel association between fire, its heat, and a structural change in stone with consequent flaking benefits." Further, their findings ignite the notion of complex cognition in these early engineers. http://www.physorg.com/news169391684.html Other Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:16:19 EST news169391684 Stable isotope data published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Erik Trinkaus, professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, and Michael Richards of the University of British Columbia and the Max Planck Institute, suggests that at least some of the European early modern humans consistently consumed fish, supplementing their diet of terrestrial animals. http://www.physorg.com/news169187809.html Other Sciences Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:00:02 EST news169187809 (PhysOrg.com) -- The wound that ultimately killed a Neandertal man between 50,000 and 75,000 years was most likely caused by a thrown spear, the kind modern humans used but Neandertals did not, according to Duke University-led research. http://www.physorg.com/news167323513.html Other Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:30:01 EST news167323513 Excavations in the summer of 2008 at the sites of Hohle Fels and Vogelherd produced new evidence for Paleolithic music in the form of the remains of one nearly complete bone flute and isolated small fragments of three ivory flutes. http://www.physorg.com/news165069257.html Other Sciences Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:40:02 EST news165069257 Modern humans may have eaten Neanderthals, scientists report in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences this month. http://www.physorg.com/news161876049.html Other Sciences Mon, 18 May 2009 14:34:50 EST news161876049 A detailed analysis of the feet of Homo floresiensis -the miniature hominins who lived on a remote island in eastern Indonesia until 18,000 years ago -- may help settle a question hotly debated among paleontologists: how similar was this population to modern humans? A new research paper, featured on the cover of the current issue of Nature, may answer this question. While the so-called "hobbits" walked on two legs, several features of their feet were so primitive that their gait was not efficient. http://www.physorg.com/news160834618.html Other Sciences Wed, 06 May 2009 13:17:29 EST news160834618 Dazzling new scientific techniques are allowing archaeologists to track the movements and menus of extinct hominids through the seasons and years as they ate their way across the African landscape, helping to illuminate the evolution of human diets. http://www.physorg.com/news153674920.html Other Sciences Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:29:29 EST news153674920 In a development which could reveal the links between modern humans and their prehistoric cousins, scientists said Thursday they have mapped a first draft of the Neanderthal genome. Researchers used DNA fragments extracted from three Croatian fossils to map out more than 60 percent of the entire Neanderthal genome by sequencing three billion bases of DNA. http://www.physorg.com/news153656986.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:30:13 EST news153656986 An analysis of an 18,000-year-old fossil, described as the remains of a diminutive humanlike creature, proves that genuine cave-dwelling "hobbits" once flourished in Southeast Asia, according to a Long Island anthropologist who conducted X-ray studies of a skull. http://www.physorg.com/news150654813.html Other Sciences Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:33:33 EST news150654813 In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news149769271.html Other Sciences Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:34:31 EST news149769271 (PhysOrg.com) -- It is widely accepted that Upper Paleolithic early modern humans spread westward across Europe about 42,000 years ago, displacing and absorbing Neanderthal populations in the process. However, Middle Paleolithic assemblages persisted for another 8,000 years in Iberia, presumably made by Neanderthals. It has been unclear whether these late Middle Paleolithic Iberian assemblages were made by Neanderthals, and what the nature of those humans might have been. http://www.physorg.com/news148051513.html Other Sciences Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:25:13 EST news148051513 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international team, including Oxford University archaeologists, has dated two explosions of sophisticated stone tool making in southern Africa much more precisely than has previously been possible. http://www.physorg.com/news144676690.html Other Sciences Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:58:10 EST news144676690 (PhysOrg.com) -- The widely held belief that the Nile valley was the most likely route out of sub-Saharan Africa for early modern humans 120,000 year ago is challenged in a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news143210998.html Other Sciences Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:49:58 EST news143210998