Those Newfies!

They sure have some funny names for places.

Mistaken Point being evaluated in UNESCO World Heritage bid

"A rare collection of sea fossils on the southeastern tip of Newfoundland is a step closer to possibly being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site."

[---]

"Mistaken Point is home to the oldest-known evidence of early multi-cellular life — a 565-million-year-old sea floor that's been slowly exposed by the pounding Atlantic surf."

Inneresting

Babbling bonobos and the origins of human speech

Bonobo "Baby Talk" Reveals Roots of Human Language

Bonobos Can Communicate,Babble Hints At Origins of Human Speech

 

 

Inneresting

Meet Your Ancestors (All of Them)

Puts the timelines into understandable terms. For example:

...your greatx550,000 grandfather was a very important monkey and more than 55 million years, when the first primates are thought to have lived—that our great-a-million-times-over-grandparent was the size of a mouse.

Every Thing Is GMO'd

If you don’t want your food genetically modified, tell nature to stop it

 "Recent research drives home how misled alarmists are about genetically modified food. All human beings, two Cambridge University scientists have established, are genetically modified, including Chipotle’s customers. Over the years, hundreds of foreign genes have jumped into human DNA through a natural phenomenon called “gene flow.” As a result, all humans carry genes that originated in algae, bacteria and fungi.  

If humans can safely accept alien genes without mishap, why not food, too?"

 

Trogdolites

Oldest stone tools pre-date Homo genus

The Origin Of Life

Researchers claim now they solved mystery behind origin of life on planet

"Origin-of-life researchers have long suggested scenarios for which set of biomolecules may have arisen first and set the stage for the others. But now chemists in the United Kingdom report new evidence that precursors for all three sets of biomolecules—nucleic acids, amino acids, and lipids—can be generated by a pair of simple compounds that would have been present on early Earth. As such, the work offers a possible way out of the paradoxes of the origin of life on Earth."

We're all just one big chemistry experiment

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth -- at least that is one version of the origin of everything that has existed since the Bronze Age."

[---]

"An experiment to test this hypothesis was made in 1953 by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey. The scientists put water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen -- all common chemicals available on the primitive Earth -- into a large flask and provided energy in the form of heat. At the conclusion of this experiment very complex chemicals including amino acids, the foundation of organic chemistry, were found in the flask.

In fact, when the sealed vials of the experiment were tested in 2007, they found more than 20 amino acids in the experiment. Life as we know it uses only 20 of these chemicals, so the experiment seemed to indicate the basic chemistry of life could arise spontaneously, given energy and time."

Origin-of-life puzzle cracked

"Origin-of-life researchers have long suggested scenarios for which set of biomolecules may have arisen first and set the stage for the others. But now chemists in the United Kingdom report new evidence that precursors for all three sets of biomolecules—nucleic acids, amino acids, and lipids—can be generated by a pair of simple compounds that would have been present on early Earth. As such, the work offers a possible way out of the paradoxes of the origin of life on Earth."

Evolution In Action

12 examples of evolution happening right now

"By shaping landscapes, dumping pollutants into rivers and lakes, and transforming wild areas into suburban ones, humans are spurning the creation of everything from wild animal hybrids to pests immune to poisons and superbugs that can't be killed with bacteria."

There are several examples of human caused evolution in the article.

More Interesting Stuff

Jawbone Fossil Fills a Gap in Early Human Evolution

"Mr. Seyoum, a graduate student in paleoanthropology at Arizona State University, had made a discovery that vaulted evolutionary science over a barren stretch of fossil record between two million and three million years ago. This was a time when the human genus, Homo, was getting underway. The 2.8-million-year-old jawbone of a Homo habilis predates by at least 400,000 years any previously known Homo fossils."

Another Inneresting One

Where Did Ancestor Of Indo-European Languages Originate?

Hindi, Greek among other Indo-European languages first emerged 6500 yrs ago

‘Indo-European’ languages first emerged 6,500 years ago

I've always had an interest in how related languages evolved and how linguists know they are related. I presume when language first arose, humans must have been a single unit, probably still in Africa and there would have been only one language, which subsequently evolved into the multitude of languages spoken by homo sapiens. I guess I should have taken that linguistics class back in the day.

No Comment

Human and Neanderthal love affair is traced back to Israel, 55,000 years ago

Suffice it to say, archeaologists are fighting over the implications of an ancient human-like skull found in a cave in Greece, which, apparently, threatens to throw the theory of human origins in Africa on its head.

Who knew? Neanderthal was Greek?

Or was it Israeli?

First Neanderthal-Human 'Love Child' From Israel

Related: Mark of the Neanderthal

Fascinating...

...history of planet earth. Kinda drives home the real possibility that some day we will be extinct.

Have You Ever Wondered Why...

...there are two kinds of lice that infest the human body? Pubic and head lice.

This has been the subject of scientific investigation. I kid you not. Watch for it about the 23:45 minute mark:

Are We Ever Grateful!

Genetic mutation allowed humans to digest alcohol

Unrelated To The Previous...

...post. (Just to make sure you know, any resemblance to Angry Tom is purely coincidental)

When did Neanderthals become extinct?

"By analyzing ancient remains across Europe, a team led by investigators have pinpointed the timing the Neanderthals’ extinction to between 39,000 and 41,000 years ago.

Neanderthals overlapped with early modern humans and, based on genetic evidence, interbred with them. However, the extent of the overlap of the two in terms of time and geography is still not fully known. New research has highlighted a shorter time frame for the potential interaction of humans with Neanderthals than other studies have shown. Many scientists think that there was a coexistence of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe between about 30,000 to 40,000 years, possibly extending to even more recently. The new research appears to contradict this."

Neanderthals: BFFs and frenemies of modern humans

"Far from wiping out Neanderthals overnight, modern humans co-existed with their shorter and stockier cousins for thousands of years, giving plenty of time for the two groups to share ideas – and even squeeze in a bit of time for sex.

The most accurate timeline yet for the demise of our closest relatives, published in the journal Nature on Aug 20, shows that Neanderthals overlapped with present-day humans in Europe for between 2,600 and 5,400 years before disappearing about 40,000 years ago."

Neanderthals, modern humans co-existed for 5,000 years

"Previous studies suggest that modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed for as less as 500 years. However, taking help from the new radiocarbon dating techniques, a group of international researchers suggest that Neanderthals died around 40,000 years ago but lived and mixed with modern humans for over 5,000 years in Europe before becoming extinct."

[---]

"Recent studies indicate that up to 2.1 percent of the DNA of modern non-African humans is derived from Neanderthals."

Evolution Made Simple

...or "Myth Busters".
5 Common Evolution Myths, Debunked

Say It Ain't So

Salmon May Adapt in the Face of Climate Change: Fish Adjust to Warm Waters

So, some species adapt. Some face extinction. There's nothing new under the sun. Humans evolved in a very hot climate. I'm sure some of us will survive - IF (and that's a big "if"} the planet is really going that way, which, as you know, I have my doubts.

Cool!

Three hours worth. It`s pouring rain outside and has been all month. Nothing else to do but watch cool stuff like this.

Cute

More Stuff About...

...human evolution and Neanderthals:


Method Confirms Humans, Neanderthals Interbred


New method confirms humans and Neandertals interbred

My beliefs have been confirmed. I know too many people who look Neanderthalish to believe otherwise.

Previously.

Also previously.

Digging...

...up the past. It's amazing what they find:

One of the oldest cases of tuberculosis is discovered Seven thousand years, or more, and I had the dumb luck to be born just about the time when effective treatment and prevention routines were developed!!

Discovery of 1.4 million-year-old fossil closes human evolution gap

"Humans have a distinctive hand anatomy that allows them to make and use tools. Apes and other nonhuman primates do not have these distinctive anatomical features in their hands, and the point in time at which these features first appeared in human evolution is unknown.

Now, a University of Missouri researcher and her international team of colleagues have found a new hand bone from a human ancestor who roamed the earth in East Africa approximately 1.42 million years ago. They suspect the bone belonged to the early human species, Homo Erectus. The discovery of this bone is the earliest evidence of a modern human-like hand, indicating that this anatomical feature existed more than half a million years earlier than previously known."

Remember that next time you're peeling potatoes.

Why did anatomically modern humans replace European Neandertals 40,000 years ago? They're still trying to figure out what did the Neandertals in. I maintain they are still with us. Some of them are posting comments on SNN's website.

And speaking of creepy-crawly things: Tiktaalik roseae shows signs of rear-leg development

That was long before we began dragging our knuckles.