Hacker News with Generative AI: Human Evolution

Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation (2017) (plos.org)
The evolutionary reasons for variation in nose shape across human populations have been subject to continuing debate.

Human Evolution, Climate Adaptation, Anthropology, Biology

139 points by thunderbong 23 days ago | 86 comments

Puzzling fossils unearthed in China may rewrite the human story (rnz.co.nz)
A cache of human-like fossils from China has perplexed scientists for decades, defying explanation or categorization.

Paleontology, Archaeology, Anthropology, Human Evolution

6 points by LopRabbit 24 days ago | 0 comments

Superabundance Is Coming – But Only If Humanity Commits to Protecting the Planet (ageoftransformation.org)
Superabundance is within reach. But ironically, the precondition to getting it is by giving it up. It sounds paradoxical, but this is actually the key to the next great leap in human evolution. I set this out with a rigorous scientific framework in my new paper on the Planetary Phase Shift.

Sustainability, Environmentalism, Human Evolution, Science

12 points by noahbergamasco 33 days ago | 3 comments

New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis? (livescience.com)

Paleoanthropology, Human Evolution, Archaeology, Anthropology

3 points by zfg 40 days ago | 0 comments

How did human butts evolve to look that way? (massivesci.com)
What makes humans different from other animals? Ask any ten people and you're likely to get ten different answers, ranging from our relatively large brains, to our incredible use of language and symbols, to our ability to dramatically modify the world around us.

Human Evolution, Biology, Anthropology

88 points by thunderbong 60 days ago | 54 comments

Neanderthals cold-adapted? Ribcage reconstruction may hold the answer (phys.org)
Researchers at the Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid report that analysis of a Neanderthal ribcage from a cave in Iraq exhibits a "bell-shaped" thorax configuration typical of Neanderthals elsewhere, differing from that of modern humans.

Neanderthals, Paleontology, Anthropology, Human Evolution, Archaeology

54 points by wglb 61 days ago | 49 comments

Our muscles will atrophy as we climb the Kardashev Scale (solmaz.io)
This is an addendum to my previous post The Kilowatt Human. I mean it as half-entertainment and half-futuristic speculation. I extrapolate the following insight more into the future:

Science Fiction, Human Evolution, Technology

187 points by hosolmaz 68 days ago | 249 comments

Oldest human genomes reveal how a small group burst out of Africa (nytimes.com)
DNA from European fossils dating back 45,000 years offers new clues to how our species spread across the world.

Genetics, Human Evolution, Archaeology, History

99 points by diodorus 68 days ago | 90 comments

A new timeline for Neanderthal interbreeding with modern humans (news.berkeley.edu)
A new analysis of DNA from ancient modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe and Asia has determined, more precisely than ever, the time period during which Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, starting about 50,500 years ago and lasting about 7,000 years — until Neanderthals began to disappear.

Human Evolution, Genetics, Archaeology, Neanderthals

70 points by diodorus 71 days ago | 55 comments

Systemic proteome adaptions to 7-day complete caloric restriction in humans (nature.com)
Surviving long periods without food has shaped human evolution.

Science, Biology, Nutrition, Human Evolution, Calorie Restriction

7 points by alecst 132 days ago | 4 comments

The Larger Brains of Humans Come with a Tragic Cost, Study Finds (sciencealert.com)
Intelligence has allowed our species to not just survive, but thrive across a range of environments. But new research reveals our advantageous smarts come at a cost: a much greater susceptibility to brain decay.

Human Evolution, Neuroscience, Science, Aging

24 points by wjSgoWPm5bWAhXB 167 days ago | 12 comments

Human population dynamics in Paleolithic inferred from fossil dental phenotypes (science.org)

Paleontology, Human Evolution, Genetics, Archaeology, Anthropology

24 points by diodorus 181 days ago | 0 comments

Neanderthals and humans interbred 47k years ago for 7k years, research suggests (livescience.com)

Neanderthals, Human Evolution, Genetics, Archaeology, Science

16 points by bookofjoe 204 days ago | 20 comments

Magic Mushrooms May Have Shaped Our Consciousness (popularmechanics.com)

Psychedelic Drugs, Neuroscience, Human Evolution, Consciousness

34 points by rayrrr 213 days ago | 4 comments

Mitochondrial Eve (wikipedia.org)