Language is what makes us human, but since words don’t fossilize, their origin is a profound scientific puzzle. Researchers are piecing together clues from diverse fields—examining 80,000-year-old symbolic artifacts, the anatomy of Neanderthal ears, fossilized brain impressions, and our genetic code—to reconstruct the timeline of when, and how, our ancestors first developed the gift of speech.
Related Posts
Future pandemics will have the same human causes as ancient outbreaks − lessons from anthropology can help prevent them
The changes that came with the transition from foraging to farming paved the way for disease. Nastasic/DigitalVision Vectors…
Oppenheimer Studied More Than Just the Bomb—Here’s the Rest of His Repertoire.
He may be famous (or infamous) for the bomb now, but J. Robert Oppenheimer studied more than just…
A Canadian lake holds the key to the beginning of the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch
Canada’s Crawford Lake, in Ontario, was chosen for its pristine sediment record. SF photo/Shutterstock Alejandro Cearreta, Universidad del…
Deadly crowd crush at Indian religious gathering shows how dangerous leaving an event can be
Milad Haghani, UNSW Sydney and Claudio Feliciani, University of Tokyo A catastrophe involving large crowds at a religious…