Humans are the only creatures on Earth that can choke on their own food. Yes, that’s right. Why would humans have evolved such potentially fatal architecture? Some experts say the reason is speech. This week on the podcast, we explore several theories about where language comes from.
No one has given the Neanderthals much credit for being intelligent and creative. In fact, they’ve always been thought of as humans’ younger, dumber cousins. But new evidence suggests they may have been more creative than once thought.
Scientists have discovered cave art in Spain that dates back at least 40,000 years – around the time, or even before, modern humans arrived in Europe. The researchers suspect the ancient artists may have been our more primitive cousins, the Neanderthals.
Thanks to a broken finger bone and wisdom tooth found in a Siberian cave, scientists have discovered a new branch in the hominid family tree. Known as the Denisovans, they are cousins to Neanderthals; lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago; and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.