Download or read book The First Human written by Ann Gibbons and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2007-04-10 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this dynamic account, award-winning science writer Ann Gibbons chronicles an extraordinary quest to answer the most primal of questions: When and where was the dawn of humankind?Following four intensely competitive international teams of scientists in a heated race to find the “missing link”–the fossil of the earliest human ancestor–Gibbons ventures to Africa, where she encounters a fascinating array of fossil hunters: Tim White, the irreverent Californian who discovered the partial skeleton of a primate that lived 4.4 million years ago in Ethiopia; French paleontologist Michel Brunet, who uncovers a skull in Chad that could date the beginnings of humankind to seven million years ago; and two other groups–one led by zoologist Meave Leakey, the other by British geologist Martin Pickford and his French paleontologist partner, Brigitte Senut–who enter the race with landmark discoveries of their own. Through scrupulous research and vivid first-person reporting, The First Human reveals the perils and the promises of fossil hunting on a grand competitive scale.
Download or read book Future Human Evolution written by John Glad and published by Future Human Evolution. This book was released on 2006 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary selection has been radically relaxed in the human species as a result of the development of civilization, science in general, and medicine in particular. While these advances have hugely benefited current populations, they have to a significant degree released the species from the biological process which created it and maintains its viability. Formerly, natural selection took place largely as a result of differential mortality, but now that most people survive well beyond their child bearing years, selection is determined largely by differential fertility. Aside from genetic illnesses, this new selection is also characterized by a negative correlation between fertility and intelligencethe core of eugenic concern for over a century. Eugenics views itself as the fourth leg of the chair of civilization, the other three being a) a thrifty expenditure of natural resources, b) mitigation of environmental pollution, and c) maintenance of a human population not exceeding the planets carrying capacity. Eugenics, which can be thought of as human ecology, is thus part and parcel of the environmental movement. Humanity is defined, not as the totality of the currently living population, but as the number of people who will potentially ever live. This is a book about the struggle for human rights and parental responsibility.
Download or read book Life on Earth written by The Diagram Group and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to the earliest humans, including what defines a human, how humans developed over time, what prehistoric humans' daily lives were like, and how scientists have learned about them.
Download or read book First Humans written by Rebecca Stefoff and published by Marshall Cavendish. This book was released on 2010 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series takes readers on a journey through the evolutionary history of humans.
Download or read book First Steps written by Jeremy DeSilva and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the W.W. Howells Book Prize from the American Anthropological Association and named one of the best science books of 2021 by Science News “DeSilva takes us on a brilliant, fun, and scientifically deep stroll through history, anatomy, and evolution, in order to illustrate the powerful story of how a particular mode of movement helped make us one of the most wonderful, dangerous and fascinating species on Earth.”—Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University and author of Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being “Breezy popular science at its best. . . . Makes a compelling case overall.”—Science News Blending history, science, and culture, a stunning and highly engaging evolutionary story exploring how walking on two legs allowed humans to become the planet’s dominant species. Humans are the only mammals to walk on two, rather than four legs—a locomotion known as bipedalism. We strive to be upstanding citizens, honor those who stand tall and proud, and take a stand against injustices. We follow in each other’s footsteps and celebrate a child’s beginning to walk. But why, and how, exactly, did we take our first steps? And at what cost? Bipedalism has its drawbacks: giving birth is more difficult and dangerous; our running speed is much slower than other animals; and we suffer a variety of ailments, from hernias to sinus problems. In First Steps, paleoanthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly ordinary ability is. A seven-million-year journey to the very origins of the human lineage, First Steps shows how upright walking was a gateway to many of the other attributes that make us human—from our technological abilities, our thirst for exploration, our use of language–and may have laid the foundation for our species’ traits of compassion, empathy, and altruism. Moving from developmental psychology labs to ancient fossil sites throughout Africa and Eurasia, DeSilva brings to life our adventure walking on two legs. Delving deeply into the story of our past and the new discoveries rewriting our understanding of human evolution, First Steps examines how walking upright helped us rise above all over species on this planet. First Steps includes an eight-page color photo insert.
Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by Sackler Colloquium. This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Download or read book Sapiens written by Yuval Noah Harari and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.
Download or read book The First Humans written by Frederick E. Grine and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-05-24 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are some issues in human paleontology that seem to be timeless. Most deal with the origin and early evolution of our own genus – something about which we should care. Some of these issues pertain to taxonomy and systematics. How many species of Homo were there in the Pliocene and Pleistocene? How do we identify the earliest members the genus Homo? If there is more than one Plio-Pleistocene species, how do they relate to one another, and where and when did they evolve? Other issues relate to questions about body size, proportions and the functional adaptations of the locomotor skeleton. When did the human postcranial “Bauplan” evolve, and for what reasons? What behaviors (and what behavioral limitations) can be inferred from the postcranial bones that have been attributed to Homo habilis and Homo erectus? Still other issues relate to growth, development and life history strategies, and the biological and archeological evidence for diet and behavior in early Homo. It is often argued that dietary change played an important role in the origin and early evolution of our genus, with stone tools opening up scavenging and hunting opportunities that would have added meat protein to the diet of Homo. Still other issues relate to the environmental and climatic context in which this genus evolved.
Download or read book In the Beginning World History from Human Evolution to the First States written by Lauren Ristvet and published by McGraw-Hill Education. This book was released on 2007-01-09 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging and accessible volume draws on the most recent historical archeological scholarship to tell the stories of human evolution, "gathering and hunting" societies, and the distinct breakthroughs that led to the emergence of the earliest cities, states, and civilizations. Highlighting both the separate paths and the intersecting journeys of diverse human communities, In the Beginning provides the essential but often neglected foundation on which all subsequent historical development was constructed.
Download or read book My First Human Body Book written by Donald M. Silver and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2009-01-19 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here's the most entertaining way for children to get a good look at the human body and learn how bodies work: 28 fun and instructive, ready-to-color illustrations. Coordinating text explores the muscular, skeletal, nervous, digestive, respiratory, and immune systems, and answers such questions as What is a hiccup? and Where is my DNA?
Download or read book Every Second Counts written by Donald McRae and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic race to transplant the first human heart spanned two years, three continents and five cities against a backdrop of searing tension, scientific brilliance, ethical controversy, racial strife and emotional turmoil. It culminated in a terrifying moment in the early hours of 3 December 1967 when, in a cramped operating theatre in a Cape Town hospital, Professor Chris Barnard stared into an empty cavity from which he had just removed a heart. He knew that he had only minutes left to make history and save the life of a 55-year-old man by filling the gaping hole in his chest with a heart which had just been beating inside a 25-year-old woman. Every Second Countsis the story of this gripping race to conquer the greatest of medical challenges. It also reveals the truth about the man at the centre of it all, whose turbulent life story was just as gripping. The kind of true story that would be dismissed as far-fetched if presented as fiction, it combines an utterly compelling portrait of cutting-edge science with raw human drama, and shows how the course of medicine itself was changed for ever.
Download or read book Catching Fire written by Richard Wrangham and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-08-06 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes". Covering everything from food-labelling and overweight pets to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. "This notion is surprising, fresh and, in the hands of Richard Wrangham, utterly persuasive ... Big, new ideas do not come along often in evolution these days, but this is one." -Matt Ridley, author of Genome
Download or read book The First Humans written by Göran Burenhult and published by Harper San Francisco. This book was released on 1993 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines theories of evolution, the Great Apes, the origins of language, extinct species, and the global expansion that precipitated adaptation and diversity.
Download or read book Science and Creationism written by National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edition of Science and Creationism summarizes key aspects of several of the most important lines of evidence supporting evolution. It describes some of the positions taken by advocates of creation science and presents an analysis of these claims. This document lays out for a broader audience the case against presenting religious concepts in science classes. The document covers the origin of the universe, Earth, and life; evidence supporting biological evolution; and human evolution. (Contains 31 references.) (CCM)
Download or read book The First of Everything written by Stewart Ross and published by Michael O'Mara Books. This book was released on 2019-10-03 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively and highly readable account of the origins, invention and discovery of just about everything on the planet, the truly global coverage of The First of Everything ranges from the Big Bang to driverless cars. The First of Everything follows a context-setting introduction with seven stimulating sections: In the Beginning (The Big Bang to Homo Sapiens), At Home (the first glass windows to dentures and bikinis); Health and Medicine (herbs to heart transplants); Getting About (donkeys to double deckers); Science and Engineering (potter's wheel to webcam); Peace and War (the first king to fighter-bombers); and Culture (cave painting to rap). This fascinating book takes in the full sweep of human development and ingenuity over twelve millennia; Africa, for example, gave us the first monarch, algebra and great religions emerged from the Middle East, democracy was born in Europe, and America made the first flying machines. More than just a string of dry lists, the colourful text's intriguing insights and asides make it as enjoyable for the casual browser as the more serious researcher.
Download or read book The First Institutional Spheres in Human Societies written by Seth Abrutyn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few concepts are as central to sociology as institutions. Yet, like so many sociological concepts, institutions remain vaguely defined. This book expands a foundational definition of the institution, one which locates them as the basic building blocks of human societies—as structural and cultural machines for survival that make it possible to pass precious knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the survival of our species. The book extends this classic tradition by, first, applying advances in biological evolution, neuroscience, and primatology to explain the origins of human societies and, in particular, the first institutional sphere: kinship. The authors incorporate insights from natural sciences often marginalized in sociology, while highlighting the limitations of purely biogenetic, Darwinian explanations. Secondly, they build a vivid conceptual model of institutions and their central dynamics as the book charts the chronological evolution of kinship, polity, religion, law, and economy, discussing the biological evidence for the ubiquity of these institutions as evolutionary adaptations themselves.
Download or read book Ancestral DNA Human Origins and Migrations written by Rene J. Herrera and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-06-13 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancestral DNA, Human Origins, and Migrations describes the genesis of humans in Africa and the subsequent story of how our species migrated to every corner of the globe. Different phases of this journey are presented in an integrative format with information from a number of disciplines, including population genetics, evolution, anthropology, archaeology, climatology, linguistics, art, music, folklore and history. This unique approach weaves a story that has synergistic impact in the clarity and level of understanding that will appeal to those researching, studying, and interested in population genetics, evolutionary biology, human migrations, and the beginnings of our species. Integrates research and information from the fields of genetics, evolution, anthropology, archaeology, climatology, linguistics, art, music, folklore and history, among others Presents the content in an entertaining and synergistic style to facilitate a deep understanding of human population genetics Informs on the origins and recent evolution of our species in an approachable manner
