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Nature Science

NEW IDEAS ABOUT HUMANITY’S ORIGINS

Man and his pet

When did humanity begin? And what was it like back then? What do we have in common with other lifeforms? And what does it all mean for us today? These questions have some new answers thanks to some beautiful new discoveries and studies.


MANKIND & DOGKIND FEEL EACH OTHER

 

Humanity and “dogkind” have a lot in common. New brain scans are showing incredible similarities between both groups.

 

In particular, the brain-imaging study found a striking similarity in how humans and dogs process voice and emotion.


Dog and human brain systems both make “sense” out of sounds. They both derive meaning --- at both an intellectual and emotional level.

 

Comparative ethologist Attila Andics, of Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University, lead author of the Feb. 20 Current Biology paper, believes these findings have widespread implications. “It’s not only dogs and humans. We probably share this function with many other mammals,” he explains.


Humans and dogs last shared a common ancestor 100 million years ago. Humans and monkeys shared ancestry 30 million years ago. Highly sensitive voice recognition could be a part of our shared biology.


Andics and his team trained six golden retrievers and five border collies to cooperate with the MRI machines in order to produce fMRI scans of their brains and get a reading on their neural activity.


Dog and human subjects each listened to 200 recordings of dog and human sounds, including whining, crying, laughing, and barking. Each species sensed differences in tone and related emotion.


Dog lovers have always known that dogs respond to emotion and tone. But this is the first time science has weighed in with evidence. It also opens up a range of new questions.


By comparing differences and similarities in human and dog brains, researchers hope to learn more about the origins of human language, cognition, and general humanity.


OLDEST DNA EVIDENCE OF HUMANITY FOUND

 

When did humanity begin? The answer keeps getting earlier and earlier in the timeline of the universe. Scientists have recently found the oldest human DNA.


Scientists reported recently in the journal Nature that, using new technologies and methodologies, they had retrieved ancient human DNA from a 400,000-year old  thigh bone fossil. The previous record was 100,000 year-old DNA.


This DNA most closely resembles that of a deviant line of humans, known as Denisovans. 80,000-year-old Denivan remains were found in Siberia, 4,000 miles east of 400,000 year-old sample.

These new findings highlight a mismatch between the anatomical and genetic evidence, which might call for a new model of human evolution. There are at least three ideas about what the new model should be. Read more about where humanity might have come from, as well as when it emerged, here.


FOOTPRINTS CHANGE THE MAP OF HUMANITY

 

Humanity left its mark, in the form of footprints, at least 850,000 years ago, on a beach in Happisburgh, Norfolk, United Kingdom. They are the oldest, by far, discovered outside of Africa.

Mammoth and other extinct mammalian fossils of around the same age were found nearby at the same sedimentary layer, however human fossils have not yet been found. (Note: the oldest human footprint found so far in Africa is approximately 3.7 million years old).

These prints suggested height estimates around 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) tall and suggest that they belonged to early humans known as Homo antecessor. (Read about the "Case of the Missing Ancestor" in National Geographic magazine.)

Eroding cliffs and relentless tides can often uncover, but then destroy archaeological sites. Researchers had just a 2-week open window in this case. They published their Happisburgh findings online February 7 in the journal PLOS ONE.

 

The Happisburgh find is featured in a new National History Museum exhibition: Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story, open now to 09.28.14.

 

Read more about Beautiful Humanity, it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Beautiful Humanity in Books & Film


Enter this week’s BN Competition. Our theme this week is Beautiful Humanity. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 03.09.14.

PHOTO CREDITS

 

  1. by Mark Rogers. A man and his pet dog.

  2. by Borbala Ferenczy. Dogs with the Brain Scanner at the MRI Research Center in Budapest.

  3. Courtesy of Current Biology. Dog and human brain scans.

  4. Courtesy of Nature/Amemiya. Diagram of results of DNA sequencing.

  5. by Borbala Ferenczy. Dogs with the Brain Scanner at the MRI Research Center in Budapest.

  6. by Eniko Kubinyi. Dog in fMRI scanner.

  7. by Eniko Kubinyi. Dog in fMRI scanner.

  8. Courtesy of Current Biology. Dog and human brain scans.

  9. by Javier Trueba. The 400,000 year old human fossils.

  10. Courtesy of Nature. Reassembled thigh bone.

  11. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution. Skull composite.

  12. by Martin Bates, British Museum. 850,000 year old human footprints.

  13. by Martin Bates, British Museum. 850,000 year old human footprints.

  14. Courtesy of Nicboo. Homo antecessor.

  15. by Colin. Happisburgh Beach.

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