Why our ancestors never invented telescopes

Are viruses our oldest ancestors?

Humans have a skewed view of viruses because we only notice them if they cause disease. In reality, however, viruses are much more than pathogens. HIV and influenza cause frightening health threats, but 1019 HIV particles worldwide are basically nothing compared to 1033 total number of viruses on our planet. Viruses are present in every species and every ecological niche, and affect every organ...

What did our ancestors eat?

Over the millennia various hominoids and hominids have subsisted on very different dietaries, depending on climate, hunting proficiency, food-processing technology, and available foods. The Australopithecines were not browsers and fruit-eaters with very high intakes of vitamin C; rather they were scavengers of kills made by other animals. The hominids who followed did include some cold-climate ...

Paleolithic nutrition : what did our ancestors eat ?

George Washington's infertility: why was the father of our country never a father?

George Washington was the single most important figure in the founding of the United States of America. Numerous biographies of Washington have been written and his name is honored in countless ways, including as the name of the United States' capital. Washington has become so idealized in U.S. consciousness that it is easy to lose sight of his failings and disappointments. Undoubtedly, one of ...

Capturing climate variability during our ancestors' earliest days.

C limate’s role in shaping the environmental and evolutionary history of our earliest ancestors remains an actively debated topic. In PNAS, Magill et al. (1, 2) present records of terrestrial habitat and hydroclimate variation and pacing from Olduvai Gorge sediments during a key interval of our ancestors’ divergence and dispersal approximately 2.0 Ma. Although there is general consensus that ec...