The Hall of Human Origins offers a welcoming place to explore one of the most exciting areas of science, the study of human evolution. Despite strong public interest in the science, however, many people find this topic troubling when viewed from a religious perspective. Representatives of diverse religious communities encourage a larger, more respectful understanding of both the scientific evidence and religious belief.
What's Hot in Human Origins?
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Events
February 16, 2012 - 11:00am - 1:00pm
February 24, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
March 1, 2012 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
March 15, 2012 - 11:00am - 1:00pm
March 30, 2012 - 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Featured Research
Human Evolution:
Religious Perspectives
Human Evolution: Religious Perspectives
Fun Facts
Why do we have wisdom teeth?
When our back molars are impacted in our jaw, they don’t seem very wise! They’re the last teeth to come into place, and having them was helpful to our early ancestors who ate tough, uncooked foods that wore away their teeth. But with cooking and making food softer, the size of our jaws has diminished, often with room for the last molars to form in the jaw…but – ouch! – not enough room to erupt.
Our big hungry brain!
Did you know that your brain makes up about 2% of your body weight…but uses about 20-25% of your body’s total energy, just for its basic activity? That’s one hungry brain! No wonder it’s good to eat nutritious foods that offer a lot of energy. The brain of a newborn baby is even more amazing, as it takes up about 60% of the baby’s energy as the brain grows at an astonishing pace.
Our eyes say it!
Compared to other primates, humans have huge ‘whites of the eyes’, or sclera. This means that humans can easily read each other’s gaze. In experiments, great ape infants usually follow a gaze only when the experimenter also turns his head. But human infants follow the gaze when the experimenter moves only his eyes. The whites of our eyes may help a lot in communicating with one another.
Why do we get goose bumps?
The body hair of all mammals automatically stands up when cold, creating a fluffy layer of warmth. When we’re cold, the muscles around the hair follicles contract – a reflex left over from when our ancestors had long body hair. But since we don’t have much body hair, all we see are the goose bumps on our skin.
The short-haired human!
While other primates are furry, human skin is exposed to the elements. It’s not that we’re ‘naked’ – our hair is just really short over much of our bodies. In the warm places where our ancestors lived, evaporation of sweat from exposed skin was a great benefit in cooling our entire bodies. Our brain runs so ‘hot’, in fact, that sweating and cooling proved vital for evolving our big brain.
What Does It Mean To Be Human?
Other responses
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- Brittany Johnson, Greenville, NC
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- Jonathan Mc Cormack, South Africa
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- Carson , Portland, Oregon
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- Jeremy Seeger, Rochester, VT, USA
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- Steve, Perth
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- david g, portland
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- Anna E. A., Ann Arbor, MI
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- Barbara, Eastern Shore, MD
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- big time loser, idk
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- Andrew, Pagosa Springs, CO
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Teachers Forum
Are you interested in joining a discussion forum exclusively for educators involved in teaching human evolution? We encourage you to participate in our Teachers Forum and share your insights, questions, best practices, and experiences with other like-minded educators.
