What's Hot in Human Origins?

September 8, 2011

South African skeletons point to the origin of the genus Homo

June 26, 2011

What discoveries will be made this season at the Smithsonian excavations in Kenya?

February 12, 2011

Casts of recent fossil discovery on display in the Hall of Human Origins

January 5, 2011

Cooked Wild Barley Found In Neanderthal Teeth

December 10, 2010

Were hobbits hunted by giant storks?

August 12, 2010

Did Lucy’s species butcher animals 3.4 million years ago? 

July 7, 2010

Scientists have found the oldest known stone tools from Britain, more than 780,000 years old. This may signal the first early human migration to a cold, forested environment.

May 6, 2010

The Neanderthal genetic code is mapped!

March 24, 2010

Stone tools push back date of early human habitation on Flores

March 16, 2010

The Latest Famous Early Human Fossil

March 7, 2010

Newly discovered fossil crocodile may have been largest predator humans ever encountered

February 6, 2010

Going shoeless tempers impact, but effect on injuries uncertain

Syndicate content

Human Evolution:
Religious Perspectives

Human Evolution: Religious Perspectives

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.

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?

Revision information
An explanation of the additions or updates being made to help other authors understand your motivations.
 
*These fields are required.
Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.

Virtual Dig

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.

Featured Multimedia

One Species, Living Worldwide

The amazing story of adaptation and survival in our species, Homo sapiens, is written in the language of our genes, in every cell of our bodies—as well as in the fossil and behavioral evidence. Explore the African origins of modern humans about 200,000 years ago and celebrate our species’ epic journey around the world in this video: “One Species, Living Worldwide".

Video Thumbnail of Rick Potts from "Evidence for Human Origins"

Dr. Rick Potts provides a video short introduction to some of the evidence for human evolution, in the form of fossils and artifacts.