What's Hot in Human Origins?
Check out the latest human origins discoveries and research findings! This is where we post hot-off-the-presses news in human origins. We read the original articles and summarize them in a clear, understandable way so you can keep up to date on all findings in this vibrant field of science.
You can also read the "TOP HUMAN ORIGINS STORIES OF THE YEAR" blog posts written by Briana Pobiner and other members of the Human Origins Program team from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
We post more frequently about recent news in human origins on Facebook and Twitter.
Did meat make us human?
Big brains and human-like traits in Homo erectus may not be a result of meat-eating
Adding to the human family tree
New discoveries increase diversity in late Pleistocene Homo
Ancient DNA reveals the history of Denisova Cave
DNA in cave sediments shows when different early human species lived at Denisova Cave
Earliest discovered cave painting
Earliest representational art depicts a warty pig from Indonesia
Microevolution in a species
Small-scale evolutionary change in Paranthropus robustus
The earliest hominin?
Sahelanthropus femur leads to new thinking about the oldest human ancestor
Unstable environments favored flexibility
Environmental instability coincided with innovations in early Homo sapiens
My great grandpa is a Neanderthal
The first Homo sapiens in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestors
A diversity of 2-million-year-old species
Homo erectus lived alongside Australopithecus, Paranthropus in southern Africa
Extinction of Homo erectus
Last fossils of a long-lived early human species