Humans riddled with rare genetic variants

By sequencing more people more thoroughly than ever before, researchers have affirmed that rare genetic variants — those carried by fewer than five people in a thousand — are widespread and likely to have an important role in human health.

4

0

It's nature, not nuture: personality lies in genes, twins study shows

Genes play a greater role in determining key personality traits like social skills and learning ability than the way we are brought up by our parents, researchers claimed. The findings contradict the existing belief among psychologists that the environment we grow up in plays  …

3

1

'This is the cost of being human': The same gene that allowed modern humans to evolve speech may have caused autism

Genes in in the human brain that only recently evolved - allowing us to speak and make complex decisions - are missing in some people with autism and learning disabilities. ‘This is the cost of being human,’ said Nenad Sestan, associate professor of neurobiolog …

3

0

Dog domestication may have helped humans thrive while Neandertals declined

8

14

Maya Artwork Uncovered In A Guatemalan Forest

Archaeologists working in one of the most impenetrable rain forests in Guatemala have stumbled on a remarkable discovery: a room full of wall paintings and numerical calculations. The buried room apparently was a workshop used by scribes or astronomers working for a Mayan king.  …

12

6

What if our hands had 6 fingers?

Worldwide, most humans count in blocks of 10: we tally up to nine of something before shifting over to a new number column and starting again with one (so that each column is worth 10 times the amount in the column to its right). This is a "base-10" numeral system, and anth …

3

2

The success of Homo sapiens may be due to spatial abilities

While the disappearance of Neanderthals remains a mystery, paleoanthropologists have an increasing understanding of what allowed their younger cousins, Homo sapiens, to conquer the planet.

5

2

Largest known crocodile likely ate early man

The largest known crocodile was big enough to swallow a human being and likely terrorized our ancestors two to four million years ago. Remains of the enormous horned croc, named Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, were unearthed in East Africa. The impressive aquatic reptile exceeded …

4

3

Did a Copying Mistake Make Humans So Smart?

A copyediting error appears to be responsible for critical features of the human brain that distinguish us from our closest primate kin, new research finds. When tested out in mice, researchers found this "error" caused the rodents' brain cells to move into place faster an …

7

1

Scientific Evidence Proves why Healers See the "Aura" of People

Researchers in Spain have found that many of the individuals claiming to see the aura of people –traditionally called "healers" or "quacks"– actually present the neuropsychological phenomenon known as "synesthesia" (specifically, "emotional synesthesia"). This might …

21

42