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Before the rise of science, the causes of orderly events were sought in the divine purposes they were thought to have served. Today, patterns and designs are seen to be the result of natural selection.
While scientists have confirmed virtually all of Charles Darwin’s postulates, new research shows that evolution works in ways that Darwin could not have possibly imagined.
As Ernst Mayr points out, our conception of the world and our place in it is, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, drastically different from the Zeitgeist, or “spirit of the times,” at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The one person most responsible for this change is Charles Darwin.
Opponents of evolution are trying to tear down real science by setting forth a series of specious arguments. In reality, they intend to use the intelligent-design theory as a “wedge” in order to reopen science classroom to the discussion of God. This article consists of a series of rebuttals to some of the most common “scientific” arguments raised against the idea of evolution.
Some evolutionary biologists flinch at calling a behavior “altruistic,” whereas others flinch at calling the same behavior “selfish.” In fact, both may be right within their respective frameworks. When we freely jump from one level or perspective to another, we run the risk of forgetting to keep our language straight.
Tay-Sachs disease is a choosy killer, one that for centuries targeted Eastern European Jews above all others. Jared Diamond reports that, by decoding its lethal logic, we can learn a great deal about how genetic diseases evolve—and how they can be conquered.
Physiological adaptations that at one time helped West Africans and their descendants cope with unusually high salt loss may now be predisposing African Americans to hypertension and a premature death.
A remarkable National Institutes of Health (NIH) study on alcoholism sheds insight regarding the relationship between heredity and environment. It turns out that an individual is just as likely to become an alcoholic from a bad childhood as from bad genes.
Deception plays such an important role in primate survival that it may not simply be the result of great intelligence. James Shreeve indicates that it may also be a driving force behind the development of intelligence.
Barbara Smuts reports that an understanding of friendship bonds among baboons is not only destroying our stereotypes about monkeys in the wild, but it is also calling into question traditional views concerning the relationships between the sexes in early hominid evolution.
The memory of Dian Fossey will be forever filled with contradictions and controversy. She began as a scientist studying gorillas in the wild and quickly became a conservationist. Her methods, however, would ultimately lead to the murders of both the gorillas and herself.
It has long been recognized that the differences in anatomy and physiology between apes and humans are a matter of degree. Because of the work of Jane Goodall, we have come to realize that there is continuity in mental and emotional development as well.
The rudimentary cultural abilities of the chimpanzee not only sharpens our understanding of our uniqueness as humans, but it also suggests an ancient ancestry for the mental abilities that we and the chimpanzees have in common.
Contrary to expectations, forest-dwelling chimpanzees seem to be more committed to cooperative hunting and tool use than are savanna chimpanzees. Such findings may have implications for the course of human evolution.
When chimpanzees in Gombe National Park band together to hunt red colobus monkeys, the most important ingredient seems to be the number of males and the presence of at least one estrous female. Craig Stanford indicates that their goals appear to be more social than dietary.
Some adolescent male orangutans experience an arrested state of development in the presence of an adult male. Recent research indicates that, rather than being a stress-induced response (as was once thought), delayed maturation is actually an alternative reproductive strategy.
To endow animals with human emotions and mental qualities has long been a scientific taboo, but the more we learn about them, especially our closer relatives, the more it seems that there really are similarities, as Frans de Waal’s research indicates.
It may be impossible for us to observe the behavior of other species in a way that does not mirror the assumptions of our own way of life. In this light, Carol Tavris maintains that primate behavior and the theories it generates need to be handled with care.
“The difficulties of childbirth have probably challenged humans and their ancestors for millions of years—which means that the modern custom of seeking assistance during delivery may have similarly ancient roots.”
In many species, including our own, mothers are assisted by others in rearing their offspring. The more we adhere to this evolutionary heritage of “cooperative breeding,” the more likely we are to raise emotionally healthy children.
Meredith Small reports on an anthropologist’s study of the ritual of seclusion surrounding women’s menstrual cycles, which has some rather profound implications regarding human evolution, certain cultural practices, and women’s health.
The winners of evolution’s race are those who leave behind the most offspring to carry on their progenitors’ genes. So, asks Jared Diamond, doesn’t it seem odd that human females should experience menopause?
The bonobos’ use of sex to reduce tension and to form alliances is raising some interesting questions regarding human evolution. In Meredith Small’s review, this question is raised: Does this behavior help to explain the origins of our sexuality, or should we see it as just another primate aberration that occurred after humans and primates split from their common lineage?
Whether or not males beat up females in a particular species seems to have a great deal to do with who is forming alliances with whom. Barbara Smuts indicates that this, in turn, has powerful implications as to what can be done about sexual coercion in the human species.
The quest to reconstruct the hominid family tree has just gotten more complicated. New finds from sub-Saharan Africa are not only older than any other hominds previously found, but they also conjure up an image far different from what anyone would have suspected.
Microscopic analyses of tooth wear and cut marks on bone, combined with an increased understanding of the advantages of bipedalism, point in the direction of a “man the scavenger” model rather than “man the hunter,” Pat Shipman reports.
Most paleoanthropologists used to agree that Homo erectus was confined to Africa until one million years ago. James Shreeve notes that new finds and a new dating method are challenging that view.
Excavations from 1921 to 1982 at Dragon Bone Hill in China uncovered the remains of 45 individuals, Homo erectus pekinesis, with their tools and debris dating from 300,000 to 600,000 years ago. The authors try to determine whether these relatives of ours used fire, and whether they were cannibals, hunters, or the hunted.
In spite of the coarseness of their lifestyle and the apparent violence between individuals, Neanderthal skeletal remains reveal a prehistoric record of affection and respect, and they should be accorded the status of human beings.
Archaeologists have long believed that modern human behavior originated 40,000 years ago in Europe. However, several recent discoveries in Africa and the Middle East support the idea of an older, more gradual evolution of modern behavior elsewhere.
Systematic analyses of the cave paintings in Europe reveal Cro-Magnons’ intimate knowledge of the animals hunted and, perhaps, even purposeful ritual associated with the images.
While the origin of human language is rooted in aspects of psychology and biology that we share with our close animal relatives, Matt Cartmill proposes that our kind of communication seems to be associated with making tools and throwing weapons.
James Shreeve writes that newly discovered dating methods are challenging previous notions about the evolution of Homo sapiens. The accuracy of these methods, however, is still a matter of controversy.
From digs around the world, researchers have unearthed strong new evidence of cannibalism. People may have eaten their own kind from the early days of human evolution through recent prehistory, as indicated by author Ann Gibbons.
Recent skeletal findings of “Kenewick Man” indicate that the first Americans might not be who we think they were. Before the evidence could be adequately studied, however, the U.S. government withheld the bones. Native Americans want to rebury the bones, and archaeologists have gone to court to reclaim them. Douglas Preston asserts that, in the process, issues of race and ethnicity have been brought to a steaming head.
With regard to classifying human beings, Jonathan Marks notes that the central message of anthropology is, “You may group humans into a small number of races if you want to, but biological evidence does not support it.”
Despite the many attempts over the past 200 years to classify humans into separate and “pure” races, Boyce Rensberger reports that the consensus among geneticists and anthropologists is that there are overlapping differences among us that are matters of degree rather than of kind.
Rather than being able to adapt to a single environment, we can—thanks to our genetically endowed plasticity—change our bodies to cope with a wide variety of environments. In this light, Barry Bogin reports on research that suggests that we can use the average height of any group of people as a barometer of the health of their society.
Patrick Huyghe reports that the skills displayed by physical anthropologists and archaeologists in the analysis of old bones have resulted in the development of a whole new field: forensic anthropology.
According to George Armelagos, international travel as well as environmental disruptions have accelerated the occurrence of serious, new diseases in humans. However, protective cultural practices could provide a countervailing effect to fight the encroachments of many diseases.
Lori Oliwenstein reports that the application of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the understanding of human diseases will not only help us to better treat the symptoms of diseases, but it also promises to help us understand how microbes and humans have evolved in relation to one another.
“There are more than 1600 laboratory chimps in the United States—the last Western country that still uses them for medical research. A federal law promised sanctuary for these animals, but only a handful have found it.”
Recent efforts to limit the teaching of evolution in the classroom and to replace it with the concepts of “Scientific Creationism” or “Intelligent Design” serve to highlight the differences between modern science on the one hand and simplistic folk theology on the other.
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