Anthropology

Psychologists Explore How Humans Become Tool Users

A new paper gives psycholgists a unique glimpse at how humans develop an ability to use tools in childhood while nonhuman primates--such as capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees--remain only occasional tool users. Dorothy Fragaszy, a psychology professor at th ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2015 - 7:00am

Our Ancestors Probably Didn't Get 8 Hours Of Sleep A Night

They stayed up late into the evening, averaged less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night and rarely napped. College students during final exams? Working moms? No, says a UCLA-led team of researchers who studied sleeping patterns among traditional peoples whose ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 25 2015 - 7:30am

Are Crosswalks Racist? Yes, Says Analysis

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences lost a great deal of respect when it published a study claiming female hurricane names were taken less seriously by the public. A new paper on racism in crosswalks won't add more credibility to the ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 25 2015 - 8:33am

Genomic Ancestry Linked To Mate Selection

Genetic ancestry, as well as facial characteristics, may play an important part in who we select as mates, according to an analysis that used population genomics and social science data to gauge the relatedness of parents in a study of asthma in Mexican a ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 22 2015 - 6:30am

Beringian Standstill: Ancient Baby Genetics Boost Bering Land Bridge Layover Hypothesis

Scientists have deciphered maternal genetic material from two babies buried together at an Alaskan campsite 11,500 years ago and found the infants had different mothers and were the northernmost known kin to two lineages of Native Americans found farther ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 26 2015 - 3:13pm

Early Humans Caused Ancient Australian Extinction

New data presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings in Dallas, Texas, implicates early humans in the extinction of large mammals, birds and lizards in Australia. The "Anthropocene" has been with us for thousands of years, it se ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 29 2015 - 7:35am

20 Percent Of Ethnic School Girls Think They Don't Need HPV Vaccine

Around 20 per cent of girls from ethnic minority backgrounds are not being vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) because they feel they don't need it, according to a Cancer Research UK survey presented today at the National Cancer Resear ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2015 - 12:00am

How Anti-Smoking Messages Backfire

Public health policies targeted at smokers may actually have the opposite effect for some people trying to quit, according to a paper which indicates that stigmatizing smoking can, in some cases, make it harder for people to quit because they become angry ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2015 - 4:21pm

Airbnb Hasn't Just Changed Hotel Stays, It's Changed Travel Patterns

Have you ever used Airbnb or other hotel replacement services when traveling? If yes, you are likely to travel more than you used to, you choose your destination from among a wider set of alternatives, and you are more active in your destination, accordin ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 9 2015 - 7:01am

Chimpanzee Language Claims- Lost In Translation By Anthropologists

A paper published earlier this year claiming chimpanzees can learn each others' language is not supported by others who looked at the work. The paper published in Current Biology in February centered on the examination of two sets of chimpanzees in t ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 7 2015 - 4:18pm