Questions and Answers About Alesi
Research findings on 'Alesi,' a newly discovered 13 million-year-old fossil ape species, were published this week in the journal Nature and the story has been widely carried in the press. The research team behind the Nyanzapithecus alesi discovery has collaborated to put together this list of questions and answers.
New 13 million-year-old infant skull sheds light on ape ancestry
The discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like.
Ngogo Chimpanzees on Patrol
Territorial boundary patrolling by chimpanzees is a striking example of group-level cooperation displayed by our closest primate relatives.
3.3 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals the Antiquity of the Human Spine
For more than 3 million years, Selam lay silent and still. Eager to tell her story, the almost perfect fossil skeleton of a 2 1/2 year-old toddler was discovered at Dikika, Ethiopia -- and she had a lot to say.
Modern People Making Stone Age Tools
How did humans get to be so smart, and when did this happen? To untangle this question, we need to know more about the intelligence of our human ancestors who lived 1.8 million years ago. It was at this point in time that a new type of stone tool hit the scene and the human brain nearly doubled in size.