Our Tribal Nature: Tribalism, Politics, and Evolution
On September 19, 2019, at the Morgan Library in New York, eight luminaries from different fields will explore humankind's tribal nature in order to shed light on the evolution of tribalism and its manipulation by modern states
Evolution and the Mammalian Spine
"Nearly all mammals have the same number of cervical vertebrae, no matter how long or short their necks are--humans, giraffes, mice, whales, and platypuses all have exactly seven cervical vertebrae," said Jeff Spear, a doctoral student from New York University, and part of a team whose Leakey Foundation supported research explored why this characteristic has stayed the same through time and across species.
San Francisco Lecture Explores New Discoveries about Chimpanzees
From culture to warfare, from our diet to our politics, the study of wild chimpanzees continues to change the way we understand both human nature and the apes themselves.
Mother’s Milk Holds Key to Unlocking an Evolutionary Mystery From the Last Ice Age
As biologists explore the variation across the genomes of living people, they’ve found evidence of evolution at work. Particular variants of genes increase or decrease in populations through time. Sometimes this happens by chance. Other times these changes in frequency result from the gene’s helping or hindering individuals’ survival.
Why Is Human Color Vision so Odd?
Most mammals rely on scent rather than sight. Look at a dog’s eyes, for example: they’re usually on the sides of its face, not close together and forward-facing like ours. Having eyes on the side is good for creating a broad field of vision, but bad for depth perception and accurately judging distances in front.