Discovering Our Distant Ancestors
Understanding human evolution, what we inherit from our animal and primate past—and how we differ—is the first step in understanding our unique place and potential as human beings.
Genetics and Human Evolution
Recent technological breakthroughs in genomic analysis, combined with archeological, paleoanthropological, linguistic and other information, now give us an unparalleled opportunity to trace humanity’s evolution and movement in time.
Scientific Breakthroughs | We Were Not Alone Until Recently | Tracking Human Movement Across the Globe | Biological Traits and the Fiction of Race
Featured Books
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh
The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity
Our understanding of heredity has come a long way and holds much promise, but we’ll need wise judgement to manage the emerging science of genetic engineering. Read more »
Neanderthal Man
In Search of Lost Genomes
Neanderthals, our nearest cousin species, finally died out soon after 40,000 years ago. How are we related to them? When did we first branch off from them? Did we interbreed with them? How big is the genetic gap between our two species? Read more »
Our Nearest Relatives: Bonobos and Chimpanzees
What we share with our nearest surviving relatives, the male-centered chimpanzee and the female-centered, erotic, and peaceable bonobo. How that understanding helps shape who we are vs. who we think we are.
Bonobos and Chimpanzees | Human Traits in Our Nearest Relatives
Six million years ago as many as 18 different hominid species lived in East Africa. Now only one is left. How did it evolve and survive?
Out of Africa
What drove the first migration of our forebears from Africa some 50,000 years ago and what that tells us about our continued evolution as a species of problem solvers.
Human Universals
Understanding the universal qualities of all humankind and how they evolved may hold keys to how we shape our future.
Human Universals: Traits All Humans Share | 211 Universal Human Traits: Characteristics All Humans Share
Featured Books
The Age of Empathy
and
The Bonobo and the Atheist
Both reciprocity and empathy – the two pillars upon which morality is built – are found in bonobos, apes and other social animals. But only humans are able to “abstract” the value and extend the behavioral constraints of “one-on-one” morality to the larger society, including strangers. Rather than being in conflict, both religion and the scientific pursuit of knowledge are motivated by a similar inspiration to find meaning and a sense of purpose. Read more »
The Gap
The Science of What Separates Us from Other Animals
A leading research psychologist concludes that our abilities surpass those of animals because our minds evolved two overarching qualities. Read more »
Before the Dawn
Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
New York Times science writer explores humanity’s origins as revealed by the latest genetic science. Read more »
Travel the Journey
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Learn about 5 million years of early human evolution, track research in the science of paleoanthropology, get answers to your questions from the institute’s researchers, and much more.
The First People Who Populated the Americas
Melissa Hogenboom, BBC
Archaeological evidence of people living in the Bluefish Caves in the northern Yukon Territory of western Canada as early as 24,000 years ago now suggests that the people who left Siberia did so 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. They remained genetically and geographically isolated in Beringia until about 16–15,000 years ago before dispersing south.