New Look at Human Evolution (August 2012)
Special Editions

Cover; New Look at Human Evolution; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; New Look at Human Evolution; by Staff Editor; 4 Page(s)

Letter From the Editor; New Look at Human Evolution; by John Rennie; 1 Page(s)

The Original Human Interest Story
John Rennie was editor in chief of Scientific American from 1994 to 2009.
Reprinted from 2003.

An Ancestor to Call Our Own; New Look at Human Evolution; by Kate Wong; 10 Page(s)

Controversial new fossils could bring scientists closer than ever to the origin of humanity
Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology and life sciences.
From the January 2003 issue, updated to 2003.

Early Hominid Fossils from Africa; New Look at Human Evolution; by Meave Leakey and Alan Walker; 6 Page(s)

A new species of Australopithecus, the ancestor of Homo, pushes back the origins of bipedalism to some four million years ago
Meave Leaky and Alan Walker, together with Lakey's husband, Richard, have collaborated for many years on the discovery and analysis of early hominid fossils from Kenya. Leakey is head of the division of paleontology at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi. Walker is Distinguished Professor of anthropology and biology at Pennsylvania State University. He is a MacArthur Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
From the June 1997 issue, updated to 2003.

Once We Were Not Alone; New Look at Human Evolution; by Ian Tattersall; 8 Page(s)

Today we take for granted that Homo sapiens is the only hominid on earth. Yet for at least four million years many hominid species shared the planet. What makes us different?
IAN TATTERSALL and JAY H. MATTERNES have worked together since the early 1990s, notably on the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and at the Gunma Museum in Japan. Tattersall was born in England and raised in East Africa. He is a curator in the department of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. Matternes is an artist and sculptor who has for more than 40 years specialized in fossil primates and hominids. In addition to his museum murals, he is well known for his illustrations for books, periodicals and television, including Time/Life Books and National Geographic.
From the January 2003 issue, updated to 2003.

Who Were the Neandertals?; New Look at Human Evolution; by Kate Wong; contributions by E. Trinkaus and C. Duarte; J. Zilh¿o and F. d'Errico; and F. H. Smith; 10 Page(s)

Controversial evidence indicates that these hominids interbred with anatomically modern humans and sometimes behaved in surprisingly modern ways
Kate Wong is an editor and writer at Scientific American covering paleontology, archaeology, and life sciences.
From teh April 200 issue, updated to 2003.

Out of Africa Again...and Again?; New Look at Human Evolution; by Ian Tattersall; 8 Page(s)

Africa is the birthplace of humanity. But how many human species evolved there? And when did they emigrate?
IAN TATTERSALL was born in England and raised in East Africa. He is a curator in the department of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. His latest books include The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human (Harvard Books, 2003) and Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness (Harcourt, 1998).
From the April 1997 issue, updated to 2003.

The Multiregional Evolution of Humans; New Look at Human Evolution; by Alan G. Thorne and Milford H. Wolpoff; 8 Page(s)

Both fossil and genetic evidence argues that ancient ancestors of various human groups lived where they are found today
ALAN G. THORNE and MILFORD H. WOLPOFF have extensively studied the original fossil material on the origins of Homo sapiens. Thorne is adjunct fellow in the department of archaeology and natural history at the Australian National University. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1963 and later taught human anatomy at the medical school there. Thornes excavations at Kow Swamp and Lake Mungo produced most of the Pleistocene human remains in Australia. Wolpoff is professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he directs the paleoanthropology laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in 1969 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Wolpoff would like to thank lecturer Rachel Caspari of the University of Michigan for her help in drafting the epilogue.
From the April 1992 issue, updated to 2003.

The Recent African Genesis of Humans; New Look at Human Evolution; by Rebecca L. Cann and Allan C. Wilson; 8 Page(s)

Genetic studies reveal that an African woman from less than 200,000 years ago was our common ancestor
REBECCA L. CANN and ALLAN C. WILSON applied the tools of genetics to paleontology during many of their collaborations. Cann is professor of genetics and molecular biology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She received both her bachelors degree in genetics and her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. As a postdoctoral fellow, she worked at Berkeley with Wilson and at the University of California, San Francisco. Cann is using mitochondrial DNA to assay the genetic diversity of birds in the Hawaiian Islands. Until his death in 1991, Wilson was professor of biochemistry at Berkeley. A native of New Zealand, he received his doctorate from Berkeley. Wilson also worked at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, at the University of Nairobi and at Harvard University.
From the April 1992 issue, updated to 2003.

Food for Thought; New Look at Human Evolution; by William R. Leonard; 10 Page(s)

Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution
WILLIAM R. LEONARD is professor of anthropology and co-director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D. in biological anthropology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1987. The author of more than 80 research articles on nutrition and energetics among contemporary and prehistoric populations, Leonard has studied indigenous agricultural groups in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru and traditional herding populations in central and southern Siberia.
From the December 2002 issue, updated to 2003

Skin Deep; New Look at Human Evolution; by Nina G. Jablonski and George Chaplin; 8 Page(s)

Throughout the world, human skin color has evolved to be dark enough to prevent sunlight from destroying the nutrient folate but light enough to foster the production of vitamin D
NINA G. JABLONSKI and GEORGE CHAPLIN work at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where Jablonski is Irvine Chair and curator of anthropology and Chaplin is a research associate in the department of anthropology. Jablonski's research centers on the evolutionary adaptations of monkeys, apes and humans. She is particularly interested in how primates have responded to changes over time in the global environment. Chaplin is a private geographic information systems consultant who specializes in describing and analyzing geographic trends in biodiversity. In 2001 he was awarded the Student of the Year prize by the Association of Geographic Information in London for his master's thesis on the environmental correlates of skin color.
From the October 2002 issue, updated to 2003.

The Evolution of Human Birth; New Look at Human Evolution; by Karen R. Rosenberg and Wenda R. Trevathan; 6 Page(s)

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
KAREN R. ROSENBERG and WENDA R. TREVATHAN bring different perspectives to the study of human birth. Rosenberg, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Delaware, specializes in pelvic morphology and has studied hominid fossils from Europe, Israel, China and South Africa. About 15 years ago she began studying the pelvis as a way to reconstruct the evolution of the birth process. Thats when she met Trevathan, a biological anthropologist at New Mexico State University, whose particular interests include childbirth, maternal behavior, sexuality, menopause and evolutionary medicine. Both authors have experienced birth firsthand: Rosenberg has two daughters, and Trevathan is trained as a midwife.
From the November 2001 issue, updated to 2003.

Once Were Cannibals; New Look at Human Evolution; by Tim D. White; 8 Page(s)

Clear evidence of cannibalism in the human fossil record has been rare, but it is now becoming apparent that the practice is deeply rooted in our history
TIM D. WHITE is co-director of the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a professor in Berkeley's department of integrative biology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. White co-directs the Middle Awash research project in Ethiopia. His research interests are human paleontology, Paleolithic archaeology, and the interpretation of bone modification in contexts ranging from prehistoric archaeology to contemporary forensic situations.
From the August 2001 issue, updated to 2003.

If Humans Were Built to Last; New Look at Human Evolution; by S. Jay Olshansky, Bruce A. Carnes and Robert N. Butler; 7 Page(s)

We would look a lot different if evolution had designed the human body to function smoothly for a century or more
S. JAY OLSHANSKY, BRUCE A. CARNES and ROBERT N. BUTLER all have an enduring interest in the processes that underlie human aging. Olshansky is professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Carnes, both senior research scientists at the National Opinion Research Center/Center on Aging at the University of Chicago, collaborate on studies—funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration—of the biodemography of aging (examining the biological reasons for age-related patterns of disease and death in populations). They are co-authors of The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging (W. W. Norton, 2001). Butler is president of the International Longevity Center in New York City and was founding director of the NIA.
From the March 2001 issue, updated to 2003.