Becoming Human (June 2006)
Special Editions

Cover; Becoming Human; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

An Unlikely Ascendancy; Becoming Human; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

Letter from the editor

Table of Contents; Becoming Human; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

Planet of the Apes; Becoming Human; by David R. Begun; 10 Page(s)

During the Miocene epoch, as many as 100 species of apes roamed throughout the Old World. New fossils suggest that the ones that gave rise to living great apes and humans evolved not in Africa but Eurasia

Bonobo Sex and Society; Becoming Human; by Frans B. M. de Waal; 8 Page(s)

The behavior of a close relative challenges assumptions about male supremacy in human evolution

Diet and Primate Evolution; Becoming Human; by Katharine Milton; 8 Page(s)

Many characteristics of modern primates, including our own species, derive from an early ancestor's practice of taking most of its food from the tropical canopy

Why Are Some Animals So Smart?; Becoming Human; by Carel van Schaik; 8 Page(s)

The unusual behavior of orangutans in a Sumatran swamp suggests a surprising answer

Stranger in a New Land; Becoming Human; by Kate Wong; 10 Page(s)

Stunning finds in the Republic of Georgia upend long-standing ideas about the first hominids to journey out of Africa

The Littlest Human; Becoming Human; by Kate Wong; 10 Page(s)

A spectacular find in Indonesia reveals that a strikingly different hominid shared the earth with our kind in the not so distant past

Founder Mutations; Becoming Human; by Dennis Drayna; 8 Page(s)

A special class of genetic mutations that often cause human disease is enabling scientists to trace the migration and growth of specific human populations over thousands of years

How We Came to Be Human; Becoming Human; by Ian Tattersall; 8 Page(s)

The acquisition of language and the capacity for symbolic art may lie at the very heart of the extraordinary cognitive abilities that set us apart from the rest of creation

The Morning of the Modern Mind; Becoming Human; by Kate Wong; 10 Page(s)

Controversial discoveries suggest that the roots of our vaunted intellect run far deeper than is commonly believed

The Emergence of Intelligence; Becoming Human; by William H. Calvin; 8 Page(s)

Language, foresight and other hallmarks of intelligence are very likely connected through an underlying facility that plans rapid, novel movements