Humans were smarter 3000 years ago, scientist says

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDlM_7VgfB3vLlAYwRVNLPMVTyJWrXaifCrgwQ4aURMtGJPdabSgttYI3EJA6sHQJcpSL2sYTtyOIb58YdYzvKOIKDmDRXbPFc139sshvk-5GNGmYGJ0Nb5rqLxCUu7QtmLczNGDcVLA/s1600/trendsingenetics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDlM_7VgfB3vLlAYwRVNLPMVTyJWrXaifCrgwQ4aURMtGJPdabSgttYI3EJA6sHQJcpSL2sYTtyOIb58YdYzvKOIKDmDRXbPFc139sshvk-5GNGmYGJ0Nb5rqLxCUu7QtmLczNGDcVLA/s320/trendsingenetics.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>The human race is slowly losing its intellectual and emotional capabilities because it no longer faces extreme evolutionary pressures, new research contends.<br /><br />Human intelligence and behavior require optimal functioning of a large number of genes, but the intricate web of genes that gives people these capabilities has started to backslide, the scientists said in an article appearing Nov. 12 in the journal <i>Trends in Genetics</i>.<br /><br />"The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimization of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively nonverbal, dispersed groups of peoples before our ancestors emerged from Africa," study author Dr. Gerald Crabtree, of Stanford University, said in a journal news release.<br /><br />In the early stages of human evolution, intelligence was critical for survival and there was immense selective pressure acting on the genes required for intellectual development. But once humans achieved a certain level of evolutionary progress, they slowly began to lose ground.<br /><br />The development of agriculture led to urbanization, which may have weakened the power of natural selection to eliminate mutations that caused intellectual disabilities, the researchers explained.<br /><br />Based on the frequency that harmful mutations appear in the human genome and the assumption that 2,000 to 5,000 genes are required for intellectual ability, Crabtree estimated the effect that the past 3,000 years (about 120 generations) of human history have had on humans. He concluded that all people now carry two or more mutations harmful to their intellectual or emotional stability.<br /><br />He noted, however, that the loss of intellectual and emotional capabilities is quite slow and it's likely that a solution will be found in the future.<br /><br />"I think we will know each of the millions of human mutations that can compromise our intellectual function and how each of these mutations interact with each other and other processes, as well as environmental influences," Crabtree said.<br /><br />"At that time, we may be able to magically correct any mutation that has occurred in all cells of any organism at any developmental stage," he said. "Thus, the brutish process of natural selection will be unnecessary."<br /><br />Click here to access the <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/abstract/S0168-9525(12)00158-8" target="_blank"><b>first</b> </a>and <b><a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/abstract/S0168-9525(12)00159-X" target="_blank">second </a></b>parts of the article <i>Our fragile intellect</i><br />

Humans were smarter 3000 years ago, scientist says

The human race is slowly losing its intellectual and emotional capabilities because it no longer faces extreme evolutionary pressures, new r...

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Early humans may have been much smarter than we thought

Rocks carved into ancient stone arrowheads or into lethal tools for hurling spears suggest humans innovated relatively advanced weapons much earlier than thought, researchers in South Africa say.<br /><br />The researchers' finds, partially exposed by a coastal storm, suggest ancient peoples were capable of complex forms of thinking, scientists added. "These people were like you and I," researcher Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, told LiveScience.<br /><br />Modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, but when modern human ways of thinking emerged remains controversial. For instance, some researchers note that the first signs of complex thought such as art appeared relatively late in history, suggesting that genetic mutations linked with modern human behavior occurred as recently as 40,000 years ago.<br /><br />Other scientists argue that modern human thought originated much earlier but that the evidence was largely lost to the rigors of time. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49729542/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UKXGOeOe-C8" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from MSNBC</a></b>

Early humans may have been much smarter than we thought

Rocks carved into ancient stone arrowheads or into lethal tools for hurling spears suggest humans innovated relatively advanced weapons much...

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Siberian princess’s remarkably well-preserved body shows how little tattoo fashion has changed in 2,500 years

<br />“Princess Ukok,” who was discovered high in Siberia’s Altai mountains, is about 2,500 years old. She was buried in the permafrost, which kept her body remarkably well preserved, including tattoos that are among “the most complicated and the most beautiful” archeologists have found.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpCqFaGPaFVB3RJOxfIZq6DYg1ofYSm3Fca3DJXO6CEy_PjMZHm7SoSaBEvgRafcTKKR45OSriR86mcjuPvQpWcvdoddMfCP99IQwlFKKN2B-0IK8b6a0ZR_i4sQ3yLhnVwTh_AWiRws/s1600/Mummy_of_the_Ukok_Princess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpCqFaGPaFVB3RJOxfIZq6DYg1ofYSm3Fca3DJXO6CEy_PjMZHm7SoSaBEvgRafcTKKR45OSriR86mcjuPvQpWcvdoddMfCP99IQwlFKKN2B-0IK8b6a0ZR_i4sQ3yLhnVwTh_AWiRws/s400/Mummy_of_the_Ukok_Princess.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />“More ancient tattoos have been found, like the Ice Man found in the Alps,” lead researcher Natalia Polosmak told the Siberian Times, “but he only had lines, not the perfect and highly artistic images one can see on the bodies of the Pazyryks” — the nomadic tribe to which the princess likely belonged.<br /><br />“It is a phenomenal level of tattoo art. Incredible.”<br /><br />Part of what’s striking about the body art is how modern-looking it is, which is no coincidence, Polosmak says. All the mummies they’ve found that only had one tattoo had them placed on their left shoulders, which Polosmak believes is likely linked to basic body composition — it’s a noticeable place to show off the art.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/16/siberian-princesss-remarkably-well-preserved-tattoos-show-how-little-tattoo-fashion-has-changed-in-2500-years/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from The National Post</a></b><br /> <object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0pJ9-JnsiAY?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0pJ9-JnsiAY?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Siberian princess’s remarkably well-preserved body shows how little tattoo fashion has changed in 2,500 years

“Princess Ukok,” who was discovered high in Siberia’s Altai mountains, is about 2,500 years old. She was buried in the permafrost, which kep...

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Stonehenge helped to unify ancient Britain, researchers say

After 10 years of archaeological investigations, researchers have concluded that Stonehenge was built as a monument to unify the peoples of Britain, after a long period of conflict and regional difference between eastern and western Britain.<br /><br /> I<span style="background-color: white;">ts stones are thought to have symbolized the ancestors of different groups of earliest farming communities in Britain, with some stones coming from southern England and others from west Wales.  </span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">The teams, from the universities of Sheffield, Manchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and University College London, all working on the Stonehenge Riverside Project (SRP), explored not just Stonehenge and its landscape but also the wider social and economic context of the monument’s main stages of construction around 3,000 BC and 2,500 BC. </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/06/stonehenge-helped-to-unify-ancient-britain-researchers-say/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World</a></b>

Stonehenge helped to unify ancient Britain, researchers say

After 10 years of archaeological investigations, researchers have concluded that Stonehenge was built as a monument to unify the peoples of ...

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Paleolithic paintings in Spain are over 40000 years old

Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years – making them Europe’s oldest known cave art, according to new research published yesterday in <i>Science</i>.<br /><br /><br />The practice of cave art in Europe thus began up to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, indicating the paintings were created either by the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or, perhaps, by Neanderthals.<br /><br />Fifty paintings in 11 caves in Northern Spain, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo, were dated by a team of UK, Spanish and Portuguese researchers led by Dr Alistair Pike of the University of Bristol, UK and funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/06/paleolithic-paintings-in-spain-are-over-40000-years-old/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World</a></b><br />

Paleolithic paintings in Spain are over 40000 years old

Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years – making them Europe’s oldest known cave art, ac...

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Study examines rise of agriculture in Stone Age Northern Europe

One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This week’s edition of Science presents the genetic findings of a Swedish-Danish research team, which show that agriculture spread to Northern Europe via migration from Southern Europe.<br /><br /><br />“We have been able to show that the genetic variation of today’s Europeans was strongly affected by immigrant Stone Age farmers, though a number of hunter-gatherer genes remain,” says Assistant Professor Anders Götherström of the Evolutionary Biology Centre, who, along with Assistant Professor Mattias Jakobsson, co-led the study, a collaboration with Stockholm University and the University of Copenhagen.<br /><br />“What is interesting and surprising is that Stone Age farmers and hunter-gatherers from the same time had entirely different genetic backgrounds and lived side by side for more than a thousand years, to finally interbreed,” Mattias Jakobsson says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/04/study-examines-rise-of-agriculture-in-stone-age-northern-europe/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World</a></b><br />

Study examines rise of agriculture in Stone Age Northern Europe

One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This week’s edition ...

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