Cooking up a story of apes and humans
For humans, cooking played a major role in the development of smaller jaws and teeth, bigger brains, smaller guts, shorter arms, and longer legs, according to Richard Wrangham, professor of biological...
View ArticleThe accidental ‘best friend’
Harvard researchers studying Siberian foxes have uncovered evidence that the ability to interpret human expressions and gestures that helped transform the wild wolf into humankind’s cooperative “best...
View ArticleEvolving ideas
Is the problem with evolution A) people don’t believe in it; B) people believe in it but don’t understand it; or C) evolution comes packaged with troubling implications that we don’t want to accept?...
View ArticleSeeing the forest, from the trees
It was Valentine’s Day 2000 and Alain Houle was not quite sure what to do. He was alone in a fruit tree and the chimps were coming back. “I thought I’d be killed,” Houle said later. “They climbed up,...
View ArticleChimps in wild appear not to regularly experience menopause
A pioneering study of wild chimpanzees has found that these close human relatives do not routinely experience menopause, rebutting previous studies of captive individuals which had postulated that...
View ArticleNew department reflects the evolution of human evolution
Earlier this month, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) made official what scientists worldwide have known for years: Harvard is a hotbed of research and teaching in the field of human evolutionary...
View ArticleInvention of cooking drove evolution of the human species, new book argues
“You are what you eat.” Can these pithy words explain the evolution of the human species? Yes, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who argues in a new book that the invention of cooking —...
View ArticleLooking at cooking
Richard Wrangham has a simple answer when asked where humans came from: “the kitchen.” Wrangham, the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, talked about his theories on the importance of...
View ArticleFor bonobos, it’s one for all
Daycare workers and kindergarten teachers tend to offer young humans a lot of coaching about the idea of sharing. But for our ape cousins the bonobos, sharing just comes naturally. In fact, according...
View ArticleHarvard Thinks Big
The prospect of hearing 10 top Harvard instructors lecture for 10 minutes each on the subjects that they care most deeply about drew an overflow crowd to Sanders Theatre on Thursday (Feb. 11). Harvard...
View ArticleWhere men have more than one wife
Not long after the terrorist strikes of Sept. 11, 2001, Al Gore visited Harvard to speak with faculty members about the causes behind the attacks and to explore how to prevent such attacks from...
View ArticleThe efficient caveman cook
Harvard researchers have found new evidence on the importance of cooking to humans in an unlikely area: the amount of time freed from eating every day. The research found that processing food through...
View ArticleWhy cooking counts
Next time you’re out to dinner, you may want to think twice before ordering your steak rare. In a first-of-its-kind study, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked meat provides more energy than raw...
View ArticleBarbecue’s beginnings
Saint Lawrence, who was burned to death on a large grate over a fire, is said to have remarked to his tormentors: “Turn me over, I’m done on this side.” Such audacity — not to mention savagery — not...
View ArticleWatching teeth grow
For more than two decades, scientists have relied on studies linking tooth development in juvenile primates with their weaning as a rough proxy for understanding similar landmarks in the evolution of...
View ArticleA milestone for juniors
As she welcomed the parents of the Class of 2014 in Sanders Theatre last weekend, Harvard President Drew Faust spoke of the importance of something that people may strive to avoid: the risk of failure....
View ArticleMBB recognizes graduating seniors
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committee on Mind/Brain/Behavior (MBB) recognized 35 seniors in a ceremony at the Harvard Faculty Club on May 29. Secondary field students had completed...
View ArticleLooking at chimp’s future, seeing man’s
When researcher Richard Wrangham looks at the future of chimpanzees, he sees people. Though scientists like him have invested decades in understanding the apes, and Western conservationists and...
View ArticleHierarchical differences
Women of different social or professional “ranks” within academic departments collaborate less than men do, according to a new Harvard study, suggesting that female full professors prefer to work on...
View ArticleCooking up a story of apes and humans
For humans, cooking played a major role in the development of smaller jaws and teeth, bigger brains, smaller guts, shorter arms, and longer legs, according to Richard Wrangham, professor of biological...
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