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"Highly accessible, authoritative, and intellectually provocative, a startlingly original theory of how Homo sapiens came to be: Richard Wrangham forcefully argues that, a quarter of a million years ago, rising intelligence among our ancestors led to a unique new ability with unexpected consequences: our ancestors invented socially sanctioned capital punishment, facilitating domestication, increased cooperation, the accumulation of culture, and ultimately...
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"Human evolution has taken millions of years to get to this stage. But next week, we become something new. Around the world, humanity is undergoing rapid and unpredictable changes, and only three individuals seem to notice that their world is being reborn. But what can they do about it?"--Page [4] of cover.
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In Evolving Ourselves, futurist Juan Enriquez and scientist Steve Gullans conduct a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution--sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. For example: Globally, rates of obesity in humans nearly doubled between 1980 and 2014. What's more, there's evidence that other species, from pasture-fed horses to lab animals to house cats, are also getting fatter. As reported by U.S. government agencies, the...
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What can explain the incredible diversity of beauty in nature? Richard O. Prum, an award-winning ornithologist, discusses Charles Darwin's second and long-neglected theory--aesthetic mate choice--and what it means for our understanding of evolution. In addition, Prum connects those same evolutionary dynamics to the origins and diversity of human sexuality, offering riveting new thinking about the evolution of human beauty and the role of mate choice,...
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"Over the last century, the search for human ancestors has spanned four continents and resulted in the discovery of hundreds of fossils. Most of these discoveries live quietly in museum collections, but some have become celebrities, embraced by wide audiences and held as touchstones in how we understand our human origins. In Seven Skeletons, historian of science Lydia Pyne explores how seven of them gained their fame. Pyne introduces readers to the...
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Dr. Kate Warner left California for Jakarta, Indonesia to escape her past. She has yet to put her life back together, but she has made a remarkable discovery: a cure for autism. But when two children in her research study are abducted, Kate is plunged into a world of intrigue and conspiracies. She quickly learns that her work is not what it seems. Her research could rewrite everything we know about human evolution and hold the key unleashing a global...
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In this book the author, a cognitive scientist explains how the brain evolved to store and use information, allowing our ancestors to control their environment, and why we think and act as we do. He explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. This work explains many of the imponderables of everyday life. Why does a face look more attractive...
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For too long the Neanderthals have been seen as dim-witted evolutionary dead-enders who looked and behaved completely differently from us, but in recent years their story has been transformed thanks to new discoveries and advances in scientific techniques. In a compelling narrative one that has not previously been told in a way that encompasses the entire dramatic arc from evolution to expansion to extinction this book takes a fresh and engaging look...
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Science tells us we're all related--one vast family sharing a common ancestor who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago. But countless questions remain about our great journey from the birthplace of Homo sapiens. How and when did we end up where we are? Why do we display such a wide range of colors and features? The fossil record offers some answers, but new research reveals many more, since our DNA carries a chronicle of our species and its migrations....