Debate Heats Up On Role Of Climate In Human Evolution

Eurekalert ^ | 11-3-2003 | Geological Society Of America

[Consort]

Hot weather and tight pants produce inferior sperm.

[RadioAstronomer]

Ping! Possibly for your ping list?

[U S Army EOD]

If you currently don't have the technoligy to live with it, you beat feet. This would explain why Northern Africa got a head start on Northern Europe. Also, Northern Europe may have been more advanced than we think. When you build things out of wood they just don't last as long as things built out of limestone. Then there is no record to show you were there.

[DuncanWaring]

I ran into a claim about five years ago in "Discover" magazine that the human race could be attributed to ... Panama.

The theory was that a long time ago, there was no Isthmus of Panama, and some ocean current flowed through the gap between North and South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

When the Isthmus of Panama rose from the sea, this current was deflected back into the Atlantic, toward Africa. As a result, Africa became cooler and more humid, somehow favoring the rise of homo sapiens.

[blam]

"The theory was that a long time ago, there was no Isthmus of Panama, and some ocean current flowed through the gap between North and South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean."

I think that was in the millions of years ago...not positive though. (I would like to know if you find out for sure...I could work with that, lol)

[Ichneumon]

No scientist would ever use such an ignorant term as "human evolution."

That's going to come as a big surprise to the scientists who publish and submit articles to scientific journals such as:

...or those scientists who publish such papers as:

Tracing the LINEs of human evolution (Igor Ovchinnikov, Adrienne Rubin, and Gary D. Swergold) [Excellent paper]

A Review of Sexual Selection and Human Evolution: How Mate Choice shaped Human Nature

Alu Insertion Polymorphisms and Human Evolution: Evidence for a Larger Population Size in Africa (Mark Stoneking, Jennifer J. Fontius, Stephanie L. Clifford, Himla Soodyall, Santosh S. Arcot, Nilmani Saha, Trefor Jenkins, Mohammad A. Tahir, Prescott L. Deininger, and Mark A. Batzer)

Human evolution: Sex-specific contributions to genome variation (Todd R. Disotell)

Population Bottlenecks and Pleistocene Human Evolution (John Hawks, Keith Hunley, Sang-Hee Lee, and Milford Wolpoff)

Transitions in human evolution and faunal changes during the Pleistocene in Latium (Central Italy) (G. Manzi1, M.R. Palombo, L. Caloi, F. Mallegni)

And so on and so on.

Evolution is not science,

Of course it is, but you're welcome to try to offer an argument why you think it isn't, if you actually have one.

it is the ignorant religion of the God haters.

That's going to come as a big surprise to the millions of Christians who accept evolution.

Objective science proves that creation is undeniable fact.

Ooh, this ought to be interesting -- why don't you provide us some specific examples of the "objective science" which "proves" that creation is an "undeniable fact"?

[LiteKeeper]

YEC INTREP

[U S Army EOD]

I sure wish I had read the book on how mate choices shaped human nature before I met my second ex wife.

[rightofrush]

What were the drivers that may have nudged hominids toward bi-pedalism?

See any book by Elaine Goodman, The Aquatic Ape, Descent from Woman, etc.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[Junior]

Except civilizations arose initially in two relatively benign areas along the banks of major rivers...

[PatrickHenry]

PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[js1138]

Civilization requires grain storage, or some equivalent.

[stanz]

You have to note also that the more advanced cultures seem to be where there was the most change. They had to be smart to survive.

Conversely, in extant primitive societies there hasn't been the environmental pressure over time to enforce change. Their technology required few tweakings and cultural practices remained essentially static.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Physicist]

What were the drivers that may have nudged hominids toward bi-pedalism?

It seems to me that we've discussed this before.

[U S Army EOD]

Which is why some cultures get left behind.

[stanz]

Their misfortune for having been assimilated into Western encroachment.

[blam]

The Cold Snap That Civilized The World

[U S Army EOD]

This is probably true. But, would it be any more moral if they did it to us first? If you aren't willing to utilize the land you are on to the benefit of mankind in general, should you be allowed to keep it? Should we give the Stonehendge area back to the Picts?