It Was Brawn Over Beauty in Human Mating Competition, Anthropologist Says

ScienceDaily ^ | May 13, 2010 | Penn State

[SunkenCiv]

"Other animals have antlers or long canines and claws," said Puts. "Why don't we have them?"

According to Puts, men do have weapons. They make them. Bows and arrows, spears, knives -- men have always manufactured weapons.

Other male traits also seem to imply competition. Males have thicker jawbones, which may have come from men hitting each other and the thickest-boned men surviving. Competition may explain why males have more robust skulls and brow ridges than women...

According to Puts, humans and chimpanzees create male coalitions that are often strengthened by kinship. Coalitions can help males defend females from other males. However, when external forces are absent, these same males can compete with each other for mates.

These ideas may seem to paint a rather bleak picture of human nature with men duking it out among themselves for most of human evolution.

"Things are different for us now in many ways," said Puts. "It's heartening to think that human behavior is flexible enough that the right social institutions can increase equality and peace."

[SunkenCiv]

wow, you were way ahead of this story. :')

• Handsome By Chance: Why Humans Look Different From Neanderthals [2007]

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Here's the new Australian ladies champ (the cute one with the furry arms and big ears)...she doesn't have a big jaw!;-) (BTW I think she's Fred Nerks' first cousin once removed)...

[SunkenCiv]

That would be true if:

• from a creationist perspective, there was any such thing
• from a reductionist perspective, there was any specific direction to evolution

:') I make my own fun.

[SunkenCiv]

I don’t wallaby involved in that. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

sexual dimorphism

Google

[Secret Agent Man]

It’s truly sad what passes for ‘science’ these days.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I'm sure I'll roo the day I commented on this thread!

[gigster]

Only in Hollywood could a man such as George Costanza get the babes he did.

That, or the women in New York City are extremely desperate.

[grey_whiskers]

My wife swears she heard the following lyrics on a country station while skimming through radio stations in the car:

Rain makes corn
Corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby (heh-heh)
A little more frisky

Cheers!

[Tijeras_Slim]

Dang! I’m feeling old and crazy now.

[B-Chan]

LOL I love that song

[SunkenCiv]

What Happened to the Hominids Who May Have Been Smarter Than Us?

· 01/05/2010 12:54:26 AM PST · · Posted by Bobalu · · 59 replies · 1,816+ views · · discovermagazine.com · · December 28, 2009 · · Gary Lynch and Richard Granger ·

Two neuroscientists say that a now-extinct race of humans had big eyes, child-like faces, and an average intelligence of around 150, making them geniuses among Homo sapiens. The history of evolutionary studies has been dogged by the intuitively attractive, almost irresistible idea that the whole great process leads to greater complexity, to animals that are more advanced than their predecessors. The pre-Darwin theories of evolution were built around this idea; in fact, Darwin's (and Wallace's) great and radical contribution was to throw out the notion of "progress" and replace it with selection from among a set of random variations. But...

[SunkenCiv]

I hoppin’ to think you’re right.

[SunkenCiv]

You went right out to the liquor store, admit it. ;’)

[dayglored]

> My wife swears she heard the following lyrics on a country station while skimming through radio stations in the car:
Rain makes corn
Corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby (heh-heh)
A little more frisky

Here it is, Luke Bryan - Rain Is a Good Thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFrGn6h3Vg

[ml/nj]

which may have come from men hitting each other and the thickest-boned men surviving

These people are so full of themselves.

They provide comic relief in troubling times.

ML/NJ

[SunkenCiv]

It’s true. Maybe those with the thick skulls survived to reproduce because everyone was drunk and falling down hitting their heads. ;’)

[ckilmer]

“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” — Otto von Bismarck
.........
then there’s guys like me who don’t learn from their own experiences until repeated pain forces them out of the bad groove.

wish it were different.

[SunkenCiv]

I noticed that Bismarck said he “preferred” that way. ;’) Makes me feel so much better.

[Daffynition]