THE SET-UP: Have you noticed that the people who still refuse to accept Darwin’s discovery of evolution are often the same people who embrace Social Darwinism?
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) is a perfect example—a “Young Earth Creationist” who actively worked to undermine science education in public schools, he’s currently working on a deal to punish the poor by stripping away their government-funded healthcare (among other things) and pass that “savings” onto the wealthy in the form of tax cuts.
At the same time he disregards climate science … he prioritizes his home state’s oil and gas industry … and that’s despite his state’s exposure to climate-stoked disasters. Essentially, his denial leads to Louisianans being denied home insurance. It also ignores the fact that the changing climate is driving evolutionary changes in real-time. But Mike is unmoved by new evidence, which is a frightening quality for someone in his position.
For example, climate is also driving migration. Immigration-obsessed Republicans like Johnson might want to take that under advisement as they dismantle meager attempts to stanch the flow of climate pollution into the atmosphere. He could even lead the effort to minimize a problem that creates migrants, both foreign and domestic, in the first place.
That would be an evolutionary leap in his thinking. Alas, you’ve probably noticed that the people (Evangelicals) who refuse to accept the fact of biological evolution seem incapable of evolving and adapting. Ironically, that means a lot of people in the developing world may have to die for their sins. - jp
TITLE: The discovery that Africa is the birthplace of human evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-025-00013-8
EXCERPTS: In February 1925, Nature published1 a paper by Raymond Dart, an anthropologist who spent most of his working life describing the first hominin fossil to have been found, Australopithecus Africanus — today known as the Taung Child.
The fossil, named after the small town near where it was found, led to the understanding that humans and their ancestors evolved in Africa. After years of scientific rejection, it is now a widely accepted fact.
Charles Darwin had a hunch that our origins were in Africa but at the time of the Taung Child’s discovery, most scientists were convinced that humankind had originated in Asia and Europe. Homo erectus, the oldest known hominin to have a human-like body, had been found on Java in Asia in 1891. Fossils of Homo neanderthalenis, our closest extinct human relative, had been found in Europe by 1829 because of Neanderthals. Complicating the timeline was the Piltdown Man, believed to be the ‘missing link’ between apes and humans until it was exposed as a forgery in 1949, 37 years after its ‘discovery’.
“There was an element of disbelief, mixed in with a hefty dose of racism because they couldn’t imagine that humans arose from Africa. That made many scientists dismissive,” says Rebecca Rogers Ackermann, co-director of the Human Evolution Research Institute at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says Australopithecus, and the Taung skull specifically, combined three things in a way that no scientists had predicted.
First, it had a small brain — equivalent to or smaller than a gorilla of the same dental age, just a bit bigger than a chimpanzee’s brain size.
Second, the teeth were human-like but with a twist: Taung has quite large molar teeth, with a generally human-like shape, and deciduous incisors and deciduous canine teeth that are small without space between the canines. These differ from jaws and teeth of young gorillas and chimpanzees.
Third, the species walked upright. The endocast and preserved face enabled Dart to estimate the size and shape of the base of the skull, in particular, the position where the spine would support the skull, which showed that the head was carried in an upright posture.
Darwin believed these characteristics ought to have evolved more or less together, as a system. That is, the gradual change in brain size, in diet (reflected by teeth), and in posture should all have proceeded in lockstep with each other. Or, if one of those anatomical regions was changing fastest, it should be the brain.
“But Australopithecus was the first genuinely new piece of evidence. And it clearly showed that this idea, Darwin’s idea of human origins, was backward,” says Hawks.
“Bipedalism came first, changes in tooth shape and the reductions of the canines happened before smaller molar teeth evolved, and large brains came last. Darwin was wrong.”
A hundred years later, in the human fossil record, the genus Australopithecus, is represented by a diverse group5 of fossil species found across Africa. It fills the transitional space between smaller-bodied, ape-like hominins, and hominins that ultimately contributed to our own evolution.
One or more of the species in this genus are assumed to be ancestral to our genus, Homo, says Lauren Schroeder, an anthropologist from the University of Toronto Mississauga.
“Given their mix of ape-like and human-like characteristics, we have learnt that bipedalism evolved early in our lineage, with an increase in brain size evolving much later in the genus Homo. This early realisation (starting with the Taung Child) contributed to debunking previous assumptions in the 1900s that our early ancestors would be large-brained,” says Schoeder.
“This small fossil was the first recognition of Africa as the birthplace of all of humanity. In the last 100 years, no older prehuman fossils have been found anywhere else, so Africa retains this title,” says Robyn Pickering, a geologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
TITLE: 'Humanity's great aunt' arrives: 3.18-million-year-old skeleton debuts in Europe
https://www.jpost.com/science/science-around-the-world/article-840750
EXCERPTS: Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on Tuesday that the Czech National Museum in Prague will host the 3.2 million-year-old fossil of Australopithecus afarensis, known as Lucy, from August 25 to October 23, 2025. This event marks the first time Lucy's remains will be exhibited in Europe. "Lucy's skeletal remains will be displayed in Europe for the first time ever," Fiala said.
The exhibition will also feature Selam, the fossil of a baby Australopithecus predating Lucy by 100,000 years. Both fossils are being loaned from the National Museum of Ethiopia with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Tourism of Ethiopia, as reported by Dennik N.
Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and became famous worldwide after the discovery was announced. Named after the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which the discovery team listened to repeatedly after finding her, Lucy was at the time the most complete hominid skeleton ever found. Her discovery revolutionized the understanding of humanity's ancestors.
Measuring approximately 1.10 meters tall and weighing around 29 kilograms, Lucy is thought to have died aged between 11 and 13 years, which is considered an adult age for her species. Her remains consist of fossilized dental remains, skull fragments, parts of the pelvis, and femur. Lucy walked on two legs and resembled a chimpanzee more than a modern human.
he remains of Selam, the baby Australopithecus fossil, will be presented alongside Lucy. Selam's remains were discovered about 25 years after Lucy in the same area of Ethiopia, as reported by Khaleej Times. The discoveries of Lucy and Selam have helped uncover the origin of modern humans, and many subsequent findings have reshaped the understanding of human ancestry in Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, and Chad.
Lucy was long considered the oldest known human ancestor until she lost her status in 1994 following the discovery of Ardi, a female Ardipithecus ramidus who lived 4.4 million years ago and was also discovered in Ethiopia. Further discoveries, such as Toumai, a skull dated to six or seven million years old found in Chad in 2001, have continued to push back the timeline of early hominids, according to Le Monde.
TITLE: 1.4 million-year-old jaw that was 'a bit weird for Homo' turns out to be from never-before-seen human relative
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/1-4-million-year-old-jaw-that-was-a-bit-weird-for-homo-turns-out-to-be-from-never-before-seen-human-relative
EXCERPTS: A 1.4 million-year-old fossil jaw belongs to a previously unknown human relative from southern Africa, a new study finds.
The extinct human relative is from the genus Paranthropus, whose nickname is "nutcracker man" because of its massive jaws and huge molars. However, the newfound Paranthropus species has a more diminutive jawbone and teeth, indicating that the nutcracker moniker might not be so apt after all.
At the time Paranthropus was alive, the world had several hominins, or species on the evolutionary branch more closely related to humans than to chimps. Our genus, Homo, emerged at least 2.8 million years ago, while our species, Homo sapiens, dates back to at least 300,000 years ago. So early Homo species overlapped with Paranthropus. Until now, scientists knew of three Paranthropus species — P. aethiopicus, P. boisei and P. robustus — which lived between about 1 million and 2.7 million years ago.
In the new study, researchers examined a 1.4 million-year-old jaw dubbed SK 15. The bone was originally unearthed in 1949 in a cave at a South African site known as Swartkrans, alongside other Paranthropus fossils and a few early Homo specimens.
"Swartkrans is thus a key site to uncover the extent of hominin diversity and understand the potential interactions among various hominin species," study lead author Clément Zanolli, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Bordeaux in France, told Live Science.
Initially, scientists thought SK 15 belonged to a never-before-seen species they called Telanthropus capensis. However, since the 1960s, researchers suggested it actually belonged to the relatively slender early human species known as Homo ergaster.
Zanolli and his colleagues performed X-ray scans of SK 15 and other fossils so they could create virtual 3D models of the specimens and better understand their internal and external structures. Unexpectedly, they found that SK 15 was likely not H. ergaster but a previously unknown species of Paranthropus.
The findings suggest at least two Paranthropus species coexisted in southern Africa about 1.4 million years ago — P. robustus and P. capensis.
"They probably had different ecological niches," Zanolli said. P. robustus likely had a highly specialized diet, "as suggested by the massive jaw and teeth, while P. capensis, which displays smaller teeth and a less robust mandible, might have had a more varied diet and potentially exploited different food resources," Zanolli added.
Future research might reveal whether P. capensis was an evolutionary dead end or not, but this is difficult to determine at the moment, as the early hominin fossil record is "scarce for all of Africa," Zanolli said. There might be species of Paranthropus "that survived much longer than we currently know."
TITLE: Genetic study sheds light on changes that shaped human brain evolution
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-genetic-human-brain-evolution.html
EXCERPT: A new Yale study provides a fuller picture of the genetic changes that shaped the evolution of the human brain, and how the process differed from the evolution of chimpanzees.
For the study, published Jan. 30 in the journal Cell, researchers focused on a class of genetic switches known as Human Accelerated Regions (HARs), which regulate when, where, and at what level genes are expressed during evolution.
While past research theorized that HARs may act by controlling different genes in humans compared to chimpanzees, our closest primate relative, the new findings show that HARs fine-tune the expression of genes that are already shared between humans and chimpanzees, influencing how neurons are born, develop, and communicate with each other.
Using advanced techniques, researchers also were able to track how HARs interact with genes and human neural stem cells, which allowed them to identify gene targets for nearly all HARs—a significant advance in the study of human evolution.
The discovery adds to the growing understanding of how genetic changes arising during evolution made us human and significantly advances knowledge about what genes HARs controlled, said James Noonan, the Albert E. Kent Professor of Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, who led the study.
"The results reveal that HARs largely regulate the same genes in both species, particularly those involved in brain development," Noonan said. "However, HARs adjust gene expression levels differently in humans, suggesting that evolutionary changes to brain function emerged not by reinventing genetic pathways but by modifying their output."
Noonan's lab is focused on understanding how HARs contribute to the evolution of uniquely human brain features. In previous work, the team has shown that some HARs alter gene expression in human-specific ways compared with our closest primate relatives. The latest study greatly expands the understanding of the biological changes that HARs may have driven, researchers say.
While the number of HARs in the human genome had been established, there was previously limited knowledge about which genes they controlled; previous studies had only identified gene targets for roughly 7 to 21% of HARs.
That's likely because the previous studies used less precise methods, Noonan says. And due to the nature of the data, researchers previously were only able to estimate the identity of a small fraction of HAR gene targets, including some which may not have been targets at all.
For the new study, the Yale team used advanced techniques to map the genome in three dimensions in order to track how HARs interact with genes in human and chimpanzee neural stem cells. This allowed them to identify gene targets for almost 90% of all HARs.
Many HAR gene targets are active in the developing human brain and are linked to processes such as formation of neurons and maintaining communication between neurons. Some are also associated with conditions like autism and schizophrenia, highlighting the potential role of HARs both in shaping normal brain function as well as neurological disorders.
"Our findings also show that HAR gene targets are expressed in particular cell types in the developing human brain, including cell types that may have contributed to the increased size of our brain," Pal concluded.
TITLE: Why The Tibetan Plateau Holds The Key To A New Era Of Human Evolution
https://www.ndtv.com/science/why-the-tibetan-plateau-holds-the-key-to-a-new-era-of-human-evolution-7662041
EXCERPTS: A new study has found that for the past 10,000 years, populations on the Tibetan Plateau have developed particular adaptations to survive in the low-oxygen conditions surrounding the region. While most people would succumb to hypoxia - a condition in which the body is unable to get enough oxygen - the Tibetan communities have thrived despite the thin air.
The study shows humans are still undergoing evolution in the sense that they adapt to such difficult living situations. In Tibet, for instance, where levels of oxygen exist much lower compared to sea levels, people act normally, though mountain climbers encounter altitude sickness due to the problem of low availability of oxygen levels.
While it would be hard to breathe in the region's thin air, generations of Tibetan people have adapted to the situation, making their bodies optimised to obtain as much oxygen as possible from the air. This helps them live more life in a place where others might merely manage to survive.
The study, which was published on October 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shows how the physiological characteristics of Tibetan women enhance their capacity to procreate in an oxygen-poor environment.
When comparing the pregnancy-related biology of Tibetan women with that of migrants to high altitudes, Tibetan women have lower hemoglobin concentration, higher oxygen saturation of hemoglobin and uterine artery blood flow, and heavier newborns. Among Tibetan women who have completed childbearing, unelevated hemoglobin concentration, higher oxygen saturation, and a higher pulse rate correlate with higher lifetime reproductive success. This pattern of human variation suggests the action of natural selection on oxygen delivery phenotypes.
This research shows that human evolution is still an ongoing process, as our bodies continue to adapt to our surroundings. The Tibetan Plateau, which has been inhabited for over 10,000 years, presents a unique example of how humans evolve to survive in extreme environments.
TITLE: Climate crisis driving families from Nepal’s mountain, hill villages
https://kathmandupost.com/national/2025/02/08/climate-crisis-driving-families-from-nepal-s-mountain-hill-villages
EXCERPTS: Nepal has found itself at the receiving end of the climate crisis. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, melting glaciers, and extreme weather events have not only affected the environment, but also forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes in search of livelihoods.
Environmentalists say that the adverse impacts of climate change have become more visible now with villages turning into ghost settlements, yet authorities have failed to address the crisis.
They say climate-induced migration is becoming a serious issue with profound social and economic implications for the country.
“We hear a lot about sustaining the government but not the people in their villages,” said Madhukar Upadhya, a watershed expert. “Many farmers have been displaced by climate-induced problems—prolonged dry-spells, drought, landslides, flooding and inundation, as well as crop diseases.”
Experts urge authorities to provide immediate relief to affected farmers and introduce adaptation and mitigation programmes.
“Around 200 people die, and properties worth millions are destroyed every year in disaster-related incidents, mainly landslides and floods,” said Manjeet Dhakal, a climate change expert. “The indirect impacts of climate change are also immense in Nepal, and poor communities bear the brunt.”
According to Dhakal, climate-affected people migrate to urban areas, big cities, and foreign countries for livelihoods. However, they remain vulnerable to climate change in new places, as they have to work in excessive heat and live in congested areas.
TITLE: Women at Risk: The Gendered Dimension of Climate Change and Migration in West Africa
https://hir.harvard.edu/women-at-risk-the-gendered-dimension-of-climate-change-and-migration-in-west-africa/
EXCERPTS: From 2008 to 2022, the number of people displaced by climate change increased by 41 percent. The UN estimates that 80 percent of those displaced by climate change are women, and restrictions of their economic, sociocultural, and literal mobility make them particularly vulnerable. The gendered dimension of climate change is particularly pronounced in West Africa, where the climate is especially vulnerable to disasters caused by climate change. In 2024, more than 1.2 million people in the region were displaced by flooding.
West Africa’s particular environmental vulnerability to climate change compounds the social vulnerability of its inhabitants. West Africa lacks significant bodies of water and mountain ranges, so seasonal shifts in temperature and weather can have large impacts. The changing climate in West Africa has led to increased flooding, wind storms, water scarcity, coastal erosion, and land degradation. These changes force people to leave their homes because of safety concerns, instability, crop failures, and diminished opportunities for work. Climate migration is likely to intensify as climate change worsens and the incidence of natural disasters increases. Up to 32 million people in West Africa could be forced to move within their countries by 2050. Furthermore, 116 million people in the region could live in low-lying coastal areas—which are particularly vulnerable to climate change—by 2030. Drought pushes pastoral farmers to new regions while flooding forces other individuals to abandon their homes.
Niger will experience the most internal climate migration of all West African countries with up to 19.1 million climate migrants by 2050. Climate change has exacerbated violence in Niger, leading to drastic increases in the number of displaced people. Soil degradation decreased agricultural yields and led to massive rural-urban migration. Nigeria will have up to 9.4 million climate migrants by 2050, followed by Senegal with 1.0 million. Reduced catches by small-scale fishermen in Senegal, where fishing is a key economic industry, have led to mass migration. Sea level rises in Senegal are also forcing coastal communities to move inland. Furthermore, extensive flooding caused by heavy rains recently displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Central and West Africa. Climate change is already reshaping West Africa, and it is predicted to worsen. These developments will greatly impact the status of women in the region.
Women’s social restrictions and economic disadvantages contribute to the fact that they are 14 times more likely to die in climate disasters. Women are often literally left behind by climate change migration: Cameroon, for instance, prevents women from applying for a passport without the written consent of a male family member. Given that 70 percent of people living in poverty globally are women, women generally have fewer resources to migrate. Traditional gender roles also give women domestic responsibilities—such as raising children, collecting food, and cooking—that are severely impacted by resource scarcity and make it more difficult for women to relocate. According to the United Nations, 37 percent of people living in Africa currently live 30 minutes or more from their closest source of safe drinking water; notably, women and girls in Africa are disproportionately responsible for fetching water. These responsibilities tie women to their homes with less time to participate in paid work. Women’s unique vulnerabilities and responsibilities—coupled with their decreased mobility—means they are less capable of migrating when necessary.
As of 2022, 388 million women and girls are living in extreme poverty, compared to 372 million men and boys. Notably, 62.8 percent of the women and girls living in extreme poverty globally are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty limits opportunities for adaptation to climate change. Limited income means that it is more difficult for individuals to migrate or invest in technologies that would allow them to continue their lives where they are. West Africa is one of the most “climate-vulnerable” regions worldwide, yet foreign financing for climate adaptation programs and infrastructure from the wealthier Global North—which is disproportionately responsible for climate change—is poor. These economic effects present a clear problem for developing nations—such as those in West Africa—that lack the infrastructure and resources of their Global North counterparts.
Women’s role in West African agriculture makes their economic well-being even more vulnerable to climate change. Currently, roughly 70 percent of Africans attain their livelihoods from agriculture. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 60 percent of employed women work in agriculture. In the region, about 80 percent of food is produced by women. However, women often do not own the land on which they work; women own less than 15 percent of the world's land. Climate change is predicted to diminish harvests in West African nations by an average of 15 percent and damage the agricultural sector, posing a threat to every woman who earns her livelihood through agricultural work. Many women may suffer economically if their farms cannot adapt, making it more difficult for them to migrate when necessary.
SEE ALSO:
U.S. Aid Agency’s Climate Programs Aimed to Curb Migration. Now They’re Gone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/climate/us-aid-climate-migration.html