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Marie-Lise Pagé

Deep Thoughts on What Makes Humans Special | LiveScience - 1 views

www.livescience.com/p-thoughts-humans-special.html

humans mind unique

shared by Marie-Lise Pagé on 08 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • share characteristics with humans such as politically motivated aggression, empathy and culture, but humans take them to a level without parallel among animals
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
      Marie-Lise Pagé on 08 Dec 11
       
      Like we saw in the video Ape Genius
  • ey fall short of humans when considering secondary theory of mind
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • uch capabilities allow humans to enjoy delicious stories with layers of intrigue and gossip,
  • humans can commonly extend empathy over time and space
  • exceptions as a mental illness that afflicts humans and animals alike.
  • obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferers ritualistically act out the same behavior again and again.
  • apolsky suggested two reasons not to worry
  • ne of the few differences between humans and chimps comes from the amount of cell division for brain cells
  • human behaviors stand out by reaching levels of complexity unseen in any other part of the animal world, according to a neurobiologist
  • What makes humans special comes in no small part from the sheer quantity of available brain power – at least 300,000 brain cells for each neuron in a fruit fly brain.
  • Marie-Lise Pagé on 08 Dec 11
     
    This website has a lot of information to help me in my project because it really helps me understand what makes the human mind unique. I also like that it compares to the Apes. It expalins the diffrences between the Apes and us. It also explains what makes us Human. However, it has a lot of scientific vocabulary that's hard to understand.
Daryl Bambic

The Primates: Humans - 4 views

anthro.palomar.edu/...prim_8.htm

evolution anthropology

shared by Daryl Bambic on 02 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • all lack external tail
  • thumb that is sufficiently separate from the other fingers to allow them to be opposable for precision grips.
  • sexually dimorphic--males are 5-10%
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • we are omnivorous.
  • same arrangement of internal organs and bones
  • many of the same diseases
  • share several important blood types
  • Unlike apes, our arms are relatively short and weak compared to our legs
  • modern human brain is 3 times larger in volume
  • toes became shorter and the big toe moved up into line with the others.
  • The pelvis
  • Nature very likely selected for longer legs
  • downside of the evolutio
  • we are quite similar to the African apes anatomically and genetically, especially to the chimpanzees and bonobos
  • minor anatomical differences between humans and apes
  • 46 chromosomes
  • longer legs require less up-and-down movement while running and, therefore, reduce the amount of energy needed to move rapidly
  • allow humans to travel farther with the same calorie expenditure
  • changes in the pelvis which unfortunately included a narrower birth canal in females. 
  • A partial evolutionary solution to this birth difficulty for humans was fetuses being born at a less mature stage, when their bodies are smaller.  The trade off is that human newborn babies are more vulnerable.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 02 Dec 11
       
      This vulnerability translates itself into an immature brain.  In the baby's first year, the brain grows dramatically.  In fact, humans have more synapses (connections between neurons) at this young age than in any other time of life.
  • Evolving a larger brain comes at a steep energy cost.  The human brain uses about 25% of the energy derived from the nutrients that we consume and 20% of the oxygen.
  • HAR1F regulator gene beginning about 6 million years ago
  • 7th and 19th week after conception
  • People have much more complex forms of verbal communication than any other primate species.  We are the only animal to create and use symbols as a means of communication.
  • We also have more varied and complex social organizations.  The most distinctive feature of humans is our mental ability to create new ideas and complex technologies. 
  • mental levels equivalent to a 3-4 year old human child
  • they do not have the capability of producing human speech and language
  • Female chimpanzees, gorillas, and other non-human primates usually remain capable of conception and giving birth even when they are very old
  • Daryl Bambic on 02 Dec 11
     
    A text for the students.
Lauren Ganze

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred-First Solid DNA Evidence - 1 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...umans-mated-interbred-dna-gene

Neanderthal Human relations DNA shared anthropology evolution

shared by Lauren Ganze on 14 Dec 11 - Cached
    • Lauren Ganze
      Lauren Ganze on 14 Dec 11
       
      did they disappear solely because of other hominid species (humans)?
  • The results showed that Neanderthal DNA is 99.7 percent identical to modern human DNA, versus, for example, 98.8 percent for modern humans and chimps, according to the study.
  • has been found fo
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Neanderthals, like modern humans, are thought to have arisen on the continent.
  • Though no fossil evidence has been found for Neanderthals and modern humans coexisting in Africa,
  • interbreeding occurred just after our species had left Africa
  • Neanderthals, the study team says, probably mixed with early Homo sapiens just after they'd left Africa but before Homo sapiens split into different ethnic groups and scattered around the globe.
  • 60,000 years ago
Talya Freidman

So Like Us | About Chimpanzees | Chimpanzees | the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada - 2 views

www.janegoodall.ca/about-chimp-so-like-us.php

shared by Talya Freidman on 12 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Chimpanzees and humans differ by just over one percent of DNA. In fact biologically, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than t
    • Talya Freidman
      Talya Freidman on 14 Dec 11
       
      This reminds me of what we learned in class, about how similar our DNA is to chimps, it only differentiates by one letter in the DNA code.
  • and humans differ by just over one percent of DNA. In fact biologically, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans tha
  • than t
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • Chimpanzees become sexually mature between the ages of 10 and 13
    • Talya Freidman
      Talya Freidman on 14 Dec 11
       
      Chimp babies mature a lot faster than human babies. However at the same time, there is also a higher rate of mortality for the young chimps.
  • both have an insatiable appetite for play, are extremely curious, learn through observation and imitation,
  • The anatomy of the chimpanzee brain and central nervous system is startlingly similar to our own.
  • Chimpanzees and humans belong to the animal order “primates”
  • belong to the superfamily hominoid
  • Chimpanzees and humans belong to the animal order “primates”.
  • Large brains
  • opposable thumbs
  • flexible joints
  • belong to the superfamily hominoid
  • chimpanzees and humans share the most similar genetic makeup, sharing 98.6% of our genes.
  • Females show their first very small sexual swellings at age eight or nine, but are not sexually attractive to the older males until they reach age 10 or 11.
  • almost every young chimp gets lost from their mother at some point during their exploration.
  • chimps have a long childhood
  • Bonds
  • likely to persist throughout life.
  • This learning is the means by which certain actions are passed from one generation to the next—the beginnings of culture.
  • capable of intellectual performances
  • capable of reasoned thought
  • memory
  • symbolic representation
  • feel and express emotions
  • chimpanzees can be taught human languages
  • skills on computers
  • wide range of complex emotions
  • possess an almost human-like enjoyment of physical contact, laughter, and community.
  • chimpanzees can learn from humans
  • Language is believed to have played a major role:
  • Talya Freidman on 12 Dec 11
     
    This website mainly describes the similarity between apes and humans as well as some of the main differences. Jane Goodall's discoveries are also mentioned briefly.
Lauren Ganze

Dying Young Didn't Wipe Out Neanderthals : Discovery News - 1 views

news.discovery.com/...nderthal-life-span-110111.html

Neanderthal anthropology evolution Human extinct

shared by Lauren Ganze on 14 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • modern humans had about the same life expectancy as their hairier, ancient cousins.
  • a difference in longevity may have been to blame.
  • higher fertility rates and lower infant mortality gave modern humans an advantage over the Neanderthals,
  • ...4 more annotations...
    • Lauren Ganze
      Lauren Ganze on 14 Dec 11
       
      The same number of adults, but a lot more human babies
  • "similar patterns of adult mortality,"
  • a demographic advantage for early modern humans,
  • it must have been the result of increased fertility and/or reduced immature mortality."
  • Lauren Ganze on 14 Dec 11
     
    This explains in brief why the Neanderthals died out and when. A large possibility is that high birth rates gave humans an advantage over them. The adults had a relatively equal mortality rate, but infants did not, and so the human population grew while Neanderthals died out.
Daryl Bambic

Cultural Anthropology/Introduction - Wikibooks, open books for an open world - 0 views

en.wikibooks.org/...Introduction

introduction

shared by Daryl Bambic on 02 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • nthropology is holistic[[1]], comparative, field based, and evolutionary.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 02 Sep 13
       
      As a social science, anthropology is the ultimate interdisciplinary 'science'.  It is holistic and comparative.  
  • five sub-disciplines
  • ...49 more annotations...
  • Archeology: The study and interpretation of ancient humans, their history and culture, through examination of the artifacts and remains they left behind
  • Cultural Anthropology:(also: sociocultural anthropology, social anthropology, or ethnology) studies the different cultures of humans and how those cultures are shaped or shape the world around them
  • Biological Anthropology
  • using genetics, evolution, human ancestry, primates, and the ability to adapt.
    • Daryl Bambic
      Daryl Bambic on 02 Sep 13
       
      Biological anthropology is the discipline that uses Darwin's theory of evolution to study man, primates and all of life.
  • Linguistic Anthropology: examines human languages
  • pplied anthropology is simply the practice of applying anthropological theory and or methods from any of the fields of Anthropology to solve human problems
  • Culture is:
  • Learned
  • Patterned
  • •Shared
  • •Adaptive
  • Symbolic
  • At its most basic level, the difference between Culture and culture is in the way they are defined. C
  • lture with a capital C refers to the ability of the human species to absorb and imitate patterned and symbolic ideas that ultimately further their survival
  • Familial culture
  • Every family is different, and every family has its own culture
  • icro or Subculture
  • distinct groups within a larger group that share some sort of common trait, activity or language that ties them together and or differentiates them from the larger group
  • clique
  • Mexican-Americans
  • micro-culture would be the Japanese hip hop
  • Cultural universals
  • Claude Levi-Strauss
  • gender roles, the incest taboo, religious and healing ritual, mythology, marriage, language, art, dance, music, cooking, games, jokes, sports, birth and death
  • tual ceremonies
  • f cultural relativism deny the existence or reduce the importance of cultural universals
  • Language and cognition
  • Society
  • Myth, Ritual, and aesthetics
  • Technology
  • This problem of right and wrong in terms of crossing cultural lines is a big one.
  • intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to the members of a given society, often considered to be an 'insider’s' perspective.
  • reate bias o
  • Enculturation
  • This process is the way in which we obtain and transmit culture.
  • In the !Kung Bushman tribe they look down upon people who think highly of themselves and who are arrogant. To avoid these characteristics, each child was raised to put down and mock others when they do things such as hunting and other activities.
  • Cultural Transmission
  • Symbols and Culture
  • Symbols are the basis of culture. A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is culturally defined
  • Ethnocentrism
  • Cultural Relativism
  • Ethnography
  • Deconstructing Race and Racism
  • Race was created long ago as a tool to separate humans
  • Deconstructing the social concept of race has been a major interest of Cultural Anthropology at least since Franz Boas's work on race and immigration in the early 1900's.
  • Race is not biological but it's supposed to be a way to classify biological differences by grouping people according to different characteristics that they have
  • There is no biological part of race. It is strictly a concept created by humans to try to better understand differences between us
  • Technology
Alyssa Cohen

Human Family Tree | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program - 0 views

humanorigins.si.edu/...human-family-tree

australopithecus family tree human anthropology origins

shared by Alyssa Cohen on 13 Dec 11 - Cached
  • Alyssa Cohen on 13 Dec 11
     
    Interactive 'human family tree' website that simply illustrates the earliest ancestors to today's homo sapiens. 
David Bono-Raftopoulos

Stone tools influenced hand evolution in human ancestors, anthropologists say - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...110307101504.htm

shared by David Bono-Raftopoulos on 09 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • features in the bones and musculature of the human hand and wrist associated with specific gripping and manipulatory capabilities that are different from those of other extant great apes
  • confirmed Charles Darwin's speculation that the evolution of unique features in the human hand was influenced by increased tool use in our ancestors.
  • humans split from the last common ancestor
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Africa a
  • ow, researchers Dr Stephen Lycett and Alastair Key have shown that the hands of our ancestors may have been subject to natural selection as a result of using simple cutting tools
  • apes,
  • 2.6 million years ago,
  • show that 'biometric' variation
  • Darwin proposed that the use of stone tools may have influenced the evolution of human hands.
  • David Bono-Raftopoulos on 09 Dec 11
     
    Quite Interesting, and quite helpful.
Alyssa Cohen

The Human Family Tree : Discovery News - 1 views

news.discovery.com/...-human-evolution-timeline.html

human family tree

shared by Alyssa Cohen on 08 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Alyssa Cohen on 08 Dec 11
     
    This is a credible site that's very interesting. It's almost like an interactive timeline, so you can start from 5-10 million years ago, all the way till now. It helps me start the family tree from the beginning. 
Chrissy Le

Animal cognition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Animal_cognition

Animal Consciousness Communication Cognition Language Science

shared by Chrissy Le on 11 Dec 11 - Cached
  • artificial language comprehension in the bottlenosed dolphin using cognitive research methods
    • Chrissy Le
      Chrissy Le on 11 Dec 11
       
      It's very interesting to think of animals being able to communicate between each other through various ways whether it be by speech, appearance, smell, etc.
  • Animal cognition From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • study of the mental capacities of non-human animals.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • comparative psychology,
  • animal intelligence
  • mostly concerns mammals, especially primates, cetaceans, and elephants, as well as dogs, cats, and rodents.
  • and fish,
  • began in the late 1950s
  • John Lilly
  • other animals do have minds and that humans should approach the study of their cognition accordingly.
  • bottlenosed dolphins
  • particularly monkeys
  • Spatial cognition
  • The ability to properly navigate and search through the environment is a critical task for many animals.
  • Research in 2007 shows that chimpanzees in the Fongoli savannah sharpen sticks to use as spears when hunting, considered the first evidence of systematic use of weapons in a species other than humans.
  • Language
  • The modeling of human language in animals is known as animal language research.
  • Consciousness
  • The sense in which animals can be said to have consciousness or a self-concept has been hotly debated; it is often referred to as the debate over animal minds.
  • It has been suggested that metacognition in some animals provides some evidence for cognitive self-awareness.[11] The great apes, dolphins, and rhesus monkeys have demonstrated the ability to monitor their own mental states and use an "I don't know" response to avoid answering difficult questions. These species might also be aware of the strength of their memories.
  • This page was last modified on 26 November 2011 at 11:42.
  • Daryl Bambic on 11 Dec 11
     
    Indeed it is an interesting topic. Please don't bookmark wikipedia articles but maybe check out one of their references on the topic. You could also use some of the names of the anthropologists working in this field that we learned about. Susan Savage Rumbage was one who was featured in the documentary 'Ape Genius' and who worked with Kanzi.
Marie-Lise Pagé

Edge: ARE HUMAN BRAINS UNIQUE? By Michael Gazzaniga - 2 views

edge.org/...gazzaniga08_index.html

humans mind unique mind brains

shared by Marie-Lise Pagé on 13 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Be well, do good work, and keep in touch
  • a simple sentiment yet so full of human complexity. Other apes don't have that sentiment.
    • Marie-Lise Pagé
      Marie-Lise Pagé on 13 Dec 11
       
      It really shows us how something can be so normal to us when, in fact, it is complex and it's unique to us.
  • We did evolve and we are what we are through the forces of natural selection.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • All of us solve problems effortlessly and routinely.
  • We want to see our dogs charm us, appeal to our emotions, imagine they too can suffer and have pity, love and hate and all the rest
  • our brain parts can be replaced with silicon parts
  • Thousands of scientists and philosophers over hundreds of years have either recognized this uniqueness of ours or have denied it
  • Even though we have all of these connections with the biologic world from which we came, and we have in some instances similar mental structures, we are hugely different.
  • Marie-Lise Pagé on 13 Dec 11
     
    This is an interview with Micheal Gazzaniga who is one of the world's  leading neuroscientists. He really explains some of the unique features of our brains.
Daryl Bambic

The Virtual Choir - Eric Whitacre - 0 views

ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir

virtualchoir whitacre

shared by Daryl Bambic on 13 Jan 12 - Cached
  • Daryl Bambic on 13 Jan 12
     
    the humanizing force of the internet's connectivity is redefining what it means to be human
Daryl Bambic

Mike Morwood: Archaeologist whose 'hobbit' discovery sparked fresh debate on human evol... - 0 views

www.independent.co.uk/...n-human-evolution-8773287.html

hobbit evolution

shared by Daryl Bambic on 24 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • far from being the linear narrative of successive waves of colonisation out of Africa, as once thought, the process was, in fact, one with numerous twists and turns involving many different species.
  • among the most outstanding discoveries in paleoanthropology in over half a century.
  • because the cave also unearthed sophisticated stone tools similar to others found around the world in Homo erectus sites
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Flores tools were tiny, the right size for people of only 3ft tall with a brain the size of a chimp or grapefruit
  • Remarkably, the skull was found in a layer of sediments dating back only 18,000 years, long after the Neanderthals had vanished from the face of the Earth, having lost the evolutionary battle to Homo sapiens, the sole human species on Earth by then. This had huge ramifications for the varying theories of human evolution.
  • it could have been a descendant of Homo erectus that arrived early on Flores, perhaps using boats, and which, becoming stranded, evolved its petite size as an adaptation to the limited food supply available.
  • They also proposed the unimaginable, that Homo floresiensis lived contemporaneously on Flores with Homo sapiens.
  • Detractors
  • isease of some sort that produced the specimen’s unusual features.
michelle tappert

Discovering the genetic roots of humanity - 0 views

www.dartmouth.edu/...01.html

shared by michelle tappert on 14 Dec 11 - No Cached
    • michelle tappert
      michelle tappert on 14 Dec 11
       
      Check out how you can use genetics to understand human origins!
mauromongiat

Homo floresiensis: the Hobbit - 0 views

www.talkorigins.org/...flores.html

Homo_floriensis evolution specie anthropology brain origins

shared by mauromongiat on 09 Dec 11 - Cached
    • mauromongiat
      mauromongiat on 09 Dec 11
       
      The homo floriensis Would be a small human if it did'nt have such a small brain. The fact that the brain of the homo floriensis is so small is a proof that it is a different specie from the homo sappien.
  • The brain size of the floresiensis skull is extraordinarily small, at 380cc. This is as small as any australopithecine ever discovered, and fairly typical for a chimpanzee. (Chimps range from about 300 to 500cc, averaging about 400cc, but are physically bigger than floresiensis.) This is smaller than would be expected even for a dwarf form of Homo erectus, and suggests there was active selection for a small brain size for some reason. (Human pygmies, incidentally, are nothing like H. floresiensis; their brains are almost as large as those of normal-sized humans)
kelsey sazant

BBC News - Did the discovery of cooking make us human? - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/8543906.stm

shared by kelsey sazant on 13 Dec 11 - No Cached
    • kelsey sazant
      kelsey sazant on 13 Dec 11
       
      Am example of how cooking helped us become human is not only an evolutionary aspect but also socially. 
  • "Our ancestors most probably dropped food in fire accidently. They would have found it was delicious and that set us off on a whole new direction."
  • Erectus also had a similar body shape to us. Shorter arms and longer legs appeared, and gone was the large vegetable-processing gut, meaning that Erectus could not only walk upright, but could also run.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • So being human might all be down to energy.
  • Cooking is essentially a form of pre-digestion, which has transferred energy use from our guts to our brains.
Daryl Bambic

anthropologyatwic / The Nacirema - 0 views

anthropologyatwic.pbworks.com/...The%20Nacirema

shared by Daryl Bambic on 02 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • Horace Miner
  • magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go
  • North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antille
  • ...38 more annotations...
  • highly developed market economy
  • devoted to economic pursuits
  • activity is the human body
  • human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease
  • one or more shrines devoted to this purpose
  • more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses
  • ituals
  • re private
  • box or chest which is built into the wall
  • harms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live
  • ecured from a variety of specialized practitioners
  • medicine men
  • ubstantial gifts
  • write them down in an ancient and secret language
  • charm-box
  • mall fon
  • bows his head before the charm-box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font, and proceeds with a brief rite of ablutio
  • holy-mouth-men.
  • pathological horror of and fascination with the mout
  • supernatural influence on all social relationships
  • oral and moral
  • For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber.
  • mouth-rite
  • small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.[7]
  • holy-mouth-man once or twice a year
  • f sadism is involved
  • This part of the rite includes scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument.
  • As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour
  • latipso
  • "that is where you go to die
  • Psychological shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso
  • aversion to the natural body and its functions.
  • fat people thin
  • thin people fat.
  • used to make women's breasts larger
  • inhuman hypermammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee
  • Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon.
  • magic-ridden people
Talya Freidman

PBS - Scientific American Frontiers:Chimps R Us:Frontiers Profile:Jane Goodall - 1 views

www.pbs.org/...goodall3.htm

shared by Talya Freidman on 14 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • adopted by a 12-year-old, non-related adolescent male
    • Talya Freidman
      Talya Freidman on 14 Dec 11
       
      Through this example, we see how caring chimps really are. Even in humans, females are stereo-typically the care-givers, but even male chimps can prove this stereotype wrong.
  • welcomed him in
  • . And even risked irritating the big adult males.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • It's clearly male-dominated.
  • matriarchy within the family is very strong
  • When you watch a young male growing up, all his relationships begin to change. He begins to dominate the females
  • it's completely amazing how even a fully adult male is usually very respectful of his ancient mother.
    • Talya Freidman
      Talya Freidman on 14 Dec 11
       
      Humans, in general, are also respectful to their parents even once they've grown up and become an adult.
  • And she hears this and she comes charging over, rushes up the tree, and hauls herself on this melee of three enormous males. I think the two others were so amazed that they stopped attacking Satan
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