For decades, textbooks painted a dramatic picture of early humans as tool-using hunters who rose quickly to the top of the food chain. The tale was that Homo habilis, one of the earliest ...

Long before factories, mines, and cars filled the air with pollution, our distant ancestors were already living with a silent toxin: lead. A groundbreaking study reveals that hominids — from early ...

UC San Diego researchers have found high levels of lead in the teeth of both Neanderthals (left) and modern humans (right). However, a gene mutation may have protected modern human brains, allowing ...

Early humans were not just scavengers. New research shows they actively butchered elephants, transforming survival and social ...

Researchers found that ancient hominids—including early humans—were exposed to lead throughout childhood, leaving chemical traces in fossil teeth. Experiments suggest this exposure may have driven ...

Fossil and genetic evidence indicates our immediate human ancestors evolved in Africa beginning about two million years ago ...

A team of 20 scientists from laboratories and institutions around the world, including in South Africa and Australia, established the age of the fossils which suggests that Homo naledi may well have ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Alysson Muotri, Ph.D. Lead exposure shaped human evolution, influencing brain development and the rise of language. (CREDIT: Kyle ...