By learning what parts of the brain are crucial for imagination to work, neuroscientists can look back over hundreds of millions of years of evolution to figure out when it first emerged.
3D rendering of an Neanderthal man.
RaveeCG/Shutterstock
Ancient DNA helps reveal the tangled branches of the human family tree. Not only did our ancestors live alongside other human species, they mated with them, too.
Neanderthal adult male, based on 40,000 year-old remains found at Spy in Belgium.
IR Stone/Shutterstock
Irony is linked to the ability to say one thing while thinking another – which means it’s also intrinsic to being human. What does new research into artificial intelligence and irony reveal?
African residents in Ukraine wait at Lviv railway station on Feb. 27, 2022. The Ukraine refugee crisis revealed deep-seated racism as racialized and Black refugees from Ukraine were treated differently.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The racism seen in the Ukraine refugee crisis reflects a long legacy of how the West defines who is human. We need a new definition that respects the dignity of all humans.
A quirk of psychology that affects the way people learn from others may have helped unlock the complicated technologies and rituals that human culture hinges on.