tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-naples-federico-ii-4144/articlesThe University of Naples Federico II2024-02-27T16:31:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068772024-02-27T16:31:29Z2024-02-27T16:31:29ZEconomic sanctions can have a major impact on the neighbours of a target nation – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577075/original/file-20240221-28-f59a63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C26%2C3463%2C2300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/russian-flag-behind-bars-619236410">Vladfotograf/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-recap-prospect-of-renewed-us-funding-a-boost-for-beleaguered-zelensky-223682">Ukraine was invaded</a> in February 2022, countries and major corporations around the world quickly responded by trying to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cost-of-war-how-russias-economy-will-struggle-to-pay-the-price-of-invading-ukraine-178826">inflict financial pain</a> on Russia through economic sanctions. </p>
<p>As Putin’s war rages on, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-putin-has-shrugged-off-unprecedented-economic-sanctions-over-russias-war-in-ukraine-for-now-199718">opinions vary</a> as to how effective those sanctions have been. But their enforcement shows how they are still widely considered to be a useful tool of coercive foreign diplomacy. </p>
<p>Exerting economic pressure on a target country to achieve a specific political or strategic goal remains a commonly used measure. Since 1966, the UN Security Council has <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/information">established 31 sanctions regimes</a> around the world, in places including Sudan, Lebanon, Iran and Haiti. The EU even has an <a href="https://www.sanctionsmap.eu/#/main">online map</a> of all the countries where it has imposed various types of sanction.</p>
<p>In terms of their effectiveness, plenty of research has <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isr/article/23/4/1646/6309628">explored this</a>, revealing strong evidence that sanctions <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/price-war-macroeconomic-effects-2022-sanctions-russia">reduce the economic activity</a> of a targeted nation. </p>
<p>But what about the potential for unintended consequences of sanctions on their neighbours? What happens to a nation if it borders a country being punished by members of the international community?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725678">Our recent research</a>, examines the effects of economic sanctions on 177 countries which had neighbours under sanctions at some point between 1989 and 2015. </p>
<p>We found that, on average, neighbouring countries experienced a significant decline in trade – around 9% – following the imposition of economic sanctions nearby. In most cases, proximity to a country under economic sanctions brings disruption to trading routes and relationships. It also leads to extra transportation and transaction costs. </p>
<p>Previous research reveals further evidence of this effect. There are studies which show how economic sanctions hurt neighbour countries <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01026.x">due to the great disruption</a> they inflict on trading routes and relationships with suppliers or customers. For example, 21 countries <a href="https://media.carnegie.org/filer_public/65/6f/656fea01-c0d4-463e-854a-231620c204ee/ccny_report_1996_sanctions.pdf">reported economic hardship</a> as a result of the sanctions imposed on Iraq. </p>
<p>So sanctions imposed on a country to damage its economy often tend to do economic harm to its neighbours. But not always. </p>
<p>In some of the cases we looked at, sanctions actually have a <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725678">positive effect</a> on neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>For example, following economic sanctions against Haiti in 1987, the Dominican Republic saw an increase in import trade. The same benefit – in both cases possibly due to cross-border trafficking – was experienced by Kenya when Somalia was hit with sanctions in 1992. </p>
<p>Even among a group of countries sharing a border with the same targeted state, we observed varied responses. Following the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia in 1991, Albania experienced a sharp increase in imports, while Bulgaria initially witnessed an increase, followed by a decline for the subsequent three years, and then a rebound over the following six years.</p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>It seems then that economic sanctions can create significant opportunities for neighbouring countries as global manufacturers need to relocate their production facilities out of the target state. Some companies in Russia are said to be looking for ways to <a href="https://eurasianet.org/russian-companies-eye-relocation-to-kazakhstan-amid-sanctions">move their activities</a> to neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan.</p>
<p>We found that sanctions can also benefit neighbouring countries by providing them with an opportunity to trade on behalf of the target country, or smuggling goods across the border. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A demonstration with placard calling for Russia to be 'cut off'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577386/original/file-20240222-30-wt3xwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sanctions are a popular response.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/downing-street-london-uk-202202-ukrainian-2135028235">Sandor Szmutko/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this way, EU sanctioned goods could be re-routed through third countries <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/impact-eu-sanctions-russian-imports">and then shipped to Russia</a>. There is evidence that countries not necessarily bound by the sanction regime, such as <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/lithuania-russia-vladimir-putin-stop-turning-blind-eye-to-back-doors-for-russian-trade-top-diplomat-tells-eu/">Kazakhstan</a> and <a href="https://en.odfoundation.eu/a/627027,russias-accomplices-in-the-war-against-ukraine-kazakhstan-and-kyrgyzstan-the-russian-armys-reliable-rear/">Kyrgyzstan</a>, have increased their trade with Ukraine’s invader. </p>
<p>Overall then, while economic sanctions can be effective in pressuring the targeted country, our findings indicate that they can have unintended consequences such as harming innocent bystanders.</p>
<p>By thoroughly examining those potential consequences, politicians can attempt to strike a balance between pursuing foreign policy goals and taking into account their broader economic effects. Recognising these effects should be part of imposing sanctions in the first place – and would help create more robust policies to ensure that they are effectively implemented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincenzo Bove has previously received funding from the AXA Research Fund, the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Swedish Research Council, UNU-WIDER and the World Bank.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Di Salvatore has previously received funding from the British Academy, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, UNU-WIDER and the World Bank.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberto Nisticò has previously received funding from the European Economic Association (EEA), the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR), the UniCredit Foundation, the University of Naples Federico II, UNU-WIDER, and VisitINPS. </span></em></p>The effects on other countries can be both negative and positive.Vincenzo Bove, Professor in Political Science, University of WarwickJessica Di Salvatore, Associate Professor, University of WarwickRoberto Nisticò, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Naples Federico IILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1915942023-01-05T20:37:46Z2023-01-05T20:37:46ZHuman and Neanderthal brains have a surprising ‘youthful’ quality in common, new research finds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488715/original/file-20221007-18-5lkprh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C64%2C3847%2C2781&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neanderthal skull</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Petr Student/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many believe our particularly large brain is what makes us human – but is there more to it? The brain’s shape, as well as the shapes of its component parts (lobes) may also be important.</p>
<p>Results of a study we <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01933-6">published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution</a> show that the way the different parts of the human brain evolved separates us from our primate relatives. In a sense, our brains never grow up. We share this “Peter Pan syndrome” with only one other primate – the Neanderthals.</p>
<p>Our findings provide insight into what makes us human, but also further narrow any distinction between ourselves and our extinct, heavy-browed cousins.</p>
<h2>Tracking the evolution of the brain</h2>
<p>Mammalian brains have four distinct regions or lobes, each with particular functions. The frontal lobe is associated with reasoning and abstract thought, the temporal lobe with preserving memory, the occipital lobe with vision, and the parietal lobe helps to integrate sensory inputs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A colourful diagram of the human brain, showing frontal lobes at the front and occipital lobe at the back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The four main parts of the brain form the cerebral cortex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We investigated whether the brain’s lobes evolved independently of each other, or whether evolutionary change in any one lobe appears to be necessarily tied to changes in others – that is, evidence the evolution of the lobes is “integrated”.</p>
<p>In particular, we wanted to know how human brains might differ from other primates in this respect.</p>
<p>One way to address this question is to look at how the different lobes have changed over time among different species, measuring how much shape change in each lobe correlates with shape change in others.</p>
<p>Alternatively, we can measure the degree to which the brain’s lobes are integrated with each other as an animal grows through different stages of its life cycle.</p>
<p>Does a shape change in one part of the growing brain correlate with change in other parts? This can be informative because evolutionary steps can often be retraced through an animal’s development. A common example is the brief appearance of gill slits in early human embryos, reflecting the fact we can trace our evolution back to fish.</p>
<p>We used both methods. Our first analysis included 3D brain models of hundreds of living and fossil primates (monkeys and apes, as well as humans and our close fossil relatives). This allowed us to map brain evolution over time.</p>
<p>Our other digital brain data set consisted of living ape species and humans at different growth stages, allowing us to chart integration of the brain’s parts in different species as they mature. Our brain models were based on CT scans of skulls. By digitally filling the brain cavities, you can get a good approximation of the brain’s shape.</p>
<h2>A surprising result</h2>
<p>The results of our analyses surprised us. Tracking change over deep time across dozens of primate species, we found humans had particularly high levels of brain integration, especially between the parietal and frontal lobes.</p>
<p>But we also found we’re not unique. Integration between these lobes was similarly high in Neanderthals too.</p>
<p>Looking at changes in shape through growth revealed that in apes, such as the chimpanzee, integration between the brain’s lobes is comparable to that of humans until they reach adolescence.</p>
<p>At this point, integration rapidly falls away in the apes, but continues well into adulthood in humans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart mapping brain integration in evolution" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: a chart shows the degree of integration between the brain’s lobes, with cooler colours indicating higher integration. Right: translucent skulls of a human, Neanderthal, chimp and gorilla, showing the digitally reconstructed brains within.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gabriele Sansalone and Marina Melchionna</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Neanderthals were sophisticated people</h2>
<p>So what does this all mean? Our result suggest what distinguishes us from other primates is not just that our brains are <em>bigger</em>. The evolution of the different parts of our brain is more deeply integrated, and, unlike any other living primate, we retain this right through into adult life.</p>
<p>A greater capacity for learning is typically associated with juvenile life stages. We suggest this Peter Pan syndrome played a powerful role in the evolution of human intelligence.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-humans-first-start-to-speak-how-language-evolved-in-africa-194372">When did humans first start to speak? How language evolved in Africa</a>
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<p>There’s another important implication. It’s increasingly clear that Neanderthals, long characterised as brutish dullards, were adaptable, capable and sophisticated people.</p>
<p>Archaeological findings continue to mount support for their development of sophisticated technologies, from the earliest known evidence of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61839-w">string, to the manufacture of tar</a>. Neanderthal cave art shows they indulged in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap7778">complex symbolic thought</a>.</p>
<h2>Us and them</h2>
<p>Our results further blur any dividing line between us and them. This said, many remain convinced some innately superior intellectual quality gave us humans a competitive advantage, allowing us to drive our “inferior” cousins to extinction.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why one group of people may dominate, or even eradicate others. Early Western scientists sought to identify cranial features linked to their own “greater intelligence” to explain world domination by Europeans. Of course, we now know skull shape had nothing to do with it. </p>
<p>We humans may ourselves have come perilously close to extinction <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707606454">70,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>If so, it’s not because we weren’t smart. If we had gone extinct, perhaps the descendants of Neanderthals would today be scratching their heads, trying to figure out just how their “superior” brains gave them the edge.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-ever-genetic-analysis-of-a-neanderthal-family-paints-a-fascinating-picture-of-a-close-knit-community-192595">First-ever genetic analysis of a Neanderthal family paints a fascinating picture of a close-knit community</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Wroe receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the University of New England.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasquale Raia receives funding from the University of Naples Federico II. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriele Sansalone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The way human brains develop is special – but not quite as special as you’d like to think, if we consider Neanderthals as well.Stephen Wroe, Professor, University of New EnglandGabriele Sansalone, PostDoc fellow, Institute of Marine SciencesPasquale Raia, Professor of Paleontology and Paleoecology, University of Naples Federico IILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1249892019-10-11T09:19:33Z2019-10-11T09:19:33ZEvolusi cepat menjelaskan sosok kecil ‘Hobbit’ yang telah punah dari Pulau Flores<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296372/original/file-20191010-188792-td78r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sebuah pulau Indonesia adalah tempat penemuan H. Floresiensis - tapi bagaimana spesies manusia kerdil berevolusi?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU3MDcwNjk2NiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTI0Mzg5ODU1NyIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMjQzODk4NTU3L21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIi9kRE5JTUhLU1BEcU9nZkdEWVV5L1lQR005YyJd%2Fshutterstock_1243898557.jpg&ir=true&pi=33421636&m=1243898557">Areza Taqwim/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tidak setiap hari para ilmuwan menemukan spesies manusia baru.</p>
<p>Namun itulah yang terjadi pada 2004, ketika para arkeolog menemukan sejumlah fosil yang masih terawat di gua Liang Bua, Pulau Flores, Indonesia. Ukuran spesies manusia baru yang kecil ini, <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/the-discovery-of-homo-floresiensis-tales-of-the-hobbit-1.16197"><em>Homo floresiensis</em></a>, membuatnya dijuluki “Hobbit.”</p>
<p>Yang mengejutkan, para peneliti percaya bahwa spesies ini bertahan hingga akhir Zaman Es terakhir, sekitar 18.000 tahun yang lalu – jauh lebih lama dari Neanderthal, lebih lama dari spesies manusia selain kita.</p>
<p>Segera interpretasi kerangka Hobbit ini mendapat kritik tajam dari para antropolog dan ahli biologi evolusi. Hobbit yang malang itu dianggap bukan merupakan contoh dari spesies manusia baru yang kecil, tapi <em>Homo sapiens</em> yang abnormal, yang mengalami berbagai <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20655">pertumbuhan dan</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.1488">kondisi hormonal</a>. Hobbit, bagi banyak ilmuwan, tidak memiliki tempat dalam luasnya catatan evolusi manusia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interpretasi seorang seniman tentang wujud <em>H. floresiensis</em> dalam kehidupan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/timevanson/7283199410">Tim Evanson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Namun mahluk perempuan ini – ya, Hobbit kemudian ditetapkan sebagai perempuan – membalas. Makhluk berbadan dan berotak kecil ini tingginya hanya 3 kaki (sekitar 90 cm) dan otaknya hanya sebesar otak simpanse. Tapi posisinya dalam garis leluhur manusia dipastikan ketika para peneliti menemukan individu kecil lagi di Flores. Penemuan kedua yang jauh lebih tua ini menyangkal pandangan bahwa Hobbit adalah <em>Homo sapiens</em> yang unik dan tidak normal.</p>
<p>Setelah 15 tahun <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hobbit-took-our-breath-away-now-its-the-new-normal-60784">penelitian intensif</a>, para antropolog sekarang dengan yakin mengatakan bahwa individu Liang Bua telah hidup antara 60.000 dan 90.000 tahun yang lalu. Sepupunya yang jauh lebih tua di Flores, hidup 700.000 tahun yang lalu. Periode hidup yang panjang ini membuktikan keberhasilan dari spesies manusia ini, tidak peduli seberapa kecil perawakan mereka.</p>
<p>Dan tahun ini, di Filipina, para antropolog menemukan spesies manusia kerdil baru, yang ditetapkan sebagai <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9"><em>Homo luzonensis</em></a>.</p>
<p>Jadi, mengapa manusia kecil akhirnya tinggal di pulau-pulau ini? Bagi kami para ahli bio-geografi dan <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=scYHGuQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">ahli biologi</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gE-4C2cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">evolusioner</a>, jawabannya tepat di depan kita: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/gigantism-and-dwarfism-islands/">hukum pulau</a>.</p>
<h2>Kehidupan pulau dan ukuran tubuh</h2>
<p>Seorang ahli zoologi, J. Bristol Foster, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/202234a0">yang pertama kali mengemukakan</a> hukum pulau pada 1964.</p>
<p>Dia menemukan bahwa ketika spesies yang bertubuh besar menetap di sebuah pulau, mereka akan berevolusi menjadi lebih kecil dalam ukuran - sampai ke titik memberikan keturunan yang kerdil. Pada saat yang bersamaan, bagi spesies yang bertubuh kecil akan terjadi kebalikannya. Spesies bertubuh kecil akan berevolusi menjadi lebih besar, menghasilkan spesies bertubuh besar.</p>
<p>Ada beberapa kasus mengagumkan dari hukum pulau ini yang berlaku di seluruh dunia. Gajah kerdil dan mamut dari <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025577414005">Mediterania</a> dan pulau Baja California, kuda nil di Siprus yang ukurannya mirip dengan keledai, rusa setinggi anjing peliharaan di Kreta, tikus sebesar sapi di Karibia dan serangga sepanjang tangan manusia di Selandia Baru.</p>
<p>Ahli biologi telah mengemukakan berbagai mekanisme yang dapat menjelaskan tren evolusi ini. Salah satunya penjelasan yang diajukan adalah tidak adanya predator alami di pulau-pulau. Sejumlah spesies, terutama gajah dan kuda nil, menghindari predator dengan ukuran tubuhnya yang besar. Namun, ini adalah strategi yang boros energi terutama ketika tidak ada predator yang bersembunyi di kegelapan. Selain itu, di pulau-pulau dengan pasokan sumber makanan yang terbatas, ukuran tubuh yang lebih kecil lebih memungkinkan untuk bertahan hidup karena individu ini tidak terlalu membutuhkan banyak makanan.</p>
<p>Penjelasan lain adalah kemungkinan bahwa individu yang lebih kecil tanpa predator menghasilkan lebih banyak keturunan. Mungkin perempuan mulai melahirkan lebih awal dan pada ukuran yang lebih kecil, mengeluarkan energi lebih sedikit dalam pertumbuhan dan lebih banyak dalam reproduksi. Kemungkinan ini kemungkinan penjelasan untuk <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0708024105">bagaimana manusia pigmi kontemporer berevolusi</a>.</p>
<p>Semua opsi ini pada akhirnya akan menyebabkan perubahan dalam penyusunan genetika yang mendasari variasi ukuran tubuh.</p>
<p>Jadi, kami bertanya, dapatkah hukum pulau itu menjadi penjelasan atas kecilnya ukuran <em>Homo floresiensis</em> dan <em>Homo luzonensis</em>? Kami pikir, mungkin bisa.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Penggalian pada 2009 di gua Liang Bua, tempat <em>Homo floresiensis</em> ditemukan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indonesia-Hobbit/2a6835d986064cf095696d86e3e700e6/1/0">AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Memodelkan generasi di pulau</h2>
<p>Nenek moyang Hobbit yang paling mungkin adalah <em>Homo erectus</em>, suatu spesies yang ukuran otak dan perawakannya dua kali lebih besar. Berdasarkan sejarah geologis Flores dan fosil tertua yang diketahui dari <em>Homo floresiensis</em>, tampaknya evolusi spesies baru tersebut terjadi dalam waktu kurang dari sekitar 300.000 tahun.</p>
<p>Sebagai ahli biologi evolusi, kami mengenal gagasan bahwa evolusi Darwin adalah proses yang lambat dan bertahap serta berlangsung dalam rentang waktu yang sangat panjang. Bisakah perubahan ukuran tubuh yang drastis terjadi secepat ini?</p>
<p>Tim peneliti antar-disiplin kami mengembangkan <a href="https://theconversation.com/simulating-evolution-how-close-do-computer-models-come-to-reality-57538">model komputer</a> untuk mencoba menjawab pertanyaan dasar ini. Seperti permainan komputer yang mensimulasikan evolusi ukuran tubuh berdasarkan kemungkinan-kemungkinan biologis dan ekologis yang realistis.</p>
<p>Dalam pemodelan kami, orang-orang yang menduduki pulau itu, tumbuh besar hingga seukuran orang dewasa berdasarkan berapa banyak makanan yang tersedia, melahirkan anak, kemudian mati. Aturan dasar permainan ini adalah bahwa semakin dekat ukuran tubuh individu ke ukuran tubuh “optimal” untuk pulau, semakin banyak keturunan yang diberikan. Mewariskan gen bawaan untuk ukuran tubuh besar atau kecil.</p>
<p>Dari generasi ke generasi, mutasi baru terjadi dalam populasi dan mengubah ukuran tubuh, baik itu semakin besar atau semakin kecil. Kadang-kadang, individu baru mungkin menginvasi pulau dan bercampur dengan penduduk lain. Aturan dasar lainnya adalah bahwa populasi kecil tidak dapat tumbuh di atas jumlah sumber daya pulau.</p>
<p>Rekan kami, ilmuwan sistem Bumi <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kSDahsoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Neil Edwards</a> dan <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1gais1MAAAAJ&hl=en">Phil Holden</a>, menggunakan data paleoklimatik untuk memperbaiki model kami. Waktu yang lebih panas dan lebih basah dapat mendukung lebih banyak orang di pulau itu, dan akan mempengaruhi ukuran tubuh optimal pada saat tertentu.</p>
<p>Kami memulai simulasi dengan asumsi bahwa <em>Homo erectus</em> awalnya bertubuh besar saat tiba di pulau dan kemudian berevolusi menjadi spesies yang lebih kecil. Karena kita tidak tahu angka pasti yang harus dimasukkan dalam model, sehingga kami memperkirakan berdasarkan data yang diperoleh dari populasi manusia saat ini.</p>
<p>Karena ketidakpastian ini, kami menjalankan model hingga ribuan kali, masing-masing menggunakan kombinasi acak dari semua parameter. Akhirnya kami dapat membangun distribusi statistik dari jangka waktu <em>Homo erectus</em> menjadi sekecil <em>Homo floresiensis</em>.</p>
<p><iframe id="bx726" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bx726/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Spesies baru dalam sekejap</h2>
<p>Setelah menjalankan 10.000 simulasi, kami terkejut menemukan bahwa <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0481">dalam waktu kurang dari 350 generasi, prosesnya selesai</a>. Berbicara dari segi tahun, dengan asumsi seorang perempuan pertama kali melahirkan bayi pada usia rata-rata 15 tahun, yang berarti sekitar 10.000 tahun yang lalu.</p>
<p>Itu mungkin tampak lama untuk Anda dan saya. Tapi dari perspektif evolusi, itu adalah kedipan mata - lebih dari seperseribu dari sejarah evolusi <em>Homo</em>.</p>
<p>Tentu saja kami tidak berharap bahwa semua fitur yang membuat <em>Homo floresiensis</em> seunik itu berkembang secara cepat dan bersamaan. Namun, simulasi kami masih menunjukkan, 300.000 tahun adalah waktu yang lebih dari cukup bagi spesies manusia baru untuk muncul.</p>
<p>Pekerjaan kami mendukung gagasan bahwa evolusi yang cepat cukup masuk akal berdasarkan serangkaian parameter ekologis yang realistis, dan bahwa seleksi alam mungkin merupakan faktor kuat yang mempengaruhi ukuran tubuh individu di pulau-pulau. Dan jika <em>Homo floresiensis</em> benar-benar merupakan produk dari hukum pulau, maka ia menunjukkan - lagi-lagi - bahwa kita manusia, cenderung mematuhi keseluruhan aturan yang sama yang mendorong evolusi bagi banyak mamalia lainnya.</p>
<p><em>Franklin Ronaldo menerjemahkana artikel ini dari bahasa Inggris.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho receives funding from CNPq and CAPES.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasquale Raia tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Ketika spesies yang bertubuh besar menetap di sebuah pulau, mereka akan berevolusi menjadi lebih kecil dalam ukuran - sampai ke titik memberikan keturunan yang kerdil.José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Universidade Federal de Goias (UFG)Pasquale Raia, Associate Professor of Paleontology and Paleoecology, University of Naples Federico IILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1247472019-10-08T23:09:58Z2019-10-08T23:09:58ZFast evolution explains the tiny stature of extinct ‘Hobbit’ from Flores Island<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296079/original/file-20191008-128665-1ubc795.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=245%2C131%2C4685%2C3506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Indonesian island was home to _H. Floresiensis_ – but how did the dwarfed human species evolve?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/koka-beach-one-beaches-sikka-regency-1243898557">areza taqwim/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not every day that scientists discover a new human species. </p>
<p>But that’s just what happened back in 2004, when archaeologists uncovered some very well-preserved fossil remains in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island, Indonesia. The diminutive size of this new human species, <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/the-discovery-of-homo-floresiensis-tales-of-the-hobbit-1.16197"><em>Homo floresiensis</em></a>, earned it the nickname “Hobbit.” </p>
<p>Shockingly, researchers believed it had survived until the end of the last Ice Age, some 18,000 years ago. That was much later than Neanderthals lived, later than any human species other than our own.</p>
<p>Almost immediately, interpretations of this Hobbit skeleton met with fierce criticism from both anthropologists and evolutionary biologists. The poor Hobbit was accused of being an example not of a small new human species, but an abnormal <em>Homo sapiens</em>, bearing any of a variety <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20655">of growth and</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.1488">hormonal conditions</a>. The Hobbit, many scientists decided, had no place among the giants of the human evolutionary record.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295885/original/file-20191007-52202-lzkp34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s interpretation of how <em>H. floresiensis</em> looked in life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/timevanson/7283199410">Tim Evanson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet she – yes, the Hobbit was later found to be a female – had her revenge. This tiny, small-brained creature stood just a bit more than three feet tall and had a brain as big as a chimp. But her place in the human ancestral line was cemented when researchers uncovered another tiny individual in Flores. This second, much older discovery debunked the idea that the Hobbit was a unique, abnormal <em>Homo sapiens</em>.</p>
<p>After 15 years of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hobbit-took-our-breath-away-now-its-the-new-normal-60784">intense research</a>, anthropologists now confidently date the Liang Bua individual to have lived between 60,000 and 90,000 years ago. Her much older cousins in Flores lived 700,000 years ago. This long reign testifies to the success of this tiny human species, no matter how small-statured and small-brained they were. </p>
<p>And this year anthropologists found a new dwarfed human species, christened <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9"><em>Homo luzonensis</em></a>, in the Philippines.</p>
<p>So why did tiny humans wind up living on these islands? For us biogeographers and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gE-4C2cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">evolutionary</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=scYHGuQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">biologists</a>, the answer was right in front of us: <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/gigantism-and-dwarfism-islands/">the island rule</a>.</p>
<h2>Island life and body size</h2>
<p>Zoologist J. Bristol Foster <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/202234a0">originally proposed</a> the island rule in 1964. </p>
<p>He’d noted that when a large-bodied species settles onto an island, it will tend to evolve to shrink in size – all the way to the point of leaving dwarf descendants. At the same time, the opposite will happen. Small-bodied species will evolve to be larger, producing gigantic daughter species.</p>
<p>There are spectacular cases of this island rule in action across the world. Think of pygmy elephants and mammoths from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025577414005">Mediterranean</a> and Baja California islands, hippos that would barely outweigh a donkey in Cyprus, deer as tall as a pet dog in Crete, rats as big as a cow in the Caribbean and insects as long as a human hand in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Biologists have proposed various mechanisms that could be responsible for this evolutionary trend. A good motive might be the absence of natural predators on islands. A number of species, most notably elephants and hippos, fend predators off by virtue of their size, an expensive strategy when no killer is lurking in the dark. Also, on islands the scarce resource supply might favor smaller body size because smaller individuals can live with less.</p>
<p>Or it could be that smaller individuals with no predators just produce more offspring, which implies females start delivering earlier and at smaller size, investing less in growth and more in reproduction. This possibility is a likely explanation for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0708024105">how contemporary human pygmies evolved</a>. </p>
<p>All of these options will eventually lead to changes in the genetic architecture that underlies body-size variation.</p>
<p>So, we asked, could the island rule be an explanation for small size of <em>Homo floresiensis</em> and <em>Homo luzonensis</em>? We thought probably yes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296081/original/file-20191008-128681-801yeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavations in 2009 at Liang Bua cave, where <em>Homo floresiensis</em> was found.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indonesia-Hobbit/2a6835d986064cf095696d86e3e700e6/1/0">AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Modeling generations on the island</h2>
<p>The Hobbit’s most likely ancestor is <em>Homo erectus</em>, a species more than twice its size in terms of its brain and overall bulk. Based on the geological history of Flores and the oldest known fossils of <em>Homo floresiensis</em>, it seems the evolution of the new species must have occurred in less than about 300,000 years.</p>
<p>As evolutionary biologists, we are acquainted with the idea that Darwinian evolution is a slow and gradual process that takes place over very long timescales. Could such drastic change in body size happen this fast?</p>
<p>So our interdisciplinary research team developed a <a href="https://theconversation.com/simulating-evolution-how-close-do-computer-models-come-to-reality-57538">computer model</a> to try to answer this basic question. It’s like a computer game that simulates body size evolution under biologically and ecologically realistic scenarios.</p>
<p>In our model, individuals colonize the island, grow to their adult body size according to how much food is available, give birth to a number of young and die. The basic rule of the game is that individuals that are closer to the “optimum” body size for the island in that moment will leave more descendants. Offspring inherit genes for large or small body size.</p>
<p>Generation after generation, new mutations may appear in the population and shift body size toward either higher or lower values. Occasionally, new individuals might even invade the island and mix with the residents. Another basic rule is that the initial small population cannot grow above the number the island’s resources might sustain.</p>
<p>Our colleagues, Earth systems scientists <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kSDahsoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Neil Edwards</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1gais1MAAAAJ&hl=en">Phil Holden</a>, used paleoclimatic data to tweak our model. Hotter and wetter times can support more people on the island, and would influence optimum body size at any given moment.</p>
<p>We started our simulations assuming that large-bodied <em>Homo erectus</em> arrived at the island and then evolved into a smaller species there. Since we just don’t know the exact numbers our model should crank through, we based them on estimates obtained from current human populations.</p>
<p>Because of this uncertainty, we ran our model thousands of times, each time using a random combination of all the parameters. Ultimately we were able to build a statistical distribution of how long it took for <em>Homo erectus</em> to become as small as <em>Homo floresiensis</em>.</p>
<p><iframe id="bx726" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bx726/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A new species, in the blink of an evolutionary eye</h2>
<p>After running 10,000 simulations, we were surprised to discover that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0481">in less than 350 generations, the process was complete</a>. Thinking in terms of years, assuming a young female delivers a first baby at the average age of 15, that translates to about 10,000 years.</p>
<p>That may seem long for you and me. But from an evolutionary perspective, that’s the blink of an eye – a little more than a thousandth of <em>Homo</em> evolutionary history.</p>
<p>Of course we do not expect that all the features that make <em>Homo floresiensis</em> as unique as it is evolved that fast and at the same time. Yet, our simulation still shows, 300,000 years is far more than enough time for a new human species to arise.</p>
<p>Our work supports the idea that fast evolution is quite plausible under a realistic set of ecological parameters, and that natural selection may be a powerful force influencing body size on islands. And if <em>Homo floresiensis</em> is indeed a product of the island rule, she shows – yet again – that we humans tend to obey the same overall rules driving evolution in many other mammals.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho receives funding from CNPq and CAPES. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasquale Raia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research models how the Homo floresiensis species could have evolved its small size remarkably quickly while living on an isolated island.José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Universidade Federal de Goias (UFG)Pasquale Raia, Associate Professor of Paleontology and Paleoecology, University of Naples Federico IILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.