Word: erectus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Unlike Neanderthals, moreover, H. floresiensis wasn't a close evolutionary relative. Its discoverers are convinced that it evolved from Homo erectus, a primitive branch of humanity whose line was thought to have been entirely supplanted by modern humans about 250,000 years ago. And while the general trend in human evolution over the past 7 million years or so has been toward larger bodies and larger brains, H. floresiensis went the other way: not only was its body small but, again unlike Pygmy or midget H. sapiens, its brain was only about the size of a grapefruit--smaller than that...
Another controversy has to do with where modern humans first appeared. Everyone agrees that a hominid called Homo erectus left its African home some 2 million years ago to populate the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Long after that, argues one camp, Homo sapiens evolved, also in Africa, and began a second exodus. In contrast to this out-of-Africa scenario, the so-called multiregionalists say there was no second sojourn. The far-flung Homo erectus communities and their descendants, the multiregionalists believe, could have interbred enough that Homo sapiens appeared pretty much everywhere at once...
Humanity's physical reaction to stress, known as the "fight or flight" response, probably evolved to help our primitive ancestors deal with a treacherous world. When confronted with imminent danger--a saber-toothed tiger, say, or a club-wielding enemy Homo erectus--the body had to be instantly ready either to defend itself or to run like hell...
...Some say that it was domesticating animals that separated homo sapien from homo erectus. I didn’t think The Great Gatsby proved this...
...late-night paper writers’ best friend, was first invented in 1987 by an Austrian company whose managing partner was inspired by drinks he saw in Asia. But energy drinks have multi-national appeal, from Brazil’s Black Booster to the Czech Republic’s Erectus, and the craze has now been picked up by mainstream American drink companies. The skinny aluminum cans just keep on coming...