BrianRubenstein

=Have you ever wondered where humans (homo sapiens) came from?=

Evolution, a force of change that affects us all. It was theorized by a man named __Charles Darwin__ who, in his time was called a satanist and worse for his ideas which we now know as reality. Through his theories we have found that we are related to lemurs and other primates. The idea that we are related to monkeys is not far off. Evidence is found in the skeleton, the only difference between our skeletons and chimp skeletons is that their hip bone forces them to bend over and walk on all fours. The idea is that some 6-30 million years ago us, chimps, and other apes started to evolve. to find more on our relationship to chimps go to: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20060023224009data_trunc_sys.shtml

Have you ever heard that humans are immune to evolution, that we never change? That is not true, humans do change. For decades the only clues of these changes we had were the scarce bones and artifacts left by our ancestors. However, recently scientists have found a record of human travels through their DNA. Our genes, within every drop of our blood are 99.9% the same. That 0.1% of our genes that are different account for our individual differences, (eye color, hair color ect.). Once every year or so a random harmless change appears in that 99.9% which is passed down among us. By looking at these differences we can learn who we were descended from. People who also have those small differances are related to us.

Most changes are hidden by the mixing up of genes every time a girl and a boy have a child. However, a couple of regions in your genes keep these changes. Two of the main ones are the mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA are always passed down from mother to child and the Y chromosome for males. The accumulated changes are examined to find your ancestors and their migrations around the planet. For more on mtDNA and the Y chromosome go to: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/ahg/2004/00000068/00000005/art00004?crawler=true

Have you ever heard the story of Adam and Eve? In some ways it is true, scientists have learned that everyone is descended from a single woman who lived aproxamatly 150,000 years ago. Soon she met a man who is now known as our "Adam" who is the father of us all. All humans all over the world are related to some african hunter-gatherers. By looking more closely at our DNA scientists have learned that we are most related to the San people of southern africa and the Biaka pygmies of central africa as well as many east african tribes. for more information on mitochondrial eve and Y chromosome adam go to: http://www.prodigalsonmagazine.com/walk/2008/02/what_are_ychromosomal_adam_and.php

I wish to thank http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/ee/v2/human-evolution-timeline.jpg for provideing this picture

Some time in our ancestors travels they met another species of humans called the Neanderthal. The Neanderthal lived in Europe and west asia. We believe they may have lived as much as 230,000 years ago. They hunted large animals, made fire and even wore clothes. We think they may have even cared for sick and elderly and buried their sick and dead. No one knows what caused their extinction about 30000 years ago though. For more on Neanderthals go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal A Neanderthal picture: I would like to thank http://www.gonzalobarr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/dumb-neanderthal.jpg for providing this picture.

However, even before Neanderthals was what we called Australopithecines. They are the early humans. Australopithecines are similar to apes but have a couple notable differences. Fore one their brains are slightly larger than the apes. Secondly, they may have used stone tools. Fossils have been found in several places in Africa. Some of the skeletons have been found near simple stone tools. To find more on Australopithecines go to: http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Australopithecines A picture of an Australopithecine: I would like to thank http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/images/afarensis.JPG for providing this picture

One other important species of humans was the Homo Erectus. They were the species similar to us who discovered fire. They also stood upright, unlike many Human species. For more on the Homo Erectus go to: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/8932/erectus.html A picture of the Homo Erectus I would like to thank http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/942/664837.JPG for providing this image