Ask An Anthropologist
Ask An Anthropologist is an educational resource for students, teachers, parents, and life-long learners. We encourage anyone interested in anthropology to make use of its content.
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Humans aren't the only animals with complicated social lives. Studying how other primates interact with each other can help us figure out why humans live the way they do.
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Becoming human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.
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Head to Head
The modern human brain is the largest and most complex of any living primate. As you will learn in this activity, it is also larger than the brains of our ancient human ancestors. What does brain size have to do with our biology?
Walking Upright: A Tale of Two Legs
How do you move from one place to another? Well, most humans walk. Walking on two legs is a very human trait. Learn how the evolution of bipedal walking changed the course of our history.
Controlling the Code
DNA controls all of your traits. Right? Well, kind of. The environment can actually control how your DNA works. Learn about how it does this through a series of switches known as epigenetic mechanisms.
Team Primates
Humans aren't the only animals with complicated social lives. Studying how other primates interact with each other can help us figure out why humans live the way they do.