Article Summary: From Grunt To Grammar

Miller, Jeanne. 

"From Grunts To Grammar: The Evolution of Language."  

Odyssey, Adventures In Science 

Oct. 2009: 34-36. Print. 

Current scientists from different fields of science try to answer this puzzling question" When did human learn to use talk with actual language?" There is a couple possible ways we could get a small idea of how. First we would have to determine when the human body was ready, meaning when did the brain become complex/smart enough and when was the voice box ready. 

 Some evidence found in the cavities of Homo Habilis's brain suggests that the brain evolved in speech. This gave scientist the theory that small parts of speech evolved 2 and 1/2 million year ago.

As speech evolved over  the years the Larnyx also known as the voice box (it is what makes the sounds)for mammals started to descend down the throat and to diconnect from the nasal cavity. Before this change the Larnyx sat high in the throat and connects to the nasal cavities allowing us to breathe and swallow at the same time. After this change for the genus homo that lived 1 1/2 years ago changed the way they breathed, swallowed and made sounds. 

As many of you know we don't breath through  our nose as much as we breath through our mouth. Scientists believe that we changed from breathing through our nose to our mouth more because it helped us let more air in while chasing game and let us run longer distances. Ever wonder why or how our brains grew? Well scientist believe that what we eat/ our diets is what make brains grow. Of course not in a week but over a couple if years.

Our ancestors must have used some type communication, if they didn't how would they be able to tell each other that there are predators around, where they had to go during a journey and teaching each other  how to make things just like we do. Our ancestors possibly communicated with  language, speech and sign language. Sign language such as gestures. One thing that I found interesting is that maybe they didn't communicate at all with real languages (English), well just until later. Maybe they really didn't need language, they had big enough brains to see and copy things like a parrot. They could have just looked what others were doing to learn. We see people everyday wearing clothes that we don't have and things that we don't do, but we don't always have to talk to them to wear and do what they do we could just look at them.

Taming Fire, The First Scientist?

Beth, Mary. "Taming Fire, The First Scientist?"  

Odyssey: Adventures In Science Oct. 2009: 29-30. 

Print. 

Prehistoric people, our ancestors,created our living styles we just changed a few things as our brains

 became larger.

Wildfires are a cause of animals and prehistoric peoples migration. Wild fires would force

 the animals to migrate or just get out of the way. But these fires did help the prehistoric people in one way.

 The animals that couldn't get out of the way in time burned which left a delicious but burnt meal for prehistoric people. 

Since fires are such a scare to prehistoric man you would never think that they would make and use fires them

 selves, not wild fires though.

Humans have used fire for 250,000 years, we would know this because scientist have found hearths or remains 

of hearths. This is evidence that prehistoric people used fire intentionally. Hearths are used to contain a fire, to stop it

 from spreading these are usually in stone shaped circles. 

The hearths are also evidence that the fires weren't wild fires because hearth fires allow artifacts like bones to be closely analyzed for chemical changes because of the higher temperatures. From the analysis from the chemicals in the bones we can get a few hints that the first use was by humans more than 1,000,000 years ago.
More evidence that we used fire in different ways was discovered in the Swartlands in South Africa. Remains of prehistoric animals bones that were burnt. 

This could suggest that they learn't to cook their meat. But it is also a possibility that they did not make the fire themselves. I came to the suggestion that maybe the prehistoric people didn't light a fire or cook the animal at the time they simply dragged the animal back to the cave from the wildfire.
But fire to our ancestors was very important fire could give them
Cooked food which make it taste better
 
Killed parasites
 
Kept them warm throughout cold weather
 
provided light 
 
Kept predators away
 
And lastly made migrating from cold to warm weathers possibly for prehistoric people

Have you ever wondered how we primates came to walk on 2 legs?

 Anthropologists are among the people that can answer
this controversial question on Human evolution.
 Primates such as chimps, are not our ancestors
but they do share an ancestor in common with us,Australopithecus Afarensis,
that lived six million years ago.

 Primates have a few things in common, and many differences most notably those involving our skulls. Our face is pretty flat while chimp's stick far out.  The biggest difference between Australopithecus Afarensis "Lucy", us and Chimps is the Foramen magnum, the hole at the back of the skull that the spinal cord fits into. Our Foramen magnum is at the bottom of our skull at the back, and our spinal cord fits in horizontally,  if we are standing up it would obviously be vertical. This is what allows us to walk on two feet. Similarly the Foramen Magnum of "Lucy" is also placed at the bottom of the skull and the spinal cord is horizontal. This similarity is evidence that "Lucy" walked bipedally like us. In contrast, the chimp's Foramen Magnum is "Angled backwards and downwards," suggesting that they walked on all fours.

The fact that bipedal creatures with roughly bigger brains than chimpanzees walked the earth only 2 million years ago, that were before humans ever evolved shocked scientist all over the world.

Many theories proposed why creatures preferred to walk biped ally. One argues that it is to free their hands to create stone tools. Interestingly stone tools only appeared in the fossil record after the creation of bipedal walking. C.Owen Lovejoy a scientist at Kent State University believes that we started walking bipedally so that our hands are free to get food for the other members of the group. Thus making a parent of young to give more attention to her children. I think this is a very reasonable theory but sadly scientist don't, they have rejected his theory because they believe that there is no specific evidence. Another belief is that we started walking bipedally to cross and swim streams or even seas.