The Speciation of Modern Homo sapiens

About this book

Addresses the question of the speciation of modern Homo sapiens, raising questions about the nature of the species, our defining characteristic, and the brain changes and their genetic basis that make us distinct. The British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences have brought together experts from palaeontology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, genetics and evolutionary theory to present evidence and theories at the cutting edge of our understanding of these issues.

Contents

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES; The Out-of-Africa Hypothesis of Modern Human Origins; The Earliest Evidence of Cognitive Ability; The Case for Saltational Events in Human Evolution; Grades and Transitions in Human Evolution; LANGUAGE AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN; From Proto-language to Language; Is the Neural Basis of Vocalisation Different in Non-Human Primates and Homo Sapiens?; Laterality and Human Speciation; When did Directional ssymmetry Enter the Record?; Bihemispheric Language: How the Two Hemispheres Collaborate in the Processing of Language; THE SEARCH FOR A CRITICAL EVENT; Sexual Selection, Timing, and the X-Y Homologous Gene: Did Homo Sapiens Speciate on the Y Chromosome?; What the Y chromosome can tell us about the origins of modern humans; Do the Hominid-Specific Regions of X-Y Homology Contain Candidate Genes Potentially Involved in a Critical Event Linked to Speciation?; Preferential Sex Linkage of Sexually Selected Genes: Evidence and a New Explanation

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