The Cradle of Humanity
How the changing landscape of Africa made us so smart. Forew. by Richard Leaky
(Sprache: Englisch)
What drove the evolution of humans, with our uniquely big brains? The Cradle of Humanity presents fascinating and controversial new research which suggests that the geological and climatic history of East Africa's Rift Valley are at the heart of the answer.
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Produktinformationen zu „The Cradle of Humanity “
What drove the evolution of humans, with our uniquely big brains? The Cradle of Humanity presents fascinating and controversial new research which suggests that the geological and climatic history of East Africa's Rift Valley are at the heart of the answer.
Klappentext zu „The Cradle of Humanity “
Humans are rather weak when compared with many other animals. We are not particular fast and have no natural weapons. Yet Homo sapiens currently number nearly 7.5 billion and are set to rise to nearly 10 billion by the middle of this century. We have influenced almost every part of the Earth system and as a consequence are changing the global environmental and evolutionary trajectory of the Earth. So how did we become the worlds apex predator and take over the planet? Fundamental to our success is our intelligence, not only individually but more importantly collectively. But why did evolution favour the brainy ape? Given the calorific cost of running our large brains, not to mention the difficulties posed for childbirth, this bizarre adaptation must have given our ancestors a considerable advantage. In this book Mark Maslin brings together the latest insights from hominin fossils and combines them with evidence of the changing landscape of the East African Rift Valley to show how all these factors led to selection pressures that favoured our ultrasocial brains. Astronomy, geology, climate, and landscape all had a part to play in making East Africa the cradle of humanity and allowing us to dominate the planet.
Inhaltsverzeichnis zu „The Cradle of Humanity “
- 1: In the Beginning
- 2: Early Human Evolution
- 3: Tectonic and Climate
- 4: Cradle of Humanity
- 5: Global Climate Change
- 6: Celestial Mechanics
- 7: African Climate Pulses
- 8: The Social Brain
- 9: Future of Humanity
- 10: The story so far
- Further Reading
Autoren-Porträt von Mark Maslin
Mark Maslin (FRGS, FRSA) is a Professor of Climatology and Environmental Sciences at University College London, and is currently a Royal Society Industrial Fellow. He was the former Director of the UCL Environment Institute and Head of the Department of Geography, and in recent years has presented over 45 public talks, at the UK Space conference, Oxford, Cambridge, Tate Modern, Royal Society of Medicine, British Museum, Natural History Museum, Freshfields, Goldman Sachs and both the Norwegian and UK Government. He has been published in multiple journals, and is the author of Climate: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2013), and Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2014), now in its third editon.Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Mark Maslin
- 2017, 256 Seiten, Maße: 13,9 x 22,3 cm, Gebunden, Englisch
- Verlag: Oxford University Press
- ISBN-10: 0198704526
- ISBN-13: 9780198704522
- Erscheinungsdatum: 29.12.2016
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
This book offers far more than a palaeoanthropological cocktail with a twist ... In synthesising the most recent research in palaeoanthropology and giving the ecology of our ancestors a climatological twist, Maslin has produced a book that is fascinating, humbling and informative. Adrian Barnett, New Scientist
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