According to the “cultural brain hypothesis,” humans evolved large brains and great intelligence in order to keep up with our complex social groups. We've always been a social species, and we may have developed our intelligence in part to maintain those relationships and function successfully in these environments.
From about 5 million years ago, the hominin brain began to develop rapidly in both size and differentiation of function.
As early humans faced new environmental challenges and evolved bigger bodies, they evolved larger and more complex brains. Large, complex brains can process and store a lot of information. That was a big advantage to early humans in their social interactions and encounters with unfamiliar habitats.
Over time, genetic change can alter a species' overall way of life, such as what it eats, how it grows, and where it can live. Human evolution took place as new genetic variations in early ancestor populations favored new abilities to adapt to environmental change and so altered the human way of life.
We have much bigger brains relative to body size and in absolute size than other mammals, and have a level of intelligence that other animals don't. There are many advantages to intelligence, such as the ability to plan and cooperate, innovate new techniques and share information about what works.
Humans have certainly had a profound effect on their environment, but our current claim to dominance is based on criteria that we have chosen ourselves. Ants outnumber us, trees outlive us, fungi outweigh us. Bacteria win on all of these counts at once.
We share 99 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, so it comes as no surprise that countless hours of research have been dedicated to understanding the intelligence and behavior of our sister species. This research has firmly established that chimps are one of the most intelligent species on earth.
The last “sympatric” humans we know of were Neanderthals, who became extinct only about 30,000 years ago. Since stable separation of parts of the species is the key factor for the formation of new species, we can say that a new split of our species is impossible under current circumstances.
Several studies corroborate the fact that our ancestors were far stronger than us, and that human strength and fitness has decreased so dramatically in recent years that even the fittest among us wouldn't be able to keep up with the laziest of our ancestors.
Could we mate with other animals today? Probably not. Ethical considerations preclude definitive research on the subject, but it's safe to say that human DNA has become so different from that of other animals that interbreeding would likely be impossible.
Genetic studies have demonstrated that humans are still evolving. To investigate which genes are undergoing natural selection, researchers looked into the data produced by the International HapMap Project and the 1000 Genomes Project.
Two genes involved in determining the size of the human brain have undergone substantial evolution in the last 60,000 years, researchers say, suggesting that the brain is still undergoing rapid evolution.
The answer is a definitive no. The only way to truly stop any biological organism from evolving is extinction. Evolution can be slowed by reducing and keeping population size to a small number of individuals.
Modern humans' ancient relatives were probably not Mensa material, but an exciting new discovery by paleoanthropologists suggests they were much more sophisticated than scientists had thought. The new study appears in the latest edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science (PDF).
Like most aspects of human behavior and cognition, intelligence is a complex trait that is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Intelligence is challenging to study, in part because it can be defined and measured in different ways.
Humans are unrivalled in the area of cognition. After all, no other species has sent probes to other planets, produced lifesaving vaccines or created poetry. How information is processed in the human brain to make this possible is a question that has drawn endless fascination, yet no definitive answers.
Peak Humanity will happen when the world average births per woman falls below the 'replacement level' of about 2.2. The UN predictions suggest Peak Humanity around 2100, but others say it may come sooner. In 2013, Deutsche Bank estimated Peak Humanity will be just 8 billion in 2055.
Our ancestors' lives were unpredictable. They had to do a lot of running to catch food and escape danger, but they also needed to keep muscle mass to a minimum because food was limited. Seen through this lens, losing condition is an adaptation in itself.
The human limit of strength is considered to be 800-1,000 lbs (about 360 to 500 kg) over-head, and 1,100-1,500 lbs (about 500 to 680 kg) bench press. If a user with peak human strength was to have an adrenaline rush, it could push them into Enhanced Strength, but not to Supernatural Strength.
According to research, we're losing substantial bone strength – with up to 20% less mass than our ancestors had [4]. This trend toward less bone mass is one of the most conclusive signs that we are becoming weaker as a species.
Around 70,000 years ago, humanity's global population dropped down to only a few thousand individuals, and it had major effects on our species. One theory claims that a massive supervolcano in Indonesia erupted, blackening the sky with ash, plunging earth into an ice age, and killing off all but the hardiest humans.
New DNA research has unexpectedly revealed that modern humans (Homo sapiens) mixed, mingled and mated with another archaic human species, the Denisovans, not once but twice—in two different regions of the ancient world.
CHIMPANZEES. RECKONED to be the most-intelligent animals on the planet, chimps can manipulate the environment and their surroundings to help themselves and their community.
Humans have the highest EQ at 7.4, but bottlenose dolphins have EQs of 5.3, significantly higher than all other animals.