MEPX
Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The mechanism
  2. 2Where variation comes from
  3. 3Selection
  4. 4Chance
  5. 5How species form
  6. 6The evidence
  7. 7Common misunderstandings
  8. 8Deep time
  9. 9Human evolution
  10. 10Why it matters practically

Chapter 9 of 10

Human evolution

A bush, not a ladder.

The record

Several hominin species coexisted at various times, and our lineage is a branching bush rather than a single march of progress. Neanderthals and Denisovans left DNA in living people.

  • Bipedalism came long before large brains.
  • Race is not a biological division: variation within groups exceeds that between them.

Still going

Human evolution has not stopped. Lactose tolerance, altitude adaptation and malaria resistance all spread within the last ten thousand years.