New Research in Early Human Origins: 7 to 1 Million Years Ago

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Alison S Brooks ◽  
Richard Potts
Keyword(s):  
Human Origins ◽  
New Research ◽  
Early Human

Large Newspapers

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lee Hotz
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Ring Finger ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Science Writer ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Good Conscience ◽  
Early Human

It was a nice rock, as rocks go—a substantial chip of rose-colored quartz gleaming with flecks of crystal—but not the sort of stone that might grace a starlet's ring finger. Even so, curators at the American Museum of Natural History in New York had given it the kind of showroom treatment Tiffany's might lavish on its rarest diamond solitaire: a special exhibit case, dramatic spot lighting, and even a name designed to stir the imaginations of onlookers. The rock was a 350,000-year-old hand ax. The Spanish archaeologists who discovered it called it Excalibur. And they claimed it was the earliest known evidence of the dawn of the modern human mind. Found among the skeletal remains of 27 primitive men, women, and children, the ax might be the earliest known funeral offering, its discoverers contended. If so, it was 250,000 years older than any other evidence that such early human species honored their dead. As a reporter, I was in a bind. Discovery of the rock offered an opportunity—the potential news hook—for a fascinating story. But it posed a series of thorny questions that I had to resolve before I could, in good conscience, publish a story about the find. They are the questions that arise with every newsworthy scientific development. They center on the validity of the work, its importance to the general public, and whether independent scientists can vouch for it. There also are practical considerations. How much of a reporter's time is it worth? How quickly can the story be turned around? Is there enough material for a graphic? Can we get a photograph? How much space does it deserve? Does it have a chance of getting on page one? The claim being made by the Spanish archaeologists was certainly provocative and, no doubt, sincere. But how reliable was it? The study of human origins is a field defined by the paucity of evidence and conflicting scientific claims. As one distinguished paleo-anthropologist told me wryly, “The dividing line between reality and paleo-fantasy is very narrow.” Acting as a gatekeeper to sort the sense from scientific nonsense, a science writer ordinarily can spend almost as much time chasing down a misleading claim as publicizing valid work.

Selfishness and Pride

Shadow Sophia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 60-83
Author(s):  
Celia E. Deane-Drummond
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Free Riders ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Competitive Nature ◽  
Early Human

The ‘selfishness’ paradigm is used by biologists to mark the competitive nature of basic evolutionary processes and often refers to the self-preservation of genes. This chapter explores the implication of the use of this language and begins to tease out the relationships between individual sin, selfishness, and cooperation in a community. The evolutionary puzzle of why it is that groups are able to cooperate leads to a critical engagement with attempts to explain the origin of ‘big Gods’, who are perceived as all- seeing, all-punishing divine agencies put in place to curtail self-interested ‘free riders’. A theological approach recognizes the key place of selfishness in sin, but also gives pride a primary motivating role. How is pride dealt with in hunter-gatherer communities and what kind of clues might this provide regarding early human origins?

What is taken for granted in autism research?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Ilana Friedner
Keyword(s):  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Communicative Practices ◽  
Autism Research ◽  
Autistic People ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Research

Abstract This commentary focuses on three points: the need to consider semiotic ideologies of both researchers and autistic people, questions of commensurability, and problems with “the social” as an analytical concept. It ends with a call for new research methodologies that are not deficit-based and that consider a broad range of linguistic and non-linguistic communicative practices.

The Need Inventory of Sensation Seeking (NISS)

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Roth ◽  
Philipp Hammelstein
Keyword(s):  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Factorial Structure ◽  
Conventional Methods ◽  
New Research ◽  
Sensation Seeking Scale ◽  
Temperamental Trait ◽  
Nonclinical Study

Based on the conception of sensation seeking as a need rather than a temperamental trait ( Hammelstein, 2004 ), we present a new assessment method, the Need Inventory of Sensation Seeking (NISS), which is considered to assess a motivational disposition. Three studies are presented: The first examined the factorial structure and the reliability of the German versions of the NISS; the second study compared the German and the English versions of the NISS; and finally, the validity of the NISS was examined in a nonclinical study and compared to the validity of conventional methods of assessing sensation seeking (Sensation Seeking Scale – Form V; SSS-V). Compared to the SSS-V, the NISS shows better reliability and validity in addition to providing new research possibilities including application in experimental areas.

The Psychophysiology of Anxiety and Mood Disorders

2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Lang ◽  
Lisa M. McTeague ◽  
Margaret M. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Physiological Reactivity ◽  
Research Domain Criteria ◽  
Diagnostic Systems ◽  
Psychophysiological Reactivity ◽  
Diagnostic Categories ◽  
New Research ◽  
Research Domain

Abstract. Several decades of research are reviewed, assessing patterns of psychophysiological reactivity in anxiety patients responding to a fear/threat imagery challenge. Findings show substantive differences in these measures within principal diagnostic categories, questioning the reliability and categorical specificity of current diagnostic systems. Following a new research framework (US National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], Research Domain Criteria [RDoC]; Cuthbert & Insel, 2013 ), dimensional patterns of physiological reactivity are explored in a large sample of anxiety and mood disorder patients. Patients’ responses (e.g., startle reflex, heart rate) during fear/threat imagery varied significantly with higher questionnaire measured “negative affect,” stress history, and overall life dysfunction – bio-marking disorder groups, independent of Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSM). The review concludes with a description of new research, currently underway, exploring brain function indices (structure activation, circuit connectivity) as potential biological classifiers (collectively with the reflex physiology) of anxiety and mood pathology.

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