Ann Gibbons

Pittsburgh, United States

Contributing Correspondent at Science Magazine

correspondent for Science/author who writes about evolution

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Articles

Neanderthals may have eaten maggots as part of their diet

1 month ago | science.org | Ann Gibbons

Neanderthals were hypercarnivores at the top of the food chain, eating as much meat as hyenas and cave lions. Or at least many researchers have assumed. But meat wasn’t the only thing on their menu, according to a presentation last week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists: Our close cousins may have consumed lots of maggots.
Fossil face found in Spanish cave belongs to first known Western European

1 month ago | science.org | Ann Gibbons

On his first day digging in a Spanish cave in 2022, archaeology graduate student Edgar Téllez found something spectacular: a mud-covered facial bone with tooth roots intact. His colleague,  archaeologist Rosa Huguet, took a look. “I was 95% sure we had found a human fossil, but I didn’t dare say it was human remains,” says Huguet, who is at the Research Centers of Catalonia’s Catalan Institute for Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution at Rovira i Virgii University.
‘Eloquent’ mice point to protein that may have shaped human speech

2 months ago | science.org | Ann Gibbons

A few years ago Yoko Tajima played matchmaker with a male and a female mouse, putting them together in a small dark cage. The male began courting the female with a series of squeaks too high-pitched for humans to hear. But as Tajima and César Vargas, a fellow neuroscience postdoc at Rockefeller University, watched the soundwaves crest and fall on a spectrogram, they exchanged a surprised look. The ultrasonic sweet talk was unusually complex. The pair rushed the recordings to their advisors.
What animals can teach us about the challenges of being a teen

2 months ago | science.org | Ann Gibbons

BETHESDA, MARYLAND—On a humid morning in May 2024, two young male chimpanzees in the Kibale Forest of Uganda sat sponging up water from a puddle with a leaf and languidly dribbling it into their mouths. Suddenly, an adolescent female chimp named Virginia threw a large branch at one of them. Her bottom was pink and swollen, signaling that at age 10, she was beginning to mature sexually.
50 Jahre Lucy - Spektrum der Wissenschaft

Nov 23, 2024 | spektrum.de | Ann Gibbons

Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 15 Minuten DruckenTeilen 50 Jahre Lucy: Lucys WeltEin halbes Jahrhundert nach seiner Entdeckung gilt das 3,2 Millionen Jahre alte Fossil des Australopithecus afarensis immer noch als Urmutter aller Menschen. Doch »Lucy« hat Konkurrenz bekommen. An die Entdeckung des berühmten Fossils »Lucy« 1974 in Hadar in der äthiopischen Region Afar erinnert sich Zeresenay Alemseged nicht mehr. Er war damals erst fünf Jahre alt und lebte in der 600 Kilometer entfernten Stadt Aksum.
Why do humans mature so slowly? An ancient youth offers clues

Nov 13, 2024 | science.org | Ann Gibbons

As the parent of any teenager knows, humans need a long time to grow up: We take about twice as long as chimpanzees to reach adulthood. Anthropologists theorize that our long childhood and adolescence allow us to build comparatively bigger brains or learn skills that help us survive and reproduce. Now, a study of an ancient youth’s teeth suggests a slow pattern of growth appeared at least 1.8 million years ago, half a million years earlier than any previous evidence for delayed dental development.
The most ancient human genome yet has been sequenced-and it’s a Denisovan’s

Jul 11, 2024 | science.org | Ann Gibbons

By the time population geneticist Stéphane Peyrégne gave his talk Tuesday afternoon at a meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, rumors had circulated and the auditorium was packed. He didn’t disappoint: “I’m pleased to tell you about a new Denisovan genome from a 200,000-year-old male,” said Peyrégne, a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Neanderthals and modern humans mingled early and often

Jul 11, 2024 | science.org | Ann Gibbons

or decades researchers have been uncovering the genes living people owe to the extinct Neanderthals—a genetic legacy that boosts our immune systems, helps our blood clot, and may play a role in depression. Now, a study of ancient DNA turns the tables on Neanderthals and asks: What did they get from us? A paper this week in Science concludes Neanderthals inherited as much as 10% of their genome from modern humans, including several genes involved in brain development.
After suspension for sexual harassment, prominent biologist’s return to campus prompts dismay

Jul 9, 2024 | science.org | Meredith Wadman |Lindzi Wessel |Rodrigo Pérez Ortega |Ann Gibbons

A leading developmental biologist at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) this spring resumed teaching and supervising students, including undergraduates, ending a 3-month suspension without pay imposed after the school found he had likely engaged in persistent, pervasive sexual harassment.
Meet the world’s first known jumping leech … if you dare

Jun 20, 2024 | science.org | Sean Cummings |Eva Frederick |Ann Gibbons

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