The Incredible Human Journey series

 The Incredible Human Journey is a five-episode science documentary and accompanying book, written and presented by Alice Roberts. It was first broadcast in May and June 2009 in the UK. It explains the evidence for the theory of early human migrations out of Africa and subsequently around the world, supporting the Out of Africa Theory. This theory claims that all modern humans are descended from anatomically modern African Homo sapiens rather than from the more archaic European and Middle Eastern Homo neanderthalensis or the indigenous Chinese Homo pekinensis, and that the modern African Homo sapiens did not interbreed with the other species of genus Homo. Each episode concerns a different continent, and the series features scenes filmed on location in each of the continents featured.

This interesting documentary series is available online for free and we have a link to watch them in our blog: watch The Incredible Human Journey

Chronic disease risk

The most significant differences between human and a chimp could be, size, hair and brain. But, if we take into account the microscopic world, DID YOU COUNT YOUR MICROBIOME?

It is not just the surface that we are different

What modified our gut flora so dramatically? changing diets and habitats probably both played a role.

They found that a loss of microbial diversity appears to have sped up suddenly in modern humans, “divergence of the microbiome from the microbiome of apes, and a drastic loss of diversity of the microbial community," says Thomas Bosch of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany.

In one hand, among the bugs we have lost are a number that help digest plant matter, while in the other hand, we have gained others that help us digest meat. That makes sense in light of our diet.

"Other work has shown if you can't digest complex plant polysaccharides, they sit around in the gut where they can cause inflammation," he says. "So not having certain bacteria could make people more predisposed to chronic inflammation".

For now, all these possible links between the microbiome and our health still need to be firmed up with more studies.

"The new study demonstrates that divergence of humans from great apes was accompanied by the establishment of a completely different, human-specific microbiome," says Bosch. "Whether this change of the micobiome was one of the key drivers of human evolution and the development of human specific features remains to be shown."

Humans Would Beat Neanderthals in Marathon

Who would win if a modern human and a Neanderthal competed in a marathon? A curious question, but which is the answer?

We know that Humans, versus other great apes, are built for running fast and long as opposed to very impressive strength, but what about Neanderthals?

In a research made by the Journal of Human Evolution suggested that In a short sprint, the Neanderthal might have had a chance, but most fit humans would always win longer races.

Nowadays the human (Usain Bolt) has achieve a mark of 9.58s in 100m. But the anthropologist David Raichlen of the University of Arizona and his colleagues said us that our modern human ancestors were better runners. The research was carry out by studying the hominids'fossilized remains.

Neanderthal - not built for long distance running.

Recent research suggests that the energy cost of running at a given speed is strongly related to the length of certain limb bones. The longer these bones are, the more energy it takes for the individual to run.

We know that exist an inherent trade-off between speed and strength throughout the animal kingdom. So that way they deduced that Neanderthals were built more for brawn, with humans evolving lighter, more aerodynamic bodies for running.

PROPOSAL: A hypothetical Summer Olympics (Neanderthals vs. Humans)

It would be a memorable event as the year that Usain Bolt got the WR in Berlin, Germany. In those Olympics, Neanderthals probably had been the stars of events like wrestling, rowing and archery, and humans winning cycling, triathlon and marathon competitions. CAN YOU IMAGINE?