The role of bacteria and viruses in world history
Microbes maketh man, says Jonathan Kennedy
For the first 250,000 years after Homo sapiens evolved, they existed on Earth alongside several other species of human in Africa, Asia and Europe. Around 50,000 years ago, however, H. sapiens left Africa and migrated across the world; around the same time, all the other species began to disappear. The fossil record shows that the last Neanderthals died out roughly 39,000 years ago, leaving only H. sapiens.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Bugs in the system”
Culture April 15th 2023
- Bangladesh’s riverine villages are benefiting from clever design
- The role of bacteria and viruses in world history
- Sarah Bernhardt was the first modern celebrity
- A thrilling account of a shipwreck in the Pacific in 1741
- Paying attention to numbers can open up meaning in books
- A new language textbook in Mexico has caused a brouhaha
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