A tiny, ancient hominin may have been surprisingly clever
Small brains seem to be no barrier to culture and art
“The March of progress”, created by Rudolph Zallinger in 1965, is an image that has launched a thousand T-shirts. It shows a line-up of six figures. The first is hunched and ape-like. The rest become gradually taller and straighter until eventually a neatly shaven Homo sapiens strides into the future.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “A tangled history”
Science & technology June 10th 2023
More from Science & technology
Does melatonin work for jet lag?
It can help. But it depends where you’re going
Training AI models might not need enormous data centres
Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all
How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science
A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?
Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last
Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours
New firefighting tech is being trialled in Sardinia’s ancient forests
It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control
Can Jeff Bezos match Elon Musk in space?
After 25 years, Blue Origin finally heads to orbit, and hopes to become a contender in the private space race