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Science In Action: Oldest Homo Sapiens Found

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08/06/2017 GMT

Oldest Homo Sapiens Found

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Oldest Homo Sapiens Found

A discovery of the oldest Homo sapiens remains shakes up ideas of human evolution

A discovery of the oldest Homo sapiens remains shakes up our ideas of human evolution. Also, what the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement means, and ‘why do people cooperate?’

The oldest fossils of Homo sapiens have been unearthed in Morocco. They are over 100,000 years older than the next oldest H.sapiens fossils, and show subtle differences in brain size and appearance from modern man. We were thought to have originated in an East African “garden of Eden” but this find, thousands of miles away, shakes up what we thought we knew about human evolution and migration.

Is Cooperation a Selfish Act? 
Is cooperation driven by a selfless concern for others, or by a strategic – if selfish – desire to increase personal returns in the future? Roland speaks with Oxford researcher Maxwell Burton-Chellew about his team’s evidence that there needs to be a tangible future benefit for some humans to cooperate with each other.

The Paris Agreement: What now?
What impact could the US’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement have on the global climate? Climate experts dissect President Trump’s speech on the topic, and discuss what this will mean for world politics.  

Picture: The oldest Homo sapiens skull showing subtle differences in brain size and the prominence of the brow ridge compared with modern man, Credit: Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Louisa Field

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