1. Human Evolution: Planet of the Apes?

2. Take a few minutes to interpret the following cartoon:
Identify some of the most common misconceptions
about human evolution.

3. Humans do not descent from primitive forms of life

4. Natural selection does not have a ‘goal’

5. Evolution happens over a very long time, not during a life-time.

6. There are still some pieces of the puzzle missing.

7. A big family tree. Draw a family tree. Think and answer the questions:
Is your cousin your ancestor?
Did your great grand parents have many children? Did they have children in turn?
What is the definition of an ancestor?

8. Human descending from apes?

9. Fossil evidence indicates common ancestry.

10. Timeline of human evolution

11. Human Evolution Tree: relationship with other apes

12. Human evolution tree: Genus Homo.

13. Characters of humans:
Brain size.

14. Characters of humans:
Walking upright (bipedal locomotion)

15. Australopithecus: Lucy

16. The Neanderthals: the lost branch

17. Genus Homo

18. The Ice Man
5300 years old
DNA extracted for the first time from tissue links it to Central european populations
Died from an arrow lodged in his shoulder.
Scientist could reconstitute his meal and the vegetation of the area a the time.

19. Human Evolution Revisited with Modern Genetics
Modern techniques of genetic engineering have allowed scientists to analyze and compare DNA from different species.
You can reconstruct family trees, just by looking at the DNA.
You can calculate when various branches of the tree split, based on the number of mutations found in the DNA.
We can now extract DNA from old bones or tissue.

20. Evolution Studies using genetics
Tracing populations using Mitochondrial DNA
Comparing species
Defining evolutionary distance between species based on genetics.