• Question: thankyou Samantha now we can talk science, it amazes me how the homosapien has evolved from an ape, can you explain it to me in detail?

    Asked by johnnyfisher to Anna, Jonathan, Samantha, Sam on 30 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Angharad Davies

      Angharad Davies answered on 30 Jun 2012:

      Evolution happens because DNA which makes up genes changes a little bit every time a living thing reproduces (makes more of itself). These changes are called mutations. Some of them are bad and make their owner die or fail to reproduce. Some of them are good and give their owner a slight benefit compared to the ones without that mutation. These ones are more likely to survive for longer, and have babies, so the change in the DNA gets passed down to the babies, and their babies, and so on.

      So for example, if an ape had a DNA change that made its brain just a little bit cleverer, it would be more likely to survive and its babies would also have the cleverer brain. Over millions of years if changes like that keep happening a new kind of creature might develop – like a human!

      Bacteria, becasue they make more more of themselves every 20 minutes or so, can evolve very quickly and we can actually watch it happen in the lab. So that way we can see that the theory of evolution is true.

    • Photo: Jonathan Kay

      Jonathan Kay answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      I like what Angharad wrote.

      Homos sapiens is an ape, and all current apes, including Homo sapiens (our species), evolved from earlier apes. Some people who don’t like the idea of evolution seem to think we evolved from current apes. We didn’t. The fossil record for man isn’t very big, but it’s much bigger for man than it is for other current apes. I don’t know why this is.

    • Photo: Sam Chilka

      Sam Chilka answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      I agree with what Angharad said. Scientists think that homo sapiens evolved from a common ancestor which itself evolved into many other species in different parts of the world. Most of these other species died out, leaving homo sapiens. One of these other species – Neanderthals – existed at the same time as early homo sapiens, and may even have lived in the same areas. No-one knows why the neanderthals died out – perhaps they weren’t as good at adapting to the environment as homo sapiens, maybe neanderthals were hunted or killed by homo sapiens. Some scientists believe neanderthals may have inter-bred with early sapiens – so modern humans may be part neanderthal!

    • Photo: Samantha Weaver

      Samantha Weaver answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      Hello again Johnny. Angharad has said what I said to you in the live chat. I found this website for you which I think you will like: http://www.becominghuman.org/

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