anthro
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Anthropology Current Affairs
Weekly Digest · 16–22 August 2026 For the UPSC Anthropology optional Published Sunday, 23 August 2026 Today is the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition This week’s digest brings together major developments in palaeoanthropology alongside an instructive story on community health from Sikkim. A bold proposal to include Australopithecus… Continue reading
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Anthropology Current Affairs
Weekly Digest: 9 – 15 August 2026 For the UPSC Anthropology optional · Published Sunday, 16 August 2026 · HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! This week’s digest brings together major developments in palaeoanthropology, and prehistoric archaeology, forensic anthropology alongside an unusually consequential Indian week: the Census 2027 notification that returns caste enumeration to the national count after… Continue reading
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Anthropology Current Affairs
Weekly Digest · 2 August – 8 August 2026 For the UPSC Anthropology optional · Published Sunday, 9 August 2026 · Today, 9 August, is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples – observed in India as World Tribal Day (Vishwa Adivasi Divas) – and the digest opens with the Day itself and its… Continue reading
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Great apes were using touch to reassure and keep the peace six million years before humans evolved – new research
Jake Brooker, Utrecht University and Zanna Clay, Durham University During an eight-month-long research trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, we studied consolation: the way bonobos and chimpanzees comfort each other after conflicts and distress. But early on, we kept noticing something that didn’t quite fit. The animals were exchanging a lot… Continue reading
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Smaller brains? Fewer friends? An evolutionary biologist asks how AI will change humanity’s future
Rob Brooks What will humans be like generations from now in a world transformed by artificial intelligence (AI)? Plenty of thinkers have applied themselves to questions like this, considering how AI will alter lives – often for better, sometimes for worse. They have conjured dramatic scenarios, like AI-driven extinction of humans (and many other species),… Continue reading
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The whole story of human evolution – from ancient apes via Lucy to us
In pursuit of knowledge, the evolution of humanity ranks with the origins of life and the universe. And yet, except when an exciting find hits the headlines, palaeoanthropology and its related fields have gained far less scientific support and funding – particularly for scientists and institutions based in the African countries where so many landmark… Continue reading
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Understanding Gene Expression in Anthropology
Gene expression refers to the process by which the genetic information stored in DNA is converted into functional products, primarily proteins, that perform various functions within the cell. This process typically involves two main steps: transcription, where the DNA is transcribed into a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule, and translation, where the mRNA is then translated… Continue reading
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International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples – August 9
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is observed on 9 August every year. There are an estimated 476 million indigenous peoples in the world living across 90 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming… Continue reading
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The Hakki Pikki Tribe
The Hakki Pikki Tribe from Karnataka were recently in the news because they are stranded in violence-hit Sudan. “Hakki Pikki” translates to “Bird Catchers”. Hakki Pikki is a semi-nodamic tribe whose members were traditionally involved in hunting, but had to give up the activity due to India’s Wildlife Protection laws. They are now involved in… Continue reading
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The evolutionary adaptation of wrinkling of fingers submerged in water.
Have you wondered why your fingers wrinkle when submerged in water? This response of the skin has an evolutionary advantage to the humans. Read this interesting article published by the BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220620-why-humans-evolved-to-have-fingers-that-wrinkle-in-the-bath Feature Photo by Andre Moura: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-s-hand-submerged-in-water-2499417/ Continue reading
i think, therefore i am.
Cogito, ergo sum is a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually translated into English as “I think, therefore I am”, probably the one thing that defines our specie.