Biological anthropology studies the evolution and biology of humans. Dr. Rose Basom is digging into her top stories of the year, covering everything from the science of what’s in your medicine cabinet to what’s in the plaster casts of Pompeii.
#5 Last One In, First One Out
We humans tend to be pretty proud of our big brains. They allow us to do amazing things like create art, build skyscrapers and even write awesome blogs like this one. But it turns out that those large brains might come with a hidden cost.
A recent study compared the brains of humans to those of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. And guess what they found? As we age, humans experience significantly more gray matter loss than chimpanzees.
And the area that's hit first? The prefrontal cortex. That's the part of our brain responsible for things like planning, decision-making, memory, and language.
The prefrontal cortex is an area that has uniquely expanded during human evolution, compared to chimps. While it is the last to mature during development, it also happens to be one of the first regions impacted by age!
BUT, in chimps, they did not find the same relationship.
But why?
Scientists think one of the reasons is linked to the fact that the enlarged prefrontal cortex in humans is less dense with neurons, so it is more easily affected compared to other areas of the brain.
But that is just one part of the puzzle, and future studies can help us understand this curious pattern of aging!
#4 The Secret Power of Diabetes Drugs
Move over semaglutide, it's time for metformin to have its moment!
What if the power to slow down brain aging was found in a common diabetes drug? That is exactly what scientists reported this year from a 3 year long study of elderly male macaques!
In this study, the inexpensive drug slowed down brain aging. The monkeys who took Metformin showed slowed age-related brain decline and improved brain function, and even had brain activity similar to monkeys SIX years younger. Talk about a brain boost!
But that's not all! Metformin also seems to have a positive effect on bone health. The drug also slowed age-related bone loss in the mandible, or jawbone.
Now, before you rush off to your medicine cabinet, remember that this research is still ongoing. Further studies in humans are needed to fully understand metformin's anti-brain-aging potential and determine its safety for widespread use.
It seems that sometimes, the most fascinating finds aren't buried deep in the earth... but are right under our feet!
An eagle-eyed dentist who was helping with a home renovation project discovered a hominin mandible embedded in a travertine tile.This travertine came from a quarry in a part of western Turkey that formed between 0.7 and 1.8 million years ago. A 1.1 million year old partial skull belonging to Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor, was also found in this region.
While scientists don’t know much about this jawbone yet, they have noted that there are missing teeth that have been filled with bone, indicating that another human may have removed the teeth due to injury or disease.
This discovery reminds us that the past can pop up in the most surprising places. You never know what hidden treasures might be lurking at your local hardware store!
#2 Crossing Paths
Researchers discovered rarely preserved, 1.5 million year old fossilized footprints from not one, but two different species of ancient human relatives along a lakeshore in Kenya! Apart from being rare, why is it so remarkable?
Biological anthropologists have long theorized that different hominin species coexisted and may have interacted with each other. DNA studies confirmed this in more recent ancestors by showing that we currently have Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA, but the footprints offer direct evidence that extinct hominins, Homo erectus and Australopithecus boisei coexisted.
#1 Rewriting Pompeii
As new scientific technology emerges and is used to test established hypotheses, they can change what we know! For centuries, archaeologists have been piecing together the lives of those who perished in Pompeii.
You've probably seen those plaster casts of the people from Pompeii, forever captured in their final moments. One set of casts have been interpreted as a mother embracing her child, and another of two sisters locked in a final embrace. But scientists have recently extracted DNA from the skeletal remains within these plaster casts, and the results are surprising.
It turns out that the mother was not biologically related and was likely an adult male, and at least one of the "two women" was likely male.
This discovery challenges our previous assumptions about the relationships between these individuals and raises more questions about their lives. This study highlights the power of DNA analysis to investigate long held hypotheses, even when it is buried under layers of volcanic ash.
From head to toe, 2024 has been a year of incredible finds and jaw dropping research! For more biological anthropology updates, keep following us and Dr. Basom as we await what 2025 has to offer.