01.21.08
Random Scientific News
This article discusses new research suggesting that a component in male semen enhances the propagation of HIV. Also, this article discusses how aggressive behavior triggers dopamine. This article suggests that cooking, and not a carnivorous diet drove the evolution of man.
And you believe cooking with that fire spurred the development of modern humans.
Here’s the way I tend to ask the question: I tend to think of the advent of cooking as having a huge impact on the quality of the diet. In fact, I can’t think of any increase in the quality of diet in the history of life that is bigger. And repeatedly we have evidence in biology of increases in dietary quality affecting bodies. The food was softer, easier to eat, with a higher density of calories—so this led to smaller guts, and, since the food was providing more energy, we see more evidence of energy use by the body. There’s only one time it could have happened on that basis; that is, with the evolution of Homo erectus somewhere between 1.6 [million] and 1.8 million years ago.
Finally, this article suggests that new SIRT1-activating diabetes medication has the potential to improve longevity in humans.