This update to the award-winning The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence covers the most accepted common theories concerning the emergence of modern Homo sapiens adding fresh insight from top young scholars on the key new discoveries of the past 25 years. The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered allows field leaders to discuss and assess the assemblage of hominid fossil material in each region of the world during the Pleistocene epoch. It features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the evolutionary inferences drawn from assessments of modern humans and large segments of the Neandertal genome. It also addresses the impact of digital imagery and the more sophisticated morphometrics that have entered the analytical fray since 1984. Beginning with a thoughtful introduction by the authors on modern human origins, the book offers such insightful chapter contributions as: Africa: The Cradle of Modern People Crossroads of the Old World: Late Hominin Evolution in Western Asia A River Runs through It: Modern Human Origins in East Asia Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Australians Modern Human Origins in Central Europe The Makers of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia Neandertal Craniofacial Growth and Development and Its Relevance for Modern Human Origins Energetics and the Origin of Modern Humans Understanding Human Cranial Variation in Light of Modern Human Origins The Relevance of Archaic Genomes to Modern Human Origins The Process of Modern Human Origins: The Evolutionary and Demographic Changes Giving Rise to Modern Humans The Paleobiology of Modern Human Emergence Elegant and thought provoking, The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered is an ideal read for students, grad students, and professionals in human evolution and paleoanthropology.

Virtual Humans provides a much-needed definition of what constitutes a ‘virtual human’ and places virtual humans within the wider context of Artificial Intelligence development. It explores the technical approaches to creating a virtual human, as well as emergent issues such as embodiment, identity, agency and digital immortality, and the resulting ethical challenges. The book presents an overview of current research and practice in this area, and outlines the major challenges faced by today’s developers and researchers. The book examines the possibility for using virtual humans in a variety of roles, from personal assistants to teaching, coaching and knowledge management, and the book situates these discussions around familiar applications (e.g. Siri, Cortana, Alexa) and the portrayal of virtual humans within Science Fiction. Features Presents a comprehensive overview of this rapidly developing field Provides an array of relevant, real-life examples from expert practitioners and researchers from around the globe in how to create the avatar body, mind, senses and ability to communicate Intends to be broad in scope yet practical in approach, so that it can serve the needs of several different audiences, including researchers, teachers, developers and anyone with an interest in where these technologies might take us Covers a wide variety of issues which have been neglected in other research texts; for example, definitions and taxonomies, the ethical challenges of virtual humans and issues around digital immortality Includes numerous examples and extensive references

An evolutionary biologist provides surprising insights into the changing nature of Homo sapiens in this “important and an entertaining read" (Choice). In Future Humans, evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon draws on recent discoveries to examine the future evolution of our species. Combining knowledge of our past with current trends, Solomon offers convincing evidence that evolutionary forces are still affecting us today. But how will modernization—including longer lifespans, changing diets, global travel, and widespread use of medicine and contraceptives—affect our evolutionary future? Solomon presents an entertaining and accessible review of the latest research on human evolution in modern times, drawing on fields from genomics to medicine and the study of our microbiome. Drawing together topics ranging from the rise of online dating and Cesarean sections to the spread of diseases such as HIV and Ebola, Solomon suggests that we are entering a new phase in human evolutionary history—one that makes the future less predictable and more interesting than ever before.

This book describes human development including sexual reproduction and stem cell research with the development of model organisms that are accessible to genetic and experimental analysis in readily understandable texts and 315 multi-colored graphics. The introductory account of model organisms selected from the entire animal kingdom presents general principles, which are then outlined in subsequent chapters devoted to, for example, sexual development; genes controlling development and their contemporary molecular-analysis methods; production of clones and transgenic animals; development of the nervous and circulatory systems; regenerative medicine and ageing. Finally the evolution of developmental toolkits and novelties is discussed including the genetic basis of the enlargement of the human forebrain. Separate boxes are devoted to controversial questions such as the benefits and problems of prenatal diagnostics or the construction of ancient body plans.

This is part two and three in the final chapter of Humans End screenplay of the journeys and sagas of the human and social experiments. This is a frantic and frenzied rush to attempt to save the human experience, driven by maniacal and holistic perspectives, and to attempt to reverse the damaging degeneration of the male Y chromosome and male pineal gland maturation decay due to the neutrino tau destruction on the human body. This screenplay makes penitent narratives of human health, lifestyles, future innovations and drama, and horror and political possibilities of some solutions, coupled with a total finality of the human experience as we know it.

Paris, June 18, 1914: Crowds gathered at the “Concours de la Sécurité en Aéroplane” to witness 21-year-old Lawrence Sperry demonstrate his newly invented gyroscopic stabilizer. With his hands in the air, the device flew his Curtiss C-2 flying boat. Only a decade after the Wright brothers’ initial flight, the first n “autopilot” made its public debut. As impressive as this public demonstration was, it was merely a humble, although spectacular moment of foreshadowing. Even today—110 years later—the process of automating aspects of flight has not yet fully concluded, leading to deteriorating insight into the automatic behavior of aircraft systems, and even the waning of human instincts and intuition. Controlling Aircraft—From Humans to Autonomous Systems: Rise of the Machines covers the distancing of humans from their flying machines through more than a century-long process of “assisting” systems introduction, the positive and negative consequences of this process, and mitigation solutions for the negative consequences. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2024020

This book examines a very important period of recent American foreign international relations history. The postCold War period, 19892004, is scrutinized very closely with several key questions in mind. What has been gained by the United States by winning the Cold War? First and foremost, many peoplebesides Americansand quite possibly the academic world, the young, and the elderly may be wondering what the answer to this question really is, or is there even an answer? Secondly, I asked myself, What better way to judge the security of a nation than by its record regarding human rights? Thirdly, can the US Congress be influenced to make a policy for the president to enter conflicts around the world in the name of human rights? How much does a countrys human rights record matter to foreign policy makers before the United States takes a firm hand with that country? Why do some countries get away with blatant human rights abuses, while others remain unscathed? How do human rights abuses become congressional resolutions and possibly implicate international relations positively or negatively around the world? If you are interested in any of these questions, you have picked up the right book. By utilizing research methods utilized by political scientists all around the world, I was able to compile fifteen years worth of detailed history into an easy-to-read book that will offer some insights into how nongovernmental organizations can influence the United States that something has to be done, or do nothing at all ever, to put off the resolution against the offending country until the next or a subsequent congressional session. It is all here for you to read. I hope you get as much out of this book as I have put into it. I plan to do a similar title that will explore the congress, NGOs, and international foreign policy implications further as the turn of the century has watched the Middle East practically implode, as I dare say, much a result of the end of the Cold War, which destabilized the entire region mostly attributed to human rights abuses and, of course, many other factors.

The robots are coming! So too is the ‘age of automation’, the march of ‘invasive’ species, more intense natural disasters, and a potential cataclysm of other unprecedented events and phenomena of which we do not yet know, and cannot predict. This book is concerned with how to account for these non-humans and their effects within theories of social practice. In particular, this provocative collection tackles contemporary debates about the roles, relations and agencies of constantly changing, disruptive, intelligent or otherwise 'dynamic' non-humans, such as weather, animals and automated devices. In doing so contributors challenge and take forward existing understandings of dynamic non-humans in theories of social practice by reconsidering their potential roles in everyday life. The book will benefit sociology, geography, science and technology studies, and human- (and animal-) computer interaction design scholars seeking to make sense of the complex entanglement of non-human phenomena and things in the performance of social practices.

Question Reality is an arduous journey of re-organization of the mind of an anorexic, academic female in fight for her own physical and mental survival. In the process, she re-invents the wheel of ecology and science, in consideration of human interactions with the environment. Written in a synergistic, humorous dialogue between two graduate students--Terra the Biogeek and Buz the Geobum--who venture on a fictional road trip up the California Coastline. Part 1 of a two-part edition.

This book features contributions from various spheres of socio-humanitarian sciences presented at the scientific and practical conference on “Humans as an Object of Study by Modern Science,” which took place in Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation) on November 23–24, 2017. The conference was organized by Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University and the non-profit organization “Institute of Scientific Communications.” Presenting the results of multidisciplinary studies as well as new approaches, the target audience of the book includes postgraduates, lecturers at higher educational establishments, and researchers studying socio-humanitarian sciences. The complex study of humans by representatives of various socio-humanitarian sciences (philosophy, pedagogics, jurisprudence, social sciences, and economics) allows a comprehensive concept of the field to be developed. Selecting humans as an object of research opens wide possibilities for studying various issues related to their activities, while considering humans within multiple sciences means that the methods of induction and deduction can be combined to achieve precise results. This book includes the results of leading scientific studies on the following key issues: establishment of an information economy under the influence of scientific and technical progress: new challenges and opportunities; information and communication technologies as a new vector of development of the modern world economy; specifics and experience of using new information and communication technologies in developed and developing countries; problems of implementing new information and communication technologies in the modern economy; and priorities of using new information and communication technologies in the modern economy.