Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology brings together scientists from diverse backgrounds (natural sciences and humanities) with the aim of investigating the history of humankind from an interdisciplinary perspective using comparative analyses of genes, cultures, cognitive abilities, languages and social systems of past and present human populations, as well as those of primates closely related to humans.

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When the city comes to you, get flexible; when you go to the city, be persistent

Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture

Researchers find that foraging behavior breadth, persistence, and variability of flexibility could facilitate…

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Alcohol and the rise of complex societies

Linguistic and Cultural Evolution

A cross-cultural study tests the extent to which the consumption of wine and beer facilitated the evolution of…

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Neandertal variant reduces activity of a key muscle enzyme

Evolutionary Genetics

New study shows that a genetic variant inherited from Neandertals impairs the function of a key enzyme…

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