In Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, primatologist Richard Wrangham argues that cooking gave early humans an advantage over other primates, leading to larger brains and more free time. Wrangham discusses his theory, and why Homo sapiens can’t live on raw food alone.
Did Cooking Give Humans An Evolutionary Edge?
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Did Cooking Give Humans An Evolutionary Edge?
In Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, primatologist Richard Wrangham argues that cooking gave early humans an advantage over other primates, leading to larger brains and more free time. Wrangham discusses his theory, and why Homo sapiens can’t live on raw food alone.
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On Point: How Cooking Made Us Human
We were apes before we were humans. But humans were the onetime apes who ultimately mastered fire and cooked.
Primatologist and anthropologist Richard Wrangham says that in evolutionary terms, that made all the difference. And not just because it put flambé on the menu.
Fire meant proto-humans could cook. Cooking, he says, meant they could get dense, empowering nourishment. Then came bigger brains, a different body and — voila! — homo sapiens. Complete, he says, with a social structure built around that fire.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/09/how-cooking-made-us-human
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Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show On Earth
British biological theorist Richard Dawkins is perhaps the world’s best known atheist. He is certain that we have evolution to thank for life on earth, not a creator. Evolution is the topic of his new book, "The Greatest Show On Earth." Dawkins says the book is his "personal summary of the evidence that the ‘theory’ of evolution is actually a fact - as incontrovertible a fact as any in science." He joins Doug on Tuesday to discuss the evidence for evolution.