Humanity has regarded itself as intellectually superior to other species for millennia, yet
human cognitive uniqueness remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate candidate traits …

Explaining how animals respond to an increasingly urbanised world is a major challenge for
evolutionary biologists. Urban environments often present animals with novel problems that …

We have learned much about tool use in nonhumans since the discovery of Oldowan stone
tools. Despite the ongoing debate over whether tool use in other animals requires cultural …

There is a tension between the conception of cognition as a central nervous system (CNS)
process and a view of cognition as extending towards the body or the contiguous …

Inferring functional components of behavioral sequences is a crucial but challenging task. A
systematic comparison of their temporal structure is a good starting point, based on the …

This paper argues that the origins of language can be detected one million years ago, if not
earlier, in the archaeological record of Homo erectus. This controversial claim is based on a …

The Acheulean handaxe is one of the longest‐known and longest‐surviving artifacts of the
Palaeolithic and, despite its experimentally tested functionality, is often regarded as …

The study suggests a new definition of technology with a systemic-purposeful perspective:
Technology here is a complex system of artifact, made and/or used by living systems, that is …

Human cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is recognized as a powerful ecological and
evolutionary force, but its origins are poorly understood. The long-standing view that CCE …

All human societies have music with a rhythmic “beat,” typically produced with percussive
instruments such as drums. The set of capacities that allows humans to produce and …