• Question: i know that one of the thery is that the univeres started with the big bang but how did the humans start?

    Asked by shoaib2011 to Adam, Geoff, Rob, Sheila, Suzie on 23 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Adam Tuff

      Adam Tuff answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Good question! We don’t know in short. The most popular theory in science on the origin of humankind are that we evolved over millions of years from very basic primordial life, to small mamals, then into ape-like creatures, then to humanoid form. There are lots of theories, but I think this is the most likely. What do you think?

    • Photo: Sheila Kanani

      Sheila Kanani answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Evolution I believe….

    • Photo: Suzie Sheehy

      Suzie Sheehy answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      Hi there, good question! I think we had a question about this already, have a look through the archive… but the gist of it is that we think the amino acids which were essential for life to start came to Earth on a meteorite… I think that’s kind of cool because in a way it means we’re aliens!

    • Photo: Robert Simpson

      Robert Simpson answered on 23 Mar 2011:

      Life on Earth began about 4 billion years ago when some chemicals starting replicating themselves using available materials. The process of natural selection (evolution) meant that these chemicals started to have life-like properties and over the next couple of billions years we got single-clled organisms and then bacteria. Eventually the life started taking the planet and more complex animals appeared. Through a series of mass extinctions and ice-ages, animals evolved and became more complex until a few hundred thousand years ago some ape-like creatures in Africa evolved the capability of speech and then thought and self-awareness. Being able to communicate and learn from each other was, in a sense, the beginning of humanity. From there, we walked out of Africa (possibly) and began our gradual conquest of the Earth – for better or for worse.

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