A Dartmouth-led study shows that early humans developed a taste for grassy carbohydrate-rich plants 700,000 years before they evolved the ideal teeth to chew the tougher plant fibers efficiently. The study provides the first evidence of behavioral drive in the human fossil record, suggesting that the success of early humans stemmed from their ability to adapt to new environments despite their physical limitations.

With support from WoodNext Foundation, Dr. Jessica Bernard aims to develop treatments that have the potential to help those with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. 

A new paper led by Dartmouth and University of St Andrews researchers coins the word “scrumping” to describe the fondness African apes have for eating ripe fruit from the forest floor. Though recent research has identified this behavior as a possible driver in the evolution of humans’ ability to metabolize alcohol, it has not been studied separately. They propose scrumping — which describes the act of gathering windfallen apples — to distinguish this behavior for future study, including understanding how much ethanol apes consume through “scrumped” fruit.