I'm even more confused about these "humans" now. How about simple english Wikipedia?
Human
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Human
Fossil range: Pleistocene - Recent
Human-gender-neutral.png
Conservation status
Status iucn2.3 LC.svg
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: H. sapiens
Subspecies: H. s. sapiens
Trinomial name
Homo sapiens sapiens
Linnaeus, 1758
Simple English Wiktionary
Simple English Wiktionary has a dictionary definition (word meaning) for:
human
A human or human being is a person. Humans are often called "people". The scientific name for the human species is Homo sapiens which means 'wise man' in Latin.[1] Humans are bipedal, which means they walk on two legs. Humans have a complex brain, which makes them able to use language, make ideas, and feel emotions. This brain, and the fact that arms are not needed for walking, makes humans more able to use tools than any other species.
There are over 6.7 billion people alive as of 2008.[2] There are humans living on every continent.[3] Humans also live in space, for short periods of time only, in the International Space Station which orbits the Earth.
Humans are part of the animal order of primates. Apes are also primates, and are the nearest animal relations to humans. Humans, like other primates, are social animals. They usually live in groups, helping and protecting each other, and caring for their offspring (children). This level of organisation is known as presocial organisation.
Many animals use signs and sounds to communicate with each other. They have developed a system of sounds, called language. This allows them to express ideas by using words. Humans are capable of making abstract ideas and communicating them to others. Human language can express things that are not present, or talk about events that are not happening at that time. The things might be elsewhere, and the events may also have occurred at another place or time.[4] So far, no animals have been found which have a system of communication that is as elaborate as that which humans use.
By using words to communicate with each other, humans make complex communities with laws, traditions and customs. Humans like to understand the world around them. They try to explain things through religion, science and philosophy. Wanting to understand things has helped many humans make important discoveries. Humans are the only species living today to build fires, to cook their food and wear clothes. Humans use more technology than any other animal on Earth ever has. Humans like things that are beautiful and like to make art, literature and music. Humans use education and teaching to pass on skills, ideas and customs to the next generations.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Origins
* 2 Civilization
* 3 Habitats, settlements and population
* 4 Biology
o 4.1 Physical appearance
o 4.2 Life cycle
* 5 Psychology
* 6 Culture
o 6.1 Language
o 6.2 Art, music and literature
o 6.3 Race and ethnicity
o 6.4 Religion and spirituality
o 6.5 Science and technology
o 6.6 War
* 7 References
[change] Origins
Main article: Human evolution
Humans are part of the animal kingdom. They are mammals, which means that they give birth to their young ones, rather than laying eggs like reptiles or birds, and the female humans are able to feed their babies with breast milk. Humans belong to the order of primates. Apes like gorillas and gibbons are also primates. The closest living relatives of humans are the two chimpanzee species: the Common Chimpanzee and the Bonobo. Scientists have examined the genes of humans and chimpanzees, and compared their DNA. The studies showed that 99.9% of the DNA of humans and chimpanzees is the same. [5] [6][7][8][9]
One way that scientists use to explain the similarity between humans and other primates such as Chimpanzees is the Theory of Evolution. In the Theory of Evolution, it is thought that humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas have a common type of ancestor primate. In 2001, a hominid skull was discovered in Chad. The skull is about 7 million years old, and has been classified as Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This skull may show that the date at which humans started to evolve (develop differently) from other primates is 2 million years earlier than scientist had previously thought.[10]
Humans are part of a genus called homonidae (or homonids). This comes from the Latin homo for human. Thousands of years ago, there used to be other types of hominids on Earth. They were like modern humans, but not the same. Homo sapiens are the only type of hominids who are alive today. The earliest-known fossils of genus homo have been named Homo habilis (handy man). The first fossils of Homo habilis were found in Tanzania between 1962 and 1964. Homo hablilis is thought to have lived about 2.2 to 1.7 million years ago.[11] Another human species thought to be an ancestor of the modern human is Homo erectus. Scientists are still discussing whether Homo erectus really descended from Homo habilis. They think it may also be possible that both came from a common species of human that they don't know about yet.[12] There are many different extinct species of homo known today. Many of them were likely our "cousins", as they developed differently than our ancestors.[13]
A theory called the Sahara pump theory has been used to tell how different species of plants and animals moved from Africa to the Middle East, and then elsewhere. Early humans may have moved from Africa to other parts of the world in the same way. The first truly modern humans seem to have appeared between 200,000 and 130,000 years ago.[14][15] These early humans moved out from Africa and by 10 thousand years ago they lived in most parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and North America.[16] They replaced other groups of human like species that had migrated earlier. These were called Neanderthals or Homo erectus. They competed for resources with the modern human, but the modern human was more successful.
[change] Civilization
Main article: World History
Stonehenge in England was built around 4500-4000 years ago. This time was in the Neolithic period of the Stone Age.
Early human history is commonly divided into three ages. The time periods are labeled with the material used for tools.
* The Stone Age
* The Bronze Age
* The Iron Age
The "Stone Age" is commonly subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.
Up to about 10 thousand years ago most humans were hunter-gatherers. That means they hunted for their food or gathered it from wild plants. Most humans at this time did not live in one place, but moved around as the seasons changed. The start of planting crops for food, called farming, meant that some people chose to live in static settlements. This also led to the invention of metal tools and the training of animals. About 6000 years ago the first proper civilisations began in places like Egypt, India and Syria. The people formed governments and armies for protection. They competed for area to live and resources and sometimes they fought with each other. About 4000 years ago some states took over or conquered other states and made empires. Examples include ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
Some modern day religions also began at this time such as Judaism and Hinduism. From the Middle Ages and beyond humanity saw an explosion of new technology and inventions. The printing press, the car, the train and electricity are all examples of this kind of invention. As a result of the developments in technology, modern humans live in a world where everyone is connected, for example by telephone or by internet. People now control and change the environment around them in many different ways.
[change] Habitats, settlements and population
Humans can now change their environment to solve problems. The many tall buildings in Hong Kong are an example of people solving the problem of too many people in one place.
In early times, humans usually settled near to water and other natural resources. In modern times if people need things they can transport them from somewhere else. So basing a settlement close to resources are is no longer as important as it once was. Since 1800 the number of humans, or population, has increased by six billion.[17] Most humans (61%) live in Asia. The rest live in the Americas (14%), Africa (14%), Europe (11%), and Oceania (0.5%).
Most people live in towns and cities. This number is expected to get higher. In 2005 the United Nations said that by the end of that year, over half the world would be living in cities. This is an important change in human settlement patterns: a century earlier in 1900 only 14 % of people lived in cities, in 2000 47% of the world's population lived in cities. In developed countries, like the United States, 80% of the population live in cities.[18]
Humans have a large effect on the world. Humans are at the top of the food chain and are generally not eaten by any animals. Humans have been described as Super Predators because of this.[19] Because of industry and other reasons humans are said to be a big cause of global climate change. [20]
[change] Biology
For more details see Human biology
[change] Physical appearance
A diagram of a male human skeleton which has 206 bones.
Human body types can be very different from each other. The average height of an adult human is between 5 and 6 feet. The average weight is between 76 and 83 kg for males and 54-64 kg for females.[21]
Human hair grows on the underarms, the genitals and the top of the head in both genders, and on the chest, legs, back and face of males. Although it might look like humans have less hair than most primates they actually don't. The average human has more hair follicles, where hair grows from, than most chimpanzees. [22] Human hair can be brown, red, blonde or most commonly black. [23] Modern humans can also have their hair in many different colours by using dye. When humans get older hair can turn grey or even white.
Human skin colours vary greatly. They can be a very pale pink all the way up to dark brown. Human skin can get darker when under sunlight.[24] Sunlight is part UV radiation. The UV radiation in the light makes the skin change colour over a long time. This is called a sun tan.
Humans are not as strong as other primates the same size. An average female orang utan is at least three times as strong as an average human man.[25]
The average human male needs 7 to 8 hours sleep a day. People who sleep less than this are generally not as healthy. A child needs more sleep, 9 to 10 hours on average.
[change] Life cycle
Main article: life cycle
A human foetus at 7 weeks old.
The human life cycle is quite like most other mammals. The young grow inside the female mother for nine months. After this time the baby is pushed out of the woman's vagina. Unlike most other animals human childbirth is quite dangerous. Because human brains are so big, baby's heads are wide. The mothers pelvis bones are also not very wide because people walk on two legs. This combination means that quite often either mother and/or baby die in childbirth.[26] The number of mothers dying in childbirth is less in the 21st century. This is because of better medication and treatment. In many poor countries the number of mothers dying is very high. Sometimes it is up to 10 times as many as richer countries.[27]
The average human baby weighs 3 – 4 kg at birth and is 50-60 cm tall. This is often less in poorer countries.[28] Many babies in poor countries often die early because of this.[29]
Humans have four stages in their lives: infancy, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
Life expectancy is how long you are expected to live for. This depends on many things including where you live. The highest life expectancy is for people from Hong Kong, (84.8 years). The lowest is for people from Swaziland where, mainly because of AIDS, life expectancy is only 31 years.[30]
[change] Psychology
Main article: Psychology
A drawing of part of a human brain
Psychology is the study of how the human mind works. The human brain controls everything the body does. Everything from moving and breathing to thinking is done by the brain. Neurology is the study of how the brain works, psychology is the study of how and why people think and feel.
Human behaviour is hard to understand, so sometimes psychologists study animals because they may be simpler and easier to understand. Psychology overlaps with many other sciences including Medicine, Biology, Computer Science and Linguistics.
[change] Culture
[change] Language
Main article: Language
Language at its most basic is talking, reading and writing. The study of language is called linguistics. Humans have the most complicated languages on Earth. Human language is much more complicated than any other species.[4] There are 7,300 languages spoken around the world as of 2008.[31] The world's most spoken language as of 2008 is Mandarin Chinese. Over a billion people (1/6 of the world) speak this language.[32]
[change] Art, music and literature
Some cave paintings from over 10,000 years ago on a cave wall in Russia
Art has existed almost as long as humans. People have been doing some types of art for thousands of years as the picture on the right shows. Art represents how someone feels in the form of a painting, a sculpture or a photograph.
Music has also been around for thousands of years. Music can be made with only your voice but most of the time people use instruments. Music can be made using simple instruments only such as simple drums all the way up to electric guitars, keyboards and violins. Music can be loud, fast, quiet, slow or many different styles. Music represents how the people who are playing the music feel.
Literature is anything made or written using language. This includes books, poetry , legends, myths and fairy tales. Literature is important as without it many of the things we use today, such as Wikipedia, wouldn't exist.
[change] Race and ethnicity
Humans often categorize themselves by race or ethnicity. Human races are questionable as valid biological categories.[33] Human racial categories are based on both ancestry and visible traits such as skin color and facial features. These categories may also carry some information on non-visible biological traits, such as the risk of developing particular diseases such as sickle-cell disease.[34] Current genetic and archaeological evidence generally support a "recent single origin" of modern humans in East Africa.[35] Current genetic studies show that humans from Africa are most genetically diverse.[36] But, human gene sequences are very similar compared to many other animals.[37][38][39][40]
Ethnic groups are often linked by linguistic, cultural, ancestral, and national or regional ties. Race and ethnicity can lead to different social treatment called racism.
[change] Religion and spirituality
Religion is the belief in a higher being, spirit or anything for which there is no proof. Because there is no proof for these things, people need faith. Faith can bring people together because they all believe in the same thing. Some of the things religions talk about are what happens after death, why humans exist, how humans began and what is good to do and not to do (morality). Some people are not religious, some people are very religious, and some people believe a mixture of science and religion.
“ How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it. — Albert Einstein, 1961. ”
[change] Science and technology
Main articles: Science and Technology
In the 20th century technology moved forward enough to allow a person to land on the Moon.
Technology is the things people make to help them do things. Science is understanding how the universe and the things in it work. Technology used to be quite simple. It was passed on by people telling other people, until writing was invented. This allowed technology to develop much quicker. Now people understand more and more about the world and the universe. The invention of the telescope by Galileo, Einstein's theory of relativity and the big bang theory are all big technological - to do with technology - discoveries. Technology has come forward enough to allow things such as the internet, space travel and television.
[change] War
Main article: War
The 'mushroom cloud' from the Nagasaki atomic bomb which killed over 120,000 people
A war is a conflict between large groups of people, usually countries or states. A war often involves the use of dangerous force as both sides try to kill each other. It is estimated that during the 20th century between 167 and 188 million humans died because of war.[41] The people who fight in wars are called soldiers.
Modern wars are very different from wars a thousand or even a hundred years ago. Modern war involves sabotage, terrorism, propaganda, and guerrilla warfare. In modern day wars civilians - people who are not soldiers - are often targets. An example of this is the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945,[42] about half on the days of the bombings. Since then, thousands more have died from wounds or illness because of exposure to radiation released by the bombs.[43] In both cities, the overwhelming majority of the dead were civilians. In Germany, Austria, and Great Britain, conventional bombs were used. About 60,595[44] British and 550,000 [45] German (and possibly Austrian) civilians were killed during bombings of cities from warplanes.
[change] References