Chapter 3 Discussion & Essay Topics

Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists?
  1. Outline the various forms of material evidence for evolution.
  1. Discuss the impact of the work of Gregor Mendel on evolution. How did his experiments help shape our current understandings of evolution?
  1. Discuss how new discoveries in genetics research have changed and/or refined the ways in which scientists and anthropologists view the process of evolution.
  1. Outline three important points about the relationship between genetics research and ethics that we can learn from the stories of Canadian geneticists Jennifer Liu and Roderick McInnes.
  1. What are the key differences between Darwinian evolution and modern approaches to evolution?
  1. How could you use the concept of exaptation (Gould and Vrba 1982) to explain how human language developed?
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