CARTA Glossary

Searching for wild food or provisions as opposed to cultivating food crops or breeding livestock.

A digestive process in which plant materials are fermented in a specialized combination of stomach compartments together called the reticulorumen. In ruminants, the fermented cud of the reticulorumen is regurgitated and chewed again to further break down the plant material, a process called rumination. After rumination, the food is finally digested in other stomach compartments, the omasum and abomsum (true stomach). Foregut fermentation also exists in some species that do not ruminate, such as leaf monkeys.

The act of piercing without the use of forceps.

Human frontal and parietal lobes form a network that is crucially involved in the selection of sensory contents by attention.

Intentional, ritualistic disposal of the deceased. May include behaviors such as placement of grave goods (artefacts and/or natural materials such as flowers) and positioning of interred body(ies).

How a person or animal moves; different categories of movement are different gaits (e.g. a run vs. a walk, a trot vs. a gallop).

Mature haploid sex cells that can unite to form a diploid zygote.

A facultatively anaerobic Gram-variable rod that is involved, together with many other bacteria, in bacterial vaginosis in some women as a result of a disruption in the normal vaginal microflora.

A gene that encodes a protein in the GATA family of transcription factors. GATA3 plays an important role in endothelial cell biology and in allergy and immunity against worm infections. In humans, defects in GATA3 cause hypoparathyroidism with sensorineural deafness and renal dysplasia.

Slang term for body jewelry, especially plugs or tunnels worn in stretched ear piercings. 

A type of concerted evolution where one gene on a chromosome can “paste” its sequence over a neighboring gene of high sequence similarity such that the sequences become identical after the conversion event. This phenomenon is common between similar genes located on the same chromosome region.

The total of all genes and their variants (alleles) of a population of a species.

A combination of medications that put you in a sleep-like state before medical procedures.

The total of heritable traits within a species.

The presence of deleterious gene variants (including recessive variants) in a population.

The deliberate, permanent alteration of the male (penis, testicles) or female (vulva) genitals.

Characterizing genetic variants at one or more loci.

A hypothesis that offers a simple connectomic scheme based upon the contribution of neurons with long-range axons to conscious processing. Their reciprocal interactions contribute to the formation of a global workspace, broadcasting signals from the sensory periphery to the whole brain, thus yielding “conscious” experience. The GNW hypothesis privileges cortical pyramidal cells with long-range excitatory axons, particularly dense in prefrontal, temporoparietal, and cingulate regions, that, together with the relevant thalamocortical loops, reciprocally interconnect multiple specialized, automatic, and non-conscious processors. Another important feature of this hypothesis is that the GNW activates in a non-linear manner, called ‘‘ignition,’’ upon access to conscious processing. Ignition is characterized by the sudden, coherent, and exclusive activation of a subset of workspace neurons coding for the current conscious content, with the remainder of the workspace neurons being inhibited.

A class of corticosteroids that are involved in stress response and are also a part of the feedback mechanism in the immune system. E.g., Dexamethasone (a synthetic glucorticoid).

A type of a lipid (fat) with an attached glycan that functions to maintain the stability of the cell membrane and to facilitate cellular recognition. Glycolipids are crucial in immune response and tissue formation.

Proteins with enzymatic functions that are involved in adding monosaccharides to other molecules.

An explanation of the post- menopausal life stage of human females whereby the existence of grandmothers serves as a biological and social adaptive advantage for humans. Post-reproductive life stages are non-existent among non-human primates, so it is hypothesized that humans evolved to have grandmothers and grandmothering to have individuals who are free to invest their energy into the offspring of their children. This off-loads the reproductive cost of parenting through social kin-networking, and off-set the resource cost of brain- building as parents are freed to provision resources. Increased resource procurement may reduce the inter-birth interval by allowing for earlier weening, which in turn increases offspring production potential, passes down generational knowledge, and increase social networks. In doing so, the grandmother ensures the survival of her genes in subsequent generations. The extended post-reproduction life stage of grandmothers likely had the added output of producing grandfathers, who also provide benefits to the extended family, as well as their own extended reproductive time line that competes with subsequent generations.

The development and dissemination of crop variants and technology between the 1950s and 1960s that increased agricultural production around the world. Also known as the third agricultural revolution.

The release of polluting gasses resulting from human activity, such as burning fossil fuels that contribute to greenhouse effect.

A rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by an autoimmune response in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and damages the peripheral nervous system. Initial symptoms typically begin in the feet and hands with changes in sensation, pain, and muscle weakness, which then spreads to the arms and upper body of both sides. Sometimes this immune dysfunction is triggered by an infection or, less commonly by surgery, and rarely by vaccination.

A ridge on the cerebral cortex that, along with surrounding sulci (furrows) creates the folded appearance of the brain in humans and other mammals.

A prehistoric stone tool with two faces and is usually made from flint, basalt, sandstone, quartzite, or chert.

A map of informative subsets of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found along a stretch of a chromosome used to identify blocks of genetic variation existing along human chromosomes.

Stem cells that can become different types of blood cells.

A protein complex within red blood cells (RBCs) that binds to oxygen molecules in the lungs for delivery to tissues throughout the body. The same complex also binds carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carries it back to the lungs.

A gene that provides instructions for making beta-globin, a protein component of hemoglobin. Sickle Cell Anemia is a disorder caused by a mutation in the HBB gene.

A statistic used in the fields of breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population.

Have two different alleles at a locus.

The back limbs and feet of a quadrupedal animal (also, the lower limbs/legs of a human).

A part of the limbic system that plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. Humans and other vertebrates have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. It is named after its resemblance to the shape of a sea horse (hippocampus in Latin).

A drug that inhibits histone deacetylases or molecules involved in modifying histone proteins. Histone deacetylases typically function to reduce chromatin accessibility and gene expression. Therefore, administration of this drug allows for higher levels of gene expression.

The current geological epoch, from about 11.7 kya (after the end of the last Ice Age cycle) to the present that is marked by globally warmer and more stable climates.

An extinct hominin species whose fossil evidence dates to 335-236 kya. An assemblage of 15 H. naledi skeletons were first found in the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system in 2013 (since then, a second chamber has been found with H. naledi skeletons). The fossils possess a mix of “archaic” traits similar to genus Australopithecus (e.g. cranial and pelvic morphology) and “modern” traits characteristic of genus Homo (e.g. hand morphology). H. naledi lived contemporaneously with anatomically modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans but is not likely a direct ancestors of humans living today.

Similarity in DNA or phenotype because of shared evolutionary history from a common ancestor.

Have two identical alleles at a locus

A living organism on or in which a parasite, pathogen, commensal or symbiont lives (see Parasitism).

A set of 49 segments of the human genome that are conserved throughout vertebrate evolution but are strikingly different in humans. They are named according to their degree of difference between humans and chimpanzees. Some of these highly mutated areas may contribute to human-specific traits while others may represent “loss of function” mutations, possibly due to the action of biased gene conversion rather than adaptive evolution.

A protein-coding gene that is present in humans but absent in other non-human ape species.

An explanation for the dietary shift to meat procurement during human evolution as a catalyst favoring a suite of transformative biological and behavioral adaptations.

Increased sensitivity to pain.

Having a decreased tendency to provoke an allergic reaction.

A diminished capacity for pleasure.