We claim we are different from all other animals, and we are, but only with respect to the development of the brain. In all other aspects we are, like all life, the product of evolution. The history of Homo sapiens has been mostly a fight for survival in competition with other large mammals, and at the mercy of a wide variety of organisms competing with us for resources, and often capable of injuring us or causing death. Only in the last, perhaps, 20,000 years, have our superior thinking skills enabled us to prevent and mostly overcome the dangers in our environment. Otherwise we are, physically, still the result of human evolution. We have evolved to stand upright, to walk and run long distances, grasp large and small objects with our hands, see colours, hear, touch, taste, smell and to make complex sounds. These features are not new, but evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to enable humans to survive in hostile environments. Most of these features can be refined through use and practice, and these improvements, together with the gradual improvements in our thinking, have become the basis of modern civilisation.

However, our bodies remain, largely, the product of our evolution, and our basic animal nature needs to be taken into account when advising us on health, fitness, hygiene, nutrition, growth, reproduction and ageing. In this blog I will comment on a variety of human topics from the viewpoint of someone trained in dealing scientifically, not with a single unique species, but a wide variety of animals. Watch this space!