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Are you curious about the shape of our skeleton and how it allows us to walk and run? Do you wonder why some people don’t have wisdom teeth? Do you want to know more about the evolution of our brains? If so, Evolved is a museum exhibit designed for you!
Help us bring Evolved to COSI Science Center and spark curiosity in millions of people in Central Ohio and beyond. We are looking to raise $51,111 to create an exhibit with hands-on activities that explore what makes us human.
Evolved was conceptualized by alum Abbey Sarver-Verhey and professor Mark Hubbe from the Anthropology Department, and will explore the evolution of the human body through 8 interactive modules. With your help, we will install Evolved in partnership with COSI, and then we will take it to libraries all around Ohio, so that people from all corners of the state have the opportunity to interact and explore some of marvelous chapters of our evolution. We project that over 700,000 people will participate in Evolved by the end of its run.
Want to know more?
Take a sneak-peek at the concept of the exhibition HERE.
All donations are extremely appreciated, and are tax deductible. Donations are guaranteed to be used to fund the creation of the Evolved exhibit. All donations higher that $200 will be recognized in 24 point font on a donor wall located at the start of the exhibit.
Your help will allow Ohio State and APOP to create the first large scale, interactive human evolution exhibit to appear in Central Ohio!
-Mark, Abbey, and the rest of the APOP team
Evolved is part of the activities organized by APOP - The Ohio State University's Anthropology Public Outreach Program (u.osu.edu/apop). Since 2017, APOP has been promoting interactive activities dedicated to exploring the origins, evolution and diversity of humanity. We believe there is strong need and interest for more anthropology themed education in the Central Ohio region and beyond. APOP approached COSI with the idea to build a traveling exhibition there, and they jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this adventure!
Although almost all human populations nowadays rely on domesticated plants and animals to survive, plant domestication represent only 5% of the time our species exists in the planet.
Teeth, unlike bones, do not heal if damaged. That’s because teeth actually evolved from fish scales, which were appropriated as teeth at the time of the origin of jawed fishes, 420 million years ago.
We shared the planet with our close relatives, the Neandertals. Neandertals went extinct around 35 thousand years ago, but several events of admixture occurred before then. Modern populations from Europe and Asia have up to 5% of their genes inherited from Neandertals.
By 2050, US life expectancy will be above 80 years. During the 13th century, life expectancy in Europe was only about 30 years. Even 50 years ago, there was still great disparity across the globe, with African countries having life expectancy below 40 years, while Europe and North America’s were above 60 years.
The human brain at rest consumes about 260 calories per day. This represents 20% of our average resting metabolic rate, making our big brains the most expensive organ in our body.
Lucy, the most famous Australopithecus afarensis, represents one of the many species that make up our evolutionary tree. She lived in Africa about 3.5 million years ago, and her brain size was roughly the same as a modern chimpanzee’s.
Across all of the Americas, almost 800 languages are spoken nowadays, showing the importance of communication for our species and the different cultures that live on the continent. Most of these languages are in danger of disappearing in the next generation.
