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Modern humans (''Homo sapiens'', primarily ssp. ''Homo sapiens sapiens'') are the only extant members of the hominin clade (or human clade), a branch of the great apes; they are characterized by erect posture and bipedal locomotion, manual dexterity and increased tool use, and a general trend toward larger, more complex brains and societies.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=Animal Diversity Web @ UMich )〕 Early hominins—particularly the australopithecines, whose brains and anatomy are in many ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes—are less often referred to as "human" than hominins of the genus ''Homo''. Some of the latter used fire, occupied much of Eurasia, and gave rise to anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'' in Africa about 200,000 years ago. They began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago, and migrated in successive waves to occupy all but the smallest, driest, and coldest lands. In the last 100 years, this has extended to permanently manned bases in Antarctica, offshore platforms, and to orbiting the Earth. The spread of humans and their large and increasing population has had a profound impact on large areas of the environment and millions of native species worldwide. Advantages that explain this evolutionary success include a relatively larger brain with a particularly well-developed neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes, which enable high levels of abstract reasoning, language, problem solving, sociality, and culture through social learning. Humans use tools to a much higher degree than any other animal, are the only extant species known to build fires and cook their food, as well as the only extant species to clothe themselves and create and use numerous other technologies and arts. Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of symbolic communication (such as language and art) for self-expression and the exchange of ideas, and for organizing themselves into purposeful groups. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values,〔Marshall T. Poe A History of Communications: Media and Society from the Evolution of Speech to the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780521179447〕 social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society. Curiosity and the human desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena (or events) has provided the foundation for developing science, philosophy, mythology, religion, anthropology, and numerous other fields of knowledge. Humans began to practice sedentary agriculture about 12,000 years ago, domesticating plants and animals, thus allowing for the growth of civilization. Humans subsequently established various forms of government, religion, and culture around the world, unifying people within a region and leading to the development of states and empires. The rapid advancement of scientific and medical understanding in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the development of fuel-driven technologies and improved health, causing the human population to rise exponentially. By 2014 the global human population was estimated to be around 7.2 billion. ==Etymology and definition== In common usage, the word "human" generally refers to the only extant species of the genus ''Homo'' — anatomically and behaviorally modern '' Homo sapiens''. Its usage often designates differences between that species as a whole and any other group or entity. In scientific terms, the meanings of "hominid" and "hominin" have changed during the recent decades with advances in the discovery and study of the fossil ancestors of modern humans. The previously clear boundary between humans and apes has blurred, resulting in now acknowledging the hominids as encompassing multiple species, and ''Homo'' and close relatives since the split from chimpanzees as the only hominins. There is also a distinction between ''anatomically modern humans'' and ''Archaic Homo sapiens'', the earliest fossil members of the species. The English adjective ''human'' is a Middle English loanword from Old French ', ultimately from Latin ''ラテン語:hūmānus'', the adjective form of ''ラテン語:homō'' "man". The word's use as a noun (with a plural: ''humans'') dates to the 16th century.〔OED, s.v. "human".〕 The native English term ''man'' can refer to the species generally (a synonym for ''humanity''), and could formerly refer to specific individuals of either sex, though this latter use is now obsolete.〔The OED considers obsolete the sense "a designation applied equally to particular individuals of either sex", citing a 1597 source as the most recent ("The Lord had but one paire of men in Paradise.") while it continues to endorse the sense "as a general or indefinite designation" as current in English.〕 Generic uses of the term "man" are declining, in favor of reserving it for referring specifically to adult males. The word is from Proto-Germanic ', from a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root '. The species binomial ''Homo sapiens'' was coined by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work ''Systema Naturae''. The generic name ''Homo'' is a learned 18th century derivation from Latin ''ラテン語:homō'' "man", ultimately "earthly being" (Old Latin ''ラテン語:hemō'', a cognate to Old English ' "man", from PIE ', meaning "earth" or "ground").〔Porkorny (1959) s.v. "g'hðem" pp. 414–416; "Homo." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 23 September 2008. (【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Dictionary.com )〕 The species-name ''sapiens'' means "wise" or "sapient". Note that the Latin word ''homo'' refers to humans of either gender, and that ''sapiens'' is the singular form (while there is no such word as ''sapien'').〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=''Homo sapiens'' Etymology )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「human」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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