Thomas A. Püschel

Phylogenetic meta-analysis implicates large brains and our unusual posture in human handedness

This study uses phylogenetic meta-analysis to show that human handedness is linked to large brain size and upright posture, distinguishing it from other primates.

Infant corpse carrying in Pan reflects maternal attachment and death context

The paper analyzes infant corpse carrying in Pan to show it is influenced by maternal behavior, death context, and life history, suggesting cognitive frameworks for death recognition evolved after the Pan-Homo split.

Climatic-environmental influences on hominin brain size over the last 5 million years

This study uses Bayesian phylogenetic methods to analyze hominin fossil data and finds that colder and more variable temperatures positively influence brain size evolution within species, but this effect weakens in later Homo species.