Humans’ physiological adaptations that enabled speech some 50,000 years ago are the evolutionary key that led to our role as earth’s dominant species. Discuss.
"In 1999, journalist, author, and novelist John Colapinto damaged his vocal cords while singing in a rock band without properly warming up. The incident sparked a decades-long investigation into the miracle of the human voice and its biological, sociological, and psychological implications.
"Colapinto poured his research—which began with an article he wrote for The New Yorker, where he’s a staff writer, about vocal surgeon Steven Zeitels, who has worked with Steven Tyler, Cher, and Adele—into his book, This Is the Voice (Simon & Schuster), out this month in paperback, which tells the story of the human voice from its ancestral precursors in lungfish millions of years ago to its role as a powerful, efficient tool wielded by most people every day. He also explains how the voice can provide clues about a person’s age, sexual preference, and culture, and argues that humans’ physiological adaptations that developed to enable speech some 50,000 years ago are the evolutionary key that led to our role as earth’s dominant species." - Mara Fisher