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Determination of the relative or absolute age of materials or objects by measurement of the degree of racemization of the amino acids present. With the exception of glycine, the amino acids found in proteins can exist in two isomeric forms called d-…

The use of live nonhuman animals for scientific research and experimentation. Animal testing has been a cornerstone of biomedical research, having contributed greatly to the understanding of human biology, to the unraveling of the complex underlying…

The observation, measurement, and explanation of human variability in time and space. Anthropology is a science concerned with the interrelations of the biological, cultural, geographical, and historical aspects of humankind, including modern human…

The systematic quantitative representation of the human body. Anthropometric techniques are used to measure the absolute and relative variability in size and shape of the human body. Instrumentation Depending on the objective, anthropometric…

The establishment of the temporal sequence of prehistoric events. An event can be defined as a duration of time during which certain features came together to form a set, for example, when certain materials were formed into an object (manufacturing…

Any member of an adaptively diverse group of extinct hominin species that inhabited Africa between approximately 4.2 million years ago (MYA) and 1.2 MYA. The term australopith is used in preference to the term australopithecine, which is sometimes…

The study of skeletal remains from archeological sites by biological (or physical) anthropologists. Bioarcheology differs in several ways from traditional skeletal research. Previous work focused on individual case studies (for example, individuals…

A discipline concerned with the application of ethics to biological problems, especially in the field of medicine. Bioethics is a broad term that encompasses the environmental, ethical, legal, and social implications of agriculture, life sciences,…