title: A brief review of the recent evolution of the human mouth in physiological and nutritional contexts.
abstract: One of the defining characteristics of humans, one that could also explain our species' success, is probably our ability to cook food. A brief review of the literature suggests several adaptations of the mouth can be interpreted to support this. All probably enhance the efficiency of the physical treatment of food in the mouth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA. pwlucas@gwu.edu
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Kai Yang
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Ang
authors.forename: Zhongquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: Kalpana R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Jonathan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Prinz
authors.forename: Nathaniel J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Dominy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology*; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena