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Human reproductive assistance

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What is the biological explanation for menopause, and for female survival beyond it? A study suggests that competition for help in ancestral societies may have been key to the evolution of this unusual human trait.

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Figure 1: Competition breeds success.

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Author notes

  1. A. Magdalena Hurtado is in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402, USA.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kim Hill is in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and the Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402, USA.,

    Kim Hill & A. Magdalena Hurtado

Authors
  1. Kim Hill
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  2. A. Magdalena Hurtado
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Correspondence to Kim Hill or A. Magdalena Hurtado.

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Hill, K., Hurtado, A. Human reproductive assistance. Nature 483, 160–161 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/483160a

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