Jeanie, I'm not a scientist either. These things can be learned via the internet, from reading books, watching TV, talking to people . . . you don't need to be an expert to have a degree of understanding, and a lot of web pages give good simple introductions to different topics.

One thing to understand about hominins is that there are many significant morphological (having to do with shape) differences between early and later species. It isn't just a case of simple variation like we see among modern homo sapiens. From studying each species, we can get averages of sizes and shapes of different bones, such as those of the cranium (head). By comparing the averages, we can see clear differences across species. It's also important to keep in mind that the ratio of brain to body size is important. While a neandertal brain had a larger average capacity than that of a modern human's, neandertals were also much more robust; so proportionally, our brains are bigger for our bodies, so to speak.

You can read here about brain sizes and here is a good general, accessible introduction to hominin species and their evolutionary relationships (called phylogeny).

A lot can be learned from a jaw or hip bone; scientists called paleoanthropologists spnd their lives studying these things.

Hominin evolution is one of my favourite topics to discuss, because we're talking about our roots, where we came from. By studying them, we learn about ourselves. I'm not saying I believe that we are nothing more than apes or savages, which is what many creationists think evolution implies. No, we're the species homo sapiens, which means we are a unique species with the intelligent capacity to reason, to behave morally, and to seek the spiritual. That doesn't mean we can't be curious about how these capacities developed though.

Not an ideal side tracked discussion in a thread about the flood, but oh well, I don't mind getting distracted with this It's lovely to talk to someone who doesn't sneer in their posts.