11-18-2004, 08:07 PM
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| Senior Member   | Humans born to run?
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11-19-2004, 12:06 AM
| #2 |
| Super Moderator   | Here's the article from the link:
Updated: 5:02 p.m. ET Nov. 17, 2004LONDON - Humans were born to run and evolved from ape-like creatures into the way they look today probably because of the need to cover long distances and compete for food, scientists said on Wednesday. advertisement From tendons and ligaments in the legs and feet that act like springs and skull features that help prevent overheating, to well-defined buttocks that stabilize the body, the human anatomy is shaped for running. "We do it because we are good at it. We enjoy it and we have all kinds of specializations that permit us to run well," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University in Massachusetts. "There are all kinds of features that we see in the human body that are critical for running," he said. ‘Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns.’ — Dennis Bramble biology professor, University of Utah Lieberman and Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah, studied more than two dozen traits that increase humans' ability to run. Their research is reported in the science journal Nature. They suspect modern humans evolved from their ape-like ancestors about 2 million years ago so they could hunt and scavenge for food over large distances. But the development of physical features that enabled humans to run entailed a trade off -- the loss of traits that were useful for being a tree-climber. "We are very confident that strong selection for running -- which came at the expense of the historical ability to live in trees -- was instrumental in the origin of the modern human body form," Bramble said in a statement. Against the grain The conventional theory is that running was a by-product of bipedalism, or the ability to walk upright on two legs, that evolved in ape-like human ancestors called Australopithecus at least 4.5 million years ago. But Lieberman and Bramble argue that it took a few million more years for the running physique to evolve, so the ability to walk cannot explain the transition. "There were 2.5 million to 3 million years of bipedal walking without ever looking like a human, so is walking going to be what suddenly transforms the hominid body?" said Bramble. "We're saying 'no, walking won't do that, but running will.'" RELATED STORY Monkey apes humans by walking on two legs If natural selection did not favour running, the scientists believe humans would still look a lot like apes. "Running has substantially shaped human evolution. Running made us human -- at least in the anatomical sense," Bramble added. Among the features that set humans apart from apes to make them good runners are longer legs to take longer strides, shorter forearms to enable the upper body to counterbalance the lower half during running and larger disks which allow for better shock absorption. Big buttocks are also important. "Have you ever looked at an ape? They have no buns," said Bramble. Humans lean forward when they run and the buttocks "keep you from pitching over on your nose each time a foot hits the ground," he added.
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11-19-2004, 05:57 AM
| #3 |
| Moderator   Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Tallahassee, Florida
Posts: 10,359
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Good thing we developed that way. J-lo just wouldn't look the same otherwise. 
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11-19-2004, 07:36 PM
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| Guest
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she sure is running through marriages  |
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11-20-2004, 01:02 AM
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| Senior Member  |
seems to me if we were born to run as suggested in this article,we would at least possess the capability to run at greater speeds for extended periods of time. look at the cheetah,it truely is born to run but it can only hold its speed for a very short time till its spent. i cant think of one carnivor species on this planet that humans can out run. sometimes i think the best case for man evolving from apes is the inheirant stupidity of these scientists and their theory's of evolution. it also seems to me that the only thing scientists need proof of to believe it exists is god. every other cock&bull theory is taken at face value with no proof what so ever.
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11-20-2004, 05:46 AM
| #7 |
| Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Tallahassee, Florida
Posts: 10,359
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Actually, looking at various mroe primitive societies, I agree with them. Can't consider us Americans - we're breeding ourselves for laziness. The southwestern Indians rode horses, but knew if the worst happened, they could eat the horse and still run to where they needed to go. The South American Indians had a very efficient "runner" mail system - couldn't ride animals in those rain forrests and mountains. Many less developed peoples put us to shame, when using the "Shank's Mare".
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11-20-2004, 08:48 AM
| #8 |
| Senior Member  |
I saw the article in the paper along with a new ape they found in asia. They now claim the ape is a transitional hominid (sp.?) and that it lived so long ago it's difficult to find bones but, it's there. So, they tell us. I guess everyone wants to be a star and besides, in the big scheme of things, I fail to see the importance, other than the pure science of it all. No time machine so, I guess we'll never really know the whole truth.
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