Article: "Fossil find puts 'Lucy' story on firm footing"
by Jonathan Amos, Science Correspondant
BBC News - Feb 10 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/new/science-environment-12412662
A foot bone from an ancient primate was recently discovered by scientists in Hadar, Ethiopia. The bone helps prove that the species Australopithecus afarensis was able to walk upright in the same way that modern humans do. This adaptation would have allowed it to move quicker and easier than other primates that climbed trees. Scientists believe that the creature lived more than 3 million years ago and was an ancestor of humans. The first skeleton of this species was found in 1974 and was named "Lucy".
I think that it is important for our species to study its origin because we can't expect to understand other things without first understanding ourselves. I hope that this research will help us learn more about how our bodies work so that we can cure disease, create new inventions, etc. Also, this article reminds me of an exhibit that I saw at the National Museum of Natural History that displayed the skeletons of various creatures. Maybe one day our skeletons will be on display and being studied the same way that Lucy's is now!
What are your opinions on the evolution of the human race?
How intelligent do you think Lucy was?
What other adaptations do humans have that make us special among the animals?
by Jonathan Amos, Science Correspondant
BBC News - Feb 10 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/new/science-environment-12412662
A foot bone from an ancient primate was recently discovered by scientists in Hadar, Ethiopia. The bone helps prove that the species Australopithecus afarensis was able to walk upright in the same way that modern humans do. This adaptation would have allowed it to move quicker and easier than other primates that climbed trees. Scientists believe that the creature lived more than 3 million years ago and was an ancestor of humans. The first skeleton of this species was found in 1974 and was named "Lucy".
I think that it is important for our species to study its origin because we can't expect to understand other things without first understanding ourselves. I hope that this research will help us learn more about how our bodies work so that we can cure disease, create new inventions, etc. Also, this article reminds me of an exhibit that I saw at the National Museum of Natural History that displayed the skeletons of various creatures. Maybe one day our skeletons will be on display and being studied the same way that Lucy's is now!
What are your opinions on the evolution of the human race?
How intelligent do you think Lucy was?
What other adaptations do humans have that make us special among the animals?
sorry guys the link doesn't work
ReplyDeletetry this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12412662
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a substantial discovery. Now it seems that we might be able to link ourselves back to the monkeys. I think that Lucy was probably very intelligent, if she was able to carry a species on for a very long time and have it evolve into us. I think our most usefull adaptation to distinguish us from the other animals, is our ability to communicate through language. If we could only grunt like the neanderthals, we probably would be extinct too.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really important discovery because like Ryan said we can now further our knowledge on evolution. This could be a pivitol moment in our history because Lucy could make our lives a lot easier in the theory of evolution. I agree with Ryan on the fact that she was probably very intelligent because it seems like she was in the later section of evolution when the brain was devolping more. I think another adaptation we have would probably be our thumbs because I think those are one of the most distinguishing things about us and realy help us a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis discovery is very interesting and should be helpful to scientists in the future. I agree with Connor, we should really study this skeleton. The human race was formed by "lucy" so shouldn't we study our ancestors? To discover new things about our selves we should first learn how we were made. I agree with Ryan and Marykate too, Lucy was very intelligent. If she was able to walk up right like we do she must have more intelligence than the other animals, to distinguish herself from them. Another adaption humans have over animals is our ability to adapt to new things very quickly and our complex thinking. Animals also adapt to new enviroments but it takes alot longer.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting find that could be very helpful in the study of humans. By comparing this new found bone to our current bones, we may be able to predict what is going to happen to our bone structure in the future. This can be a huge break for us in finding out what will happen to our bodies. I agree with both Ryans and Marykate that Lucy was probably very intelligent. To have been able to walk on her feet and allowed her species to evolve into humans requires a lot of intelligence. One adaptions we have is that we can adjust to our environment faster than animals. This is very helpful since our human race is coming out with new technologuy and equipment that is changing the world rapidly and we have to keep up with it.
ReplyDelete