From the category archives:

Evolution

Quadrupedal Human Gait

by pribut on September 7, 2010

Bipedalism (walking upright on two limbs) in hominids is considered a logical and efficient means of locomotion arrived at via hundreds of millions of years of evolution. At the newly instituted PLOS group of blogs a thorough post appearing on the newly moved blog Neuroanthropology describes Turkish individuals who are quadripedal and exhibit what is [...]

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Walk Don’t Run: Ambling Along With 4.5 Million Year Old Flat Feet

by pribut on October 1, 2009

Ambling Along With 4.5 Million Year Old Flat Feet
A hominid species predating Lucy, (Australopithecus africanus) has been more fully described. Journalists have had first crack at the issue of Science in which the updated description of the species,  Ardipithecus ramidus (from 4.5 million years ago), appears. The rest of us could only see this issue [...]

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Throw Away Your Shoes

by pribut on August 30, 2009

Sense and Sensibility
Note: There are several comments, but the interface on word press blogs will only show them if you click on the title and view only this blog entry.
The media seems to have decided that barefoot running is the trend that can’t be stopped, and should perhaps be encouraged. “Throw away your shoes” seems [...]

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Evolution and Exercise: What Made The Brain Get Bigger

by pribut on August 3, 2009

Stimulating Brain Development: Evolution Of The Brain Spurred By Movement (a speculative hypothesis)

We previously mentioned the early hominid development of upright, obligatory, habitual bipedal posture mentioning the richer protein and calorie dense food which may have enabled better brain development. We’ll expand on that a bit with a “big think” and take it down a [...]

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Toronto: Conference & Lecture Supplement

by pribut on August 1, 2009

I had the opportunity to speak at the American Podiatric Medical Association’s Annual Scientific Seminar this weekend. The American College of Podiatric Sports Medicine also held it’s annual meeting here in Toronto. The meetings were excellent. And, as always, it gave me the opportunity to see many people who I cannot often visit with. Old [...]

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In The Beginning: We Were Made To Stand Upright

by pribut on July 18, 2009

The Bare Outline of Bipedal Beginnings

Humans are the only primate habitual, obligate, bipedal on the planet. And not only can we walk, but we can launch ourselves completely off the ground and run. It is important to note that running is a one legged exercise. Only one limb is in contact with the ground at [...]

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Walk This Way

by pribut on March 3, 2009

Science magazine has just published an article on the oldest footprints found which correspond to modern day human biomechanical function. These footprints are about 1.5 Million years old and appear to belong to homo erectus, a species which predated homo sapiens.
The great toe was in similar alignment to modern day humans. An arch was present. [...]

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