 |
|
New findings solve human origins mystery
October 10, 2007Los Angeles, California - An extraordinary advance in human origins research reveals evidence of the emergence of the upright human body plan over 15 million years earlier than most experts have believed. More dramatically, the study confirms preliminary evidence that many early hominoid apes were most likely upright bipedal walkers sharing the basic body form of modern humans. On October 10th, online, open-access journal PLoS ONE will publish the report based on research from Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology and from the Cedars Sinai Institute for Spinal Disorders that connects several recent fossil discoveries to older fossils finds that have eluded adequate explanation in the past.
Recent advances in the field of homeotic genetics together with a series of discoveries of hominoid fossils vertebrae now strongly suggest that a specific genetic change that generated the upright bipedal human body form may soon be identified. The various upright "hominiform" hominoids appear to share this morphogenetic innovation with modern humans. Homeotics concerns the embryological assembly program for midline repeating structures such as the human vertebral column and the insect body segments.
The report analyses changes in homeotic embryological assembly of the spine in more than 200 mammalian species across a 250 million year time scale. It identifies a series of modular changes in genetic assembly program that have taken place at the origin point of several major groups of mammals including the newly designated 'hominiform' hominoids that share the modern human body plan.
The critical event involves a dramatic embryological change unique to the human lineage that was not previously understood because the unusual human condition was viewed as "normal."
"From an embryological point of view, what took place is literally breathtaking," says Dr. Aaron Filler, a Harvard trained evolutionary biologist and a medical director at Cedars Sinai Medical Center's Institute for Spinal Disorders. Dr. Filler is an expert in spinal biology and the author of three books about the spine - "Axial Character Seriation in Mammals" (BrownWalker 2007), "The Upright Ape" (New Page Books 2007), and "Do You Really Need Back Surgery" (Oxford University Press 2007).
In most vertebrates (including most mammals), he explains, the dividing plane between the front (ventral) part of the body and the back (dorsal) part is a "horizontal septum" that runs in front of the spinal canal. This is a fundamental aspect of animal architecture. A bizarre birth defect in what may have been the first direct human ancestor led to the "transposition" of the septum to a position behind the spinal cord in the lumbar region. Oddly enough, this configuration is more typical of invertebrates.
The mechanical effect of the transposition was to make horizontal or quadrupedal stance inefficient. "Any mammal with this set of changes would only be comfortable standing upright. I would envision this malformed young hominiform - the first true ancestral human - as standing upright from a young age while its siblings walked around on all fours."
The earliest example of the transformed hominiform type of lumbar spine is found in Morotopithecus bishopi an extinct hominoid species that lived in Uganda more than 21 million years ago. "From a number of points of view," Filler says, "humanity can be redefined as having its origin with Morotopithecus. This greatly demotes the importance of the bipedalism of Australopithecus species such as Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) since we now know of four upright bipedal species that precede her, found from various time periods on out to Morotopithecus in the Early Miocene."
Public Library of Science
The critical event involves a dramatic embryological change unique to the human lineage that was not previously understood because the unusual human condition was viewed as "normal."
"From an embryological point of view, what took place is literally breathtaking," says Dr. Aaron Filler, a Harvard trained evolutionary biologist and a medical director at Cedars Sinai Medical Center's Institute for Spinal Disorders. Dr. Filler is an expert in spinal biology and the author of three books about the spine - "Axial Character Seriation in Mammals" (BrownWalker 2007), "The Upright Ape" (New Page Books 2007), and "Do You Really Need Back Surgery" (Oxford University Press 2007).
In most vertebrates (including most mammals), he explains, the dividing plane between the front (ventral) part of the body and the back (dorsal) part is a "horizontal septum" that runs in front of the spinal canal. This is a fundamental aspect of animal architecture. A bizarre birth defect in what may have been the first direct human ancestor led to the "transposition" of the septum to a position behind the spinal cord in the lumbar region. Oddly enough, this configuration is more typical of invertebrates.
The mechanical effect of the transposition was to make horizontal or quadrupedal stance inefficient. "Any mammal with this set of changes would only be comfortable standing upright. I would envision this malformed young hominiform - the first true ancestral human - as standing upright from a young age while its siblings walked around on all fours."
The earliest example of the transformed hominiform type of lumbar spine is found in Morotopithecus bishopi an extinct hominoid species that lived in Uganda more than 21 million years ago. "From a number of points of view," Filler says, "humanity can be redefined as having its origin with Morotopithecus. This greatly demotes the importance of the bipedalism of Australopithecus species such as Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) since we now know of four upright bipedal species that precede her, found from various time periods on out to Morotopithecus in the Early Miocene."
Public Library of Science
Human Origin Current Events and Human Origin News RSSA potential therapeutic agent for hepatic fibrosis
Accumulating evidence suggests that connective tissue growth factor (CCN2) plays a central role in fibrotic conditions in many organ systems.
Humans related to orangutans, not chimps, says new Pitt, Buffalo Museum of Science study
New evidence underscores the theory of human origin that suggests humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science.
Adalimumab may reduce health-care costs for Crohn's disease patients
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term that refers to both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). IBD occurs most frequently in people in their late teens and twenties. There have been cases in children as young as two years old and in older adults in their seventies and eighties; men and women have an equal chance of getting the disease.
New study shows health benefits of probiotic could extend to the entire body
Data from a recent study demonstrate the anti-inflammatory and pathogen protection benefits of Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 a probiotic bacterial strain of human origin.
New Cancer Treatment Targets Both Tumor Cells and Blood Vessels
It takes more than one punch to fight tumors. Often, tumors have more than one way of surviving, and attacking the tumor alone is not enough.
New therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases
The focus of work in the Neurosciences Department's Neurobiology Laboratory at the University of the Basque Country's Faculty of Medicine and Odontology is the investigation of the molecular and cellular bases of neurodegenerative illnesses - those that affect the brain and the spinal cord.
Stem cells act through multiple mechanisms to benefit mice with neurodegenerative disease
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for benefiting degenerative diseases, and do so by invoking multiple mechanisms. Such cells can be grown in a manner compatible with clinical use (i.e., without animal feeder layers) and even without the need for immunosuppression.
Therapeutic peptide frees the protein p73 to kill tumor cells
The protein p53 suppresses tumor development by potently inducing tumor cell death, making it an obvious target for anticancer therapeutics.
A year on from the Asian tsunami, satellites are aiding regional rebuilding
The deadly Indian Ocean tsunami that swept across coastlines on 26 December 2004 took the lives of more than 200 000 people.
Scripps-led Global Ocean Warming Research Paper Published in Science
Research led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, that describes the first clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans will be published June 2, 2005, in the peer-reviewed journal Science.
More Human Origin Current Events and Human Origin News Articles
 |
Human Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us about Ourselves by Rob DeSalle (Author), Ian Tattersall (Author) Ever since the recognition of the Neanderthals as an archaic form of human in the mid-nineteenth century, the fossilized bones of extinct humans have been used by paleoanthropologists to explore human origins. These bones told the story of how the earliest humans—bipedal apes, actually—first emerged in Africa some 6 to 7 million years ago. Starting about 2 million years ago, the bones reveal that as humans became anatomically and behaviorally more modern, they swept out of Africa in waves into Asia, Europe, and finally into the New World. Even as paleoanthropologists continued to make important discoveries—Mary Leakey’s Nutcracker Man in 1959, Don Johanson’s Lucy in 1974, and most recently Martin Pickford’s Millennium Man, to name just a few—experts in genetics were... |
 |
National Geographic: The Human Family Tree Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2009 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Nr |
 |
The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, Third Edition by Richard G. Klein (Author) Since its publication in 1989, The Human Career has proved to be an indispensable tool in teaching human origins. This substantially revised third edition retains Richard G. Klein’s innovative approach while showing how cumulative discoveries and analyses over the past ten years have significantly refined our knowledge of human evolution. Klein chronicles the evolution of people from the earliest primates through the emergence of fully modern humans within the past 200,000 years. His comprehensive treatment stresses recent advances in knowledge, including, for example, ever more abundant evidence that fully modern humans originated in Africa and spread from there, replacing the Neanderthals in Europe and equally archaic people in Asia. With its coverage of both the fossil... |
![Nova: In Search of Human Origins, Part 3 - The Creative Revolution [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XERRKNML._SL160_.gif) |
Nova: In Search of Human Origins, Part 3 - The Creative Revolution [VHS] Starring: Don Johanson The award-winning exploration of the beginnings and expansion of the human race. Look at the world-wide expansion and evolution of the human race. |
 |
Our Amazing Ancestors Science Kit Trace the Origins of the Human Race! by Educational Design Inc Our Amazing Ancestors Science Kit. Trace the Origins of the Human Race. 3-D Skulls and Portrait Heads. 6 Foot Timechart Poster. Stone Tools. Cave Painting. Morphing Flipbooks. 96 page Science Book. |
 |
Alien Origins by Lloyd Pye Starring: Lloyd Pye Directed By: Reality Films Also With: Lloyd Pye (Writer), Reality Films (Producer) |
|
Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition Part 1 & Part 2 Also With: Professor Robert Sapolsky (Primary Contributor) 24 Lectures/30 minutes per lecture Part 1: Lecture 1: Biology and Behavior-An Introduction Lecture 2: The Basic Cells of the Nervous System Lecture 3: How Two Neurons Communicate Lecture 4: Learning and Synaptic Plasticity Lecture 5: The Dynamics of Interacting Neurons Lecture 6: The Limbic System Lecture 7: The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Lecture 8: The Regulation of Hormones by the Brain Lecture 9: The Regulation of the Brain by Hormones Lecture 10: The Evolution of Behavior Lecture 11: The Evolution of Behavior- Some Examples Lecture 12: Cooperation, Competition, and Neuroeconomics Part 2: Lecture 13: What Do Genes Do? Microevolution of Genes Lecture 14: What Do Genes Do? Macroevolution of Genes Lecture 15: Behavior Genetics Lecture 16: Behavior Genetics and Prenatal... | |
 |
Human Origins Simeon Harris (Primary Contributor) |
 |
Origins of Human Communication (Bradford Books) by Michael Tomasello (Author) Winner, 2009 Eleanor Maccoby Book Award in Developmental Psychology, presented by the American Psychological Association. and Honorable Mention, Literature, Language & Linguistics category, 2008 PROSE Awards presented by the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers. Human communication is grounded in fundamentally cooperative, even shared, intentions. In this original and provocative account of the evolutionary origins of human communication, Michael Tomasello connects the fundamentally cooperative structure of human communication (initially discovered by Paul Grice) to the especially cooperative structure of human (as opposed to other primate) social interaction. Tomasello argues that human cooperative... |
 |
Evolution: Learning and Teaching Evolution Starring: Liam Neeson |
| © 2010 BrightSurf.com |