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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"'Ardi'-facts"
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SHAKING THE FAMILY TREE... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: WE LOVED "LUCY" AS THE OLDEST COMMON-ANCESTOR WITH HUMANS AND APES EVER FOUND. WELL, MOVE OVER "LUCY": THE DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT SKELETAL-REMAINS IN THE ETHIOPIAN DESERT IN THE EARLY '90'S--AND SUBSEQUENT STUDY OF THE BONES FROM THE SITE--HAS LED SCIENTISTS TO CREATE A NEW GENUS--AND DECLARE A NEW OLDEST COMMON-RELATIVE EVER FOUND. AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF 70 SCIENTISTS RECENTLY MADE HISTORY--BY CHANGING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY--THROUGH A PAINSTAKINGLY DETAILED ANALYSIS AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BONES FROM THAT SITE. MEET "ARDI" [LIKE "HARDY"]--AS IN "ARDIPITHECUS RAMIDUS": "ARDI" IS A FEMALE HOMINID THAT WALKED THE EARTH 1.2-MILLION YEARS BEFORE LUCY; THAT'S 4.4-MILLION YEARS AGO. SHE COULD WALK UPRIGHT--ALTHOUGH THE TEAM BELIEVES THAT SHE SPENT SOME TIME ON ALL FOURS. SHE PROBABLY WASN'T AS AGILE IN THE TREES AS A CHIMP. BUT, WHEN SHE WALKED USING HER HANDS, IT WAS ON THE PALMS--NOT ON HER KNUCKLES, LIKE CHIMPS OR GORILLAS. "ARDI" DID NOT REALLY RESEMBLE APES OR HUMANS--INDICATING THAT THE LAST COMMON-ANCESTOR OF APES AND HUMANS LOOKED LIKE NEITHER--AND THAT BOTH LINES EVOLVED QUITE A BIT SINCE THEY SPLIT, SEVEN-MILLION YEARS AGO. THE FIND CHANGES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN-ORIGINS AND EARLY EVOLUTION. "ARDI" NEVER DREAMED THAT, IN 2009, SHE'D BE THE COVER-GIRL FOR "SCIENCE" MAGAZINE. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
