Posted on 07/16/2018 8:36:27 PM PDT by Simon Green
Scientists have long linked the evolution of the human hand—unique for its lengthy opposable thumbs and dexterous fingers—to the rise of stone tools some 2.6 million years ago. These instruments, from primitive chunks of rock used as makeshift hammers to sharp stone flakes created by striking one stone against another and even small handaxes, are typically attributed to Homo habilis, an ancient human species nicknamed “handy man” in honor of its theorized role as the first toolmaker.
Early hominins practiced an array of tool-related activities, including hunting, foraging and cooking. But according to a new study from researchers at Chatham University and the University of Kent, not all of these activities were created equal. The team’s findings, newly published in the Journal of Human Evolution, suggest that a specific behavior—smashing animal bones to access their marrow—had an outsized effect on the development of early hand anatomy.
“These behaviors all involve different materials, different end goals, and different patterns of force and motion for the upper limb,” the researchers note in their study. “Therefore, it is unlikely that each behavior exerted equal influence on the evolution of the modern human hand.”
Bone marrow is a tasty, high-energy food. Early humans who had hands more suited to smashing open bones and acquiring the delicious snack might have been better equipped to survive in the harsh conditions of prehistory, and thus more likely to pass their genes—and dextrous hands—on to the next generation. To test that hypothesis, the team asked 39 volunteers to don a manual pressure sensor system called Pliance and demonstrate a bevy of Pleistocene-era activities, like cracking nuts, acquiring marrow with the aid of a hammerstone, and chipping away flint to shape tools known as flakes.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Yeah, so what gave DNA the idea to create the modern hand design? How did it make a working blueprint to begin with? Creation of more functional blueprints aren’t random.
Likewise tools didn’t create the need for hands, hands created tools.
“It’s self evident that the human hand evolved to fit the 1911A1 Colt semiauto.”
There’s the right answer.
Settled science. Well done.
Genetics is making evolutionary theory more unbelievable than ever...
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