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Articles on Australopithecus afarensis

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A full set is two on the top and two on the bottom. Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Why do people have wisdom teeth?

Two dental experts explain that these furthest-back molars may be a not-so-necessary leftover from early human evolution.
Three upright walkers, including Lucy (center) and two specimens of Australopithecus sediba, a human ancestor from South Africa dating back nearly 2 million years. Image compiled by Peter Schmid and courtesy of Lee R. Berger/Wikimedia Commons

When and how was walking invented?

Walking has taken a very long time to develop, with evidence of bipedalism among early humans in Africa roughly 4.4 million years ago.
The original Dikika child skull (left), a 3D model produced with synchrotron scanning (middle), and a model corrected for distortion during fossilisation (right). Gunz et al. (2020) / Science Advances.

Baby steps: this ancient skull is helping us trace the path that led to modern childhood

Our findings reveal the slowing down of brain development in our ape-like ancestors began more than three million years ago.
The skull of Homo naledi is built like those of early Homo species but its brain was just more than half the size of the average ancestor from 2 million years ago. SUPPLIED

Homo naledi: determining the age of fossils is not an exact science

Despite claims about its age, puzzling combinations of features from Homo naledi gives it an uncanny resemblance to human beings.

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