Built for the long run.

• Position: Science - Brief Article

If walking upright first set our human ancestors apart from their ape cousins, it may have been their ability to run long distances with a springing step over the African savanna that marked the transition to today's human body form. By studying fossil records, Dennis M. Bramble, a biologist at the University of Utah, and Daniel. E. Lieberman, a Harvard paleontologist, found evidence that humans began to be able to run long distances about 2 million years ago. Traces of tendon-attachment points on bones of early human species revealed an extensive network of springy tendons along the backs of the legs and feet. These tendons, while...