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posted by CoolHand on Monday October 26 2015, @02:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the time-for-a-beating dept.

http://neurosciencenews.com/evolution-hands-fighting-2917/
"As an alternative, we suggest that the hand proportions that allow the formation of a fist may tell us something important about our evolutionary history and who we are as a species," Carrier adds. "If our anatomy is adapted for fighting, we need to be aware we always may be haunted by basic emotions and reflexive behaviors that often don't make sense – and are very dangerous – in the modern world," says biology Professor David Carrier.

Carrier and his collaborators not only have argued our hands evolved partly for punching but that the faces of human ancestors, the australopiths, evolved to resist punching – and that human faces became more delicate as our violence became less dependent on brute force. The new study sought more experimental evidence for his theory using nine male cadaver arms purchased from the university's body donor program and from a private supply company.

Shoryuken!


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  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday October 26 2015, @03:11PM

    by RamiK (1813) on Monday October 26 2015, @03:11PM (#254703)

    The problem is that humans were using clubs and spears to hunt. So, if it's true that human facial features were evolved to contend with fist blows, then it means that human sexual selection might have had a dominant element of non-lethal competition rather then the ol' "kill him and rape his wife" or the progressive "bring pretty shinny things to her and hunt the biggest pray around" theories that were supported by the multiple wounds inflicted on human skeletons and the abundance of jewelery even for people who were straggling for food.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by frojack on Monday October 26 2015, @06:44PM

    by frojack (1554) on Monday October 26 2015, @06:44PM (#254821) Journal

    That last sentence wandered so far afield that it needed a club to fight its way back home.

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    • (Score: 3, Funny) by RamiK on Monday October 26 2015, @08:40PM

      by RamiK (1813) on Monday October 26 2015, @08:40PM (#254866)

      And that's just the theatrical release. The original director's cut was a 5 paragraphs extravaganza with a 2 parts thesis statement, citations, counter points and an extended bibliography.

      Overall, I say you should consider yourself lucky.

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