José-Miguel Carretero Díaz

José-Miguel Carretero Díaz

José-Miguel Carretero Díaz
Position

Full Professor of Palaeontology in the Department of Historical Sciences and Geography at the University of Burgos (UBU) and director of the UBU's Human Evolution Laboratory

Topics

Two changes in the human pelvis that were key to walking on two legs discovered

The upper part of the human pelvis, the ilium, underwent two major structural changes during evolution that enabled humans to walk on two legs. One was the formation of cartilage and the second was the process of bone formation. New research identifies differences in the way bone cells are deposited on cartilage in the human ilium, compared to other primates and human long bones. The study, published in Nature, lays the genetic and evolutionary foundations for bipedalism, according to the authors.

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