Magazine
November-December 2020
November-December 2020
Volume: 108 Number: 6
Paranthropus boisei, a little-known member of the hominin family, lived in East Africa from about 2.3 to 1.3 million years ago. Neither an ape nor a direct ancestor of modern humans, P. boisei shared the landscape with several of the earliest species of the genus Homo. The relatively few fossils that have been found so far indicate an unusual combination of physical features: upright posture together with adaptations for climbing, a braincase approximately one-third the size of our own but molar and premolar teeth several times larger than ours, and tiny canine and incisor teeth. This dental pattern suggests a diet consisting mainly of tough grasses and seeds, a notion that is corroborated by stable-isotope analysis of the thick enamel coating on P. boisei teeth. (Illustration by Andrew Recher, pensandbeetles.com.)
In This Issue
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Communications
- Engineering
- Environment
- Evolution
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Physics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology
Hummingbird and Bat Pollinators of the Chiricahuas
Theodore Fleming, M. Brock Fenton, Sherri L Fenton
Biology Evolution
Temperate and tropical species of vertebrate pollinators overlap in the mountains of southeastern Arizona, coevolving with the region’s stunning floral diversity.
Uncertain Times
Jessica Flack, Melanie Mitchell
Sociology Technology
The pandemic is an unprecedented opportunity—seeing human society as a complex system opens a better future for us all.
Tearing Apart the Universe
Katie Mack
Astronomy
Dark energy is pushing galaxies away from one another. Could this accelerating force lead to the universe-ending Big Rip?
