Hackszine.com: Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners

Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners

Salt Lake Marathon Start
I'm back to running a few miles a day, I've always wondered why it not only felt "normal" but why our species evolved this ability, here's an article from Physorg that explores this...

Hairless, clawless, and largely weaponless, ancient humans used the unlikely combination of sweatiness and relentlessness to gain the upper hand over their faster, stronger, generally more dangerous animal prey, Harvard Anthropology Professor Daniel Lieberman said Thursday (April 12).
Just days before Monday’s 111th running of the Boston Marathon, Lieberman presented his theories of the importance of running to ancestral humans to explain why we’re the only species that voluntarily runs extraordinarily long distances, such as the 26.2 miles in the marathon.

The talk, “Why Humans Run: The Biology and Evolution of Marathon Running,” was delivered at the Geological Lecture Hall as part of the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s spring lecture series, “Evolution Matters.”

Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners - [via] Link.

Pictured here, Salt Lake city Marathon.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | May 2, 2007 09:00 AM
Life | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Posted by: morganw on May 3, 2007 at 9:10 AM

Scott Carrier is an author & This American Life contributor who took the theory that humans' endurance allowed them to hunt animals like antelope that can run faster, but only for short bursts, to the test.

His book is Running After Antelope. He talks to Morning Edition about it: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1123095

and recorded a story for TAL: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=685