With no disregard to the general concept related to the reason why the first hominids descended from trees (foraging), two scientists twist the story plot with their new findings: humans have been designed for running.

Evolution seems to be the topic of the day here at Softpedia Science News. But unlike the articles about Charles Darwin and about the precedence of evolution and life, this one addresses a particular human feature, the reason we evolved like this: running.

The "Man vs. Horse Marathon" hosted by Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales since 1980 was won by a human contestant for the first time in 2004. This event pleased biologist Dennis Bramble from the University of Utah and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman from Harvard University, as it came as proof of their new theory about the evolution of our locomotion. The standard concept states that the first humans climbed down from trees in order to gather food and then walked straight as a response to the environmental conditions. As a result of their studies, the two researchers came up with a series of anatomical traits that point out the human adaptation for running on long distances, so the marathon contest didn't surprise them much.

Even more, they believe that under the right circumstances, humanoids can outrun any animal on the planet. Distinctive features like Achilles tendons, knee joints or sweat glands make us the finest running organisms on Earth. Our very survival depended on this for millions of years, since we used to hunt and chase our prey in Africa's savannas. Unlike animals, humans, who lack abundant fur, don't gasp in order to dissipate heat, but use their millions of sweat glands. This may be the evolutionary result of having to cope with sun heat when forest habitats were traded for arid savannas. Lieberman also demonstrated that, contrary to the popular belief, running is almost entirely different from walking and the traits he discovered proved that we are more skilled in running than in walking.

Man is the only runner without a balancing tail. The answer lies in compensating this by moving the head, torso, and most importantly, the rear. Together with moving the arms forwards and backwards, this prevents falling in the process. Running animals don't use the same body parts and techniques for loping. As further proof of his theory, Lieberman also states that only runners evolve big tendons. The neck, he says, is very important as well, since, unlike that of, say, chimps, it lets our shoulders twist independently of the head.

All these traits, claim the researchers, become perfectly obvious once one knows what to look for. The problem they still face, though, is with time localization, as tendons, glands and muscles don't preserve in the fossilization process and bones don't offer too many clues regarding the period evolution carved the new traits. But they draw hope from the latest biomechanics, computer generating software and other modern technologies to aid them in their endeavor.