Earliest members of genus Homo may have ditched hard foods on the road to becoming human
Title: Earliest members of genus Homo may have ditched hard foods on the road to becoming human Subtitle: New study finds Homo habilis was biomechanically limited in producing high bite forces— forcing scientists to re-think the timing of dietary shifts in human evolution Body: New work by an international team of researchers suggests that the earliest member of the genus Homo, a species known as Homo habilis (“handy man”), was limited in its ability to bite forcefully into hard foods—offering new insights into the dietary and evolutionary shifts that helped shape the human lineage. The study, published this week in Royal Society Open Science, uses advanced computer simulations to analyze bite force mechanics in Homo habilis. Results show that Homo habilis was structurally constrained in its ability to crunch into hard foods with its molars—a limitation that persists in modern humans. “Our results point to a fundamental change in feeding behavior with the appearance of Homo habilis,” said Dr. Justin Ledogar, assistant professor in ETSU’s Department of Biomedical Health Sciences and the study’s lead author. “The ability to process exceedingly hard or tough foods with high bite forces was reduced in Homo habilis compared with earlier hominin species.” The research team created a biomechanical model of the Homo habilis skull and subjected it to simulated…