Nautilus

Did Our Ancestors Become Bipedal So They Could Throw?

hen San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner stands on the mound, he looks as if he’s stalking the batter at the plate. The first part of his wind-up seems deliberate, almost prayer-like. From the stretch, he brings his glove, on his right hand, up slowly, so that it’s just under his chin as he eyes the runner on first base. Then, suddenly, his body coils as he thrusts his right knee violently to his chest. Using his left leg, planted on the pitching rubber, he propels toward home plate. As Bumgarner’s body , his throwing arm winds back then snaps through as his hand releases the ball. That momentum causes his weight

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Nautilus

Nautilus2 min read
Color-Coding Crops for Climate Change
Green is the color of growth in the plant world. From an aerial view, most farms blanket the land in quilts of varying shades of green. But what if the stems and leaves of your average corn, barley, and rice plants were hairy and blue instead? One te
Nautilus7 min read
Insects and Other Animals May Have Consciousness
In 2022, researchers at the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Queen Mary University of London observed bumblebees doing something remarkable: The diminutive, fuzzy creatures were engaging in activity that could only be described as play. Give
Nautilus7 min read
A Radical Rescue for Caribbean Reefs
It’s an all-too-familiar headline: Coral reefs are in crisis. Indeed, in the past 50 years, roughly half of Earth’s coral reefs have died. Coral ecosystems are among the most biodiverse and valuable places on Earth, supporting upward of 860,000 speci

Related Books & Audiobooks