Star explosions in ancient days might have helped humans to turn bipedal

Installations from the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History, a permanent exhibition hall that presents the history of human evolution from our earliest ancestors millions of years ago to modern Homo sapiens, are seen in New York, February 7, 2007. Reuters

A new study report published in the Journal of Geology has revealed that ancient star explosions have helped humans to turn bipedal. Earlier, it was believed that the natural result of an evolving landscape might have made humans bipedal.

However, this new research led by Adrian Melott, a physicist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence suggested that the underlying cause behind this sudden shift in body posture had some strange connections with the sky.

As per the research report, a series of exploding stars bombarded the earth with radiation, and it ignited wildfires thus destroying lush habitats. Due to the destruction of lush habitats, human ancestors were compelled to live on grasslands, and in these conditions, walking in two legs was more effective and comfortable.

"If you're still using trees a lot, you now have to walk from one to the other — you can't swing around up there like an orangutan. If you're going across the grassland, going on two legs is more efficient than four," said Melott, NBC News reportsStar explosions in ancient days might have helped humans to turn bipedal .

However, Isabelle Winder, an evolutionary anthropologist at Bangor University in Wales who was not a part of this research argued that these cosmic explosions might not be the only reason behind the bipedal walk of humans. As per Winder, star explosions were peaked 2.6 million years ago, and some humans might have started bipedal walk much before.

"Increasingly, we look at the environmental evidence and we go No. We might be seeing one fraction of the complex whole," said Winder.

Melott also agreed to this point from Winder, but she made it clear that these star explosions had undoubtedly played a pivotal role in triggering bipedal walk among humans.

"Bipedalism had already gotten started, but we think this may have given it a strong shot in the arm. When the forests are replaced with grasslands, it then becomes an advantage to stand upright, so you can walk from tree to tree, and see over the tall grass for predators," added Melott, The Guardian reports.