Human Hands Evolved for Punching

According to the recently published results of a study by biologist David Carrier, the human hand, when formed into a fist, was an evolutionary advantage for early humans:

For this latest study, he and co-author Michael Morgan, a medical student, conducted three experiments. First, they analyzed what happened when men, aged from 22 to 50, hit a punching bag as hard as they could. The peak stress delivered to the bag -- the force per area -- was 1.7 to 3 times greater with a fist strike compared with a slap.

"Because you have higher pressure when hitting with a fist, you are more likely to cause injury to tissue, bones, teeth, eyes and the jaw," Carrier said. [...]

In terms of the size and shape of hand anatomy, the scientists point out that humans could have evolved manual dexterity with longer thumbs, but without the fingers and palms getting shorter.

Gorilla hands are closer in proportion to human hands than are other apes' hands, but they and no other ape -- aside from us -- hits with a clenched fist.

Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Adam Merton


Comments (2)

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If i remember it right Gorillas use their hands for Knuckel walking...
I als remember that fists are not suitable for hitting a head of a person, ... this was the reason why boxing gloves have been invented...
The higher pressure when hitting with a fist also leads to higher stress values for the tinier bones of your hand... That is hitting something with a fist also has a higer rist of self-injury...

All in all i am not convinced....

I rather thing of other possible reasons for a shorter and thicker Thumb such as a shorter lever for compensating the force of 4 fingers...
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Basically, it's chips and gravy and cheese (chips being what we call french fries) - available in any chip shop in the West of Scotland and possibly the entire country. The food of choice of schoolchildren and drunken neds everywhere. Hardly "geek" food!
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Actually it's pretty popular all over Canada. You can get it in almost any restaurant. I recently vacationed in Vancouver where I had a version that includes pulled pork, and BBQ sauce instead of gravy.
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i'm definitely a geek and i definitely like poutine...but that could also be because i'm canadian and we all like poutine...are we a geek country or something?
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It's not just chips and cheese and gravy Jay, the magic is in the details.

They have to be cheese curds, squeaky ones.

And the gravy has to be the exact kind of gravy with just the right salty kick.
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First off, I'm originally from Niagara Falls (ish), Ontario, Canada, now living in Seattle, WA.
When I was living in Canada (up until about a year ago), I didn't care much for poutine. Now that I'm living in the U.S., I crave it all the time. Maybe I just miss all things Canadian (like Harveys, Timmys, the Tire - you Canucks know what I'm talkin' 'bout).
I've noticed there are a LOT of Canadians working for MS, Amazon, etc. in Seattle, and I think the "geek food" thing has been caused by all the CDN ex-pats having similar cravings for food that isn't as readily available to them (at least from what I've seen in Seattle, it isn't, and believe me, I've looked). I'm not sure what the situation is like in other geek-filled cities - I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
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My husband went to the University of Maryland and there's an all night diner (Plato's) just a couple blocks south of the campus where we would get this whenever I came to visit (I craved midnight pancakes on a regular basis so we went to that diner a lot).

Only they called it Hobo Fries. We did feel like hobos when we ate it.
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In Aus, we have a better ( ;) ) variation. We call it the "AB" which is much nicer than calling it by its origional name "The After Birth" or "Abortion", given the affectionate title beacuse of what it looks like when served. (appetising!)

It's essentially chips with your favourite Yiros/Kebab topping. For those who don't know, that means shavings of either Lamb or Chicken, with garlic/aoli sauce, tomato sauce and BBQ sauce...
But being that I'm always drunk when I eat it, I can not recall if there is anything else on it, but it is the best cure for a hangover before it has even started.

Having said this, I never recommend eating an AB sober. Ever. It is horrible. But you're in heaven when your drunk, it's a phenomenon within itself. Enjoy if you dare.
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I cannot eat this while reading comic books or playing WoW

Fries with gravy yum but not a geek food. It does get some geek points for inclusion of cheese curds but geek cheese should come in either neon orange powder form or be squirted from a can.
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I'm from Quebec. It MUST be cheese curds. So fresh that they squeak when you bit on them. NEVER shredded cheese!!! I now live in Kansas City & crave poutine!!! When I visit home I usually have poutine 4-5 times. I loved it before I was a geek.
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