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Related Concept Videos

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John H. Renwick first coined the term “synteny” in 1971, which refers to the genes present on the same chromosomes, even if they are not genetically linked. The species with common ancestry tend to show conserved syntenic regions. Therefore, the concept of synteny is nowadays used to describe the evolutionary relationship between species.
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Related Experiment Video

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Throwing, the Shoulder, and Human Evolution.

John E Kuhn1

  • 1Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN. j.kuhn@vanderbilt.edu.

American Journal of Orthopedics (Belle Mead, N.J.)
|March 19, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human shoulder anatomy holds many mysteries. This review proposes that viewing the shoulder as a joint evolved for throwing offers solutions to these anatomical puzzles.

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Area of Science:

  • Human anatomy
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Biomechanics

Background:

  • Throwing is a unique human skill with evolutionary advantages.
  • The human shoulder's complex anatomy presents many unsolved questions.
  • Existing research has not fully explained shoulder function.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review unsolved anatomical questions of the human shoulder.
  • To propose a novel perspective on shoulder joint evolution.
  • To investigate the shoulder as a structure optimized for throwing.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of anatomical and evolutionary studies.
  • Analysis of biomechanical principles related to throwing.
  • Synthesis of existing data to support a new hypothesis.

Main Results:

  • Human throwing ability is a significant evolutionary development.
  • The shoulder joint's unique structure is critical for effective throwing.
  • An evolutionary perspective explains many shoulder anatomical features.

Conclusions:

  • Viewing the human shoulder as an adaptation for throwing provides a unifying framework.
  • This perspective can resolve long-standing anatomical mysteries.
  • Further research should explore the evolutionary pressures that shaped the throwing shoulder.