Word: uprights
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Until recently, there was no way to unravel these crucial differences. Exactly what gives us advantages like complex brains and the ability to walk upright--and certain disadvantages, including susceptibility to a particular type of malaria, AIDS and Alzheimer's, that don't seem to afflict chimps--remained a mystery...
...between apes, ancient hominids and us. Along the way they learned, among other things, that Darwin, even with next to no actual data, was close to being right in his intuition that apes and humans are descended from a single common ancestor--and, surprisingly, that the ability to walk upright emerged millions of years before the evolution of our big brains...
...fact, even the most ardent proponents of genome-comparison research acknowledge that pretty much everything we know so far is preliminary. "We're interested in traits that really distance us from other organisms," says Wisconsin's Carroll, "such as susceptibility to diseases, big brains, speech, walking upright, opposable thumbs. Based on the biology of other organisms, we have to believe that those are very complex traits. The development of form, the increase in brain size, took place over a long period of time, maybe 50,000 generations. It's a pretty complicated genetic recipe...
...tough.” The duo wasn’t without theatrical experience, however. Phillips drew on his time in a College screenwriting course. Kollmer, a veteran of the campus improvisation troupe, On Thin Ice, took acting and writing classes with the New York City comedy group, Upright Citizens Brigade. Each also submitted scripts to the Pudding in previous years but were rejected during the comp process. Despite their newfound success backstage, neither writer has considered stepping into the limelight himself. “I would be in drag, but it’d have to be a loose-fitting...
...whenever she gets hit by a bout of afternoon lethargy and creative block. If she is lucky enough to find one empty, she leans back in the recliner, pulls down the visor, puts on noise-canceling earphones and drifts. Fifteen minutes later, the chair gently vibrates and brings her upright, block removed. "I would use them every day, but I have to share them with 450 other people," she says...