Bipedal footprints made 3.66 million years ago provide the clearest available evidence to date of the occurrence of marked body size variation in Australopithecus afarensis..

Newly recovered lumbar vertebrae belonging to Malapa Hominin 2, an adult female of the fossil hominin species Australopithecus sediba, demonstrate that this individual was adapted to upright posture and bipedal locomotion but also had adaptations for climbing in trees.

A chemically unstable ostrich eggshell peptide survives for at least 3.8 million years at the equator, stabilized by strong mineral interactions.

Adult spinal fracture substantially impairs subsistence productivity, particularly for men.