The Evolution of the Human Skeleton from Great Apes

From years of research on the evolution of the human skeleton, scientists have noticed that our skeleton is similar to apes. Even our ancestors' physical features resembled apes like their jaw. Researchers now have more advanced instruments to dive deeper into understanding human genetics and compare it to great apes. At the UK Biobank scientists used artificial intelligence to access 30,000 human skeleton X-rays so they could research why some humans have degenerative joint diseases like arthritis, and its connection to apes. They measured different parts of the human skeleton and found different lengths of certain bones were linked to arthritis in the back, hips, and knees. In many cases, there was a linkage of bone lengths in families. Apes were less likely to have arthritis because they walked on all 4 limbs compared to humans who started waking bipedally. Our form changed, but the bones kept their shape, and some families are suffering the consequences.