What was the crucial change that set us on the path to becoming human? Our big brains, with their capacity for language and making complex tools, set us apart from other animals. Our ability to ...

Donaldjohanson—named for the anthropologist who discovered the fossilized hominid Lucy in 1974—is a small main belt asteroid at roughly 3 miles (4 kilometers) in diameter. Newly released NASA ...

The fossilised skeleton of the 1.1-metre-tall (3.6 feet), 29-kilogramme (64-pound) Lucy last left Ethiopia between 2007 and 2013 when it toured US museums. The hominid was named after the Beatles ...

The team first scanned Lucy’s bones, which represent about 40 percent of her complete skeleton, using X-ray computed tomography. The technique allowed them to peer deep into the fossils, and trace the ...

That skeleton was named "Lucy." The spacecraft named after that ancient hominid is also exploring fossils, in the sense that asteroids are leftovers from the dawn of the solar system and can tell ...

Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson's biggest claim to scientific fame is his discovery 14 years ago of "Lucy," a three-million-year-old fossil hominid, our possible ancestor. Now, Johanson, the ...

What was the crucial change that set us on the path to becoming human? Our big brains, with their capacity for language and making complex tools, set us apart from other animals. Our ability to ...