Good Throwing Saved the Human Species

Homo sapiens are an terribly vain species. We love to exhibit our big brains and our opposable thumbs — and we wouldn't be good for much without them. But there's one human attribute that doesn't get enough attention: the ability to throw things really, really far. According to a new study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, not only was a good arm essential for our early survival, it is also an innate talent, deep into us from the moment of birth.

Humanity's rapid rise to the top on a planet with lots of competing species was never a sure thing. We're slow, we're soft and we have good teeth but they're nothing compared with those of the big cats or the great apes. We needed to kill the predators from a safe distance — first with rocks and later with spears.

"The ability to throw great distances was not a small thing," says Geoffrey P. Bingham, an experimental psychologist at Indiana University. "We are the only animals with that talent." Before we pick something up, we begin tensing muscles in the arm and hand to accommodate the anticipated weight. If that weight is finally less than we guessed, we bring more muscle power to the job than is necessary, making the object feel light.

Projectile selection is a talent that some people have in greater abundance than others. Everyone, however, is born with the basic skill set, and all of us get better with practice. "You acquire the ability at the same time you're learning to throw," says Bingham. That was very good news for your most distant ancestors — and very bad news for a long-ago mastodon.
By Jeffrey Kluger, TIME Magazine. Picture by The Bridgeman Art Library / Getty Images.