Walking & Running

Harvard FAS

This course explores two of the most essential questions in human evolution: how and why did our unique bipedal walking and running gaits evolve? The course combines the fields of quantitative locomotion biomechanics and paleoanthropology to address these questions. Students will learn about the common mechanical models used to describe human walking and running, with an eye towards defining what "human bipedalism" is in comparison to ape bipedalism. They will also learn about the key fossils…