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Study Finds Major Homo Size Jump 2.5 Myr Ago

6/24/2026

Summary

Story summary

Jacob Gardner (University of Reading) and Thomas Puschel (University of Oxford) published a PNAS study showing a Homo body-size jump 2–2.5 million years ago.
They examined 386 fossils from 21 species, ran 1,000 models, finding a jump after Homo habilis explained 11 percent more of the mass trend.
The analysis supports an increase up to 0.99 kg (2.2 lb) per million years, and notes Homo floresiensis and Homo naledi remained far smaller than predicted.

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Story summary

Jacob Gardner (University of Reading) and Thomas Puschel (University of Oxford) published a PNAS study showing a Homo body-size jump 2–2.5 million years ago.
They examined 386 fossils from 21 species, ran 1,000 models, finding a jump after Homo habilis explained 11 percent more of the mass trend.
The analysis supports an increase up to 0.99 kg (2.2 lb) per million years, and notes Homo floresiensis and Homo naledi remained far smaller than predicted.