Lucy is the entry point for paleontologists today. “We have now over 500 specimens of her species,” Johanson said. “We’re Homo sapiens today. She was given this tongue twister name of ...

reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of iconic Lucy on Nov. 24, 1974. “We should be thinking about a common future for the species Homo sapiens that we have become today,” he said.

And yet Lucy still had a small brain ... Other branches get trimmed off as the species dies off. In our case, Homo sapiens has persisted long enough to dominate the planet. Andy Herries, a ...