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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 29 augusT 2019
Ethiopian fossil reveals face for ancestor of famed 'Lucy'

By MALCOLM RITTER constructing it digitally to
AP Science Writer help determine its place in
NEW YORK (AP) — A fossil the evolutionary tree.
from Ethiopia is letting sci- With a face for A. anamen-
entists look millions of years sis, said Zeray Alemseged
into our evolutionary histo- of the University of Chi-
ry — and they see a face cago, "now we know how
peering back. they looked and how they
The find, from 3.8 million differed from the Lucy spe-
years ago, reveals the face cies."
for a presumed ancestor of William Kimbel, who directs
the species famously rep- the Institute of Human Ori-
resented by Lucy, the cel- gins at Arizona State Uni-
ebrated Ethiopian partial versity, said the discovery
skeleton found in 1974. helps fill a critical gap in
This ancestral species is the information on the earliest
oldest known member of evolution of the Australo-
Australopithecus, a group- pithecus group.
ing of creatures that pre- The study's authors said the
ceded our own branch finding indicates A. ana-
of the family tree, called mensis hung around for at
Homo. This undated photo provided by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in August 2019 shows a least 100,000 years after
Scientists have long known facial reconstruction model by John Gurche made from a fossilized cranium of Australopithecus producing Lucy's species,
that this species — A. ana- anamensis. A. afarensis. That contra-
mensis — existed, and Associated Press dicts the widely accepted
previous fossils of it extend idea that there was no
back to 4.2 million years The face apparently came said. to make tools, said study such overlap, they wrote.
ago. But the discovered fa- from a male. Its middle and The fossil was found in 2016, co-author Stephane Melillo Scientists care about over-
cial remains were limited to lower parts jut forward, in what was once sand de- of the Max Planck Institute lap because its presence
jaws and teeth. The newly while Lucy's species shows posited in a river delta on for Evolutionary Anthropol- or absence can indicate
reported fossil includes a flatter mid-face, a step the shore of lake. At the ogy in Leipzig, Germany. the process by which one
much of the skull and face. toward humans' flat faces. time the creature lived, the Experts unconnected to species gave rise to an-
It was described Wednes- The fossil also shows the be- area was largely dry shru- the new study praised the other. The paper's argu-
day in the journal Nature ginning of the massive and bland with some trees. Oth- work. Eric Delson of Lehm- ment for overlap rests on its
by Yohannes Haile-Selassie robust faces found in Aus- er work has shown A. ana- an College in New York conclusion that a forehead
of the Cleveland Museum tralopithecus, built to with- mensis evidently walked called the fossil "beautiful" bone previously found in
of Natural History and co- stand strains from chewing upright, but there's no evi- and said the researchers Ethiopia belongs to Lucy's
authors. tough food, researchers dence that it flaked stone did an impressive job of re- species.q

State with ambitions as wind-energy hub seeks to lure more

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT try." Pryor met with executives
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Raimondo announced in from both Boston Energy
Rhode Island approved June that another British and GEV in England in May
tax credits Monday to lure wind turbine maintenance during a trip designed to
a third major offshore wind company, GEV Wind Pow- attract offshore wind com-
company to the state as er, will locate its U.S. head- panies.
part of an effort to become quarters in Rhode Island Pryor, who visited Denmark
a hub for the industry. and create about 125 jobs. this month to meet with
The first U.S. offshore wind The Danish offshore wind offshore wind executives
farm began operating off company Orsted bought there, said that he contin-
Block Island, Rhode Island, Providence-based Deep- ues to pursue companies
in late 2016, and Demo- water Wind last year. Its around the world and that
cratic Gov. Gina Raimon- major U.S. hubs are Provi- he's speaking with Orsted
do wants to the industry to dence and Boston. Deep- about increasing its pres-
grow in the state. water Wind is the devel- ence in Rhode Island. Rai-
In this Monday, Aug. 15, 2016 file photo, three of Deepwater The Rhode Island Com- oper that opened the wind mondo and Pryor met with
Wind's turbines stand in the water off Block Island, R.I. merce Corp. approved farm off Block Island. Orsted's global leadership
Associated Press nearly $900,000 in tax cred- It's a "recent trend" for glob- on Tuesday in Newport.
its over 10 years for Bos- al offshore wind compa- Rhode Island is also home
ton Energy, which plans to nies to be opening head- to several smaller compa-
open its U.S. headquarters quarters in Rhode Island, nies that supply offshore
in Providence. The British state Commerce Secretary wind products and servic-
company must maintain at Stefan Pryor said Tuesday, es.
least 52 full-time jobs in the and the state should con- "We are deliberately and
state for at least 12 years. tinue offering tax credits definitively working on the
Raimondo said Tuesday and incentives, promoting development of this indus-
that the development is ocean science expertise try through trade missions
"further proof that we're at local universities, and and through the fostering
well-positioned to be the being proactive on renew- of homegrown compa-
hub for this growing indus- able energy. nies," Pryor said.q