Output details
15 - General Engineering
Imperial College London
The manipulative complexity of Lower Paleolithic stone toolmaking.
This work, in collaboration with archaeologists, addressed a fundamental question in human evolution: why did it take 2 million years to progress from simple stone shards to hand axes? We disproved one of two rival theories by developing the first metric of manipulative complexity, enabling comparison of any hand-oriented tasks. Presented at invitation-only meetings (e.g. ESF-EMBO Symposium, Saint-Feliu-de-Guixols, Spain 2010; NYU-UCL Symposium, London 2013). Media coverage: Guardian, New Scientist, BBC Today show. Metric is being piloted for assessing osteoarthritis (A. McGregor, Charing Cross Hospital) and ataxia (R. Festenstein, Hammersmith Hospital; £129k collaborative NIHR BRC funding for assessing effects of drugs).