SATURDAY, Nov. 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Two small changes in human DNA may have played a big role in helping our ancestors walk upright, researchers say.

The study, recently published in the journal Nature , found that these tweaks changed how a key hip bone developed.

This allowed early humans to stand, balance and walk on two legs instead of moving on all fours like other primates.

One change caused the ilium — the curved bone you feel when you put your hands on your hips — to rotate 90 degrees. This shifted how muscles attached to the pelvis, transforming a structure once used for climbing into one built for upright walking.

The other genetic change slowed down how the ilium hardened into bone, giving it more time to expand sideways and form a short, bowl-shaped pelvis.

These c

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