ReviewJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology2022
The evolution of human fatigue resistance.
Review in Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuroendocrine signature of ME/CFS: Meta-analytic evidence for bioactive cortisol deficit and exaggerated feedback sensitivity.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Why Do Humans Exercise? A Neuro-Evolutionary Framework for Discretionary Physical Effort.Evolutionary anthropology · 2026Review
- Neuromuscular mechanisms for the fast decline in rate of force development with muscle disuse - a narrative review.The Journal of physiology · 2026Review
- Cognitive correlates of human endurance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Inactivation of the CMAH gene and deficiency of Neu5Gc play a role in human brain evolution.Inflammation and regeneration · 2025Review
- Structural Phylogenetics with Protein Mass Spectrometry: A Proof-of-Concept.The protein journal · 2024Article
- Ethnography and ethnohistory support the efficiency of hunting through endurance running in humans.Nature human behaviour · 2024Article
- The work to swing limbs in humans versus chimpanzees and its relation to the metabolic cost of walking.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A century of exercise physiology: concepts that ignited the study of human thermoregulation. Part 4: evolution, thermal adaptation and unsupported theories of thermoregulation.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Review
- The molecular athlete: exercise physiology from mechanisms to medals.Physiological reviews · 2023Review
- Humans trade off whole-body energy cost to avoid overburdening muscles while walking.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans differ from African great apes in numerous respects, but the chief initial difference setting hominins on their unique evolutionary trajectory was habitual bipedalism. The two most widely supported selective forces for this adaptation are increased efficiency of locomotion and improved ability to feed in upright contexts. By 4 million years ago, hominins had evolved the ability to walk long distances but extreme selection for endurance capabilities likely occurred later in the genus Homo to help them forage, power scavenge and persistence hunt in hot, arid conditions. In this review we explore the hypothesis that to be effective long-distance walkers and especially runners, there would also have been a strong selective benefit among Homo to resist fatigue. Our hypothesis is that since fatigue is an important factor that limits the ability to perform endurance-based activities, fatigue resistance was likely an important target for selection during human evolution for improved endurance capabilities. We review the trade-offs between strength, power, and stamina in apes and Homo and discuss three biological systems that we hypothesize humans evolved adaptations for fatigue resistance: neurological, metabolic and thermoregulatory. We conclude that the evolution of endurance at the cost of strength and power likely also involved the evolution of mechanisms to resist fatigue.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.