The plants grew shorter and had the female ears right on the main stem, the way they are in modern corn, instead of on side branches. (sciencemag.org)
An incomplete fossil record means that researchers have had a hard time finding the other links of that chain, and distinguishing true human ancestors from evolutionary dead - ends — side branches in the family tree. (scientificamerican.com)
«Ardi may be an early side branch of hominids that is not directly related to humans,» he says. (discovermagazine.com)