The geometry of hobbits: Homo floresiensis and human evolution

Until quite recently modern humans shared the earth with now extinct relatives—Neanderthals and others—in Europe and Asia. Homo floresiensis—dubbed the “hobbits” in the popular press—is the most recent, and the most surprising, addition to the human family tree. Were the tiny hobbit people of Flores dwarfed descendents of known species, modern humans suffering from a skull-shrinking genetic disease or a new species entirely?William Jungers and Karen Baab look at the time, the space and the body-shape of the astonishing hobbits.