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In late November 2011 I went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to meet the newest member of the human family, a nearly two million–year-old creature dubbed Australopithecus sediba. First announced in 2010, its fossilized bones have caused quite a commotion in paleoanthropological circles--and with good reason

In late November 2011 I went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to meet the newest member of the human family, a nearly two million–year-old creature dubbed Australopithecus sediba. First announced in 2010, its fossilized bones have caused quite a commotion in paleoanthropological circles--and with good reason. They are some of the most complete early hominins (the group that includes modern humans and their extinct relatives) ever found, and they exhibit a combination of apelike and humanlike traits that no one would have predicted.

Forgive me.

Paleontologist Lee Berger displays the skull and partial skeleton of a juvenile male Australopithecus sediba. Photo by Kate Wong During a recent reporting trip to South Africa for a forthcoming feature article on a new fossil human species called A ustralopithecus sediba , I asked readers to submit their questions about this dazzling find. Inquiries about the nearly two-million-year-old hominin–which has been held up as a possible ancestor of our genus, Homo –came in via Twitter, Google Plus and the comments section of this blog.

DURBAN, South Africa--My share of the carbon dioxide my flight to Johannesburg emitted over 15 hours amounted to 1,391.3 kilograms, according to the helpful information provided by South African Airlines. Add a dollop of 53.8 kilograms of CO2 for the jet jaunt to Durban and you can see that the aviation industry--and the Durban climate talks --have an emissions problem.

Skull of juvenile male Australopithecus sediba. Image: Kate Wong In the spring of 2010, the world met Australopithecus sediba , a nearly two-million-year-old human relative whose remains were found at a site just a short drive from Johannesburg, South Africa