Scientists Hope To Settle "Hobbit" Debate 164
Several readers wrote in with news of the debate around the identity of an ancient woman whose diminutive skeleton was found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004. Fox News reports that Australian scientists have discovered a subterranean chamber that may contain DNA proof that will settle the question of whether "the Hobbit," as the specimen is called, actually is a representative of a new branch of the human family, or not. The find's discoverers named the putative new race Homo floresiensis. Others in the anthropological field question this identification, arguing that the meter-tall Hobbit was a modern human who had something wrong with her. In a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with one of the original discovery team as co-author, researchers say they have compared the Hobbit's skull to those of modern humans with various ailments such as microcephaly, and that the Hobbit is different.
Me being cynical (Score:4, Insightful)
Right -- they're the ones that don't get the publicity or funding. Come on, how boring is that -- that the meter-tall body was just an abnormal human? Wouldn't it be so much *cooler* if there were a whole race of these!
Get with the answers already! (Score:3, Insightful)
If this represents a new species of human, and given how recently this species is shown to have lived, then whole textbooks on the subject will likely need rewriting. I find it quite exciting, and I'm not even an anthropologist.
As an aside, I'm also quite interested to see what the bible-thumpers eventually come to make of all of this.
Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Trolls too... (Score:4, Insightful)
Is that the syndrome that makes guys buy humongous pickup trucks and drive 20mph faster than the flow of traffic?
Re:Get with the answers already! (Score:3, Insightful)
I have heard it used so it is not that remote an idea...
FTA "But the other strong possibility is that this is actually just a pathological modern human," Martin added."
Shall we wait for further study?
Re:Subject Icon (Score:2, Insightful)
Can't we get an icon of Dawkins? Or are we to assume that physics and biology are one in the same?
Re:Me being cynical (Score:5, Insightful)
Most notably, a few of those arguing against it have tended to do so for religious, and not scientific reasons, which is always a huge warning sign that their opinions should be treated with caution.
Skepticism is a good trait to have - but when you are irrationally skeptical to the available evidence, to the point of closemindedness than you are no better than somebody who is overly gullible.
For a relatively balanced opinion on the debate surrounding LB1, you could go to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis). Perhaps after reading that, you could reserve the snark and unwarranted insult of the investigating scientists, and actually learn a little about how science is conducted.
Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
In relating to another species or race humans will do one of the following:
Given that white people like me only started taking black people seriously about 50 years ago I can only assume that the neanderthals would be considered a sub-human slave species like cattle, dogs, etc.
Perhaps we wiped them out because they were too smart to be enslaved with the technology of the time.