Ancient Fossil Offers Clues To Primate Evolution 311
langelgjm sends in an update to a story we discussed over the weekend about an extremely well-preserved fossil of an ancient primate, Darwinius masillae, that sheds light on an important area of evolution. The 47 million-year-old specimen has now been officially unveiled, and while many media outlets are stumbling over themselves with phrases like "missing link" and "holy grail," it's clearly a very impressive find. "Discovered two years ago, the exquisitely preserved specimen is not a direct ancestor of monkeys and humans, but hints at what such an ancestor might have looked like. According to researchers, 'The specimen has an unusual history: it was privately collected and sold in two parts, with only the lesser part previously known. The second part, which has just come to light, shows the skeleton to be the most complete primate known in the fossil record.' The scientific article describing the find was published yesterday in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal PLoS ONE. Google's home page is also celebrating the find with a unique image." Science blogger Brian Switek offers some criticism of the academic paper and the media swarm, saying, "I would have hoped that this fossil would receive the care and attention it deserves, but for now it looks like a cash cow for the History Channel. Indeed, this association may not have only presented overblown claims to the public, but hindered good science, as well."
Re:I got 10 bucks here ... (Score:5, Informative)
This was studied for two years before it was released, so it seems that they've done some due diligence to make sure this was NOT a hoax.
X-rays were taken taken of the internal structures (which are allegedly impossible to fake) and they proved out to be authentic.
Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score:5, Informative)
I find it more frightening that most of our leaders and most of the population in general have all bought into the idea that morality is just convention
And here we uncover the fossil known as Straw Man.
and that there is no higher power to answer to.
So? There is no evidence that there is. And if there is, there is no way we could know what "morality" he expects us to behave by. There is no reason that his standard of morality should match up with what we consider to be ethical.
And above all, I find it worrying that people only behave ethically out of fear of having to answer to some "higher power".
Re:Gand*N+1 Aunt? (Score:3, Informative)
They mean that it is a relative of modern humans, but not a direct ancestor. You inherited DNA from your grandmother, but not your aunt.
Uh, she wasn't found two years ago (Score:5, Informative)
She was found in 1983 by an anonymous collector. She was sold to the University of Oslo two years ago.
Tony.
Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score:4, Informative)
Seeing a flying object that you can't identify is scientifically acceptable. That is all he said. Tim Russert asked him about it, he said that all he has seen was an object he couldn't identify.
Dennis Kucinich is one of the only true liberals left in the Democratic party, and I would vote for him for president in a heartbeat. This UFO story gets blown all out of proportion by right wing loons in order to discredit him. Stop listening to loons.
Couple of things: (Score:2, Informative)
2) Nobel Prize for X, not the Peace Prize.
47 Millions years OLD? Really? (Score:3, Informative)
Are you positively ABSOLUTELY sure it is 47 Million years OLD?
Really?
http://www.astroengine.com/?p=1382 [astroengine.com]
-Hack
Re:Meanwhile over in Congress (Score:3, Informative)
Here you go. [wikipedia.org] Issue: teaching of ... creationism.
Edwards v. Aguillard
In the early 1980s, the Louisiana legislature passed a law titled the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act". The act did not require teaching either evolution or creationism as such, but did require that when evolutionary science was taught, so-called creation science had to be taught as well. ... the State appealed to the Supreme Court. ... In 1987 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Louisiana act was unconstitutional, because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion.
Re:I got 10 bucks here ... (Score:4, Informative)
Not just that, it was allegedly found by an amateur and hung in a collector's living room for 20 years [sky.com]!
Ida was unearthed by an amateur fossil-hunter some 25 years ago in Messel pit, an ancient crater lake near Frankfurt, Germany, famous for its fossils.
She was cleaned and set in polyester resin - and incredibly, was hung on a mystery German collector's wall for 20 years.
Sky News sources say the owner had no idea of the unique fossil's significance and simply admired it like a cherished Van Gogh or Picasso painting.
But in 2006, Ida came into the hands of private dealer Thomas Perner, who presented her to Prof Hurum at the annual Hamburg Fossil and Mineral Fair in Germany - a centre for the murky world of fossil-trading.
So the word, "fake" has crossed my mind too!