New Human Species Found In Philippines (bbc.com) 77
Major Blud writes: A newly discovered extinct species of human has been found in the Philippines. It's been named Homo Luzonensis after the island of Luzon where it was found. Homo Erectus has long thought to have been the first member of our direct line to leave the African homeland -- around 1.9 million years ago. The physical features of Homo Luzonensis are a mixture of those found in very ancient human ancestors and in more recent people. This could mean primitive human relatives left Africa and made it all the way to South-East Asia, something not previously thought possible, since Luzon was only ever accessible by sea. The paper detailing the discovery has been published in the journal Nature.
They had trouble reproducing enough (Score:1, Funny)
So maybe name them Homo Sexual?
Re: They had trouble reproducing enough (Score:1, Informative)
Listen buddy, misusing the comments section is NOT COOL. Weirdo.
Re: They had trouble reproducing enough (Score:4, Interesting)
Listen buddy, misusing the comments section is NOT COOL. Weirdo.
The comments section here does seem to be broken. Where's that healthy discourse of those really genuine geeks that brought me here in the first place - and kept me quiet? Where are those funny, insightful, interesting, and informative comments? Even tongue-in-cheek, obsidian, and blithe remarks would be welcome - if they were cool.
Does /. have an exclusive 'cool geek' mode that I'm not privy to?
And finally, just because there is a predilection for subversion these days: Are there forces out there trying to bring /. down? Maybe all this trolling is really part of a conspiracy from a {bevy, collection, gang, swarm, herd, army, murder} of Cambridge Analytica types who's goal is to remold our minds in time for the next election. It could even be Antigonish, the deep, dark state 'that isn't there', trying to manipulate the huddled masses yearning to be geek.
Re: They had trouble reproducing enough (Score:1)
The tech discussion left for ars, Soylent, reddit.
This is a troll board now, with some leftovers from the previous model.
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Yeah, I noticed that too - the newest dozen or two posts were by what are apparently 16-yr-olds who think the Orange Cheetoh is a lib'rul.
I doubt any of 'em knows where / is.
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We definitely had descendants in Africa. We can trace large migrations out of Africa. Even the researchers suggest this species in the Mediterranean might have migrated back to Africa. Finally scientists are skeptical of this specimen as detailed in the article you linked.
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We definitely had descendants in Africa. We can trace large migrations out of Africa.
That is not what Out of Africa comprises: Out of Africa means that modern humans developed exclusively or almost exclusively in Africa and then they get out of Africa, already in their modern form, to colonize the world. Instead, the main theories challenging that view have modern humans developing significantly (for example, interbreeding with other human species not found in Africa and so on) not in Africa or not just in Africa.
Re:Out of Africa still a thing? (Score:5, Funny)
We definitely had descendants in Africa.
Speak for yourself. I was well behaved on my vacation in Africa, not just because of the risk of AIDS.
They were all dead (Score:2)
Talk about burying the lede. They've been dead for thousands of years. An important detail.
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Only accessible by sea (Score:5, Interesting)
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There are even two features on the maps suggesting a possible former land bridge limiting the Sulu Sea. Then there is the possibility of the species retreating from it's previous home during the ice-age due to the pressure from our more direct ancestors.
Re:Only accessible by sea (Score:4, Informative)
It is actually more or less a fact that except for very few very small gaps Australia was connected via Indonesia with Asia. So no idea why they think Luzon was not included.
https://www.iceagenow.com/Sea_... [iceagenow.com]
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Some people crossed the gaps in the 17th century CE.
Other people crossed them in the (approx) 650th century BCE.
I know who I'm more impressed by.
Re:Only accessible by sea (Score:5, Interesting)
It was probably a combination of luck and an attempt to navigate. Maybe a land bridge. But long distance water crossings by nature aren't uncommon.
The Galapagos Islands have penguins (which don't fly) and other land creatures (awesome lizards). They didn't navigate, they arrived via luck and accident.
The Galapagos are over 1,300KM from the coast of Ecuador.
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But which do swim. In fact, they swim considerably better than humans.
which can also swim - not just the Galapogean marine iguanas, but also their South American land-dwelling closest relatives.
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While we were there the guide said that some species probably floated/swam but others were probably carried on pieces of wood or other floating debris (that they happened to get on at the right moment...).
Wind moved most of the plant seeds, but probably also animals.
The penguins are really out of place... One island over from are flocks of flamingos.
Coolest place I've ever visited.
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It was probably a combination of luck and an attempt to navigate.
Yup. "Luck" meaning they survived where (most likely) many others ended up as shark food.
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No. Theories need to be backed by evidence to be accepted. Checking the evidence is hardly rocket science. You go online, you get a global bathymetry set, you learn how to plot it up, you look at the results. And then you get to the question of were there major landslips in the area before historical records? That is actually a fairly important question for the residents - for reasons obvious to anyone who is aware of the Anak Krakatau landslip and tsun
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The "out of sight of land" criterion has been a dead concern (#Insert Monty-Python-parrot-sketch.h) since the 1970s. We don't know precisely how they did it, but we've known that they did do it.
With thousands trying the journey every year over
thousands of years, some were bound to make it even if 90% failed.
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Trump was honored for his work as a successful real-estate developer in New York City and his German heritage, his award had nothing to do with race one way or the other. How ever he was sued(along with his father) for civil rights violations/racial discrimination. And his father was a known KKK member. He aligns himself with Nazis and the Alt-right, and you don't have to look very far to see he is a racist, as racist comments come out of his own mouth frequently enough.
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Having the foresight to plan ahead with several days of food and water (water, particularly) is a more adult trait than childish, but your point that these people of many millennia ago had strong minds and plenty of intelligence is well made.
Oh, at first I thought they meant Duterte (Score:3)
This will happen again and again (Score:1)
That's what annoys me about a lot of educational books is that they state matter of factly "the earliest humans lived in..." and then the next edition they update it to the newest find and still state it matter of factly.
No, we are going to find newer and newer and broader ranges of what evolved to us being modern humans.
Another thing is that a lot of these finds sometimes show the paths they would have taken transposed on out current world map but they completely ignore a million years of continental drift
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A million years at 5cm/year (a typical plate movement speed) is 50km. Over a million years, that doesn't make a huge difference.
But if you move beyond children's books, you'll actually find that continental drift is taken into account in such studies. The topic is simplified for children's books. If you find that galling, stop reading books aimed for children and start to study the topic seriously.
Oh, and when you're aske
have they figured out ... (Score:1)
The species of the president of the phillapines? He is not human
I'm so disappointed (Score:2)
The headline seemed to suggest we actually met a completely new type of living, breathing human. When I found out that we're talking about an ancient species dead for millennia, I was really disappointed.
Yes, I'm weird. I RTFA.
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Two years ago, a new living human species was discovered at the White House, with half a brain, half a dick and gigantic balls. Yet, most of the world was disappointed. You cannot satisfy everyone...
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watched a clip on H. naledi just yesterday (Score:2)
TED: Juliet Brophy on Homo naledi [ted.com] — March 2018
Pretty good, by the standards of 2018 TED. Many new questions, ultimately no new theories of any real depth, and mostly a lot of excited "more research needed".