Scientific Methods

Sunday, March 12, 2006

PILTDOWN HOAX: COUNTING THE COSTS TO SCIENCE

"The fossil remains of early humans are exceptionally rare. Scientists trying to reconstruct the evolutionary history of our species often have to draw long, dotted lines between a few key fossils.

So introducing a bogus ancestor into our family tree can throw the entire study of human evolution off course. This is exactly what happened with the Piltdown skull, which was exposed as an elaborate hoax exactly 50 years ago this month."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3264025.stm

Additional reference

http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3264143.stm



Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 09:59:00 PM | 7 comments

IF LIVING HOMO FLORESIENSIS WERE TO BE FOUND WOULD THEY GO TO A SCHOOL OR A ZOO?

"The discovery of a new species of human poses exciting questions about
who we are. How would we treat this close relative if one were found
alive today?

"His very existence among us would make us question all over again what
it is to be human.

We are not used to this because our ancestors successfully killed off
all our close relatives.

This has created a chasm between us and the other animals, a chasm so
big that religion went as far as to say that we are not even related to
them. Humans have souls and they do not.

Darwin put a stop to this nonsense with his theory of evolution, but
amazingly the blindingly obvious truth he discovered is still resisted
by large sections of the human population.

They stubbornly continue to insist that we are some kind of special
creation.

The arrival of "Mini-Man" is going to give them nightmares.

How can he be "semi-special"? That won't make sense. He can't very well
have a semi-soul.

So Mini-Man might just be the evolutionary jewel that, once and for
all, sets human beings firmly in the animal kingdom, where
scientifically they belong. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3964579.stm

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological
Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 09:44:00 PM | 7 comments

NEANDERTHALS WERE CANNIBALS

"Gory evidence uncovered in France reveals that the early humans in the
region ate one another. Cheek muscles from children were filleted out,
tendons were sliced and skulls were cracked to remove brains."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/462048.stm

"When you see some Neanderthals practising intentional burial and
others practising cannibalism, that is a clear indication of behaviour
that is multidimensional - a pattern that mirrors the behaviour of more
modern people" Professor Tim White, University of California Berkeley

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological
Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 09:30:00 PM | 6 comments

KENYANTHROPUS PLATYOPS : AN ENTIRELY NEW BRANCH ON OUR FAMILY TREE.

"Scientists have unearthed the remains of what they say is yet another new hominid, or human-like creature, in Kenya.

The discovery by Meave Leakey, of the National Museums of Kenya, and colleagues threatens to blur still further the already murky picture of man's evolution.

The find, made at Lomekwi on the western shore of Lake Turkana, includes the battered but almost complete skull and face of the hominid. The fossils were dug up from deposits which have been reliably dated to between 3.2 and 3.5 million years ago."

 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 09:22:00 PM | 1 comments

THE LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS

"The Laetoli footprints were discovered in 1976, not far from the village of Laetoli in a remote part of Tanzania. We tend to think that major scientific discoveries are made in laboratories by dull, plodding scientists with narrowly-focused minds and eyes, but the Laetoli discovery happened far differently. Two paleoanthropologists, in a group led by the famous anthropologist Mary Leakey, were horsing around, throwing elephant dung at each other while walking a familiar path back from the dig one day. After Andrew Hill dodged one well-aimed faecal projectile, he found himself face-down on the ground and staring at footprints fossilised in a layer of hardened volcanic mud. No one had noticed them before. Later excavation revealed an astonishing find that came to be known as the Laetoli footprints.

What makes these prints an almost unbelievable discovery are that not only are they clearly made by fully bipedal1 creatures, but are also almost indistinguishable from modern human footprints, despite being formed millions of years earlier than the earliest known fossilised human footprints.

The individual footprints are sufficiently well-formed and well-preserved to provide information on the soft tissues (skin and muscle) of their creators, yet even more interesting is the information determined about the skeletons of these upright-walking creatures. The toe pattern is much the same as the modern human foot - the toes are relatively short and the big toe is in line with the other toes. "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A944336

 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 09:16:00 PM | 3 comments

AFRICAN APE-MAN'S HAND UNEARTHED

"Scientists have uncovered a complete hand and arm of the ape-man Australopithecus - the first discovery of its kind.

The fossil bones are likely to yield dramatic new details about the anatomy and behaviour of this distant cousin to modern humans.

It should also tell us something about how our own hands and arms evolved.

The remains were found in a cave at Sterkfontein, South Africa, by Dr Ron Clarke and his assistants who have been working on the site for several years."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/566187.stm
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:57:00 PM | 0 comments

EUROPE'S SEVEN FEMALE FOUNDERS

"Everyone in Europe is descended from just seven women.
Arriving at different times during the last 45,000 years, they survived wolves, bears and ice ages to form different clans that eventually became today's population.

These are the claims of Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University.

Calling them "The Seven Daughters of Eve", Professor Sykes has individually named them Ursula, Xenia, Tara, Helena, Katrine, Valda and Jasmine.

Professor Sykes arrived at his conclusion by studying mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from mothers to children.

From 6000 random samples, and allowing for naturally occurring mutations, he established seven different clusters of DNA."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/719376.stm


 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:53:00 PM | 3 comments

OUT OF AFRICA HYPOTHESIS: MORE EVIDENCE?

"There are two competing theories to explain how mankind spread across the globe. One suggests that between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago modern man (Homo sapiens) emerged from Africa to slowly populate the rest of the world, replacing any species of human that were already there. This is the Out of Africa hypothesis. The other theory suggests that modern humans arose simultaneously in Africa, Europe and Asia from one of our predecessors, Homo erectus, who left Africa about two million years ago."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1058484.stm





 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:46:00 PM | 5 comments

AUSTRALIAN FOSSILS A CHALLENGE TO AFRICA THEORY

"Australian scientists say analysis of the oldest DNA ever taken from skeletal remains challenges the theory that all modern humans can trace their recent ancestry to Africa.

"The study is based on the 60,000-year-old so-called Mungo Man skeleton, which was unearthed in New South Wales in 1974, and nine other anatomically modern Australian individuals who lived 8-15,000 years ago."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1108413.stm
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:42:00 PM | 1 comments

LINK BETWEEN HOMO RUDOLFENSIS AND THE ORIGINAL H. HABILIS.

The remains of the 1.8-million-year-old hominid are said to rank among the best specimens yet discovered of the earliest members of our genus, Homo. This fossil provides a key anatomical link between H. rudolfensis and the original H. habilis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2799159.stm
 
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:19:00 PM | 2 comments

PARASITES: EVIDENCE FOR EARLY HUMAN INTERACTIONS

"Some head lice infesting people today were probably spread to us thousands of years ago by an extinct species of early human, a genetics study reveals. It shows that when our ancestors left Africa after 100,000 years ago, they made direct contact with tribes of "archaic" peoples, probably in Asia. Lice could have jumped from them on to our ancestors during fights, sex, clothes-sharing or even cannibalism."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3715132.stm


 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:10:00 PM | 5 comments

WHEN DID HOMINIDS CONTROL FIRE?

"Human-like species migrating out of their African homeland had mastered
the use of fire up to 790,000 years ago, the journal Science reports.
The evidence, from northern Israel, suggests species such as Homo
erectus may have been surprisingly sophisticated in their behaviour.

The find links earlier evidence of controlled fire from Africa with
later discoveries in Eurasia, scientists say."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3670017.stm

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological
Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 08:01:00 PM | 1 comments

WHY HOMO SAPIENS SURVIVED AND NEANDERTHALS DIED OUT?

The extinction of the Neanderthals could have been caused by their choosy appetites - they ate virtually nothing but meat, according to new a study.

"They were picky eaters," says Dr Paul Pettitt, at the University of Oxford, UK. "And this tells me that they are really unchanging - doing the same old thing year after year."
 
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 07:58:00 PM | 9 comments

NEANDERTHALS NOT CLOSE FAMILY

"3D comparisons of Neanderthal, modern human and other primate skulls confirm theories that the ancient people were a breed apart, the researchers report. "
 
 
"Scientists have analysed the DNA of a third Neanderthal in an attempt to shed light on the genetic history of early humans. The results suggest that, like modern humans, Neanderthals expanded from a relatively small number of individuals."
 
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 07:56:00 PM | 3 comments

NEANDERTHALS MATED WITH MODERN HUMANS

"A hybrid skeleton showing features of both Neanderthal and early modern humans has been discovered, challenging the theory that our ancestors drove Neanderthals to extinction.
The skeleton of a young boy was found in Portugal.

Scientists say it shows for the first time that Neanderthals, who became extinct tens of thousands of years ago, mated with early members of our own species."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/323657.stm
 
Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
 
Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237
 
 
 
 

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 07:25:00 PM | 3 comments

HAVE HUMANS STOPPED EVOLVING?

Some scientists now believe that human evolution has ceased, we are as
advanced as we're ever going to get. We have become so clever at
adapting our environment to suit our needs that we no longer need to
evolve; we simply invent tools to do new tasks for us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/frontiers_20050504.shtml

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological
Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 06:55:00 PM | 5 comments

HUMANS CAME CLOSE TO EXTINCTION

"A new hypothesis about recent human evolution suggests that we came
very close to extinction because of a "volcanic winter" that occurred
71,000 years ago. Some scientists estimate that there may have been as
few as 15,000 humans alive at one time. The volcanic winter lasted about
six years. It was followed by 1,000 years of the coldest Ice Age on
record."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/166869.stm

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological
Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

posted by Rich Knight at 3/12/2006 06:50:00 PM | 1 comments