This Is Pretty Cool
The “Missing Link” has perhaps been found
Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution.
This 95%-complete ‘lemur monkey’ is described as the “eighth wonder of the world”
The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years – but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York.
The discovery of the 95%-complete ‘lemur monkey’ – dubbed Ida – is described by experts as the “eighth wonder of the world”.
They say its impact on the world of palaeontology will be “somewhat like an asteroid falling down to Earth”.
Researchers say proof of this transitional species finally confirms Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the then radical, outlandish ideas he came up with during his time aboard the Beagle.
If this turns out to be true I’m sure there will be many folks who will proclaim that this “proves” religion to be false, but it does nothing of the sort. I have a strong Christian faith but I’ve never had any problem with evolution or science in terms of them being “incompatible” with my religion.
I can see the Almighty trying to figure out a way to explain molecular biology to the ancient Hebrews and thinking “you know, I better go with the Genesis bit…”
World Stuff | tree hugging sister | 
May 19, 2009 10:57 am
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Me either. If you believe God made a full-grown man, how hard it is to believe He made a full-grown Earth?
Could the same God who made Paulina Poriskova also have made Roseanne Barr? These are the things that cause me to question my faith.
The interesting thing about anthropology is that most anthropologists spend their time calling each other diamond studded liars.
Me, I find it hard to believe that such detailed theories can be spun from so few data points. Granted, finding these data is hard to do. But that doesn’t excuse anthropologists from understanding statistical sampling.
In any case, this is a fascinating discovery, and certainly amazing. But “final” proof on anything? Not hardly.
Well, they say that without evil there can be no good.
I think we have stumbled upon one of those scientific consensus thingies.
And God said:”Let the world evolve.” I’m feeling very transformational today.
He us free will; why not the world?
I really wish “reporters” would learn a little something about their subjects, so they would quit writing some of the dumbass things they write.
I think I feel another evolution post coming on…
Y’know, Ken, now that I’ve thought about it, there is an amazing resemblance between that “missing link” and you. Maybe you’d best dig really deep into those family photos, eh?
Oh, wait, never mind. I keep on forgetting that you have a fixation on flesh eating lesbian gorillas, not a blood relation. Sorry!
You know, she does bear a bit of resemblence to cousin Lenny…
You know I’ve always wondered and especially in cases like this where there’s only a singular skeleton to go by: What if it’s the retard? Really, think about it, we’ve got x billion human beings, if we all died right now…how many of us would be preserved and how many of them would be “prime physical specimens” to later be discovered? The future descendants of some other rodent will find our remains and say, “Well no wonder they died out!” lol
Ebola, oddly enough that’s exactly why we have the stereotype of the stoop-shouldered, heavy-browed Neanderthal. The first specimen studied was of an arthritic, somewhat elderly (for the time) individual.
As cool as this might be, we should keep in mind that finding a needle in a haystack doesn’t prove anything, unless we know there are no other needles. There are many cases in fossil histories where we can’t tell if species X is the parent of Y and Z, or if Y is the parent of X and Z, etc, because the lineage isn’t entirely clear (some traits are unique to each of X, Y, and Z, and some traits are common to each pair XY, XZ, and YZ).
The find is remarkable, but we’re quite far from knowing that the descent from lemur to monkey was nice and crisp and clean.
And by the way, did anyone notice that “This was when tropical forests stretched right to the poles, and South America was still drifting and had yet to make contact with North America.
During that period, the first whales, horses, bats and monkeys emerged…”
Tropical forests stretching to the poles?!? Maybe the next great wave of evolution is being held back by our efforts to curb global warming 🙂
There are many cases in fossil histories where we can’t tell if species X is the parent of Y and Z, or if Y is the parent of X and Z, etc, because the lineage isn’t entirely clear
Very true, Mike. That’s why there is so much debate in the scientific community. There is great difference of opinion as to many of the hominid species, in particular between Johanson and Leakey, but they’re not the only ones. It’s a hotly debated field, which is why those who claim that “orthodox scientists” are trying to shut down debate are all wet.
Really, if they found every single species that ever existed and knew which one begat which by looking through a time machine, there would still be people, a lot of them, who would claim that there isn’t enough evidence to support the theory of evolution.
Sadly true, Skyler. Check out the Flat Earthers sometime. Or The Truthers.
I was brought up in a Baptist “the Earth is only 6,000 years old” kind of environments. While I still consider myself a Christian, I have no problems reconciling my faith with science. Having been in that environment though, like Skylar said, some people will never believe certain things.
I can see the Almighty trying to figure out a way to explain molecular biology to the ancient Hebrews and thinking “you know, I better go with the Genesis bit…”
ROFL! Brilliant!