Fossils – Page 60

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How Much Can One Bone Say?

March 26, 2010

Two fossil discoveries are generating a lot of news from a single bone. The first is a dinosaur hip. The second is a human finger. How much weight can a single bone carry? Australian tyrannosaur: The tyrannosaurid dinosaurs had a distinctive hip bone. Live Science cast any doubt on the claims: “it’s still a hypothesis […]

Early Man

Laetoli Footprints Fully Modern Too Early

March 22, 2010

Science Daily has reported a bombshell announcement from the University of Arizona School of Anthropology: the famous Laetoli footprints in Africa said to be 3.6 million years old are identical to modern human prints. “Based on previous analyses of the skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis, we expected that the Laetoli footprints would resemble those of someone […]

Darwin and Evolution

Dinosaur Evolution Is Relative

March 5, 2010

The science news media are all reporting that the “oldest known dinosaur relative” has been found. The artist reconstructions of Asilisaurus kongwe, found in middle Triassic layers in Tanzania, make the creature look quite dinosaurian; at least it was dog-sized and walked on thick legs under its body like its famous brethren did. Its early […]

Darwin and Evolution

Ida Not a Human Ancestor

March 3, 2010

If Ida known then what I know now: the media-frenzied presentation of Ida (Darwinius masillae) as a distant relative of human beings last year has been debunked. “Many lines of evidence indicate that Darwinius has nothing at all to do with human evolution,” said Chris Kirk (U of Texas) in an article on Science Daily. […]

Bible and Theology

Evolutionary Inferences: Are They Incontrovertible?

February 23, 2010

No matter what is found in plants or animals, it finds its way into an evolutionary explanation eventually. Are these explanations driven by the data, or forced into a belief system? Are other explanations possible? Some recent reports might inform these questions. Your inner plant: Get in touch with your inner plant with a report […]

Darwin and Evolution

More Surprises for Darwin

February 11, 2010

It’s not uncommon for theories to have to deal with anomalies, but Darwinism sure seems to get more than its share. Here are some recent examples. Fossils lie: Fossils preserve unmistakable clues about past life, right? Not so fast. Nature reported that “Non-random decay of chordate characters causes bias in fossil interpretation.”1 The way early […]

Fossils

Incredible Preservation of Beetle Wings Found

February 9, 2010

Beetle wings with their original shimmering luster have been found preserved in fossilized peat in Japan. The strata in which they were found have been labeled middle Pleistocene and dated at 600,000 years old. Yet these same wings, when dried in the sun, lose their luster within hours. The authors of the paper […]

Darwin and Evolution

Small Hobbit Brain Means Little

February 7, 2010

Central in the debate whether Homo floresiensis (nicknamed hobbits) were human is the matter of their small brains. Could diminutive human-like skeletons really be human with such small skulls? (cf. 03/04/2005). Scientists at the University of Cambridge conducted a detailed analysis of brain size vs. body size for a number of primates. They […]

Darwin and Evolution

Scientists Divine Deep Time in Dead Fish

January 30, 2010

Scientific experiments can certainly take on a wide variety of methods, from recreating the atmosphere of Titan to testing a drug on a genetic disease. But if educators want to encourage students to become scientists, they had best keep silent about “some very unpleasant experiments” at the University of Leicester reported by the BBC News. […]

Birds

Incredible Creatures that Support Evolution?

January 29, 2010

Paleontologists and biologists continue to uncover animals past and present that exhibit amazing diversity. Some of them are so weird and unexpected, they are almost unbelievable. Usually, the news media are quick to tally up points for Darwin by explaining to lay people how they shed light on evolution. But in the “discovery” stage of […]

Darwin and Evolution

Evolutionary Biogeography Requires Imagination

January 22, 2010

Biogeography – the study of the distribution of species – has been an important part of evolutionary theory, and has often been used as evidence for evolution. Some recent findings about plants and animals should give scientists caution about trying to divine too much evolutionary history from locations of present-day organisms and fossils. […]

Fossils

Specious Theories Obey the Law of Inertia

January 15, 2010

Last March, scientists publishing in Geology falsified the so-called “Permian Extinction,” calling it a “non-event.” (see 03/09/2009). Not only was there no smoking gun of a catastrophe in the rocks, the scientists said that the “claims of rapid vertebrate recovery… also must be called into question.” Our commentary at the time wondered how long it […]

Fossils

Flying Fossils Found

January 7, 2010

A population of insects called “living fossils” has been located in Australia. These tiny insects, called ancient greenling damselflies, have no living relatives. Their closest relatives disappeared from the fossil record 250 to 300 million years ago in the geological column, according to The Age and Heidelberg Leader. The wingspan of the insects is only […]

Darwin and Evolution

Tiktaalik Demoted to Has-Been

January 6, 2010

The highly-publicized tetrapod missing link or “fish-a-pod” that made headlines in 2006 (05/03/2006) has been dethroned by new findings in Poland. Trackways said to be 18 million years older than Tiktaalik, showing digits and alternating steps, were announced today in Nature.1 The authors said, “They force a radical reassessment of the timing, ecology and environmental […]

Fossils

Evolution News From Down Unda

December 18, 2009

Australia and New Zealand contain some of the most unique and distinctive flora and fauna in the world. Evolutionary explanations for some of these animals and plants have come to light in the press recently. Koala: Did you know there are extinct koalas? Science Daily reported about work by Aussie biologists to understand the evolution […]

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