Paleo – Page 115

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Earliest Bilaterian Fossil Claimed

July 14, 2004

Microscopic etchings in rock alleged to be primitive bilaterian fossils have been reported by J.Y. Chen et al. in China. (Bilateria are organisms displaying symmetry along one axis.) The report, printed in the July 9 issue of Science,1 dates the fossils at 40-55 million years before the Cambrian. Erik Stokstad in the same issue2 calls […]

Early Man

Maybe Neanderthals Were Artists After All

July 8, 2004

Revised dating of human bones near figurines has cast an assumption about early humans into doubt, reports Nature Science Update. Aurignacian artefacts, like horse figurines and other carved images, have long been thought to be telltale indicators of modern man. Vogelherd cave near Ulm, Germany was considered the best example, because sandwiched between modern human […]

Early Man

Another Hominid Find Rocks the Charts

July 3, 2004

Another hominid skull dubbed OL 45500 has been reported in Science,1 a juvenile said to belong to Homo erectus. Its classification is problematic because it exhibits a mosaic of features rather than fitting neatly into an evolutionary sequence. The scientists state, “Although the cranium represents possibly the smallest adult or near-adult known between 1.7 and […]

Dumb Ideas

Key to Evolution of Culture Suggested

June 28, 2004

Visualize chimpanzees exercising their antics in the jungle: grooming, screeching at one another, chasing off rivals. Now shift the scene to human activities in a large city: fans cheering their team at a stadium, an audience applauding a concert, kids screaming on an amusement park roller coaster, a congregation singing hymns at church, students taking […]

Dinosaurs

Dinos in the News

June 15, 2004

Three dinosaur finds were reported in the last month: Sauropod: A new kind of sauropod was found in the Morrison Formation (Jurassic) in Montana, reported National Geographic News. This kind of dinosaur was unexpected, and suggests an unknown fauna existed in a state known more for its Cretaceous meat-eaters. The skull of this sauropod had […]

Early Man

Modern Cavemen Found

June 1, 2004

National Geographic News has a remarkable true story about some families that lived underground in the darkness and dampness of a cave for nearly two years in recent times. And now, the rest of the story: they were Jews hiding out from the Nazis. This incredible story of survival in the midst of danger points […]

Bible and Theology

Humans and Chimps Compared

May 25, 2004

In case you had an identity crisis last time at the zoo, Current Biology can provide psychoanalysis. The May 25 issue posted two articles side by side: one, simply entitled “Humans,”1 and the other, “Chimps.”2 Various comparisons are contrasts are drawn, including a few surprising facts, such as this statement: “Based on relative amounts of […]

Early Man

Early Humans Refused to Be Classified

May 24, 2004

We humans like to classify things, and when we classify ourselves, we sometimes get into trouble. We create groups of “us” and “them” that breed conflicts. A fight of sorts is going on between paleoanthropologists, reports Science News1 May 22, over what to make of some skulls found in a cave in Romania. The skulls […]

Fossils

Do Fossils Show a Worldwide Record of Evolution?

May 21, 2004

The fossil record provides the acid test for evolutionary theory. Everyone who walks a real dog by a poodle knows that small-scale variation occurs among living species, but non-evolutionists get understandably annoyed when Darwinians extrapolate the observed variations to encompass all of life: as if to say, because finch beaks vary, therefore humans had bacteria […]

Fossils

Fossil Water Lily Matches Modern

May 19, 2004

Three Cornell botanists found fossil water lilies from the early Cretaceous that look nearly identical to modern ones, except that they are smaller. The exquisitely-detailed fossils were preserved in a New Jersey clay pit by a process of coalification. Water lilies (family Nymphaeaceae) are presumed by evolutionists to be among the earliest flowering plants (angiosperms). […]

Dinosaurs

New T. Rex Found; Best-Ever Skull Unveiled

May 14, 2004

National Geographic News has reported the excavation of a possibly complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton at a “secret location,” a private ranch, in Montana. The curious can monitor the interactive dig at Unearthing T. Rex. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has finally unveiled Samson, the best preserved skull of a Tyrannosaurus […]

Fossils

Another Impact Theory for Permian Extinction Proposed

May 13, 2004

Richard Kerr was very cautious in his announcement in Science1 about a new claim about an asteroid impact near Australia causing the Permian Extinction. He went to lengths to point out that the evidence is not clear, and that many other scientists disagree. After describing the “proposed” impact site, he cautioned: Not so fast, say […]

Birds

Fossil Hummingbird, Arthropod Look Modern

May 7, 2004

Science announced that a rare hummingbird fossil has been found in Germany and, though assumed to be 30 million years old, is indistinguishable from living New-World hummingbirds. This upsets the standard theory that hummingbirds evolved in the New World only. Writing in the May 7 issue,1 discoverer Gerald Mayr said, I report on tiny skeletons […]

Dinosaurs

Feathered Dinosaur Exhibit Raises Doubts

May 6, 2004

Can you trust those fossils on display in your local museum, the ones showing “Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight”? No less than the respected journal Nature1 is concerned they may have been gathered and sold illegally, and are no more trustworthy than the 1999 Archaeoraptor hoax that embarrassed National Geographic magazine. […]

Dumb Ideas

Neanderthals Matured Faster

April 29, 2004

The news media are all echoing a story out of Nature April 291 that Neanderthals matured by age 15, as indicated by their teeth. A News and Views article in the same issue by Jay Kelley2 begins, It is nearly 150 years since the existence of Neanderthals was first recognized, but debate about their relationship […]

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