Scientists unveil missing link in evolution (quote, versus, behavior, virtual)
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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.
Sir David Attenborough said Darwin "would have been thrilled" to have seen the fossil - and says it tells us who we are and where we came from.
You mean that fossilized lemur! Looks like a lemur, must be a lemur (not a monkey!). The "millions of years" and the "missing link" stuff is all added 'story' content, as in made-up.
Poor little guy, looks like he died quickly in the flood of Noah's day. That's my storyline I'm putting to it. It all depends on your presupositions.
You mean that fossilized lemur! Looks like a lemur, must be a lemur (not a monkey!). The "millions of years" and the "missing link" stuff is all added 'story' content, as in made-up.
Poor little guy, looks like he died quickly in the flood of Noah's day. That's my storyline I'm putting to it. It all depends on your presupositions.
Pardon me for being less-than-impressed. They found a fossil of a monkey, and have created a history around it...right down to the idea that its fractured wrist prevented it from climbing trees...so it had to leave the forest to drink and...and.....
oh boy.
And how is this a "missing link"? It was a fossil of a tiny monkey. Yay.
I was actually waiting until someone posted this article.
Let's humour the headsmackers and instill some reason into this Natgeophilia
The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal.
Last meal: a poor baby gazelle
The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a "missing link" between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives.
Watch the word "claimed". More words - distant. Now peep an adverb in "more". Adverbs tends to make the adjectives feel good.
But some independent experts, awaiting an opportunity to see the new fossil, are sceptical of the claim.
"independent" are those who are not dependent on the emotion of the outcome. Scepticism, this is a given amongst the scientific community. Obviously someone is more intelligent than the rest. More obviously someone is less interested in conceptual "spin".
And they have been critical of the hype surrounding the presentation of Ida.
Hype
Although details of the fossil have only just been published in a scientific journal - PLoS One - there is already a TV documentary and book tie-in.
Pork, pork and more pork. Royalty, pulitzer, tuxedo talk with a trophy.
For much of the intervening period, it has been in a private collection.
Translate: Access restricted to scientists (the underprivileged ones).
He said the fossil creature was "the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor" and described the discovery as "a dream come true".
Key words to watch: closest, closest yet direct. Oxymoroning can be a crime. Then it's dreams.
But he said some aspects of the teeth indicate she is not a direct ancestor - more of an "aunt" than a "grandmother".
It's not direct anymore.
"She belongs to the group from which higher primates and human beings developed but my impression is she is not on the direct line."
Dr Henry Gee, a senior editor at the journal Nature, said the term itself was misleading and that the scientific community would need to evaluate its significance.
No evaluation has been done YET
Actually, for some time now, I've been hiding the fact that I, rifleman*, am themissinglink. I'm less intelligent than many posters here, apparently, and I exhibit certain more primitive behavioral patterns (I hunt, I fish, I build old weapons, I like being in a tree versus in a big city high-rise apartment; I know how to survive off the land without a micro-wave, and I grunt a lot during certain, umm.. activities).
And, I'm available for review as a transitional. And, I'm also gonna admit, this lemur was my auntie.
So. There you finally have it. Evo proved once and for all!
Satisfied?
(*once known as lemur-man....)
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An admission (quiet sob sob)
