Before heading to work every morning, I turn on the TV to watch CNN's American Morning to get the latest news. This morning, I heard the most interesting news ever! The "Missing Link" is found!!!
A discovery of a 47 million-year-old fossil primate that is said to be a human ancestor was announced and unveiled Tuesday at a press conference in New York City.Known as "Ida," the nearly complete transitional fossil is 20 times older than most fossils that provide evidence for human evolution.
It shows characteristics from the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans), said Norwegian paleontologist Jørn Hurum of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum. However, she is not really an anthropoid either, he said.
I have long been trying to find convincing proof of evolution. On one hand, the Quran says "We created man of the best stature," but then you think about the Neanderthal human and read the possibilities that he was not created in the "best stature."
I was leaning more to religion on that issue, but science has been proving several things that religion is not quite clear about.
I was leaning more to religion on that issue, but science has been proving several things that religion is not quite clear about.
14 Comments:
I tend to think the of term "best of stature" to not be an "end result" but rather a process of the moment. Did you know that Neanderthal's had a larger brain than we Homo Sapiens do? I think many people misunderstand evolution as being teh "pinnacle" of something... and along came mankind the perfect form after millions of years of evolution which is incorrect as you can see women have a hard time in childbirth and people with chronic back problems all associated with our desire to walk upright and the wonky adaptations that ensued...
I tend to think of "creation and best of stature" it is something in constant movement, revision and not a static state. Thinking that we as humans will grow and evolve and do/learn new things rather than stay the same forever... why it just makes me smile thinking of the possibilities...
Ida has nails like ours, not claws... fascinating!
I think many people misunderstand evolution as being teh "pinnacle" of somethingthat would not be a misunderstanding. to many people (including most scientists)evolution is the pinnacle scientific theory of how speicies evolved. (at least thus far)
I tend to think of "creation and best of stature" it is something in constant movement, revision and not a static state.me too. that is the defining principle evolution. that the nature of species continues to change and revise itself and does not ever remain static.
however, the creationist believe a creator brought man/species into being. this in itself is a rather static concept, don't you think? albeit a creationist could constantly upgrade how the creationist viewed this coming about, they do not allow their isn't one in their theory. but the theory of evolution could evolve, if scientific evidence of this creator exists.
the primary difference if the two theories (in my mind) is one of them is scientific, and the other is not by the definition of what constitutes a scientific theory. (one must be able to test them in a scientific way thru experimentation).
why it just makes me smile thinking of the possibilitiesi agree, this is the most exciting part about evolution, is to imagine how man will evolve thru adaption to our environment. imagine how man may change to accommodate global warming.
it is also the scariest part!
This is sort of off the point, but sort of not... Just wanted to clarify one thing. We are not descended from Neanderthals. Scientists now believe they were a separate branch of the human family that died out and Homo Sapiens survived.
"I have long been trying to find convincing proof of evolution."
"Evolution" covers many things. Darwin showed clearly how natural selection works, but knew nothing about heredity. How heredity works has been researched over the past century, the most recent advance being an understanding of how genes can control the shape of an animal (the "hox" genes). It is not yet understood how genes control instincts and behavior.
A completely different topic is the ages of the rocks and the fossils in them. I think the physics of dating these is well understood and really can't be argued with. And one can see many clear, dated sequences of fossils showing changes in anatomy over time, for example in horses.
The study of human evolution in particular is still very incomplete. It is like a half finished crossword puzzle. But there is now a wide range of fossil evidence to show roughly what happened, although many details remain obscure.
As for expressions such as "we created man of the best stature", they leave open the question of how this was (or is) done. Perhaps if you read it as "we created a logical universe in which human evolution is bound to happen", you can relate such statements to modern knowledge.
Go here and you can get a very nice free poster showing the relationships of the main groups of living things.
I too am very interested in this story Bassam! It would seem that a very distant human ancestor has finally been discovered.
There are still a lot of questions about Neanderthals and why they disappeared. Some scientists believe that ancient modern humans and Neanderthals may have interbred and produced children. If so, some of the genes of Neanderthals may survive in some humans today. I think that is possible. However, so far, the scientists studying human genetics haven't found any sign of Neanderthal genes.
I don't think of Neanderthals as having a lesser stature than humans alive today. They were different, yes, but they lived very successfully in a very harsh environment for hundreds of thousands of years. Why they went extinct is a very open question. One possibility is that modern human diseases took a heavy toll on them, just as European diseases killed as many as 90 percent of Native Americans.
Another very interesting recent discovery is that of the little people that have been dubbed "Hobbits" on the island of Floriensis. They apparently lived along side modern humans as recently as 10,000 years ago. The native peoples that live on the island today still have legends of little people. I watched a NOVA science program recently about the Hobbits. The most recent evidence of their origin suggests that they may have been a surviving lineage of Australopithecus, a very distant human ancestor whose fossils date back to 4 million years ago. The famous fossil known as "Lucy" was one of these ancient hominids.
I am pleased to find someone else interested in this subject Bassam. :)
"imagine how man may change to accommodate global warming.
it is also the scariest part!"
I'm curious, what do you forsee?
(I have never thought of it to be honest ...)
Annie,
i agree, this is the most exciting part about evolution, is to imagine how man will evolve thru adaption to our environment. imagine how man may change to accommodate global warming.-
I am as curious as Avram on what you foresee, Annie. Because I rather think man will attempt to adapt his environment to accomodate global climate change.
Bassam,
I see you are reading "The Shack". I just bought that book this past weekend on someone elses recommendation. Please tell me what you think.
Lynette,
"The Shack" is an interesting novel. I'm half way through it. I can't really tell whether I like or not because I don't know yet. I bought the book after I saw the interview of the author on TV, speaking about how he tried to talk about the God-human relationships. It's mostly focuses on Christian beliefs in a very nontraditional way, which brought a lot of criticism.
The main story is pretty sad: it's about this guy whose daughter was murdered in a shack. His belief in God has shaken until he met God in the shack where his daughter was murdered. The dialogue between this man and God, who is portrayed not like how we always imagine him, is really interesting.
The writing style is very engaging and the family story touches your heart. The writer did a great job in making me the reader picture everything. You feel you see them, not only reading about them.
Bassam,
The writer did a great job in making me the reader picture everything. -
Ahh, that is the sign of a good writer. :)
It's mostly focuses on Christian beliefs in a very nontraditional way, which brought a lot of criticism.Sometimes those are the most interesting books. Those that ruffle a few feathers. ;) And, as I am really not into the traditional type of religion, I will probably find this writer's ideas rather interesting.
I just started "The Terror" by Dan Simmons this weekend. It's a fictionalized account of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find a northwest passage back in 1845. The writer does an excellent job of weaving fact and fiction. You get a good feel for what the conditions were really like on the ice, along with the tension of his characters being hunted by an unknown creature. It's a long book, but with his ability to keep the reader in suspense, it's a quick read. :)
I saw "The Terror" at the bookstore yesterday! I also thought its story is interesting. I'll read it when I finish the three books waiting in line for me!
Only 3? Lightweight! :P
I've got about 200 pages left in "The Terror". It's very well written, but... Yes, there is a "but". *sigh* It is rather depressing. Exciting, and interesting at times, but also depressing. I will let you know what my final grade is after I finish it. :)
I finished the book last night, Bassam. I give it an "A". :)
Post a Comment