Australopithecus Sediba - Daddy?

Kivaro

So I'm hearing comments like "Game-Changer in Evolution", "Possible Missing Link", "Oldest Human Ancestor" etc. from the discovery of 2-million-year-old bones found in South Africa.

Some of the interesting features are:
• Fossil hands reveal long thumbs and wrists resembling human ones, which would enable tool use. Curved fingers look more ape-like.
• Foot bones reveal an upright-walking stance like people, while ankle bones belong to a tree-climber.
• Pelvis reconstructions reveal broad hips, argued by some as a development that allowed human ancestors to birth large-brained babies.

It sounds like a true transitional species from the Australopithecus to the Homo genus. Whether or not this discovery will be "one of the most important finds in human archaeology" has yet to be determined, but I see it as another nail in the creationist coffin.

Dawkins must be elated (to put it mildly) with this news.

More info all over the place:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/science/09fossils.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14822438
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=14475306
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2011-09-08/2-million-year-old-fossils-raise-hope-over-missing-link/50326266/1

Wibbs

Dunno, seems like another "missing link" the media loves and some researchers try to base careers on(though fair play on the latter). There won't ever be one missing link as such found. Well there already has, loads of them. Loads of transitional humans up to us. Actually as far as evolution goes we've probably got more and better "missing links" for us than for any other animal. And given how incredibly rare fossil hominids are that's pretty impressive.

I doubt it'll quieten the creationists. These people just refuse to believe it. The most vocal and public of them sit surrounded by supporters with a very bad education in science. That saddens me about the US in particular. People forget it was mostly the deep south, the bible belt, who put man on the moon, yet today nearly half of them can't fathom and don't believe how they got there. Asking them to figure out the complexity of human evolution is a hard sell.

oldrnwisr

Kivaro wrote: »

So I'm hearing comments like "Game-Changer in Evolution", "Possible Missing Link", "Oldest Human Ancestor" etc. from the discovery of 2-million-year-old bones found in South Africa.

Some of the interesting features are:
• Fossil hands reveal long thumbs and wrists resembling human ones, which would enable tool use. Curved fingers look more ape-like.
• Foot bones reveal an upright-walking stance like people, while ankle bones belong to a tree-climber.
• Pelvis reconstructions reveal broad hips, argued by some as a development that allowed human ancestors to birth large-brained babies.

It sounds like a true transitional species from the Australopithecus to the Homo genus. Whether or not this discovery will be "one of the most important finds in human archaeology" has yet to be determined, but I see it as another nail in the creationist coffin.

Dawkins must be elated (to put it mildly) with this news.

More info all over the place:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/science/09fossils.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14822438
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=14475306
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2011-09-08/2-million-year-old-fossils-raise-hope-over-missing-link/50326266/1

Original paper:

Australopithecus sediba: a new species of Homo-like australopith from South Africa


New Scientist Coverage:

Almost human: closest australopithecine primate found


I don't think that this is going to have any impact on creationists. They're still waiting for scientists to find the fossil of a crocoduck or proto-banana probably.

Galvasean

No impact whatsoever on the Creationisy movement. If they don't believe it by now they never will.
HOWEVER it will give me and my cronies in the Paleontology forum much to chat about

seamus

Won't make a blind bit of difference to evolution deniers. Whenever a "missing link" is found, they just shift the goalposts and demand to see the "missing link" between humans and the new "missing link".

Basically evolution deniers want to be shown three fossils:

One skeleton of the "missing link".

His biological father's non-human skeleton.

His biological son's human skeleton.

Clearly producing such things is impossible because evolution doesn't work like that and because the chances of finding 3 generations of the same biological line fossilised are astronomically tiny.

Galvasean

Knew that name sounded familiar, we were talking about it on the Palaeontology forum more than a year ago!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=65318252

Galvasean

seamus wrote: »

Won't make a blind bit of difference to evolution deniers. Whenever a "missing link" is found, they just shift the goalposts and demand to see the "missing link" between humans and the new "missing link".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjDJmDL3xIs

Anyone got the clip that follows directly on from that(^) one? It shows Exactly what Seamus is referring to.

oldrnwisr

Galvasean wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjDJmDL3xIs

Anyone got the clip that follows directly on from that(^) one? It shows Exactly what Seamus is referring to.

I think this is the one you mean Galv. Seems to have disappeared from YT though.

Futurama - Evolution Debate

Galvasean

That's the one

Kivaro

Galvasean wrote: »

No impact whatsoever on the Creationisy movement. If they don't believe it by now they never will.
HOWEVER it will give me and my cronies in the Paleontology forum much to chat about

And it might not make a difference to the Creaturism movement (from the Futurama clip) either.

I will still proclaim these discoveries as loud as I can though.
If it causes a creationist (even one) to wonder about a species 'walking around' with human-like hands and ape-like feet; he's gotta say: "What's with that?".

When I said "another nail in the creationist coffin", I fully understood that there were 1,999,999 more nails to go (for many).