'Game-changer' in evolution from S. African bones

[AsahinaKimi]

This image released by the journal Science shows the right hand skeleton of the adult female Australopithecus sediba against a modern human hand. A detailed analysis of 2 million-year-old bones found in South Africa offers the most powerful case so far in identifying the transitional figure that came before modern humans, findings some are calling a potential game-changer in understanding evolution. The hand, seen in a palmar view, lacks three wrist bones and four terminal phalanges, but is otherwise complete.

(09-08) 12:19 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Two million-year-old bones belonging to a creature with both apelike and human traits provide the clearest evidence of evolution's first major step toward modern humans — findings some are calling a potential game-changer.

An analysis of the bones found in South Africa suggests Australopithecus sediba is the most likely candidate to be the ancestor of humans, said lead researcher Lee R. Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.

The fossils, belonging to a male child and an adult female, show a novel combination of features, almost as though nature were experimenting. Some resemble pre-human creatures while others suggest the genus Homo, which includes Homo sapiens, modern people.

"It's as if evolution is caught in one vital moment, a stop-action snapshot of evolution in action," said Richard Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution. He was not among the team, led by South African scientists, whose research was published online Thursday in the journal Science.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/08/national/w070110D83.DTL#ixzz1XOjRY3Hb

[tabatha]

1. Yep, that is cool.

I attended a lecture by Dr Lee Berger in 1997 at Grahamstown on the Origins of Man, (he is originally from the US, now at the university I attended, Wits) whose 9-year old son found the fossil.

I attended the lecture because I was really interested in the origins of man, and have read many books on the subject.

[arcane1]

2. There's nothing more fascinating and excitement-stirring than pre-written human history

to me, anyway :)

[Jackpine Radical]

8. I've been fascinated by that stuff for more than 50 years.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, AsahinaKimi.

[AsahinaKimi]

4. You are welcome ..this is all so

fascinating!
Thanks for the K&R

[malaise]

5. WWPS???

What will Perry say? :rofl:

[hifiguy]

6. Stuff like this just fascinates me.

And this is a major, incredibly cool discovery. Choke on it, creationist dummies!!

[Xithras]

7. Game changer? Absolutely. Mind changer? Closed minds are hard to change.

As one fundie nut once put it to me, "Eden was in Israel, so African bones don't matter."

A closed mind is a wasted mind.

[LeftyMom]

11. That fundie even failed at fundamentalism. Eden was supposedly between the Tigris and Euphrates,

which would of course put it somewhere in Iraq. Unless you're Mormon, in which case it was in Jackson County, MO and the rivers just happen to have the same names.

[Xithras]

13. Oh no.

He was also one of those fundie nuts who believed that "Gods borders" for Israel were much larger than todays borders.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NE-72ZXux-g/TGUiC_d3hqI/AAAAAAAAOts/C2sYY30tNUM/s400/Greater+Israel.jpg



Fundie nuts tend to be crazy on more than one topic.

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

10. That is so very awesome

Even though I studied hydrogeology, I still enjoyed my paleo courses. I even got roped into TA'ing for a Age of Dino's course once.

I always love seeing how much we can learn from the various bits of the picture we find.

In some of the intro courses I TA'd we had some fossil stuff to show them. In some of the classes, I would take them outside and stand barefooted in some mud and then have them take a quick look, pointing out that I favor one leg, how deep my print is indicating how heavy I am and other little features. Later I showed them pictures of various types of tracks (dinos, invertebrates, mammals, etc.). It was a fun lab where, I hope, they took away a realization that there is more to fossils than just the 'oh, it's a leg bone' type thing.




Personally, I hope to find that my family line is descended from canines.:evilgrin:
Homo-sapiens Lupus Daemon
or perhaps Homo-lupus sapiens/lupiens.

[AsahinaKimi]

12. Oooh

love your werewolf thingies.. can I steal one?

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

16. Go for it...

Werewolf pics must be spread if we are to face the LOLcat scourge. :P

Here are some other little ones:



and some viking ones:




and finally, because no one expects them!

[AsahinaKimi]

17. When I was younger

I used to play a role playing game about Werewolf vs Vampires, and vs other monsters. It was quite fun. I had two characters. One was a werewolf, and the other was a werebear. Loved playing that for hours with friends. Anyway..off topic.

[InvisibleTouch]

14. There are so few early human and pre-human fossils...

...that every time a new one is found, it re-writes the whole evolutionary tree. The problem is that these species lived in arid environments that are not conducive to fossilization. And then there's the issue of individual variation. When you have the (incomplete) remains of only one or two individuals per species, it's hard to generalize to the whole population. For years it was thought that Neanderthals were bow-legged, knuckle-dragging hunchbacks, for instance, based on the remains of one very aged individual with bone disease.

I love paleontology, but I doubt they will ever get the "true tree" straightened out for humans.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. LA LA LALALALA!!!!!!!!!