Posted on 12/29/2008 11:33:05 AM PST by Red Badger
Thanks...And, a happy and prosperous new year to you too.
Yup. The Wright Brothers only THOUGHT, they did not KNOW.
You do realize that human knowledge increases every time we learn something didn’t happen a particular way, as much as when we learn that something DID happen a certain way.
Scientists represent chump change in the grand scheme of things. I’m OK with the money they are spending and, in fact, what they are spending it on.
Our early Homo sapien ancestors survived the ice ages better than the Neanderthals, resulting in our dominance of Earth today, say scientists in Discovery magazine.
Quite simply, our caveman cousins had better tools and brains for securing food and shelter. Plus the Homo sapiens were built better anatomically to survive the freezing ice-age temperaturtes. Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens competed for dominance until about 30,000 years ago when the Neanderthals went extinct.
Homo sapiens had the latest high-tech tools, including warm clothing made of fur, enclosed shelters and effective weapons to kill and ensnare animals and fish. Specialized projectile weaponry like javelins and spearthrowers also increased the range to effectively kill animals.
Neanderthals, meanwhile, mostly hunted with spear in hand. This decreased their effective hunting range, especially in winter when animals were scarce and hunting was more difficult.
Because the Neanderthals literally didn’t “bring home the bacon” that meant less food and fewer calories to burn in ice-age temperatures when those calories were needed for survival.
In the end, the Homo sapien brain and superior body simply out-competed Neanderthal brute force.
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