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To: Mamzelle
So is "Science" magazine. Can we depend on the peers to review? After all, the Korean stem-cell scientist was "peer reviewed" so well that John Edwards used him to claim that Christopher Reed could be cured if it were not for the "anti-science" Republicans. And I don't know if you've heard, but it turns out that trees produce methane (lots and lots of it) even when they're alive and not decaying. Global warming caused by global greening. A whole slew of biochemists missed out on that until just this week. But our ears could smell--until we evolved. That's according to the peers who pitch their wares here--

Are you this bitter in real life, or do you just play that on the internet?

In any case, if you have an issue with the actual research results or evidence, feel free to present it. If instead you just want to rant because science reveals things you don't want to face, just say so.

78 posted on 01/18/2006 6:51:48 PM PST by Ichneumon
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To: Ichneumon
If instead you just want to rant because science reveals things you don't want to face, just say so

Are you serious?

Did you even READ the article? This krap passes as science these days?

Let's post the story again, but this time let's highlight the revealing keywords of darwinian evolutionary "science."

Our ears could have started evolutionary life as a tube for breathing, say scientists, after examining the ancestral structure in a 370-million-year-old fossil fish.

Evolutionary biologists are intrigued by how complicated sensory organs evolved from structures that may have had completely different uses in ancestral creatures. The bony structures in ancient fish, which at some point turned into ears, for example, appear to have had mainly a structural function, bracing the cheek and holding up the jaw. How exactly they made the transition to their role in hearing has proved a bit of a mystery.

The ear is a relatively easy organ to study. Its evolving bones have been preserved as fossils, whereas the soft tissues of other specialized features, such as eyes and noses, have long decayed.

So Martin Brazeau and Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Sweden decided to take a close look at the ear-like features of an ancient, metre-long monster from the Latvian Natural History Museum in Riga. Panderichthys was a fish, but is thought to be closely related to the earliest four-limbed tetrapods that eventually climbed on to land and gave rise to modern vertebrates.

The researchers examined Panderichthys and found that the bony structures in its head combine features of fish and tetrapods, capturing a snapshot of evolution in action. "It's neat to see that transition," says Hans Thewissen who studies the evolution of the ear and other organs at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown.

Half-way house

Ancient fish have a narrow channel from the roof of the skull into the mouth, known as a spiracle, which is bounded by a long bone known as the hyomandibula that braces the cheek. In tetrapods, the equivalent bone is stubbier, a step towards the stirrup-like stapes bone that helps to transmit sound waves into our skulls.

The team found that Panderichthys has a wide, straight spiracle rather than a narrow one, and a shortened hyomandibula. They report their findings in Nature1.

Some have previously speculated that our ancient ears may have had a role in breathing.

On the basis of this new fossil evidence, the team speculates that the widened spiracle may have served Panderichthys much like the breathing holes used by modern-day sharks and rays. These allow the fish to inhale water over their gills while lying on the seabed, and avoid gulping in grit through the mouth.

You guys SURE SEEM SURE of yourself. Not.

135 posted on 01/18/2006 7:27:46 PM PST by ImaGraftedBranch ("Toleration" has never been affiliated with the virtuous. Think about it.)
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To: Ichneumon
You might present him with a bit of logic.
For those of who would aspire to learning and the seeking of knowledge the world offers science, mathematics, philosophy and in general a education that furnishes the necessary tools. However if you aspire to mediocrity, reject change, fear knowledge, prefer indoctrination, seek dogma, and would have your life determined then by all means join a church. You will only have to read one book!!
143 posted on 01/18/2006 7:35:21 PM PST by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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