Posted on 04/13/2006 12:18:35 PM PDT by Senator Bedfellow
When the famous skeleton of an early human ancestor known as Lucy was discovered in Africa in the 1970s, scientists asked: Where did she come from?
Now, fossils found in the same region are providing solid answers, researchers have announced.
Lucy is a 3.5-foot-tall (1.1-meter-tall) adult skeleton that belongs to an early human ancestor, or hominid, known as Australopithecus afarensis.
The species lived between 3 million and 3.6 million years ago and is widely considered an ancestor of modern humans.
The new fossils are from the most primitive species of Australopithecus, known as Australopithecus anamensis. The remains date to about 4.1 million years ago, according to Tim White, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
White co-directed the team that discovered the new fossils in Ethiopia (map) in a region of the Afar desert known as the Middle Awash.
The team says the newly discovered fossils are a no-longer-missing link between early and later forms of Australopithecus and to a more primitive hominid known as Ardipithecus.
"What the new discovery does is very nicely fill this gap between the earliest of the Lucy species at 3.6 million years and the older [human ancestor] Ardipithecus ramidus, which is dated at 4.4 million years," White said.
The new fossil find consists mainly of jawbone fragments, upper and lower teeth, and a thigh bone.
The fossils are described in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Found Links
According to White, the discovery supports the hypothesis that Lucy was a direct descendent of Australopithecus anamensis.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
How do limb proportions provide clues to pigmentation and hairiness? I understand the environment part, but the inclusion of limb proportions I don't.
I am not positive on this one.
Limb proportions can determine whether the individual was arboreal or terrestrial, and this leads to an estimate of whether, and how much, the individual lived within a relatively dense tree canopy vs. the more open grasslands. If the latter, the individual would likely be more exposed to sunlight, requiring a better cooling system (i.e., less hair), but at the same time there would be more exposure to ultraviolet light, requiring darker pigmentation.
I got it. If the limb proportions most likely indicate he was terrestrial. From this they conclude hairless, and dark pigmented. Do those two features pretty much go hand in hand? At least in the environment this fossil was found?
The site in question appears to be an objectivist site. It makes unwarranted assumptions about the tangible existence and ubiquitous power of axiomatic ideas in formal logic.
While it is possible that entities for which no certain objective evidence of any great power exist, I think you oversell the extent to which reasoning and rationality support their existence. Reasoning that only works while preaching to the choir, isn't the sort of reasoning science is organized to address.
Sort of. There are variations though. The Bushmen have a slightly different adaptation, with thicker skin contributing to protection from UV light, while some true forest groups (Pygmies) do have dark skin.
Like some of the recreations on Discovery channel, the amount of hair and exact color of skin here may be "best guess" estimates. The limb proportions are a more accurate estimate of the locomotion (along with shape of the hands and feet, etc.).
I agree.
Besides, bashing pixies leaves a rather greasy stain on the walls.
Actually, for my age, I have very few wrinkles...I think its genetic...both of my parents had very few wrinkles, and never used any sort of skin cream of anything like that...in fact, my dad, never ever had a grey hair on his head...he found a long white hair when he was in his 30s but that was it...he died almost 70, with a full head of almost black hair, and almost no wrinkles...mom had greyed, but had few wrinkles...I maintain, a lot of how one ages, is a genetic thing...
Now my hubby is very young looking for his age...hes going to be 63, and almost everyone thinks he is only in his mid 40s...but again, his whole family is like that..his grandmother died, in her 90s with a full head of hair, down to her waist, and almost no grey...his aunt died in her 80s, with no wrinkles and no grey hair...his dad died with black hair, and almost no wrinkles...his last surviving uncle is in his 80s and just returned from a vigorous jaunt to Egypt, and altho he has some grey hair, almost no wrinkles...people mistake him for someone in their early 60s...I think its all that hot Sicilian blood..
My younger son, says, he will look forever young, judging by his genetics on both sides...
Ah, I do have stretch marks....but I figure, I earned them in the line of duty....luckily I had very easy labors and births with both my boys, so the stretch mark thing did not really bother me a lot...
Yep, as we begin to age, our metabolism slows down, I had to give in and get glasses, and sometimes I will forget little things, tho for just a short while...however, I have maintained my excellent hearing...my younger son always called it my 'mother hearing'...no matter how quiet my boys tried to be, while plotting their little schemes, I could always hear them just fine...and they hated that...
He spoke for Himself. Just like He promised a Messiah in the book of Genesis, He also spoke of an end time. Don't be fooled, God is not mocked. He will execute judgment on non-believers.
Hey, thanks!
Most scientist who study evolution come to the realization that there is a God, although some won't admit it. But Newton and Lord Kelvin did.
You know, many years ago, I told my nephew that I could put clay on his skull and make him appear to be ape-like.
In the same way insects become immune to insecticides, I became immune to penicillin because I had massive doses when I was growing up. Do you think will my offspring also be immune to penicillin? Will it change their DNA?
-- Lord Kelvin
Below is post # 86. What's to fill out? Or will post # 86 gradually evolve into another post better suited to its ding-a-ling environment..
"Bravo 'atlaw' for your post #83, in response to ejroths post...I was thinking much the same as you...tho, I am sure you said it better than I could have..."
First, it would have been courteous, if when copying my post #86, you would have pinged me...secondly, Jennyp, made a simple mistake...I am sure, fill out post #68, is what was meant...a simple transposing of numbers...
So, this is a ding-a-ling environment?...interesting...
Speak for yourself.
Main Entry: ape
Pronunciation: 'Ap
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English apa; akin to Old High German affo ape
1 a : MONKEY; especially : one of the larger tailless or short-tailed Old World forms b : any of two families (Pongidae and Hylobatidae) of large tailless semierect primates (as the chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, or gibbon) -- called also anthropoid, anthropoid ape
2 a : MIMIC b : a large uncouth person
Once I was a tadpole
Beginning to begin.
Then I was a frog
With my tail tucked in.
Then I was a monkey
swinging from a tree.
And now I'm a professor
With a PhD.
1 - This is the evolutionary formula for making a universe:
Nothing + nothing = two elements + time = 92 natural elements + time = all physical laws and a completely structured universe of galaxies, systems, stars, planets, and moons orbiting in perfect balance and order.
Wrong!!!! Nothing + nothing = nothing. 0+0=0. Remains unknown and the rest is your opinion.
I'll stack my graduate and post graduate gradepoint, as well as my IQ against yours any day.
When my kids are quiet I know somethings up!
You know what I wish though. I wish that I enjoyed learning things the way I do now when I was young and in college. All I had ever known at that point was school, and more school. I made good grades, but I didn't put the kind of effort into it that I should have. I had my son 9 months after graduation. My husband says he's my little graduation gift. After that I spent the next seven years changing diapers. Once my kids got to a point where I didn't have to watch them every second, I found that I just really craved mental stimulation. Now I can't stop. Homeschooling has been great fun, and educational for me because I want to learn as much as possible about everything I teach them. We've been studying ancient civilizations starting with Egypt and working our way up. We're in medieval Europe now. I get so excited that I'm pouring over the stuff and trying to get my kids as fascinated as I am. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they're like, "enough already! We wanna play!" I just wish I had been more serious, and disciplined when I was younger. I was smart enough, but I was a bit of a goof off. I could have gotten way more out of my education.
"Please fill out post 86. We evos need your guidance."Whoops, I'm sorry, post 68. The "Ape or Human?" survey.Below is post # 86. What's to fill out? Or will post # 86 gradually evolve into another post better suited to its ding-a-ling environment..
What do you mean, "immune to penicillin"? Penicillin doesn't work by killing off your own cells, penicillin works by killing bacteria. Perhaps you have a strain of endemic bacteria that are now immune to penicillin, but you yourself wouldn't be.
Anyway, there's no evidence that I know of that any kind of environmental stress you encounter in your life will be passed on to your children's genes.
But there is growing evidence that you're afraid of filling out the survey in post 68. Why is that?
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