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 ...
But you DID get an education! (Just no diploma! ;^)
I think you've been steadily learning, on your own, all these years and your folks ARE proud of you.
And I, just as convincingly, was not posting to him, whoever him might be.
Now you know ol' Wolf didn't do that....
Correct!!!! Few realize or know the different methods.
Apparently not until you pointed it out. LOL.
"A second observation may be needed. One would encourage you to get the author, pictures of his ancestors and stand in front of a mirror. If he can observe any difference or change, no matter how small some evolution has occurred."
I strongly disagree. I'm not the author but I have a picture of my paternal great-great grandparents. There is a remote resemblance between them and myself. This is NOT evolution. The maternal side of my family must also be factored in as contributors to my DNA.
Most people have a set of 8 great-great grandparents but, because my grandparents were first cousins, I only have a set of 6. I have traced my lineage to Charlemagne and we still look the same...human!
That's strange. Your source tells me:
A: You may rely on it !
And always have anonymous uncles or in-laws that are professors at big name universities.
Oh sure! Blame it on the Mormons ...
It is evolution. Whether you disagree or not is irrelevant. It does not change the fact that change is occurring and ongoing. Evolution is defined as ongoing change is occurring. The only concern of evolution considering your ancestors is that change occurred by reproduction. You should read Darwin not accept opinion. Darwin observations that was referred to was the small incremental change and difference in a population by reproduction and nature. The first chapter is the change and differences observed in domestic animals. In order for no change or difference to occur you and your grandparent would have to be exactly the same or clones.
I read something fantastically interesting last night.
It was at this site.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/7/29/20293/9910
Ashkenazi Jews and Intelligence
The Ashkenazi are the population of Jews originating in central and northern Europe. In the 20th century, they made up 3% of the U.S. Population, but won 27% of U.S. Nobel prizes. More than half of world chess champions are Ashkenazi. Einstein, Feynman, and Bobby Fischer are all of Ashkenazi ethnicity.
The Ashkenazi score 12-15 IQ points above the European average on intelligence tests, or in other words 0.75-1.0 standard deviations. They have high verbal and mathematical scores, but have visuospatial scores about 0.5 standard deviations lower than the European mean.
Jews of non-Ashkenazi origin do not have high average IQ scores and are not overrepresented in high-intelligence fields like the sciences.
Genetic Diseases that Increase IQ
The Ashkenazi have certain genetic diseases at an anomalous rate.
59% of Ashkenazi Jews have at least one of a list of alleles associated with specific genetic disorders. These alleles all appear to have something to do with brain function. *
Intelligence testing and occupation studies have shown that there is an intelligence boost in Ashkenazi Jews afflicted with Gaucher's disease, torsion dystonia, and non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia. All these conditions are caused by alleles from the list.
Some of these alleles increase the chances of certain cancers, some cause disease when two copies are present. All seem to be present in the Ashkenazi population at a higher rate than predicted by simulation studies. An explanation is that these brain-function related alleles boost fitness in some way for all carriers—59% of Ashkenazi Jews, as mentioned before.
Historical Selection for Intelligence
In medieval Europe, anti-Semitism locked the Ashkenazi Jews into intelligence-demanding careers like money-lending, tax-farming, and the merchant trade. Historical evidence shows that those who were more successful at these jobs—and therefore wealthier—had more children. During this time period, the Ashkenazi also had a low rate of intermarriage with other Europeans.
The combination of low gene inflow, career limitations, and differential reproduction set up the necessary conditions for natural selection of intelligence between 800-1700 AD.
Natural selection in Europe explains the high intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews compared to other Jews and compared to the rest of the world.
It also explains the anomalous rate of genetic disorders: positive selection for genes that improve IQ balances out the decreased fitness from disease. The genetic data suggests that the fitness advantage of intelligence for Ashkenazi Jews may have been on the order of 2% per IQ point.
Testing the Hypothesis
It is possible to test the genetic claims. Ashkenazi who are carriers for the alleles mentioned but who are not sick—often those with only one copy of the allele instead of two—are predicted to have better averages on intelligence tests than non-carriers. The control group would be any of their siblings who are not carriers. Since the alleles have a 1/2th chance of being passed on when one parent is a carrier, families like this should not be hard to find.
* * *
What I Think About This Research
If testing bears out the prediction that being a carrier boosts IQ, it means that individual genes and mechanisms that raise intelligence have been discovered and identified.
And that not everybody has them.
In some ways, this is a good thing. Exceptional people make the world a better place.
We will miss the extra-numerous Ashkenazi genius when it is no longer here: The conditions that caused natural selection for intelligence in the Ashkenazi are gone, and in some cases reversed. Today, they are probably regressing back to the mean. This may make the rest of us more equal, but in the end it is a tragedy.
It may not be an inevitable tragedy though. This paper is some of the first research to link specific genes to intelligence, and we can be confident of more like it in the future. Identifying the genes that cause genius will one day allow us to replicate that pharmaceutically: we will be able to boost IQ with a pill.
Facing some unpleasant truths about human differences now may wind up being the best way to improve things for everyone in the end.
--
* Alleles for sphingolipid storage disorders (Tay-Sachs, Gaucher, Niemann-Pick, and mucolipidosis type IV), DNA repair disorders (BRCA1, BRCA2, Fanconi's anemia type C, and Bloom syndrome), Canavan disease, familial dysautonomia, Factor XI deficiency (Peretz et al., 1997), the I1307K allele of the APC locus (Gryfe et al., 1999), non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
Darwin couldn't prove his theory and neither can you.
End of discussion.
The IQ difference has been observed for sometime but this is more evidence for the observation. Don't despair of lost intelligence because alleles are not being passed on. There is observation and research that there may be other alleles that work the same to determine intelligence within a society. Although the US has declined in mean IQ to 97 2% test at about 140 IQ and above. The hypotheses is that they are the result of reproduction of the better educated and those of higher IQ and not necessarily of a particular race. It might seem that those of a higher IQ seek more education and would prefer such in a mate. When I attended college IQ research and debate was much more accepted. Today it is not considered PC and one has to be very careful of any publishing.
"Facing some unpleasant truths about human differences now may wind up being the best way to improve things for everyone in the end." Yes, but I doubt it will occur. The constitution has been interpreted literally that all men are created equal by the masses instead of equal under the law. Few would give up such a perceived right. You witness the discord and objections of evidence and logical deduction on these very threads. I would expect more discord because change is occurring faster than the adjustments of knowledge. Public education for most may be on the verge of collapse. If so, 2% would be at extreme risk because of differences.This has occurred time and again throughout history. The last was the dark ages and it is thought that it took 500 years to find and burn most of the books of knowledge. The penalty for the possession of a book was death. Some think there are several reasons why such a event could now occur. One reason would be a severe and quick decline in oil production. IQ could decrease rather than increase. There are some countries where the mean IQ is 65. They are not going to be producing brain surgeons as we know them anytime soon. The mean IQ of Israel is 89 so all are not advanced. Most politicians are of agenda and few are very far above the mean. I've said enough.
End of discussion.
A expected result!!! However you don't determine by opinion what I discuss. No where does Darwin use the term prove and it is not a term of science. A theory is the observation of a material fact and the evidence and explanation of the fact. Proof is a term of philosophy and mathematics although philosophy has never proved a single argument. Since proof is a term of philosophy and faith and belief are also of philosophy why don't you do what you think science should do even if its method is not to prove anything. Philosophy has a method of proof, prove your faith and belief is a fact. If that is not possible we can end the discussion.
Who is “we” ??? You have a mouse in your pocket?
You are a cultural Marxist troll and I have exposed you as such in the past... anybody can search to find the evidence. This search feature on Free Republic is great.
Unlike you, I have a good memory because I am not a pot-head...
I would invite anyone to search out our first two exchanges, they would see how many times you have lied in the last few posts...
You are nearing irrelevancy in politics like the rest of your Leftist friends and that is why you and others of your ilk have come here...
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