Yesterday was a big day for anthropology, seeing the first publication of some 15 years worth of analysis of a 4.4 million-year-old fossil skeleton of Ardipithecus Ramidus first discovered by Gen Suwa, then a graduate student of Berkeley paleoanthropologist Tim White, in Ethiopia, in 1992. Science magazine has made all eleven papers freely available to anyone willing to register at their site.
20 thoughts on “An older human ancestor than Lucy”
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How does this crap involve Making something?
Chill out it’s Friday.
Regardless if you believe/understand evolution or not this is still a major event in the scientific community. A significant number of posts on this blog aren’t directly related to Making something but are related to spreading the advancement of knowledge.
al, i don’t think this is “crap” – it’s science. if you read the papers and the articles about this discovery you’ll see many make-like projects, from mold making to how dating old rocks and fossils works. science is interesting.
I don’t know why so many people seem to be under the impression that every post on MAKE has to be something YOU can make. We post plenty of these, but we also post items we think will be of interest to makers, and most makers are interested in leading-edge science and technology, how the world works. If we’re excited about something, we assume many other makers will be too.
ha! boobies
Ardi’s robust thumb musculature and flexible midcarpal (wrist) joint are perfect for text-messaging.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/ardipithecus-ramidus/
I don’t see the human ancestor supposedly touted on the headline. Am I missing something?
Oh, wait, that’s right, I believe in Creation, these folks believe in evolution :-) (NOT saying I’m right and you’re wrong, just saying what I believe).
Regardless, still quite an interesting find!
All you need to say is that evolution is slow, even speciation isn’t all that fast, so there should be a massive fossil record with gobs of chains, not enigmatic “missing links.” Done deal. There will be no end all to the argument. So just throw that out so the argument ends because its an annoying argument.
Phil, Gareth — if you want to build your readership, arguing with your readers is not a good idea. Unless you’d rather be right than successful.
You seem angry, Anonymous. What I don’t understand is why. Care to elaborate?