15 May 2017

Shaking Up The Family Tree? . . . We Got Bones!

New Evidence of Mysterious Homo naledi Raises Questions about How Humans Evolved
The much-anticipated dating of the enigmatic species, along with stunning new fossils, challenge key assumptions about human evolution
By Kate Wong on May 10, 2017 in Scientific American
If and when we humans ever figure out how we developed on this entire Planet Earth and when and where our collective species evolved - a concept some people don't believe in - each new announcement in scientific anthropomorphic research seems to always get the pop-up headlines treatment.
Like this one published on May 10, 2017 where southern Africa is the 'hotbed of evolution diversification'. . . or so they say

Experts not involved in the new work say the discoveries are exciting, but expressed some doubts about the team’s interpretations such as the suggestion southern Africa was the hotbed of evolutionary diversification . . . If the dates are correct, then H. naledi is a classic example of an evolutionary dead end,” he asserts, noting the similarities to the miniature human “hobbit” species Homo floresiensis that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until around 50,000 years ago. “[H. naledi] couldn’t possibly have given rise to living human populations today.”
The history of paleoanthropology is littered with deeply rooted assumptions that have been overturned by new discoveries."
[Read more in the links under the headline]
 

No comments: