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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
 Posted - 08/22/2006 : 13:21:31 [Permalink]
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It is an interesting debate, to say the least.
The Penn State team does make a good argument for their case.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2006 : 13:58:58 [Permalink]
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| What's nice is the demonstration here that scientific debates are argued in the pages of scientific journals, and that even "unpopular" scientific opinions can get published in high-profile journals. Those things are more important than what the actual story behind the "hobbits" is. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2006 : 14:38:08 [Permalink]
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It's been a sad month for dwarfs -- both human and planetary examples are getting demoted right and left. This article at Archaeology provides another good read on the Flores controversy. It does look as though the latest study is fairly devastating to Homo floresiensis as a species of hominid.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2006 : 00:35:47 [Permalink]
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Well here you have the full paper, free via Open Access.
I also found an article in the science pages of my local paper (sorry, only Swedish and not published on the web), where a Swedish paleontologist, Lars Werdelin (associate professor, Systematics & Evolution) points out that both Teuku Jacob and Alan Thorn subscribe to the Multiregional hypothesis for which a Homo florensis species would be troublesome. In his opinion the debate has turned to politics.
If another skull was to be found in Liang Bua this would probably settle this debate, but Jacob who has a lot of authority in Indonesia has stopped all further excavation. (He is also accused of damaging LB1)
Werdelin thinks that the skull is easy evaluate and his opinion is that it probably belong to a new species.
Of the arguments listed in the Archaeology article:
- Pygmies living in a village near Liang Bua cave where the bones were found display many of the distinctive dental traits used to define the new species.
- The hobbit's leg bones are abnormally thick and round, and have very weak muscle attachments, probably indicating some kind of growth disorder.
- The "hobbit's" skull is deformed in a way that makes it less symmetrical than a healthy human skull, a strong indicator that the individual suffered from a pathological condition like microcephaly.
- The lack of a chin was also used a defining characteristic for Homo floresiensis, but some of the local pygmies also lack chins.
Only the first looks devastating to the species hypothesis to me. Lets see what others may say. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2006 : 23:54:10 [Permalink]
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I think the only way the get closer to a good answer in this case is to have some more exploration of the area where the first bones were found.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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