Month: April 2009

Homo floresiensis on display

April 21, 2009 • 7:52 am

Also in today’s New York Times is a piece by John Noble Wilford about the display of a skeleton of “the hobbit,” (Homo floresiensis) at Stony Brook this week.  It includes the head and much of the body (see below).  If you’ve read my book or followed this website (see here), you know that whether H. floresiensis is a real species rather than an aberrant individual is a subject of real controversy, though the latest evidence suggests it was indeed a real species.  This individual, an adult, was only three feet tall. Imagine how small that is — just put a yardstick up against your leg, with its end on the floor, to see.

Here is what’s on display (it’s actually a cast, not the real skeleton).  Look at that tiny braincase!  If you’re anywhere near Stony Brook, go have a look.hobbit-1901

H. floresiensis.  Photo from The New York Times

Did cooking fuel human evolution?

April 21, 2009 • 7:41 am

In today’s New York Times, primatologist Richard Wrangham (at Harvard) is interviewed about his controversial theory of human evolution.  Wrangham posits that the invention of cooking food over fire, rather than eating it raw, was the important impetus for the evolution of many hominin traits, including big brains, upright posture, etc.  The theory is apparently about to appear in a new book, “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.”wrangham_

While I don’t find this theory extremely convincing — for one thing, there is no evidence for the use of fire before H. erectus (about 1.5 mya), which was already well advanced in bipedality and big brains.  Still, Wrangham is a smart guy and the short interview is well worth reading (including his account of how he ate like a chimp, including raw monkey).

A creationist objects to some fossil evidence for evolution

April 21, 2009 • 7:26 am

Over on his blog, Skeptic Dave takes on a woman who criticized the “supposed fossil evidence” for evolution given in my book:

“total BUNK! There are PLENTY of instances of mammals, invertebrates and insects mixed in the same layer of rocks. In one case, an entire tree was found UPSIDE DOWN through layered strata. So… did it just somehow stay upright for “billions” of years while rock slowly accumulated around it? Highly improbable. We also still have NO IDEA how something in between a wing and a leg is somehow better than a plain ol leg. It isn’t better unless it’s ALL there, and evolution tells us that it can’t all be there at once. When you go to look at something determined to see evidence to support your claim, that’s not scientific inductive reasoning anymore. That’s deductive. And that’s what most of today’s scientists set out to do. They want to “prove” what they already deeply, desperately believe.”

Go have a look at how Skeptic Dave and his friends have mustered the evidence against this “upside down tree” objection.   All supporters of evolution owe it to themselves to be able to address this very common objection.

Da Bear

April 21, 2009 • 6:25 am

o.k.,  nobody is even in the vicinity, although there have been some clever responses.  I will post the second clue at noon Chicago time today, and if somebody doesn’t get it after that, it’s hopeless.  Obviously, I’m not making this easy  — what fun would it be otherwise?

By the way, Matthew is completely wrong that I published a paper with this bear.  Don’t go looking for his name among my co-authors.

Incidentally, I have learned that Steve Pinker also has a bear, whose name is WILFRED.

Celebratory contest

April 19, 2009 • 7:59 pm

I am preparing a large post, so I don’t have time to keep up diurnally; but, to celebrate the last couple weeks of my consistently beating out Inner Fish on Amazon (take that, Neil!), I’m having a contest. The winner gets a free autographed copy of WEIT, inscribed however you want (so long as the inscription is neither salacious nor demeaning). The winner will be the first person who correctly answers the following question.

What is the name of my teddy bear, a bear I was given the day I was born and still possess?

Rules: no prize will be awarded to my friends or relatives. Otherwise, use any wiles that you possess. Multiple entries are permitted.

Monday:  Nobody’s even close.  Come on, folks — nobody knew I was going to be an evolutionary biologist when I was born.  And the bear was named when I was very young, so names like “Hitchens” are out!  I’ll give clues later if nobody gets it (and I suspect nobody will).

Here’s a photo of said bear (the hairy one is me):

jac-and-bear-1