BioLogos, The Fossil Record, And Human Evolution

Brian has an excellent post about the discussion of the fossil record at BioLogos. Brian does a great job pointing how just how bad the discussion of the fossil record is at BioLogos. Long story short, they briefly discuss the early evolution of tetrapods, the reptile/mammal transition, and then move on to whales – and do an inadequate job on all three. I bring this up because BioLogos is, apparently, going to be discussing human evolution. Based on their discussion of the fossil record I don’t expect much in the way of a competent discussion of the subject. I will post on it when it becomes available, until then, here is what they have to say:

Current scientific evidence suggests that all organisms, including humans, are related to each other by their descent from common ancestral species. This response will look at recent findings from the genome, which supports this claim. The fossil records of humans and human-like creatures also helps to sketch the story of human evolution.

I can hardly wait…

Evolution of Human Sex Roles

In discussing human sex roles one usually starts thus:

…because a single egg is more costly to produce than a single sperm, the number of offspring produced by female animals is limited by the number of eggs that she can produce, while the number of offspring produced by male animals is limited by the number of mating partners.

And then usually this is thrown in as well:

…male animals are competitive and promiscuous while female animals are non-competitive and choosy.

Not A Genuine Likeness Of Shakespeare After All…

Awhile back I wrote a post about a picture that was claimed to be one of the few paintings of Shakespeare painted while he was still alive.

Where Did All That Oil Come From? Srsly?

Words can not describe the mind-boggling nature of the video below (an exception to my no YouTube rule). Call me gobsmacked…

Did Homo sapiens Copy Tool Making Techniques From H. floresiensis? Do Bonobos Rate Food?

Science is reporting on interesting research on the Ling Bua stone tools:

Ichthyostega, Acanthostega, and Tetrapod Origins

PhysOrg.com has a story on new research on Ichthyostega and Acanthostega. The new research was prompted by the discovery of new fossils:

Interesting Evolution News

There are a number of interesting pieces of evolutionary research in the news. Some are a little on the old side…

Another Reason Not To Like The Yankees

Not content with inflicting that detestable “Gob Bless America” on their fans, they have to chain the exits so folks can’t leave while the dreck is being sung:

New Population of Orangutangs Discovered

According to National Geographic a new, and large, population of orangutangs has been discovered in the Indonesian sector of Borneo:

An Update on the Madagascar Crisis

An update can be found here. One of the more disturbing items is this:

We have also recently discovered that large-scale, organized bushmeat hunting is being conducted in old-growth rainforests near and within the newly protected area of Makira. Under the control of an individual who claims huge tracts of rainforest as his own, every type of lemur in the area–including indris and the highly endangered silky sifaka–are hunted down by packs of trained dogs and killed. The meat is smoked on site and sold throughout the region–even as far away as the nation’s capital city, Antananarivo.

Apparently the wood being cut down in these areas is being sold to China, and of course the people actually doing the hard work are being ruthlessly exploited:

Villagers participating in the logging risk their lives and are exploited shamelessly by the mafia. Villagers receive as little as US$2.50 (2€) per day to drag logs miles out of the jungle–logs weighing an average of 200 kg each, with some weighing more than a ton. In Antalaha, Sambava or Vohémar, these same logs have fetched up to US$11 (8.50€) per kg for the local mafia and foreign profiteers (primarily from China).