Monday, June 01, 2009

'Ida' Fossil - A link to what?

An interesting article on the so called missing link fossil dub'd 'Ida'.

This discovery doesn't bother me in the least, hoax or no hoax.

Science and Faith go together...

'Missing Link'? Not Quite, Say Catholic Scientists

VICTORIA, B.C. — The announcement of an extraordinary fossil find touted “the missing link” in mankind’s evolutionary development has provoked controversy in the scientific community. But Catholics would do well to stay clear of it, warn several scientists who are believers.
However, Catholic critics of Darwinism say the ongoing debate over evolution is an important one for the faith.


The find, dubbed “Ida,” is a nearly intact fossilized skeleton of a squirrel-sized, 47-million-year-old primate called Darwinius masillae. Ida’s unusual state of preservation provides a wealth of data about one of the possible branches that led to higher primates such as apes and man, said Tim White of the University of California at Berkeley, but it doesn’t decide the issue about which branch — and it doesn’t constitute any kind of a missing link. “The missing link does not exist,” he said. “Evolution is a tree, not a chain.”

White is one of many biologists and paleontologists who quickly criticized the claims attending the discovery, while contrasting it with the much more modest tone of the scientific report.
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