Filed under Media

New Chinese hominin species? – Part 2

New Chinese hominin species? – Part 2

<- Part 1 came before As many of you are likely aware by this point, some interesting remains have recently been discovered in China. These have been purported to contain a novel mixture of modern, ancient and never seen before traits, around which two major hypotheses have been discovered. These are examples of an archaic … Continue reading »

New Chinese hominin species?: Dating

When an evolutionary gaze was first cast upon humanity it was believed that we had evolved in Asia due to our many similarities with orang-utans. As such most early attempts to uncover our early ancestors focused on that region. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the focused shifted to Africa and we made real headway … Continue reading »

The folly of the “palaeolithic diet”

There’s this new fad going around called the “palaeolithic diet” (or at least, that’s what it should be called. I’ll have none of this American “paleolithic” thank you very much). It is essentially people trying to eat what our ancestors ate, the logic beign that it is what we’ve evolved to deal with and will … Continue reading »

Darwinius masillae: proof of science

Darwinius masillae: proof of science

2009: Science and the media collide in the most horrific way imaginable; with Darwinius masillae, a beautifully preserved prehistoric primate being trumped up as the answer to human origins and generally claimed to be the best thing since sliced bread. It is not and the whole affair is generally embarassing for all involved. 2011: Science … Continue reading »