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New 'human-like species' discovered

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Candlelight

Admiral
Admiral
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/3564569/New-human-like-species-discovered

Two partial skeletons unearthed in a South African cave belong to a previously unclassified species of pre-human dating back almost 2 million years and may shed new light on human evolution.
Fossils of the bones of a young male and an adult female suggest the newly documented species, called Australopithecus sediba, walked upright and shared many physical traits with the earliest known human Homo species.
The finding of the pre-human, or hominid, fossils - which scientists say are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old - was published in the journal Science and may answer some key questions about where humans came from.
Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, who led the team that found the fossils in August 2008, told a news conference held near the cave outside Johannesburg the discovery was "unprecedented".
"I am struck by the exceptional nature of something right on our doorstep ... there are more hominid fossils than I have ever discovered in my entire career," he said.
"When we found it we never imagined that we were looking at a new species."
Berger earlier told reporters by telephone the team were hoping to reveal a possible two further skeletons from the same site.
He was reluctant to define the new species as a "missing link" in human evolutionary history, but said it would "contribute enormously to our understanding of what was going on at that moment where the early members of the genus Homo emerged".
South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the news conference: "As any parent knows, one of the most common questions a child asks is, 'where do I come from?' It has become clear the answer is 'Africa'.
"With the World Cup in 63 days, we will now be able to welcome people from the world with fresh news of our past."
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I wonder which team they'll support.
 
I really wish we could go back and see the first modern human born. I mean, at some point something had to be born that would no longer be considered pre-human, right?
 
Actually, this is old news. I don't know how you people forgot about that weird family that lived in the cave. I guess we've all been distracted by learning to speak, fire, the wheel, the moon landing, the Internet, and such. But anyway, yeah, that family was kinda weird, and I guess we should've searched the cave when they turned up missing after we'd been off hunting for berries, but it's water under the bridge now.
 
RoJoHen said:
I really wish we could go back and see the first modern human born. I mean, at some point something had to be born that would no longer be considered pre-human, right?
Click to expand...

You'll have to ask Frontline's mother about that one. Perhaps she still has some video.
 
Awesome! :D It never ceases to amaze me just how much our knowledge of our evolution continues to expand with every passing year. I still have all the evolution books from when I was little, and a lot of stuff has changed or expanded--and I'm not even that old yet!

Each discovery is another God-given miracle...and I mean that in the most literal sense. :)
 
Looks like some scientists have failed yet another of God's tests of faith.

Don't worry guys, they say damnation only SEEMS like an eternity. :techman:
 
RoJoHen said:
I really wish we could go back and see the first modern human born. I mean, at some point something had to be born that would no longer be considered pre-human, right?
Click to expand...
it doesn't work that way. Species blur together. It takes gaps of millenia to note any difference.
 
Well, yes, I realize that, but still, at some point a creature would have been born that would be more one thing than the other (even if it wasn't noticeable)
 
Colonel Green said:
Looks like some scientists have failed yet another of God's tests of faith.
Click to expand...

It really saddens me that there are people who feel they have to fear what nature has to show us. Funny...I find myself believing more strongly the more I learn about how we came about.
 
Math (once you get past the annoying fact of having to actually DO math on tests) can be like that, especially that which describes the physical laws of the universe. :)
 
RoJoHen said:
Well, yes, I realize that, but still, at some point a creature would have been born that would be more one thing than the other (even if it wasn't noticeable)
Click to expand...
It would always be whatever it was. On the grand scale, humans as we know it are just another link in the chain leading to whatever our descendants will be and they will just be another.

A lizard didn't just one day pop out from an egg and go "look ma, no hands!" and verily there were snakes it was good. Evolution isn't guided toward anything, it is just is. An infinite game of genetic 'telephone'.

Humankind may someday end up destroying our current run of civilization, or going into space only to lose our way back for a million years or so, and when we look back at the humans of the 20th century it will be all about 'oh look at these cranial ridges and these excessively developed canines how badly formed the pericardium was, clearly it is just an early example of a predecessor to Homo Awesomeus Awesomeus.'

Certain points along the path last longer than others, but as far as nature is concerned they are no more 'important' than the mutations that fail horribly or the subspecies that melts back into the populace without a trace, just more successful.
 
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