Fisheye

And here's a picture of a cat skull:





Uh huh.

EggplantTrent

holy cow.

Thanks again for all the links. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to contribute to this forum as well.

EggplantTrent

Conchobar

The fossil evidence is very convincing to a reasonable anaylsis for the fact of evolution of man. Our gentic and protein comparisons are so close to the pigmy chimpanzee (bonobo) that some what to reclassify it as Homo panicis.

I won't repeat the good responses about. We know that fossil chronology is excellent, we know how to date Cambrian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous when the great extinctions took place. That was when gradualism was replaced by punctuated equilibrium. We can cross reference isotope dating with sea floor spreading rates. The tectonic plates move away from the mid atlantic rift zone as magma wells up to fill in the gap. That magma is new. At the plate moved west the intitial pillow magmas were dated by isotope in Brasil and Africa at 240 million years. When satellite lasers measured the continental drift at 2cm per year, divided into the distance traveled by the continents came out to approximately 240 or 250 million years. We measured sea floor spreading by submersibles and that also came out at 2cm per year. Magnetic polar reversal added more confirmation to the chronology, making it stupid to reject the compelling evidence.

Genetic data has added more information by showing that we contain old archaic genes from our Cambrian ancestors, our amphibian ancestors, our reptile, and mammal ancestors. Why would we have them if our ancestors didn't need them?

Embryology shows that we as humans go through a ball of cells stage like Volvox. Then it elongates with somatomeres or muscle segments like earth worms. Then it develops a neural tube with a primitive clumb of neurons in a primitive brain (this is us). The motor neurons send axons across the midline so that the left brain controls right body muscles and vice versa. We still have that basis plan. I you have a stroke of your left brain your right extremities will be paralysed.

The brain structure is one of additonal layers like an onion bulb. The amphioxus like spinal cord with primitive clump of neurons brain is supported by a notochord. Pre-vertebrates had a notochord before spinal columns evolved. We have a notochord for a few weeks until we develop a cartilaginous pre-boney spinal column. Meanwhile the primitive brain which is open to a ventricle add on the medulla in the fish like stage. We develope gill slits similar to elasmobranch (cartilaginous fish like sharks, not modern fish). and stubs of limbs like the lobe fin fish. The we add on another extension of brain stem (pons, mesencephalon, and early cerebellum.) This is our amphibian stage. The gills are recycled into ear and laryngeal parts, the limb buds become limbs with hands, five digits, to forearm bones, and one upper arm bone just like amphibians, and similarly with our legs.

Then we advance to the reptile stage with the mesencephalon adding the diencephalon, hypothalamus, and a small palaeocortex (which in humans is now mainly and emotional and primitive escape, rage or flight mechanism.)

Then we have reabsorved the notochord replacing with a spinal column, and reabsorb the tail. Next we add the Archaeocortex of early or primitive mammals, our heard has 4 chambers now with further divison of the three chambered reptile heart.

The we add the Neocortex and Isocortex structure saving space by making them folds for greater surface area.

Some error occur. Some babies are born with part of the pre-vertibrate notochord still at the base of the skill (Chordoma) where it can compress the brain and is difficult to remove. Some babies are born with branchial cleft cysts which are isolated nodules of gill tissue that did not ge reabsorbed. Histologically it is similar to primitive gills of sharks and not boney fish.

Neuroembryology is the textbook of Human evolution. Why else would we pass through stages of the different ORDERS (not kinds or species) but ORDERS back to Cambrian ancestors.

I cannot see how any intelligent person can look at the data and not see the clear evidence and proof of the fact of evolution. We only argue about trivia (which branch did this specimen go to?)

American Creationism may be a laughing stock throughout Europe but sadly half of Americans believe in it. I suppose it is due to the very sad level of American science illiteracy. It is approaching third world status. The USA's leadership in Science is slipping badly. Even the American Archives of Neurology journal published by the AMA now features mainly European and Japanese/chinese research, and the minority of publications from American universities is increasingly by folks with alien sounding names. Chaps you are losing your countries intellectual leadership at home and abroad to foreigners. Why? Because powerful fundies insist on remaining in the Dark Ages when Religion Ruled.

Stop them before it is too late.

40 years from now three applicants for a well paying job at a geology company will be interviewed. The Japanese woman will be asked about Plate tectonic and will explain it along with isotope dating and pertinent fossils dated in different sediments.

The French chap will be asked about formation of Earth, and he will explain the nebular cloud condensing into the Sun, igniting its muclear engine, and the accretion of rocks and heavy metals beginning 5 billion years ago, pressure melting it. Then the surface cooling as crust forms. He will explain the magma currenst and tectonic forces moving the crustal plates and the rates.

The American will be asked the same question, about the formation of the Earth. He will look solumn and say "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, and the earth was withour form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters."

Next week in the research lab they meet again. The Japanese woman is splitting a rock and slicing thin layers to analyse crystaline structure on her desk with several Cambrian fossils. She wears a smart white lab coat. The French chap also in a lab coat, is at his desk is extracting uranium from some deep trench rocks to do isotope counts. He has samples of pillow lava from the deep sea submersibles on his desk.

Along comes the American, wearing blue striped coveralls with his first name written in red across his upper shirt pocket, and he is pushing a bucked and mop. That is where the scriptures got him.

Conchobar. (I hope my prophesies don't come true.)

Oolon Colluphid

Um, I could be wrong, but if I were going to try to reassemble a two-million-year-old fossil, I'd do it by mounting the bits onto some sort of putty, to stop the fragile pieces of this three-dimensional jigsaw from falling apart and getting damaged...

Take a closer look at it here.

Oolon

Claudia

I have at home nice books (comics, 6 tomes, I have to buy the 7th) to explain this to my kids (level: middle high school). Published by French Geological Survey.

Ab_Normal

As a spouse of a mechanic, I recommend that you have your health insurance premiums up to date when you do this. They have access to large and heavy tools if you're arguing with them in their lairs and piss them off.

Butters

And this is my favorite.