The fossil remains of Australopithecus sediba, nicknamed Karabo, has generated a frenzy in the evolution loving media following the publication of five papers in the journal Science on September 9, 2011. The intention of the papers was to finally resolving the long standing human evolution fossil record gap problem.

Using state-of-the-art radiological technologies, the papers focused on the comparing the shape and size of the cranium, pelvis, hand, and ankle & foot of Karabo to humans. The fifth paper estimated the date of the fossils mains using advanced Uranium-lead dating technologies.

Within a week of publication, however, problems with the alleged fossil record gap resolution began to emerge. On top of the new problem list is the estimated dating of Karabo. Donald Johanson paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University and founder of the Institute of Human Origins at the University of California, Berkley, noted in The New York Times that the dating “places the origins of Homo firmly in eastern Africa… prior to the dating of A. sediba.” If the dating is correct, then, this means that humans-like species came before Karabo, therefore, humans could not have descended from Karabo. That is a major hurdle for the fossil record gap problem.

Surprisingly, Amina Khan of the Los Angeles Times picked up on the huddle: “But the age of the fossils presents a problem. The researchers’ isotopic and magnetic dating showed the fossils were 1.977 million years old, about 300,000 years younger than a Homo habilis fossil that should have been their junior.”

Paleoanthropologist Fred Spoor of University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany also pointed out that “could not themselves have given rise to Homo [human-like species]” according to Ann Gibbons in an article in Science entitled “Skeletons Present an Exquisite Paleo-Puzzle.”

The gaps in the fossil record continue to be a problem for developing a comprehensive theory of human evolution.  Last year, Science noted Johanson’s concern in the article entitle”Candidate Human Ancestor From South Africa Sparks Praise and Debate.” Johanson said that the “The oldest Homo specimens are scrappy and enigmatic, leaving researchers unsure about the evolutionary steps between the australopithecines and Homo. … The transition to Homo continues to be almost totally confusing.”

Science pined that while “Our genus Homo is thought to have evolved… there are few fossils that provide detailed information on this transition.”

A recent ABC News article agrees, noting that “Scientists have long talked about a ‘missing link’ between very old fossils… There is a gap in the fossil record, so far unexplained. Does Australopithecus sediba help fill the gap? Not on its own, say most researchers…”

“The team says the new species may be the best candidate yet for the immediate ancestor of our genus, Homo,” wrote Michael Balter of the Science staff in an overview piece. However, “That last claim is a big one, and few scientists are ready to believe it themselves just yet.”

Writing in Science in 2010, paleoanthropologist and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Tim White, pointed out that “Given its late age and Australopithecus-grade anatomy, it contributes little to the understanding of the origin of genus Homo.” Picking up on the story, Time simply reported that “Tim White … believes A. Sediba bears no relationship to modern humans.”

After reviewing the most recent papers in Science, Professor of Human Origins at George Washington University, Bernard Wood, concluded that the reports are “a watershed in our understanding of human evolution, even if only to demonstrate that things are pretty complex”. Rather than clarifying human origins, Karabo complicates any presumed line of ancestral descent.

Ian Tattersall, paleoanthropologist and a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, resigned to the fact that the fossil evidence will never show the “leap to humans” because it happened “very suddenly”.

After 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species, the evidence continues to contradict rather than support Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution−a problem Darwin was keenly aware of. As Steven Gould noted in The Panda’s Thumb, “The fossil record had caused Darwin more grief than joy.”

Even while leading paleoanthropologists, including Bernard Wood, Donald Johanson, Fred Spoor, Ian Tattersal, and Tim White, are clearly convinced that Karabo is not a human ancestor the media continues to twist the evidence to support the evolution industry.  The handling of Karabo highlights, again, the anti-science rhetoric of the popular media to support of the evolution industry.