“We humans have many vestigial features proving that we evolved,” argues Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D. (pictured left), biology professor at the University of Chicago. Coyne is the author of the book Why Evolution is True. Vestiges are biological features thought to be evolution relics. Scientific evidence, however, is critical; are evolution vestiges fact, or fiction?
Aristotle (384–322 BC) originated the vestiges theory. Even though WIKIPEDIA considers the theory as “controversial and not without dispute,” the carte blanche use of vestiges continues as supporting evidence for the popular “evolution is true” argument.
Recent advances in biotechnology, however, are challenging the scientific validity of the evolution vestiges theory.
Discovered in 1924 in South Africa, models of the skull have long since been duplicated for natural history museums as evidence for human evolution worldwide, including the Smithsonian. Found near Taung, South Africa, the lynchpin skull was tagged with the common name of Taung Child because of the fossil’s estimated age of 3 years, then later named Australopithecus africanus meaning the “southern ape from Africa.” Hollow’s new high-resolution CT scan images, however, undermine the long-held pre-Homo fossil status of the skull.
At the center of renewed contention is the skull’s absence of a front suture and fontanelle. While children of the age of 3 have a recognizable front suture, known as a metopic suture, Holloway could not detect any evidence of a metopic suture in the Taung skull.
International teams of paleoanthropologists for more than two decades have been discovering human-like fossils from a medieval archaeological site in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia known as Dmanisi. A new human Georgian skull fuels the dilemma further. The first four human-like fossils were discovered in 1991 by David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.
Increased archaeological interest in this Georgian site began in 1936 following the discovery of ancient and medieval artifacts. The discovery of teeth from an extinct rhino in 1983, followed by the discovery of stone tools in 1984, led to an increased archaeological and paleontological interest in Dmanisi. Last week the discovery of a fifth Dmanisi skull reported in the journal Science fuels the escalating dilemma of the struggling human evolution industry.
Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed humans originated in Asia – the out-of-Asia model. In the 6th edition of the Origin of Species (1872), while Darwin mentions “humans” ten times, he never discusses the origin of humans.
For the 1st edition of the Descent of Man (1871), Darwin studied African apes. In the section entitled “On the Birthplace and Antiquity of Man,” Darwin argued, “it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.” Darwin started evolution’s out-of-Africa vs. out-of-Asia dilemma.
While Darwin’s Bulldog, Thomas Huxley (pictured right), supported the out-of-Africa theory, few others did. Most evolution scientists, at that time, believed humans originated in Asia. The out-of-Asia model, supported by many evolutionists, including Ernst Haeckel, Eugene Dubois, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Roy Chapman Andrews, was the accepted theory.
Exploring human evolution via DNA was essential for twentieth-century evolution scientists. Charles Darwin, however, in The Origin of Species, never used the terms genetics, genetic, and genes until 1872, following the publication of the pea plantinheritance report of Gregor Mendel in 1866.
In his sixth edition, Darwin used the term “genetic” twice, but only to express a genealogical idea, not as a molecular term. In the words of American evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin,
“Darwin knew nothing about genes.”
English geneticist William Bateson, in a personal letter to colleague Alan Sedgwick, is credited for coining the term “genetics” in 1905 – as a molecular term. Since then, “genetics” emerged as the cornerstone of molecular evolutionary biology. Along with searching the fossil record, molecular biologists have been exploring human evolution via the natural selection of DNA. Continue Reading
Darwin, Then and Now, the Most Amazing Story in the History of Science, is a chronicle of who Darwin was, how he developed his theory, specifically what he said, and what scientists have discovered since the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859.
The book traces the rise and fall of evolution's popularity as a scientifically valid theory. With over 1,000 references from Darwin and scientists, Darwin Then and Now retraces developments in the most amazing story in the history of science. DarwinThenandNow.com focuses on understanding the intersection of biological evolution and science.
“We humans have many vestigial features proving that we evolved,” argues Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D. (pictured left), biology professor at the University of Chicago. Coyne is the author of the book Why Evolution is True. Vestiges are biological features thought to be evolution relics. Scientific evidence, however, is critical; are evolution vestiges fact, or fiction?
Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed humans originated in Asia – the out-of-
Exploring human evolution via DNA was essential for twentieth-century evolution scientists. 