Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Jim Foley at The Panda's Thumb has an interesting post up about Homo floresiensis. The post concerns a presentation on Homo floresiensis given by Colin Groves. I was particularly interested in this bit:
In the question time afterwards, I asked Groves whether the scientific community was coming to any consensus about the hobbit.The reply was unequivocal: although the debate is very heated, the microcephalic interpretation is supported only by a small number of scientists, and rejected by an overwhelming majority. At a recent conference, Colin was able to talk to a number of prominent paleoanthropologists. All were under no doubt that the hobbit is a new species. And, during one of the talks, when a reference was made to the microcephalic interpretation, a ripple of amusement went through the audience.
There are videos of the Groves presentation available and links to them can be found in Foley's post. Check it out.
Administrative Note: I'm taking the rest of the day off blogwise so posting will be non-existent until Friday...Unless something good happens. In the meantime, you might also find this interesting.
Comments
I love hobbit stories... so have fun while you're off.
Posted by: J-Dog | June 21, 2007 10:24 AM
Thanks for posting the YouTube links, just reading the book at the moment...
Posted by: Tim Jones | June 21, 2007 7:23 PM
This is a great story that just won't away and I'm glad others think it is premature to dismiss this find based on the analysis of Jacob. Jacob from the start clearly had his own agenda and I agree with Morwood that Jacob's motivations were suspect. We'll know more once the original research team gets back to the caves in Flores. Hard to believe, but their work was halted by the Indonesian government at one point. Of course, I have a vested interest in hoping this story has some validity to it, having written a fictional novel on the find. There is more on this ongoing controversy about Homo floresiensis at http://www.floresgirl.com. I have yet to read Morwood's book since I have been writing my own fictional account of the find but this ongoing talk is motivating me to order a copy.
Erik John Bertel
Posted by: Erik Bertel | June 22, 2007 8:08 AM