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 Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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"Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul..." Mark Twain
"Ideology is a poor substitute for rational thought..." Afarensis
"It isn't faith that makes good science...it's curiosity" Prof. Jacob Barnhardt, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"This man wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge. He wishes to think!" Clarence Darrow, Inherit the Wind
"...I become fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason..." Klaatu, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"I want you to grab life by its little bunny ears and get in its face..." The Simpsons
"This is between me and the vegetable..." Seymour Krelborn, The Little Shop of Horrors
"There are bad laws and cruel laws and the people who enforce them are both bad and cruel..." Thea, Isle of the Dead
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Jean- Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
"But the limit of tolerance for these human foibles is obtained when the proponent of a questionable scientific doctrine endeavors to maintain it against all possible odds by misrepresentation, misinformation and suppression of contradictory data, and by insinuating unfairness in opponents of his views." Franz Weidenreich, Morphology of Solo Man
"Man stands alone in the universe, a unique product of a long, unconcious, impersonal material process with unique understanding and potentialities. These he owes to no one but himself, and it is to himself that he is responsible. He is not the creature of uncontrollable and undeterminable forces, but his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny." George Gaylord Simpson, Life of the Past
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree! Unknown
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you. Frederich Nietzsche
PhysOrg.Com has an interesting story about a recently discovered egg. The egg was discovered by a museum volunteer who has been working on sorting and reboxing the bird egg collection at Cambridge University's Zoology Museum. The egg in question, belonging...
Since today is Darwin's birthday you can expect that the blogosphere will be buzzing with posts about Darwin. Most will be about Darwin's scientific achievements, some will be eloquent and insightful. Others will focus on the conflict between evolution and...
Darwin feared that the subject of his last book - earthworms - would not be of interest to the public (coincidentally, several of his early papers were on worms as well). Despite his fears the the book sold well. As...
I am in the process of re-reading Ankel-Simons' An Introduction to Primate Anatomy, 2nd Ed. and discovered an interesting error on the part of Charles Darwin - possibly. Ankel-Simons was discussing primate ears and says:...
The 2009 high school essay contest has been announced by the Alliance For Science. This year's theme is a good one. The theme is In Darwin's Footsteps! You can find contest rules, directions for entering, and a detailed description of...
If you are looking for a great way to celebrate Darwin Day, why not sign this petition. You will have the joy of knowing that you are a candle in the dark! You can also donate to the cause....
I can't explain why I have never written about The Beagle Project before. It is so unlike me not to mention something related to Darwin. At any rate, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Darwin Project the...
Kristine - of the Amused Muse comes up with a gem over at Antievolution.org. You can find the entire story here. Suffice to say it concerns Darwin, Wallace, and a conflict over spiritualism and shows Darwin at his ethical best...