AAR

[Kayne]

I have wondered about the affect of Spacetime (or the 4th dimension of time). Hubble's Big Bang Theroy is now believed to have happened very quickly (scientists now argue over whether is was in a fraction of a section or minutes).

So how does this fit in with Natural Selection? Could the dimension of time affect the process? How fast did it really take? We don't know much about time. We do see that just about everything in the universe (and on Earth) recycles, escept for Energy.

[dick]

I see that old Ardi as elderly Lucy's ancestor is being downgraded. Certainly gives one a feeling of uncertainty about things.

[Kayne]

The quest for the "missing link" continues. I am not sure of the significance of Ardi living in the forest versus grassland to the missing link but it appears there were more human-like species walking around Africa than was once imagined. The progression appears to be more like a bush than a branch of a tree and the likelihood of finding an actual "missing link" I believe is a myth.

[dick]

I've often also wondered why, if noone has successfully discovered the "missing link," no one has posited the idea that there isn't one. Odd, how the myths of a common beginning influence our thinking.

[Kayne]

In Bill Nye's movie, 100 Greatest Discoveries: Evolution, he discusses the Missing Link Myth with Dr. Ken Mowbry from The American Museum of Natural History. Mowbry describes the missing link idea as a myth, and that hominids had a lot of diversity and not a linear progression. They talk about the footprints Mary Leakey found in Tanzania in 1978 and the Toumai skull found in central Africa in 2002. The hominids were all over the continent of Africa. I seem to recall that Mary Leakey's daughter, Louise also discusses the idea of the missing link being a myth in a Ted Talk.

Have you read last month's announcement about the first synthetic cell scientists created?