Discovering Ardi *
The two-hour special premieres this Sunday, October 11th @ 9pm E/P on Discovery.
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/ardipithecus/ardipithecus.html?smid=YTDSC-YTD-SHP
Following publication in the journal Science on the discovery and study of a 4.4 million-year-old female partial skeleton nicknamed “Ardi,” Discovery Channel will present a world premiere special, DISCOVERING ARDI, Sunday October 11 at 9 PM (ET/PT) documenting the sustained, intensive investigation leading up to this landmark publication of the Ardipithecus ramidus fossils.
UNDERSTANDING ARDI, a one-hour special produced in collaboration with CBS News will air at 11 PM (ET/PT) immediately following DISCOVERING ARDI. The special is moderated by former CBS and CNN anchor Paula Zahn and includes research team members Dr. Tim White, Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Dr. Giday WoldeGabriel, Dr. Owen Lovejoy, and science journalist Ann Gibbons
The scientific investigation began in the Ethiopian desert 17 years ago, and now opens a new chapter on human evolution, revealing the first evolutionary steps our ancestors took after we diverged from a common ancestor we once shared with living chimpanzees. “Ardi’s” centerpiece skeleton, the other hominids she lived with, and the rocks, soils, plants and animals that made up her world were analyzed in laboratories around the world, and the scientists have now published their findings in the prestigious journal Science.
“Ardi” is now the oldest skeleton from our (hominid) branch of the primate family tree. These Ethiopian discoveries reveal an early grade of human evolution in Africa that predated the famous Australopithecus nicknamed “Lucy.” Ardipithecus was a woodland creature with a small brain, long arms, and short legs. The pelvis and feet show a primitive form of two-legged walking on the ground, but Ardipithecus was also a capable tree climber, with long fingers and big toes that allowed their feet to grasp like an ape’s. The discoveries answer old questions about how hominids became bipedal.
Duration : 0:0:33
[youtube egus9W3iMvA]
Why pretend to know …
Why pretend to know either way?
Because the bible …
Because the bible is full of hate and lies. It teaches people to follow blindly instead of living. Even if god WERE real, I’d hate him. But since it’s ONLY an adaptation of paganism, and there is so much overwhelming evidence of this, I’ll treat it like any other MAN MADE EVIL.
(cont) That said, a …
(cont) That said, a better word for what wields this “instrument” of creation would be “nature”. Nature is whole and unified. Nature may or may not be sentient. Nature may or may not be timeless & sourceless. But nature doesn’t turn people into salt-pillars,use great floods for targeted retribution, judge your sex or impregnate human women with itself to forgive it’s creations for it’s decisions by committing suicide by torture. Nature exists & reveals itself beautifully to us.
paradoxb3, you …
paradoxb3, you adroitly answered your own question. The dispute for science is not that evolution negates a deity, -simply that most religious stories about instantaneous creation are proved wrong. Evolution changes the definition of “God” from a personal being who created the world in 7 days-or any other religion’s explanation- to something quite different. I’m fine with keeping an open mind to what that maybe. The only ones really upset are those who require the old story to be FACT.
Evolutionists, …
Evolutionists, Creationists, help me out here. Lets just say IF a scientist had in his posession undenyable, undisputable PROOF of evolution, why would that mean God DOESNT exist?
There was a time when religious leaders preached the earth was flat, and the center of everything. Science proved that wrong, but God is still “alive.”
Whys it so hard for BOTH SIDES to accept that evolution *MIGHT* be God’s instrument for creation? The Bible says man was created from soil of the earth, right?
Sweet show!
Sweet show!
This is simply the …
This is simply the evolving of our ancestor out of the trees not completely,but it’s like coming out of the trees grabbing food would be easier to do, and bringing it back to your family therefore a female would want you more than something that walked around on 4 legs, then you come to the conclusion, also apes like Lucy lacked the grasping big toe that extends laterally meaning that she did not climb trees, maybe when she was a child she would have climbed like homo sapiens but thats it..
” lol back at ya” …
” lol back at ya” ya? What is that? Also “ben”? You called me ignorant? 0.o I never stated that Charles Darwin called himself an Atheist, neither did Albert Einstein, and agnostic simply means you aren’t too sure about the Universe. If Charles Darwin were alive to see all the newest discoveries he would most definitely be an Atheist in my opinion though. key word my opinion. You cannot sit there and call me ignorant for being smart either.. and laugh, and call me buddy. I am not your friend yet
I’m 78 and religion …
I’m 78 and religion wise – I’ve got a lot to un-learn.
I’m only 15, so I …
I’m only 15, so I obviously still have a lot to learn, but I’m very interested in history.
If youre a true …
If youre a true student of history then youll of course remember the Butler Act, and the Scopes (Monkey) Trial of 1926.
Make no mistake, those incredibly intelligent Tennesseans would have gleefully lynched the high school teacher named John Scopes led by William Jennings Bryan, in hot minute.
Reference the movie: Inherit the Wind (1960) for a real history lesson, and know that many in our country are still that stupid.
I’m guessing you’re …
I’m guessing you’re referring to the Middle Ages, when if you were smarter than the average peasant, you were called a witch? I’m not really that ignorant, I’m a history buff, I just don’t know much about the evolutionary theory outside the basics. And this may be taking it out of context, but that reference to the Middle Ages? Yeah, I know those were ignorant times, and what people did because of religion back then is sickening. (Crusades, inquisitions, witch trials, etc.)
There is a need to …
There is a need to “put it like that.”
There was a time when ignorance of reality caused people to become incoherently violent and burn folks at the stake that actually used their faculties to think and proclaim discoveries out-loud.
Being ignorant in this day and age – with the technology you have at hand is simply lazy.
Again, sorry.
i agree
i agree
Ah, thanks for …
Ah, thanks for explaining =)
Well there’s no …
Well there’s no need to say it like that, I’m just not big into science, and I don’t know much about evolution.
from what i gather, …
from what i gather, Ardi has both a grasping toe for climbing and was bipedal. That means our ancestors began walking upright while they still lived in the trees, and didn’t begin walking upright to survive on the open savanah as scientists thought for many years. so i guess it’s exciting if you’re a scientist, otherwise meh
CerberusGX: “It’s …
CerberusGX: “It’s interesting, but I don’t see anything huge or truly amazing about it.”
If you cant understand that it means we werent simply planted here on Earth, like geraniums, then explaining anything else to you would be a waste of resource. Sorry.