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Pikaia “confirmed” as earliest known chordate …

Denyse O'Leary
March 5, 2012
Cambrian explosion, News
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File:Pikaia BW.jpg
Pikaia gracilens/Nobu Tamura

In “Humans ‘evolved from worm creature,’” (Sydney Morning Herald, March 6, 2012), John von Radowitz reports,

Humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago, scientists have learned.

The extinct Pikaia gracilens has been confirmed as the oldest known member of the chordate family, which includes all modern vertebrates including humans.

Pikaia was fingered for this role decades ago, but now there’s more evidence.

Anyway, do see intrepid Canuck blogger Blazing Cat Fur’s unforgettable take here.

Comments
Pikaia “confirmed” as earliest known chordate … and evolutionists have been loosing their backbone ever since....Joe
March 6, 2012
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"Humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago, scientists have learned." Uh, no. Scientists haven't learned any such thing. That claim lies at the end of a series of assumptions, nearly every one of which is subject to serious debate. Further, even if we accept the questionable family tree, watch out for that word 'evolved' in the article. It seems pretty open, which is good, but it carries with it an assumption of purely materialistic and naturalistic means, which is definitely not correct.Eric Anderson
March 5, 2012
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OT:
Multiverse Theory: Avoiding the Evidence of Design in our Universe - podcast http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2012-03-05T16_38_22-08_00
bornagain77
March 5, 2012
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Cambrian Fossil Predictions vs. Actual Evidence - Graphs https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMzNobjlobjNncQbornagain77
March 5, 2012
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From the 'we are worms' article we find:
Every specimen of Pikaia discovered so far has come from the Burgess Shale fossil beds in Canada's Yoho National Park, which date back 505 million years.
yet this other article states:
Challenging Fossil of a Little Fish Excerpt: The fish-like creature was hardly more than an inch long, but its discovery in the rocks of southern China was a big deal. The 530-million-year-old fossil, dubbed Haikouella, had the barest beginning of a spinal cord, making it the oldest animal ever found whose body shape resembled modern vertebrates. http://www.fredheeren.com/boston.htm
furthermore, the article goes on to state:
Challenging Fossil of a Little Fish What they had actually proved was that Chinese phosphate is fully capable of preserving whatever animals may have lived there in Precambrian times. Because they found sponges and sponge embryos in abundance, researchers are no longer so confident that Precambrian animals were too soft or too small to be preserved. “I think this is a major mystery in paleontology,” said Chen. “Before the Cambrian, we should see a number of steps: differentiation of cells, differentiation of tissue, of dorsal and ventral, right and left. But we don’t have strong evidence for any of these.” Taiwanese biologist Li was also direct: “No evolution theory can explain these kinds of phenomena.” In Chen’s view, his evidence supports a history of life that runs opposite to the standard evolutionary tree diagrams, a progression he calls top-down evolution. http://www.fredheeren.com/boston2.htm
Further notes:
Deepening Darwin's Dilemma - Jonathan Wells - The Cambrian Explosion - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4154263 At North Dakota State University, Presenting the Positive Case for Design – Casey Luskin – February 14, 2012 Excerpt: Indeed, Simon Conway Morris notes in his book Crucible of Creation that in the Burgess Shale fossil collections which document the Cambrian explosion, “about 95 per cent are either soft-bodied or have thin skeletons.” [p. 140].,,, (Thus the transitions, if there were any, should have been documented) http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/02/at_north_dakota056351.html
bornagain77
March 5, 2012
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