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#8 of 2011 for ID community: An Identity Crisis for Human Ancestors.

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Every year, Access Research Network publishes a list of the 10 most significant science news stories for the year, for the intelligent design community – in consultation with theorists and writers. For 2011, here’s #8:

An Identity Crisis for Human Ancestors. The last decade has witnessed three contenders for the title: earliest identifiable human ancestor. These are Ardipithecus, Orrorin and Sahelanthropus. All of them generated great excitement at the time of their discovery and, for many, they were evidence that the lineage of the human genus was being clarified. However, those willing to read research papers (rather than media reports) were more aware that the research community was not of one mind about the significance of these fossil remains. Recently, Bernard Wood and Terry Harrison have contributed a major review paper in Nature that revisits these arguments and finds that the various claims for human ancestry are not rigorous. They offer alternative explanations for these three fossil hominines. Some scientists are calling for an end to Ancestor Worship, which drives discoverers and news media to claim every new fossil find as the “earliest known human.”

See also:

#1 of 2011 for ID community: 50th Peer-Reviewed Pro-ID Scientific Paper Published.

#2 of 2011 for ID community: The Design of the Butterfly Continues to Inspire and Amaze.

#3 of 2011 for ID community: Woodpecker Drumming Inspires Shock-Absorbing System.

#4 of 2011 for ID community: “Stylus” Computer Program Aims to Bridge Gap Between Real World and Artificial Evolutionary Simulation.

#5 of 2011 for ID community: Explosive Radiation of Flowering Plants Confirmed

#6 of 2011 for ID community: Golden Orb-Weaver Fossil Spider Provides New Evidence for Stasis.

#7 of 2011 for ID community: Complexity in the Universe Appears Earlier Than Thought.

#9 of 2011 for ID community: DNA Repair Mechanisms Reveal a Contradiction in Evolutionary Theory.

#10 of 2011 for ID community: Limits to self-organization of life identified

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