For me, at least, the big story this week is about the discovery of a potential third cousin to humans who existed alongside Neanderthals and humans. This discovery has the potential to rewrite the ‘Out of Africa’ theory of our evolution. I don’t think we are likely to replace Africa as the origin of the human species but we are likely to find out that migration is a natural behaviour for our species and whilst they may have been 2 or 3 large migrations out of Africa, migration was a constant throughout our history and whilst out of Africa, hominids continued to evolve in different parts of the world. That’s just my 2 pence worth but Chris Stringer, a palaeoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London did speculate that "This is the tip of the iceberg".
Stories like this give me heart in that we do not know it all and there is so much more to discover on this magnificent planet of ours. God know what is hidden in the depths of the oceans!
So beware the ‘perceived’ knowledge; it is likely to be surpassed a few years later. See my blog posts Boffins don’t have all answers and on talking2myself - Experts and Vested Interests.
More articles on the subjects can be found below:
[First published on my NotTheNews blog on specified date]