you 'orrible little worm!..

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3 total messages Started by felix_unger Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:22

#2179

Author: felix_unger
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:22

40 lines
2829 bytes

Humans 'evolved from worm creature'


     AAP
     March 06, 2012 8:55AM


SCIENTISTS now believe humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long 
worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago.

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

It gave rise to the panoply of vertebrate animals alive today - fish, 
amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals.

When Pikaia was first discovered in 1911 scientists assumed it was 
related to leeches and earthworms.

But a new study has now confirmed what many experts suspected, that the 
creature was a primitive ancestor of animals with spinal cords.

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.

Read more: 
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/humans-evolved-from-worm-creature/story-e6frfku0-1226290105832#ixzz1oNykW3qi


-- 
rgds,

Pete
-------
"If the WORLD as a whole cut ALL emissions tomorrow, the average temperature of the planet's not going to drop for several hundred years, perhaps over on thousand years" - Tim Flannery, Climate Commissioner

"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct from natural variation" - Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville

Re: you 'orrible little worm!..

#2180

Author: sbalneav
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:03

34 lines
2770 bytes

In alt.atheism felix_unger <me@nothere.com> wrote:
> 
> Humans 'evolved from worm creature'
> 
> 
>     AAP
>     March 06, 2012 8:55AM
> 
> 
> SCIENTISTS now believe humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long 
> worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago.
> 
> The extinct Pikaia Gracilens has been confirmed as the oldest known 
> member of the chordate family, which includes all modern vertebrates 
> including humans.
> 
> It gave rise to the panoply of vertebrate animals alive today - fish, 
> amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals.
> 
> When Pikaia was first discovered in 1911 scientists assumed it was 
> related to leeches and earthworms.
> 
> But a new study has now confirmed what many experts suspected, that the 
> creature was a primitive ancestor of animals with spinal cords.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Read more: 
> http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/humans-evolved-from-worm-creature/story-e6frfku0-1226290105832#ixzz1oNykW3qi

For a slightly more indepth treatment of P. Gracilens, check out
Stephen J. Gould's "Wonderful Life".  Highly recommended reading.

Re: you 'orrible little worm!..

#2178

Author: pnyikos
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:44

52 lines
3613 bytes

On Mar 7, 10:03 am, sbalneav <sbaln...@alburg.net> wrote:
> In alt.atheism felix_unger <m...@nothere.com> wrote:

> > Humans 'evolved from worm creature'
>
> >     AAP
> >     March 06, 2012 8:55AM
>
> > SCIENTISTS now believe humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long
> > worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago.
>
> > The extinct Pikaia Gracilens has been confirmed as the oldest known
> > member of the chordate family, which includes all modern vertebrates
> > including humans.
>
> > It gave rise to the panoply of vertebrate animals alive today - fish,
> > amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals.
>
> > When Pikaia was first discovered in 1911 scientists assumed it was
> > related to leeches and earthworms.
>
> > But a new study has now confirmed what many experts suspected, that the
> > creature was a primitive ancestor of animals with spinal cords.
>
> > 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.
>
> > Read more:
> >http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/humans-evolved-from-worm-creatur...
>
> For a slightly more indepth treatment of P. Gracilens, check out
> Stephen J. Gould's "Wonderful Life".  Highly recommended reading.

Does he already classify it as a chordate?

The reason I ask is that the article above (which is quoted in toto)
is very misleading.  If you read the scientific report on which it is
based, it acknowledges that Pikaia has been classed as a chordate for
quite a while.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2012.00220.x/abstract

We are discussing this on the newsgroup sci.bio.paleontology.

Peter Nyikos
Professor, Dept. of Mathematics       -- standard disclaimer--
University of South Carolina
http://www.math.sc.edu/~nyikos/
nyikos @ math.sc.edu

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