

Find threatens to 'turn evolution on its head' - edw519
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-fossils2-2009oct02,0,3420742.story

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tokenadult
The overly dramatic headline of the interesting submitted article and the
back-and-forth among the scientists quoted in the article is largely explained
by this passage from page 332 of the new book Evolution: What the Fossils Say
and Why It Matters by Donald R. Prothero:

"The study of human fossils is one of the most crowded and contentious of any
scientific field I've ever seen. Although the human fossil record is now quite
impressive and includes thousands of specimens (fig. 15.2), there are also
thousands of physical anthropologists who must 'publish or perish,' and who
need to make a career somehow. Most of the best fossils are typically studied
by those who have the funding and the access to key sites in Africa and
elsewhere, so the rest of the profession has to make careers whatever way they
can. Consequently, every idea and every specimen in hominid paleontology is
challenged and restudied and reinterpreted many times . . . "

