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08 August 2007

Shaking the evolutionary tree

It would be incredible hubris to think we've totally figured this thing out... but this latest theory seems to make way more sense.
-- WASHINGTON -- Surprising fossils dug up in Africa are creating messy kinks in the iconic straight line of human evolution with its knuckle-dragging ape and briefcase-carrying man.

The new research by famed paleontologist Meave Leakey in Kenya shows that the human family tree is more like a wayward bush with stubby branches, calling into question the evolution of our ancestors.
As much as we'd like a neat, tidy definitive solution... it just ain't gonna happen.
All the changes to human evolutionary thought should not be considered a weakness in the theory of evolution, Dr. Kimbel said. Rather, those are the predictable results of getting more evidence, asking smarter questions and forming better theories, he said.