Saturday, December 20, 2008

Hmmm... Hobbits again make news

Here we go again.


New species,...no, NOT a new species, ... wait, .. YES new species. And the beat goes on.


As I said in my last post on this ongoing controversy, we'd undoubtedly hear more.


Well, here's more.



Originally paleoanthropologist Lee Berger claimed the remains found at Flores Island were that of a new hominid species. After that, the arguments began.

The last article published in August of this year(2008) claimed Berger was too quick to publish, not examining the data. IE

"I think Berger's primary mistakes were his not understanding the variation in the skeletal population in which he was working, using fragmentary remains again in a situation where he didn't understand variation, and stepping outside his own area of expertise, which, I think all scientists try not to do but sometimes we do," Nelson said.

,.....

"One of his biggest mistakes was rushing to publish," Nelson said of Berger. "He did not take the time to understand the area in which he was working -- its entire history, not just the skeletal stuff," he said. "Any time you work anywhere, you have to understand this history. You just can't walk in and cowboy it, pull some stuff out and draw conclusions in the absence of understanding the bigger picture."

It's like a tennis match.

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