Lance Greenfield's Blog, page 76
September 10, 2015
New human-like species discovered in S Africa
Homo Naledi Bone Table
Scientists have discovered a new human-like species in a burial chamber deep in a cave system in South Africa.
The discovery of 15 partial skeletons is the largest single discovery of its type in Africa.
The researchers claim that the discovery will change ideas about our human ancestors.
The studies which have been published in the journal Elife also indicate that these individuals were capable of ritual behaviour.
Homo naledi may have looked something like this
The species, which has been named naledi, has been classified in the grouping, or genus, Homo, to which modern humans belong.
The researchers who made the find have not been able to find out how long ago these creatures lived – but the scientist who led the team, Prof Lee Berger, told BBC News that he believed they could be among the first of our kind (genus Homo) and could have lived in Africa up to three million years ago.
Like all those working in the field, he is at pains to avoid the term “missing link”. Prof Berger says naledi could be thought of as a “bridge” between more primitive bipedal primates and humans.
“We’d gone in with the idea of recovering one fossil. That turned into multiple fossils. That turned into the discovery of multiple skeletons and multiple individuals.
“And so by the end of that remarkable 21-day experience, we had discovered the largest assemblage of fossil human relatives ever discovered in the history of the continent of Africa. That was an extraordinary experience.”
Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum said naledi was “a very important discovery”.
“What we are seeing is more and more species of creatures that suggests that nature was experimenting with how to evolve humans, thus giving rise to several different types of human-like creatures originating in parallel in different parts of Africa. Only one line eventually survived to give rise to us,” he told BBC News.
I went to see the bones which are kept in a secure room at Witwatersrand University. The door to the room looks like one that would seal a bank vault. As Prof Berger turned the large lever on the door, he told me that our knowledge of very early humans is based on partial skeletons and the occasional skull.
The haul of 15 partial skeletons includes both males and females of varying ages – from infants to elderly. The discovery is unprecedented in Africa and will shed more light on how the first humans evolved.
“We are going to know everything about this species,” Prof Berger told me as we walked over to the remains of H. naledi.
“We are going to know when its children were weaned, when they were born, how they developed, the speed at which they developed, the difference between males and females at every developmental stage from infancy, to childhood to teens to how they aged and how they died.”
A chronology of human evolution
Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years ago) : Fossils were discovered in Ethiopia in the 1990s. Pelvis shows adaptations to both tree climbing and upright walking.
Australopithecus afarensis (3.9 – 2.9 million years ago) : The famous “Lucy” skeleton belongs to this species of human relative. So far, fossils of this species have only been found in East Africa. Several traits in the skeleton suggest afarensis walked upright, but they may have spent some time in the trees.
Homo habilis (2.8 – 1.5 million years ago) : This human relative had a slightly larger braincase and smaller teeth than the australopithecines or older species, but retains many more primitive features such as long arms.
Homo naledi (Of unknown age, but researchers say it could be as old as three million years) : The new discovery has small, modern-looking teeth, human-like feet but more primitive fingers and a small braincase.
Homo erectus (1.9 million years – unknown) : Homo erectus had a modern body plan that was almost indistinguishable from ours. But it had a smaller brain than a modern person’s combined with a more primitive face.
Homo neanderthalensis (200,000 years – 40,000 years) The Neanderthals were a side-group to modern humans, inhabiting western Eurasia before our species left Africa. They were shorter and more muscular than modern people but had slightly larger brains.
Homo sapiens (200,000 years – present) Modern humans evolved in Africa from a predecessor species known as Homo heidelbergensis. A small group of Homo sapiens left Africa 60,000 years ago and settled the rest of the world, replacing the other human species they encountered (with a small amount of interbreeding).
I was astonished to see how well preserved the bones were. The skull, teeth and feet looked as if they belonged to a human child – even though the skeleton was that of an elderly female.
Its hand looked human-like too, up to its fingers which curl around a bit like those of an ape.
Homo naledi is unlike any primitive human found in Africa. It has a tiny brain – about the size of a gorilla’s and a primitive pelvis and shoulders. But it is put into the same genus as humans because of the more progressive shape of its skull, relatively small teeth, characteristic long legs and modern-looking feet.
“I saw something I thought I would never see in my career,” Prof Berger told me.
“It was a moment that 25 years as a paleoanthropologist had not prepared me for.”
One of the most intriguing questions raised by the find is how the remains got there.
I visited the site of the find, the Rising Star cave, an hour’s drive from the university in an area known as the Cradle of Humankind. The cave leads to a narrow underground tunnel through which some of Prof Berger’s team crawled in an expedition funded by the National Geographic Society.
Small women were chosen because the tunnel was so narrow. They crawled through darkness lit only by their head torches on a precarious 20 minute-long journey to find a chamber containing hundreds of bones.
Among them was Marina Elliott. She showed me the narrow entrance to the cave and then described how she felt when she first saw the chamber.
“The first time I went to the excavation site I likened it to the feeling that Howard Carter must have had when he opened Tutankhamen’s tomb – that you are in a very confined space and then it opens up and all of a sudden all you can see are all these wonderful things – it was incredible,” she said.
Ms Elliott and her colleagues believe that they have found a burial chamber. The Homo naledi people appear to have carried individuals deep into the cave system and deposited them in the chamber – possibly over generations.
If that is correct, it suggests naledi was capable of ritual behaviour and possibly symbolic thought – something that until now had only been associated with much later humans within the last 200,000 years.
Prof Berger said: “We are going to have to contemplate some very deep things about what it is to be human. Have we been wrong all along about this kind of behaviour that we thought was unique to modern humans?
“Did we inherit that behaviour from deep time and is it something that (the earliest humans) have always been able to do?”
The team of scientists who discovered the Homo naledi remains pose for a picture
Prof Berger believes that the discovery of a creature that has such a mix of modern and primitive features should make scientists rethink the definition of what it is to be human – so much so that he himself is reluctant to describe naledi as human.
Other researchers working in the field, such as Prof Stringer, believe that naledi should be described as a primitive human. But he agrees that current theories need to be re-evaluated and that we have only just scratched the surface of the rich and complex story of human evolution.
September 9, 2015
200 UP!
No. It’s not a new, advanced, canned fizzy drink.
I am delighted to announce that I now have 200 followers of my blog. Today, Gipsika became my 200th follower. And a very interesting person she seems to be, so visit her blog to find out more about her. This is her own description of herself.
Lyz Russo (Gipsika)
Who am I?
I’m a writer, musician, mother and entrepreneur in South Africa. I’m also a loudmouth with foot-in-mouth disease, so if I offend you with a post or a comment, please forgive – it is probably unintentional. I comment a lot, so feel free to invite me to your blog if I haven’t yet found it.
When I started blogging in mid December 2014, my main objective was to promote my debut novel, Eleven Miles. Two weeks later, I set my New Year Resolutions for 2015, one of which was to end the year with over 100 followers. By mid-February, I had to review that resolution as I already had 92 followers. I set a new target of gaining over 250 followers by the end of 2015.
So I have three-and-a-half months left to pull in that final fifty. I think that is still a tough target, so don’t be shy in pointing some of your friends my way. To use what has become a cliche, “I am cautiously optimistic.”
Review: The Book Thief
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Superb!
Markus Zusak uses a very original style of writing for this story. I have never come across anything quite like it before.
As for the story, I actually ended up feeling very sorry for Death. How he managed to narrate a book of over 500 pages, I just can’t imagine. The poor guy is completely blocked out with his work; until eternity. Personally, I feel that I am far too busy to write a book, and I have a life of leisure relative to that of the old Grim Reaper!
The book thief, Liesel Meminger, is fostered by the Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Molching, near Munich, during World War II. She interacts with much of the local community, and her best friend Rudy, who comically impersonates the great Jesse Owens and spends much of his time trying to steal a kiss from Liesel, features heavily. Apart from her foster family, the other main characters in Liesel’s life include the Jewish fist-fighter, Max Vandenburg, who hides in the family’s cellar, and the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann.
Death reveals his character, and his lack of understanding of both his mission on Earth and the strange behaviour of the human race, through comments which are littered throughout the text. Some of these are very amusing, others are downright thought-provoking. We are told, early on, that Rudy will be tragically killed before the story is complete, but this takes nothing from the intensity of emotions that run through the reader’s mind as the pages are turned. In fact, I would say that this knowledge probably increases the strength of feeling.
As the title implies, Liesel steals books from time to time, and these become part of her chronicle.
The only real gripe that I have with this book is that the publishers have tried to add realism to the inclusion of a hand-written short story, by illustrating it with ridiculously small and unreadable font. I struggled to read this enchanting section of the book with my fifty-four year old eyes peering through my reading glasses and a magnifying glass. I am sure that it was never the author’s intention to distract me from this beautifully presented story with bad formatting, but the publishers have a lot to answer for.
All said and done, I loved this book with its original style and its unique approach to relating the well-worn horrors of WWII. Superb!
September 8, 2015
Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Love Thy Neighbour
Every day, I witness unreasonable and inexplicable violence all over the world. There is so much more that I could say on this subject, but I would only bore you all with my personal opinions. I will just continue to ask myself the rhetorical question: “Why?”
Instead of telling you what I think, I would like to use Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday spot to share a brilliant quote from Thomas Edison which says it all.
Writer’s Quote Wednesday Weekly Wrap-Up from 3 Sep 2015
Originally posted on Silver Threading:
Welcome to the WRITER’S QUOTE WEDNESDAY Weekly Wrap-Up where our writers highlight their photographic and writing talent by making up their own quotes or sharing quotes from their favorite authors. (Please do not link to this post. Link to the new prompt on Wednesday, September 9, 2015). Please don’t forget to tag your post “Writer’s Quote Wednesday” to make them easier to find in the reader.
Welcome to all our new and old participants who have joined us this week. Please make sure to visit the blogs of the writers who have shared their writer’s quotes. It is an honor for them to get to know you better. The blog names are found above their images.
Ahoy Matey’s! ARRR you ready for some amazing quotes? Here they be, then…
Lucile de Godoy
(You just have to read her post! :D )
Here there be Dragons (Don’t forget to…
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Writer’s block…
Some great quotes here. I like the first one, “Discipline allows magic…”
Originally posted on Daily Echo:
The inspiration over at Colleen’s this week for Writer’s Quote Wednesday was writer’s block. I dutifully searched out a quote…
It struck me, with quite appropriate force, that many quotes about writer’s block seem to treat the whole affair as a battle… that the poor, beleaguered scribbler must gird themselves with the tip of their fountain pen, attacking their Muse with every ounce of aggression, hoping that the resulting wounds will bleed ink onto the page. Over and over the battle cry was sounded… is that, I wondered, really the best way?
There are always the ‘bad’ days, when the words don’t jump readily to play on the tip of your pen, when the keyboard sulks silently and the screen mocks you with a blank stare. Having said that, there are days when the prospect of going out to work doesn’t seem attractive or feasible and when pretty much everything…
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September 6, 2015
Chrome Slow Down – Any Ideas?
Whenever I have clicked on the little comments and likes icon in the top right corner of my blog screens, it has loaded almost immediately. In Internet Explorer, it still does. In Chrome, it just hangs forever with a little, rotating timer in the centre of the popup.
I have cleared the cache and I have re-booted. It still hangs in Chrome and returns almost instantly in IE. I have also tried it in Mozilla Firefox: the comments and likes load instantly.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what is wrong with my Chrome and how I may fix it?
September 5, 2015
#WeekendCoffeeShare: Andover Hockey Club’s New Pitch
If we were having coffee, I would be proud to tell you about my niece, who is currently staying with us, and the opening of the newly laid pitch of Andover Hockey Club.
Karina Nimmo
Katrina has recently left the Welsh National Opera, where she has completed her second Masters degree in music, and will join the Royal Marines on Monday as their first permanent singer. Up until now, they have hired freelancers to sing at the big events with the band. Katrina will complete her Marine training and become a musician in the band. We will see her singing at Twickenham and Wembley and maybe at Buckingham Palace. I am so very proud of her.
This morning, she came to the Andover parkrun with me and posted a very respectable time. I am sure that she is fit enough to get through the tough training ahead of her in the next few weeks.
Andover parkrun latest milestone shirts
After the parkrun, we went to the Pavilion Cafe in Foxcotte Park to have a cup of tea with some fellow parkrunners.
Then it was onwards to John Hanson Community School for the big event.
The grand opening of Andover Hockey Club’s new pitch and lights at John Hanson Community School was very well attended. Club Chairman, John Priestley-Cooper thanked the many people who have been involved in arriving at this momentous day in the club’s history, not least the family of one of our founders, Clint Dickie. We should not forget all of the tremendous hard work that John himself has put into this wonderful achievement. Thank you John!
#WeekendCoffeeShare
September 2, 2015
Review: Dog Tails: Three Humorous Short Stories for Dog Lovers
Dog Tails: Three Humorous Short Stories for Dog Lovers by Tara Chevrestt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed by Ronan Greenfield Mitchell
I’d like to make two things very clear before I start my review of this excellent book.
Firstly, I am NOT thick! Just because I am Irish and mixed breed, there is no requirement to stereotype me. You humans are just too quick to do that. In fact, I am a very clever border collie, springer, and various other superior breeds, cross. You can tell that I am clever, because here I am, at nine years old, writing my first ever book review.
Secondly, I have a vested interest to declare. My Dad was sent an early copy of Dog Tails to review by his friend in Utah, who is the author, and the Mom of my three cousins, Lola, Pudgy and Jazzy. He left it lying around after he read it, and I decided that I would bound in and write up this review to save him the bother.
Well, I can tell you that I really enjoyed all three of these tail-wagging tales. Although my heart was in my mouth at times as I lived the events with the characters, I kept reminding myself that this is fiction and there was no need to be afraid. The stories really capture how we dogs feel and the things that might happen to us, day to day, if we are not careful. You have no idea!
All three were very funny indeed. I was snuffling and sniggering all the way through. At one point my large tail was wagging so extremely, that I was bruising my sides.
Humans will enjoy the stories just as much as dogs. If cats could read rather than lounge around all day, I dare say that they would enjoy reading these too. There I go: not practising what I preach. I just stereotyped cats! I am sure that there must be an active cat somewhere in the world. I just haven’t met her yet.
Me in the middle with Bertie on my right and Maisie on my left
I have no hesitation in awarding a whole box of dog biscuits to this book. As this is a human web site, I guess I’ll just have to give it five stars too, as that’s the way you people measure these things.
I send my love to my three cousins across the ocean in Utah.
This review was pawed by Ronan (Greenfield Mitchell)
September 1, 2015
Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Stories behind the Tears
This week, I come to Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday with a few tears in my eyes. That won’t surprise anyone who knows me well. I am a very emotional man. It doesn’t take very much to make me cry.
In the past week I have attended the funeral of my step-Dad, and my 83 year-old, infirm father has eloped! There were other, less dramatic events in my life, but my emotions have been stirred.
Witnessing an act of extreme kindness can bring me to tears just as easily as witnessing an act of cruelty. I just well up.
So I know that my chosen quote this week is very true. Tears are shed for a reason. Behind those tears, anybody’s tears, there is a story. Next time you see somebody crying, ask yourself, “What is the story behind those tears?”
“I cry very easily. It can be a movie, a ‘phone conversation, a sunset
– tears are words waiting to be written.”
Paulo Coelho
