Fossil links humans and monkeys

Researchers have discovered the skull of a 29 million-year-old animal that could be a common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes, including humans.

It indicates that apes and Old World monkeys diverged millions of years later than previously thought, say the scientists.

The discovery was made in Saudi Arabia by researchers from the University of Michigan.

They described the primate, Saadanius hijazensis, in the journal Nature.

Dr William Sanders from the University of Michigan, who led the research, said this was "an extraordinary find".

The skull of this previously unknown species had some features that are shared by Old World monkeys and apes, including humans, today.

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Essential Freethought Library

THE ESSENTIAL FREETHOUGHT LIBRARY (From AmericanFreethought.com)

1. Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (1927) – A devastating critique of Christianity by polymath Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) originally presented as a public lecture and eventually published in a famous collection of essays.

2. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (1995) – An indispensable resource for modern freethinkers, skeptics and science buffs.

3. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006) – Possibly the most inflammatory work (with the possible exception of Hitchens’ god Is Not Great) by one the so-called Four Horsemen.

4. The End of Faith by Sam Harris (2004) – The book that launched the “New Atheist” movement.

5. The Bible (critically read) – One contributor pointed to Isaac Asimov’s quote: “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” Anyone who is considering entering the fray should know of what he speaks. Since it’s nearly impossible to find an objective study Bible, we recommend reading something by Bart Ehrman or even John Shelby Spong to add some perspective.

6. The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll – After seeing Ingersoll speak in public, Mark Twain wrote, “I doubt if America has ever seen anything quite equal it. I am well satisfied that I shall not live to see its equal again… Bob Ingersoll’s music will sing through my memory always as the divinest that ever enchanted my ears.” Col. Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a Civil War veteran, attorney, lecturer, Republican kingmaker–and one of the most famous-but-now-forgotten Americans of the 19th century. Called the “Great Agnostic” by his intellectual admirers and “Royal Bob” by his political followers, Ingersoll delivered such riveting speeches as “On the Gods,” “The Ghosts” and “Some Mistakes of Moses.” Ingersoll wrote no one great single masterpiece, but collections and highlights of his orations are readily available, as his work is now in the public domain. There’s also an excellent podcast featuring dramatic readings of his most famous lectures.

7. god Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens (2007)

8. Collected Writings by Thomas Paine (pub. from 1776 to 1806) – Paine (1736-1809) is credited with coining the term “United States of America” and was one of the most influential of the Founding Fathers. His writings include “Common Sense” “The American Crisis,” “Rights of Man,” and “The Age of Reason.”

9. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (2006) – Harris’s one-volley-fits-all response to the firestorm of condemnation he received from religious Americans in the wake of The End of Faith.

10. Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer (1997) – A book equally useful to traditional skeptics as well as atheists.

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Anti-vaccination group accused of harassing parents

The Australian Vaccination Network is an awful little organization that exists to spread fear and disinformation about vaccines, under the pretense of caring about children. They're getting an official comeuppance, though: the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission has put together a report condemning AVN. They're announcing that AVN's claims are inaccurate and misleading, and further, that AVN harasses people. There's a terrible story at that link of a couple whose child died miserably of whooping cough…and Meryl Dorey, head of AVN, responded by demanding medical records and insisting that the child couldn't have died of a disease preventable by vaccination.

An excellent report on ABC:

AVN is a couple of truly rotten people with an office. It's a shame that the only punishment the HCCC report is doling out to them is a demand that they put a disclaimer on their web site.

Our Responsibilities

As some of you may know I live in Australia, and recently Australia elected an new Prime Minister. Well actually, she took over leadership of the Labour party which was already in power, so wasn't actually elected by the general public.

Regardless of the how, Julia Gillard is now the Prime Minister of Australia. She is also an Atheist.

So, today on the radio, the presenter asked the audience to call in and discuss what they thought about having an Atheist leader in power.

Obviously, the only individuals who could be arsed to call up and give the presenter their 2cents where those religious types who were most angered by this "heathen" being in charge of the country.

Naturally it got me thinking, and not just about the obvious desire for a separation of church and state, but more about responsibilities.

If I am honest I could probably handle a leader any person of faith being in charge, although perhaps with the exception of a Scientologist, if that person was able to improve the standard of living for the majority of people and beast within Australia.

However, it is refreshing to have a person in charge of this large political boundary who understands that their sole responsibility is to better the lives of those who live within that boundary, and who understands they are only accountable to the Australian people and herself, and not to something that be seen, heard, felt, tasted or tested to exist such a God.

That is one of my main arguments against religion; if you are religious, and I don't mean you believe there is a god, but if you are religious then you are at the mercy of the infallible laws of your religion. To the reasonable mind this is scary enough considering they are often 2000 years old and we live in a modern society, and thats before we even read the contents of those laws.

However, to some this can be comforting, because really you don't have to think for yourself, or worry about the hard questions. Unfortunately though it means you are not accountable for your actions, because you are only doing what it taught through that religion.


We as a species are so scared of the unknown that we fabricated wonderful bargaining superstitions that will allow us to avoid the cull of death and go on to a wonderful netherworld if we follow the rules set by a bronze age religious priests and priestesses. We need only say sorry and we are allowed in through the pearly gates.

Of course that's a wonderful prospect, but there isn't any evidence for an afterlife so why worry about getting there. We know for a fact that we are here right now, so this is what must be most important; the betterment of the people beside and around you.

What makes the opposition of an atheist in charge is that nowhere on earth can the benefits of secularism in power be so clearly demonstrated than in Australia. The Early Christian's bigoted view that the "savage" Aboriginal Australian's must be civilized by educating them about the wonder of their own European god meant they set up churches all over the outback. When the Aboriginal communities continued to celebrate their native culture the church forcefully removed the Aboriginal Australian children away from their parents so that they can not only educated the children about God, away from their "savage" ancestry, but to "breed the black out of them".

Here is a clear example that by following the views of a religious mind, who believes wholeheartedly that they are doing the work of God, they cannot see how bigoted their life view really is and can accumulated to the attempted mass genocide of one of the oldest civilizations on earth.

If this wasn't bad enough, we need only look at the bible to see that it is the most appalling guide to the correct ethical treatment of our fellow human beings. It clearly states in the bible that rape and slavery are excepted; if you don't believe me please look at the Scripture Project linked on my favourite online reads list.

These facts enough should make the prospects of having a keen secularist and atheist in charge of the country to be a relief not a cause for concern.

Hans Rosling on global population growth

The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years -- and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using colorful new data display technology (you'll see)

Hans Rosling
Even the most worldly and well-traveled among us will have their perspectives shifted by Hans Rosling. A professor of global health at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, his current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which (he points out) is no longer worlds away from the West. In fact, most of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did.

What sets Rosling apart isn't just his apt observations of broad social and economic trends, but the stunning way he presents them. Guaranteed: You've never seen data presented like this. By any logic, a presentation that tracks global health and poverty trends should be, in a word: boring. But in Rosling's hands, data sings. Trends come to life. And the big picture — usually hazy at best — snaps into sharp focus.

Earth is younger than previously thought - Spoiler: It's not 6000 years old.

Researchers have calculated that the planet could have taken far longer to form following the birth of the solar system 4.567 billion years ago than scientists have previously believed.

By comparing chemical isotopes from the Earth's mantle with those from meteorites, geologists at the University of Cambridge claim the planet reached its current size around 4.467 billion years ago.

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Science Duck: The Huffington Post has a soft spot for pseudoscience

Mild mannered blogger PZ Myers over at Pharyngula recently labeled the Huffington Post a “stronghold of anti-scientific, anti-medicine woo.” I often check in with HuffPo for political commentary, so was bummed to see the litany of anti-science crimes that HuffPo has committed. Is it really the case that the Huffington Post gives blank checks to peddlers of pseudoscience? It seems so. Here are the numbers:

Method: A search was conducted for the word ‘homeopathic’ using the search box on three online news outlets’ web sites: The Huffington Post, NPR, and Fox News. The term ‘homeopathic’ was chosen because homeopathy is well established as a pseudoscientific practice that is now taking a serious beating in the UK, as physicians are calling for it to be removed from NHS coverage. The number of news stories containing the word ‘homeopathic’ were tallied for each news outlet, and each story was rated as to if it contained a favorable, unfavorable or neutral view of homeopathy.

Results:

• Fox news returned a total of 20 news stories; 5% were favorable towards homeopathy, 50% were unfavorable, and 45% were neutral.
• NPR returned a total of 8 news stories; 12.5% were favorable towards homeopathy, 50% were unfavorable, and 37.5% were neutral.
• The Huffington Post returned a total of 77 news stories; 68.83% were favorable toward homeopathy, 14.28% were unfavorable, and 16.88% were neutral.

Conclusion: Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that homeopathy is junk science, the Huffington Post appears to bias their ‘reporting’ to portray it as a valid medical practice. Both NPR and (even) FoxNews appear to err on the side of truth, and usually produce either neutral or completely honest accounts of homeopathy. Granted, HuffPo is a strange combination of proper news reporting and random bloggers’ opinions, so we should expect more woo to crop up. But it’s not a free-for-all either: their blog posts are in fact edited to fit their editorial guidelines. They’ve at least allowed a couple level-headed bloggers to post rational/evidence based discussions of homeopathy (e.g., Steven Newton, David Brenders), but give a much bigger soapbox to pet homeopaths and anti-science folks like Dana Ullman

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