Researchers: Neanderthals Invented Process to Produce Birch Tar

23andMe, antiseptic, birch tar, birch wood, Clive Finlayson, Germany, Gibraltar Museum, glue, Homo sapiens, Human Origins, insect repellent, intelligence, Michael Shermer, Middle Palaeolithic, missing link, Neanderthals, Neuroscience & Mind, paleontology, Patrick Schmidt, ScienceAlert, University of Tübingen
The tar can be used for glue, bug repellent, and killing germs. This finding tracks growing recognition of Neanderthals as intelligent. Source
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Scientists Are Skeptical that Intelligence in Homo naledi “Erases Human Exceptionalism”

ABC News, archaeologists, Archaeology, Associated Press, Australia, bioRxiv, burial, cave art, chimpanzees, fire use, Germany, Gibraltar, Griffith University, hominids, Homo naledi, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, intelligence, Kenya, Lee Berger, María Martinón-Torres, Maxime Aubert, Michael Petraglia, National Research Center on Human Evolution, Natural History Museum, Neanderthals, New York Times, Newsweek, paleontology, Phys.org, preprint papers, Rising Star Cave, Science News, Silvia Bello, skeletons, Spain, The Conversation, Wall Street Journal
Berger et al.’s claims about the species have been disputed and their idea that it lived 2-3 million years ago was exaggerated by a factor of 10. Source
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Fossil Friday: A Dinosaur Feather and an Overhyped New Study on the Origin of Feathers

amber, amniotes, biological novelty, biology, birds, chicken embryos, Eastern Kentucky University, Encyclopedia Britannica, Evolution, feathers, Fossil Friday, fossil record, Francis Collins, Germany, homology, integumental structures, Intelligent Design, Karl Giberson, keratin, mammal hairs, ontogenetic pathway, ontogeny, paleontology, radii, rami, reptile scales, scales, Stuttgart Natural History Museum, The Language of Science and Faith, theropod, theropod dinosaurs
Feathers, which are the most complex integumental structures known in the animal kingdom, without doubt required coordinated changes in numerous genes. Source
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Can Myths About Dogs Tell Us About Their Origins?

Anthropozoologica, Archaeology, burial, Central Asia, College of France, Dogs, domestication, Evolution, Friederike Range, genetics, Germany, grave gifts, Julien d’Huy, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Middle East, myths, rabbits, Sarah Marshall-Pescini, science, signified, signifier, Sirius, South Asia, Southeast Asia, wolves
A French historian studies the relationship between ancient stories told about dogs and information from genetics and archaeology. Source
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Fossil Friday: Turtles All the Way Down

Acerosodontosaurus, Bavaria, carapax, China, Claudiosaurus, convergence, Eorhynchochelys, Eunotosaurus, Eurysternum wagleri, Evolution, Fossil Friday, fossils, Germany, Intelligent Design, lepidosaurs, Middle Permian, Middle Triassic, Mörnsheim, Neo-Darwinism, Odontochelys, paleontology, Pappochelys, Parareptilia, phylogenetic reconstruction, phylogenomic studies, plastron, Proganochelys, Proterochersis, reptiles, sauropsids, Solnhofen Limestone, tortoises, turtle shell, turtles, Upper Jurassic
Contrary to the gradualistic expectations of Darwin’s theory, the distinct body plan of turtles appeared abruptly in the Late Triassic. Source
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Rare Fossil Preserves a Moment of Deadly Battle — And Recalls a Problem for Darwin 

abrupt appearance, Archaeopteryx, artist’s depiction, Aspidorhynchus, Bavaria, body plans, Darwinian theory, Evolution, fossil record, Germany, gradual development, Intelligent Design, Late Triassic, lithographic limestones, museums, nests, paleontology, predatory fish, predictions, pterosaurs, Rhamphorhynchus, sea floor, Solnhofen, track ways, transitional fossils
Pterosaurs appear abruptly in the fossil record of the Late Triassic, which agrees with the predictions of intelligent design theory. Source
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Darwin and the Swinging 1860s

Algernon Charles Swinburne, Charles Darwin, Darwin and the Victorian Crisis of Faith (series), Evolution, faith, Faith & Science, First Cause, First Vatican Council, Flower Power, Germany, Higher Criticism, information, Kulturkampf, Otto von Bismarck, Pope Pius IX, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Victorian England
The threat which such thinking posed to theistic beliefs was not lost on the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council of 1869. Source
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