Fossil hailed as Man's ancestor is 'not even close relative'

Remember Ida? The Missing Link? All the hype? (the book, the show, the press, the flash) Well, it turns out that conclusions were far too hasty.

In the article Fossil hailed as Man's ancestor is 'not even close relative' there are some interesting statements:

Erik Seiffert, of Stony Brook University in New York state, who led the study, said: “Our analysis provides no support for the claim that Darwinius is a link in the origin of higher primates, and instead indicates that, if anything, Darwinius is more relevant for our understanding of the origin of lemurs and lorises — which are our most distant primate relatives.”

Dr Seiffert said: “The PR hype surrounding the Darwinius description was very confusing. The uninformed observer watching the associated documentary certainly must have come away with a very different view — specifically that Darwinius truly was a critically important link in the origin of higher primates, if not the origin of apes or even humans. “Documentaries are extremely important for public understanding of science, so scientists and the media need to work together to make sure that they have their facts straight, and that they are portraying a balanced view of the evidence. I think that the most responsible approach would be to create documentaries well after publication of scientific results.”

Moral of the story. Next time you see a discovery that will change the world headline about Evolution or Jesus...just give it time. It seems marketing and solid information are becoming harder to distinguish these days--and the publicity is just too tempting.

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