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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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…unless one is able to find faint foreshadowings of it in the dryopithecids. Pilbeam assumes that the relationship exists, and has so indicated in a chart he has constructed — although he does leave a huge gap in it, and makes no attempt to link any specific dryopithecid with any living ape. He contents himself with the observation that dryopithecids are primitive apes with certain things in common, things that they do not have in common with a second group of Miocene apes that he has also succeeded in sorting out and lumping together: the ramampithecids, named after the aforementioned Ramapithecus.
What is the distinction? It is a simple but overwhelmingly important one. With the exception of their premolars, which are apelike, all of the ramapithecids have peculiar unapelike teeth: Big molars, heavy enamel, small canines. They foreshadow hominids. The dryopithecids, with apelike teeth, foreshadow modern apes.
"LUCY The Beginnings of Humankind" Donald Johanson & Maitland Edey, Copyright 1981
January 31, 2010
And what have I accomplished? Thanks to Steve and Dierdre Metzler, who gave me a tour of the local pubs and restaurants, I have learned something important. Guinness in Ireland is a completely different beast from Guinness anywhere else; here,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 5:33 PM • 61 Comments •
Category: Personal
On top of previous summaries, Zeno now recounts the tale of my visit to Sierra College. One amusing feature of the Q&A at Sierra was that a notorious creationist showed up, and I caused him considerable distress by turning his...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:48 AM • 117 Comments •
Category: Open Thread
Hey! You took advantage of my prolonged absence trapped in a metal tube hurtling at 37,000 feet above the Atlantic to fill up the last endless thread. Sneaky. You're making it hard to keep up. Go ahead. Blah, blah, blah,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:34 AM • 954 Comments •
Category: Godlessness
I have arrived in Dublin, and am having a lovely time. I had a taxi driver with the most wonderful accent get me to a nice hotel, and am contemplating a stroll around the area to find some Guinness....
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:17 AM • 30 Comments •
Category: Organisms
(Note also: I think someone with a bird fetish has a birthday coming up…)...
Posted by PZ Myers at 5:55 AM • 38 Comments •
January 30, 2010
Category: Pointless polls
It's like they're teasing me, begging me to squish their goofy little poll. Should the Bible be taught in public schools? Yes 70.2% No 29.8%...
Posted by PZ Myers at 1:02 PM • 131 Comments •
Category: Equality
Dennis Engelhard was a trooper in the highway patrol who was killed in an accident, when a car lost control in the snow and hit him. That's tragedy enough, but what makes it worse is that the person he loved...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:10 PM • 62 Comments •
Category: Personal
I had a nice break for about 14 hours — I arrived in Minneapolis, and my wife showed up with her massage table (there's a reason she is the Trophy Wife™), but now I have to get on a series...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:32 AM • 47 Comments •
The crafty Taisha McFall, creator of the Ray Comfort Tampon Case, is having a birthday tomorrow. What she'd like for her birthday is that women everywhere be free of fear and able to live their lives in some security, but...
Posted by PZ Myers at 8:55 AM • 58 Comments •
Category: Organisms
Posted by PZ Myers at 8:45 AM • 28 Comments •
