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Paleontology

SamotheriumskullangledviewfromtheNaturalHistoryMuseu
Photo: Samotherium, not a true intermediate of the giraffe, © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Giraffes and the Fossil Record: Bad News for Neo-Darwinism

Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig highlights the discrepancies in the fossil record that cause the traditional Darwinian narrative to unravel. Read More ›
YunxianManCraniumI10161573286
Photo credit: Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Like It Never Happened: Yunxian Skulls Reassigned Based on Evolution, Not Data

As Günter Bechly used to wryly observe, human evolution is a subject that is constantly being “rewritten,” often accompanied by much media fanfare. Read More ›
Low-ResSoft-bodied-fossils-from-the-Huayuan-biota
Photo credit: ZHU Maoyan’s team, via EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1112620.

Get to Know the Name: Huayuan Is a Major New Cambrian Fossil Site Found in China

Another Cambrian fossil site that rivals the original Burgess Shale has been announced to the world. Read More ›
3648px-ConcarenadaNiardo
Photo credit: Amerigo Lendvai, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Be Prepared: Here Are Portable Neanderthal Toolkits

Folks, that is impressive behavior. As David Coppedge says, let’s ditch the historical racism. Read More ›
Casablanca
Photo credit: © Hamza Mehimdate, Programme Préhistoire de Casablanca.

Teeth, Jawbones, and Vertebrae Fuel Overblown Media Claims of a “Missing Link”

So we’re talking about fossils that are very humanlike, if not essentially completely human. Read More ›
SahelanthropustchadensisIMG2949
Photo credit: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 FR <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/fr/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons.

“Competition and Politics” Complicate Debate Over Sahelanthropus tchadensis

It seemed like lots of people wanted to forget about the femur, because years went by and nothing was published about the bone. Read More ›
USNMPAL57683OpabiniaregalisImage3
Photo: Opabinia regalis, by Han Zeng, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

New Paper Has Bad News for Popular “Oxygen Theory” of the Cambrian Explosion

The technical paper acknowledges that this level of oxygenation, if sustained, would indeed “challenge the view” that oxygen was a trigger for animal evolution. Read More ›
Pterosaur
Photo: Ludodactylus sibbicki, by G. Bechly 2008.

No. 4 Story for 2025: Farewell to Günter Bechly

I told Richard Sternberg a story from own experience. I learned about more than paleontology from Bechly. Read More ›
PteridiniumsimplexNamibia
Photo: Pteridinium simplex, an Ediacaran creature from Namibia, by Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Despite Exceptionally Well-Preserved Namibian Fossils, Ediacaran Mystery Remains

Simon Conway Morris described the Ediacaran ecology as a “sleepy” world of simple, passive creatures bearing no resemblance to what was to come. Read More ›
Homo-neanderthalensis-im-Gesprch-mit-sapiens-sapiens
Photo: Neanderthal Museum, by Endimione, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

With Neanderthals and Denisovans, We Are All the Same Kind of Being

Evolutionary anthropologists need to stop putting people groups into “less evolved” categories. It’s a form of historical racism.  Read More ›

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