Tag: paleontology | Page 2 | Science and Culture Today

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
May 17, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Paleontology
Tagged
, algae, ambulacrarian, bilaterians, Brazil, burrows, Cambrian Explosion, ctenophore, Ediacaran biota, fossil record, fossils, Gondwana Research, Günter Bechly, GUT, Joseph Botting, macrofossils, Margaretia, microfossils, National Museum Wales, paleontologists, paleontology, perforations, precambrian fossils, preservation, Science (journal), Science Daily, symmetry, Tamengo Formation, worms}

More Challenges to Ediacaran Animal Fossils

_{Casey Luskin
May 17, 2026

Evolution, Paleontology

9}

Joseph Botting is actually very skeptical of the paper’s purported example of an Ediacaran ctenophore, and he believes it is in fact a cnidarian. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
April 23, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Paleontology
Tagged
, ambulacrarians, bilaterian animals, bilaterians, biological information, Cambrian Explosion, China, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Darwin’s Doubt, Douglas Erwin, Ediacaran Period, evolutionary mechanisms, fossil record, genes, genetic information, Günter Bechly, Hemichordata, homoplasy, paleontology, phyla, Porifera, precambrian fossils, Science (journal), Scientific American, Stephen Meyer, The Conversation}

The Prescient Günter Bechly: New Paper Doesn’t Negate the Cambrian Explosion

_{Casey Luskin
April 23, 2026

Evolution, Paleontology

7}

Let’s consider the fossils the paper identifies as appearing in the Ediacaran but that belong to phyla previously known to appear first in the Cambrian. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
April 20, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Paleontology
Tagged
, air bladder, animals, beach, beachcombing, bilaterian animals, brown algae, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, convergent evolution, Ediacaran biota, Ediacaran fossils, evolutionary theory, fauna, flora, fossil-hunting, fossils, hemichordate worms, holdfast, kelp, kelp stipe, Kingdom Protista, Margaretia dorus, Pacific Northwest, paleontology, plants, Precambrian strata, protists, rock hammer, Science (journal), tide-pooling, Western Washington}

Beach Stroll Casts Further Doubt on Some Supposed Ediacaran Bilaterian Fossils

_{Casey Luskin
April 20, 2026

Evolution, Paleontology

3}

In one instance I found a kelp on the beach with its holdfast still nicely attached. A photo of it is at the top. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
March 24, 2026

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, bias, Casey Luskin, competition, dissent, evolutionary narratives, evolutionary scientists, femur, fossil record, fossils, funding, graduate students, human ancestors, human origins, ID the Future, language, Lenny Esposito, paleoanthropology, paleontology, political pressure, Politics, prestige, Sahelanthropus tchadensis}

Supposed Human Ancestor Falls Victim to Research Politics

_{Andrew McDiarmid
March 24, 2026

Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

3}

Casey Luskin describes a culture of silence in paleoanthropology driven by competition, prestige, and political pressure. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
February 24, 2026

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, archaeology, China, Chris Stringer, Denisovans, evolution, evolutionary narrative, evolutionary timeline, Günter Bechly, hominins, Homo erectus, Homo longi, Homo sapiens, human evolution, London, media, morphological data, morphology, Natural History Museum, paleoanthropologists, paleontology, revision, Rick Potts, Science (journal), Science Advances, skulls, Susan Antón, Xiaobo Feng, Yunxian 2, Yunxian skulls}

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

_{Casey Luskin
February 24, 2026

Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

10}

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 ›

^{Type
post

Date
January 27, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Zoology
Tagged
, Ana Silva, bioRxiv, cell cleavage, chaetae, clades, cladogenesis, common ancestor, Current Biology, deuterostomes, embryologists, evolution, larval types, Max Telford, metazoans, paleontology, phyla, pre-publication MS, segmentation, shells, spiral cleavage, spiral pattern, Spiralia, superclade, synapomorphies, taxonomic category, textbooks, University College London, Waldemar Schleip, zoology}

Giving Up on the Branching Order of Spiralia: More Findings from Max Telford’s Group

_{Science & Culture
January 27, 2026

Evolution, Zoology

3}

The open agnosticism in this new MS is a short step away from throwing in the towel entirely, at an even more radical level. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 14, 2026

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, Africa, bones, Brunhes chron, Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, China, David Hills, Facebook, femoral shaft, fossil record, fossils, hominins, Homo sapiens, human origins, Jaramillo chron, Jerry Coyne, Joao Zilhão, John Hawks, mandible, media, Morocco, New York Times, paleontology, teeth, tooth morphology, University of Lisbon, vertebrae, Why Evolution Is True}

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

_{Casey Luskin
January 14, 2026

Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

6}

So we’re talking about fossils that are very humanlike, if not essentially completely human. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 12, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Human Origins and Anthropology
Tagged
, bipedalism, Chad, chimpanzees, common ancestor, Haaretz, hominins, human origins, John Hawks, Journal of Human Evolution, knuckle-walking, Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Leipzig, Marine Cazenave, Martin Pickford, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Michael Brunet, Milford H. Wolpoff, Nature (journal), New Scientist, New York University, paleoanthropologists, paleontology, Rhianna Drummond-Clarke, Roberto Macchiarelli, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Science Advances, Scientific American, Scott Williams, Toumaï, trees, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Washington Post}

New Paper Fails to Settle Debate Over Bipedalism in Sahelanthropus tchadensis

_{Casey Luskin
January 12, 2026

Evolution, Human Origins and Anthropology

8}

Many have called this fossil a human ancestor that lived at about 7 million years ago, around the time of our supposed most recent common ancestor with chimps. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 9, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Paleontology
Tagged
, Cambrian animals, Cambrian Explosion, clades, Darwin’s Doubt, David Coppedge, Douglas Erwin, evolution, evolutionary precursors, Gizmodo, intelligent design, James Valentine, oxygen, oxygen theory, oxygen trigger model, oxygenation, paleontologists, paleontology, partial pressure of oxygen, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The Cambrian Explosion (book)}

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

_{Casey Luskin
January 9, 2026

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Paleontology

8}

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 ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Klinghoffer

Date
December 29, 2025

Categories
Intelligent Design
Paleontology
Tagged
, Cambridge, Casey Luskin, Center for Science and Culture, Charles Darwin, Christianity, Darwinian theory, Darwinism, Discovery Institute, England, Evolution News, evolutionary biology, Fossil Friday (series), fossil record, Germans, Germany, Günter Bechly, human origins, Icons of Evolution, intelligent design, intimidation, John West, Jonathan McLatchie, Jonathan Wells, Pacific Ocean, paleontology, Paul Nelson, Revolutionary: Michael Behe and the Mystery of Molecular Machines (film), Richard Sternberg, State Museum of Natural History, Stephen Meyer, Stuttgart, Theistic Evolution (book)}

No. 4 Story for 2025: Farewell to Günter Bechly

_{David Klinghoffer
December 29, 2025

Intelligent Design, Paleontology

9}

I told Richard Sternberg a story from own experience. I learned about more than paleontology from Bechly. Read More ›