April 28th

"Lost in a Million-Year Gap, Solid Clues to Human Origins" made me think of an evolutionary theory I read long ago. The idea is that Homo sapiens were able to diverge and evolve from their more apelike ancestors due to a genetic mutation in the jaw, a biological feature all of us have today: "The provocative discovery suggests that this genetic twist -- toward smaller, weaker jaws -- unleashed a cascade of profound biological changes. The smaller jaws would allow for dramatic brain growth necessary for tool-making, language and other hallmarks of human evolution on the plains of East Africa...And, the remarkable genetic divergence persists to this day in every person...But nonhuman primates...still carry the original big-jaw gene."

(See articles on the topic here and here.) I mention this "finding" because it seems that the assumptions regarding where we come from contain all the parts of a fluke: mysterious, filled with mistakes (poorly preserved fossils?); the process was likely quick; what came before and after is, for the most part, understood, but the real toothsome stuff is quite literally buried or disintegrated. Think of the chance mutations discussed in Chapter 6 of Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads. It seems we come from a number of different kinds of species that evolved from or even integrated with each other (leaving, returning as a more evolved species that would integrate with earlier kinds of beings - a good idea, but still just an idea), but there remains a search for this isolated moment: When? How?

I, too, want to know the answers to these questions. It'd be interesting to see if there is a change in scientific paradigms and the idea that one thing happened, and then another, but the fact that there is some sort of 'mystery moment' in between said 'things' becomes acceptable - and why shouldn't it be? Species grow, they mix. Is the answer so important? To answer 'no' would be bold; it might even be incorrect. Maybe is there IS an isolated moment. Science is flawed, broken into different categories and continually proving itself wrong: but it remains constant in its search for answers and the development of a lineage of all forms of life. However, to put in a straight line that which might be more cyclical and whole is ultimately frustrating. Maybe a reworking of what's already been discovered is the answer.