News to Note, October 3, 2009

1. Bye-Bye, Missing Link

Evolutionists aren’t yet sure if they should call it a human ancestor, but one thing they do know is that “Ardi” does away with the idea of a “missing link.”

2. Evolution on a Crash Course

Evolution is a one-way street, new research confirms. So can it go only forward, or only backward?

3. Final “Proof” for Fuzzy Dinos

It’s the “final proof” that dinosaurs evolved into birds, say scientists.

“Exceptionally well preserved” fossils discovered in China purportedly show feathered dinosaurs from more than 150 million years ago, making them older than alleged dino-bird Archaeopteryx.

4. Ailing T-rex

For all its size and strength, one mighty T. rex may have ultimately succumbed to a minuscule parasite.

5. A Monarch is Never Late

The astonishing navigational abilities of the monarch butterfly seem all the more astonishing in the light of new research.

6. And Don’t Miss . . .

• We last dealt with him just two weeks ago; now, arch-anticreationist Richard Dawkins has repeated his point of view yet again in a Newsweek article titled “The Angry Evolutionist.” Newsweek also interviewed him. It’s all part of the attention surrounding his newly released book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. (The Newsweek piece is an excerpt from the book.) John UpChurch will tackle “The Angry Evolutionist” in a special feedback article next week.
• The book And Tango Makes Three, about two allegedly “gay” penguins at a New York zoo, is the book most often asked to be banned, BBC News reports. The pros and cons of book-banning aside, we commented on the book on May 30 and June 6 of this year.
• An article titled “Evidence for Stone Age Multitasking” seems only to tangentially support its title’s claim; but more interesting is its description of “superglue” used by our ancestors to join stone blades with wooden handles. (We disagree, of course, with how ancient those ancestors lived.)
• If you enjoyed our item “Worm glue to ease your pain” last year, read about progress in that line of research in “Secrets of the Sandcastle Worm Could Yield a Powerful Medical Adhesive.”
• In addition to the discovery of a tiny bit of water on the moon, astronomers have found more possible evidence of (frozen) water on Mars. For our coverage of similar news last year, see “More Ice on Mars?”
• “Evolution is natural, it’s theorised, it’s factual.” Will that lyric, in the genre of a rap style called grime, help college students learn about evolution and creation? Read more of the bizarre Times story.