“Ida”: What’s the Story Now?

Remember “Ida,” the missing link that wasn’t? In a Nature letter, scientists attack the lofty claims that surrounded the announcement of the fossil primate. Research head Erik Seiffert, an anatomist/paleontologist at Stony Brook University, explained, “The suggestion that Ida [was] . . . specifically related to the higher primates, namely monkeys apes and humans, was actually a minority view from the start. So it came as a surprise to many of us who are studying primate paleontology.”

We’ve reported on “Ida” a few times already and don’t need to change our tune:

• Ida (Darwinius masillae): the Missing Link at Last?
• Ida (Darwinius masillae): the Real Story of this “Scientific Breakthrough”
• News to Note, May 23, 2009
• News to Note, May 30, 2009
• Digging up Dirt on Ida?

For the full story on the recent findings, please check back for tomorrow’s edition of News to Know.