Teodor Vehauc's 3rd Post

Newfound Skull Has Scientists Rethinking Human Family Tree

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/18/scientists_rethink_humans_family_tree_after_2millionyearold_skull_found.html

Published on Fri. Oct. 18, 2013                       By: Monte Morin

          2 million years ago, up by the great heights of the Caucasus Mountains, a primitive human fought a life or death battle, but lost. It appeared that he was on a scavenging mission, to hunt for food. He and a few others attempted to scrape meat off of dead carcasses, and get away before a large predator found them. Unfortunately for them, they were too slow. Nearly two million years later, scientists have found five fossilized human skulls, as a result of the early humans’ failed scavenging mission. Up until now, there was a theory that we evolved from three different species of humans, but now when they looked at the skulls’ slight differences, the scientists realized that the skulls all had characteristics of all three species of human ancestors. This made the scientists realize that their previous theory was incorrect. There aren't three different types of human. It is all one type, with the differences in the skulls lying in normal human factors, such as gender or age.

          I will analyze this article using the eight key concepts. The concept I think is most reflected in this article is number two. It talks about how the media constructs versions of reality. We weren’t actually there when the fossils were being dug out, or when the scientists were examining the specimens, so the article explains what was happening and conveys the information from the scene. In a sense, that’s what constructing reality is, our opinion is based on their interpretation of what happened. I also think that it’s relatable to concept number six. I chose number six because it’s about how media contains political/social messages, and current happenings in the world. The article talks about how scientists found the skulls, and how the discovery of these five skulls has caused discussion over whether the current theory is correct.

          I liked the article because it was about new scientific discoveries, and because it’s about the theories of evolution, both of which I find interesting. I enjoy reading about all the various new information related to science. It was interesting how they used highly descriptive language in order to share the story of what the caveman time was like, almost placing you in the position of the cavemen. I think it would be really interesting if one day scientists found out something more that has to do with human evolution. Maybe this finding will lead to those future discoveries, which in turn would lead to more articles that i would enjoy.