Abbreviations

• M years = thousand years

100M years = 100,000 years

• MM years = million years

5 MM years = 5 million years

• B.P. (BP) = before present (years ago)

200,000 BP = 200,000 years ago

Archicebus achilles

• 55 MM years ago.

• Announced in 2013.

• Distinctive monkey like ankle bone. Opposable thumbs, finger nails and flat face.

• Consistent with Asian genesis theory.

Sahelanthropus Tchadensis

• Discovered at Toros-Menalla in N. Chad in 2001.

• Dated approximately 7MM years old.

• Possibly our oldest ancestor.

• Body fragments needed for confirmation.

Sahelanthropus Tchadensis

Video on Tchadensis and what it means to be a Hominid

Orrorin Tugenensis

• These bone fragments were discovered in strata aged between 5.8 to 6.1 MM years.

• The femur, more human like suggest it may have had bipedal abilities.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html

Archeological Sites

4.2-1.5 MM B.P.

• Australopithecines in Africa

– 25% larger brain size than Chimpanzee

– Hands are free to make tools

– Hunters and gatherers

Lucy

• Australopithicus Afarensis

• About 40% of her remains were found.

• Enough for an artist to render this image.

Australopithecus Sediba

• Discovered in 2008 and recognized as new “human like” species.

• Dated 1.95-1.78 million years old.

• Possible oldest predecessor to us.

2.5-1.5 MM B.P.

• Homo Habilus

– Arguably earliest human ancestor.

– Possibly capable of speech

– Upright tool maker

– Brain size 500-800 mL or 30-40% larger than A. Africanus

1.8MM-0.3MM B.P.

• Homo Erectus (Europe) & Homo Ergaster (Africa)

– Increased motor skills, imagination and reasoning

– Fire usage 1 MM yr. ago.

– Sophisticated hunting practices

– First use of hand ax

– Males 5’11” 150 Lbs, females 25% smaller.

Archaic Homo Sapiens

• Large brain Hominids which emerged about 500 M years ago.

• Heidelbergensis is earliest species known to bury their dead.

Homo Heidelbergensis

Whether we evolved from one Homo species.

• A recent discovery suggests Homos Habilis, Rudolfensis and Erectus were one species.

• Most complete 1.8MM BP remains of five different individuals in one cave.

• Video

230,000-40,000 B.P.

• Neanderthals & Denisovan are thought to have evolved from H. Heidelbergensis

• Large brain but “wired” different than us.

• First hominid known to bury their dead & care for sick & injured.

Homo Neanderthalis

Neanderthals were different• They had thicker and larger craniums and brow

ridge than us with different cranium shape.

• They did not have a dominant chin like us.

Neanderthals• Genome mapping of

Neanderthals began 2005 at Max-Planck Institute in Frankfurt Germany.

• Genome evidence of interbreeding in non-African humans.

• 1-4% inherited genes

• Neanderthals

– A lot more on Neanderthals

• These genes may have strengthened our immune system

190,000 to Present• Homo Sapien, our

species.

• Oldest fossil records found in Ethiopia dating back 190,000 years.

• Entered Europe 45 M BP followed by Neanderthal extinction 40 M BP

Invasive species?

Chart Source

11,500 B.P.

• First evidence of modern civilization at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey.

• Neolithic hill-top sanctuary.

• Triggers: ritual, feasting, resources

Dating Methods• Absolute dating methods

– Relies on biological, radiometric or geological/electromagnetic methods.

– Such as dendrochronology, carbon-14 or archaeomagnetism.

• Relative dating methods

– Relies on dating through reference to other dated sites, stratigraphy and “index fossils.”

– Usually requires multiple dating methods.

Carbon-14 Dating

• hvneutron + 14N 14C + 1H upper atmosphere

• Carbon life forms are mostly 12C isotope.

• All living organisms possess a constant ratio of 14C/12C until the organism dies then [14C] becomes less.

• 14C 14N + e “transmutation”

• 50% of 14C sample transmutates in 5730 years.

• Not practical for dating >60M years or things which never lived, like a rock.

Potassium-Argon Dating

• 40K + e 40Ar

• Called electron capture transmutation.

• Proton changes into a neutron.

50% transmutates in 1,280MM years.

Practical for dating igneous rocks >100M years old.

Science

• Explanation of natural phenomena through controlled, reproducible experimental fact.

• Hypothesis Experimentation Theory Natural Law

• Approved by panel of peers and published in a public journal.

The Scientific Method

A Law summarizes what happens

A Theory attempts to explain why it happens

Technology

• Applied scientific principles or natural resources to improve human life.

• Computers, telecommunications, TV, atomic energy, etc.

Brian Arthur – Why Things Become Complex

• Subsystems are added

– To overcome limitations, handle exceptional circumstances or adapt to more complex world.

– True for machines, bureaucracies, living organisms and life itself.

Brian Arthur cont.

• Subsystems beget more subsytems

– These added subsystems need additional subsystems to monitor and control them.

– Once over encumbered with subsystems further innovation leads to renewed simplicity

Science, Math & Reading

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

– Presently 36 countries

– The USA teens ranks below average in all categories according to 2012 assessment by PISA according to Nat’l Center for Education Statistics.

– Link to PISA results

James Burke’s “Connections”

• Nuclear power

• Telecommunications

• The Computer

• The Assembly line

• Air Transportation

• Plastics

• Liquid Fuel Rockets

• Television

Securing the US Electrical Grid

• Our electrical power grid is vulnerable to the following threats:

• Cyber attacks

• Physical attacks

• Radiation bursts

• Severe weatherLink to pdf

Scientific Laws

• Conservation of mass - “matter can neither be created nor destroyed,” in chemical reactions.

• Conservation of energy - “energy can neither be created nor destroyed,” in chemical reactions.

Can You Answer These?

Which hominid first had the ability to make fire. How many years ago?

Was there time overlaps in bipedal hominids?

What is our relationship with Archaic Homo Sapiens?

What is the difference between science and technology?

What are the threats to the US electrical grid

• H. Erectus about 1MM year ago. Slide #13

• Yes, #20

• Interbreeding and shared genes for immunity. #17

• Science is what is demonstrably true about the world around us. #23-24

• Cyber, physical, radiation pulse and severe weather #32

Can You Answer These?

According to Brian Arthur, what are subsystems?

What is radiochemical dating. Which of these dating methods would be used to determine the age of old woven materials.

If 100 Lbs. of dynamite explodes how much will the products of this explosion weigh?

According PISA how do US teens rank in STEM

• Added to overcome limitations. #28

• Aging artifacts via transmutation of unstable nuclear isotopes. Carbon -14. # 22-23

• The conservation of mass says it must also be 100 Lbs. #33 & 36

• Bottom half. #30

Conservation of Mass

• 2 C8H18 + 25 O2 16 CO2 + 18 H2O

• 5.9 Lbs + 20.5 Lbs 18.1 Lbs + 8.3 Lbs

• 26.4 Lbs (gas/O2) 26.4 Lbs CO2 & water

Gasoline + Oxygen (from air) Carbon dioxide + water

1 gallon

Appendix

• The following slide(s) have been removed from previous presentations due to more recent discovery.

Did We Evolve From Lemurs?

• Nicknamed “Ida” a missing link in human evolution?

• She lived about 47 MM years ago.

• Opposable thumbs and finger nails.

• http://www.revealingthelink.com/who-is-ida/