Word: extinctions
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...underground record of geological history has been lifted up and laid bare by faulting and erosion, most Javan deposits are buried under rice paddies. Since the subterranean layers of rock are not so easy to study, scientists have traditionally dated Javan hominids by determining the age of fossilized extinct mammals that crop up nearby. The two fossils cited in the new Science paper were originally dated that way. The "Mojokerto child," a juvenile skullcap found in 1936, was estimated to be about 1 million years old. And a crushed face and partial cranium from Sangiran were judged a bit younger...
...first the German workmen thought they had found the remains of an extinct cave bear. Quarrying for limestone on a summer day in 1856, they had blasted open a small cave on the side of a gorge called Neanderthal (Neander Valley), near Dusseldorf, and were digging up the cave floor with pickaxes when they came upon the strange skull and sturdy bones. Setting the skeletal remains aside, they kept digging, never dreaming that their discovery would soon spark confusion, dismay and heated debate that has continued to this...
Examining the skullcap, ribs, part of the pelvis and some limb bones taken from the cave, Dr. William King, an Irish geologist, suggested that the fossil might be an extinct form of humanity, a different species. The skull, with its prominent brow ridge, led him to declare that "thoughts and desires which once dwelt within it never soared beyond those of a brute...
...when two more Neanderthal skeletons were discovered in a cave in the Spy region of Belgium. While Virchow claimed that these too were the remains of diseased modern humans, other scientists regarded such a coincidence as unlikely; they were more impressed by primitive tools and the remnants of extinct animals found near the skeletons. The Neanderthals, they agreed, were ancient. Still, they insisted that, Darwin's controversial new theory notwithstanding, the strange creatures could not possibly be ancestral to exalted human beings like themselves...
...differences between "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List" are striking. "Jurassic Park" is a film devoted to extinct creatures brought to life by special effects and computer animation. In the world of "Jurassic Park," humans are almost an afterthought, present only so that the dinosaurs can devour them. However, "Schindler's List," based on a true story, focuses on human beings, presenting a vision of a world where people are of paramount importance and where one person's actions carry great weight...