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<div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">AP</div></div></div>Texas board delays OK'ing new biology book, seeks expert review of alleged errors on <keyword id="54958" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="evolution">evolution</keyword>
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The long-simmering battle over teaching evolution in Texas boiled over at a late-night meeting, as the Board of Education extended preliminary approval of new science books for use in classrooms across the state but held up one biology text because of alleged factual errors.
With midnight looming, some of the state education board members singled out a textbook by Pearson Education, one of America's largest publishers, on Thursday. Many of the 20 concerns pertained to the theory of evolution. After a lengthy debate that got testy at times, the board voted to have three of its members pick a trio of outside experts to further scrutinize the book.
If the issues can be resolved, it will win approval. But if not, it will be returned to the board for consideration at its January meeting.
Textbook and classroom curriculum battles have long raged in Texas pitting creationists - those who see God's hand in the creation of the universe - against academics who worry about religious and political ideology trumping scientific fact. At issue this time are proposed high school textbooks that could be used statewide starting next school year and through 2022 at least.
The board is scheduled to vote again on all the proposed books at a meeting later Friday, then take final votes in January.
State law approved two years ago means school districts can now choose their own books and don't have to adhere to a list recommended by the Board of Education - but most have continued to use approved books.
What Texas decides is important nationally since it is so large that many books prepared for publication in the state also are marketed elsewhere around the country.
Publishers submitted proposed textbooks this summer, but committees of Texas volunteer reviewers - some nominated by creationists who are current and former Board of Education members - raised objections. One argued that creationism based on biblical texts should be taught in science classes, while others objected that climate change wasn't as settled a scientific matter as some of the proposed books said.
Pearson and many other major publishers weren't willing to make suggested major edits and changes, however. Indeed, Pearson has challenged the 20 alleged errors that the citizen review panel claims are in the biology book.
The concerns raised included how long it took Earth to cool and objection to lessons about natural selection because "selection operates as a selective but not a creative force," according to reviewers.
Delaying the book's approval pending outside review was a proposal championed by some of the most conservative members among the board's 10 Republicans. But its five Democrats joined with more-moderate Republicans in questioning whether reviewers' objections were factually correct.
"I believe this process is being hijacked, this book is being held hostage to make political changes," said Thomas Ratliff, a Republican from Mount Pleasant who is vice chairman of the Board of Education.
He said he believed the same biology book was already being used in "over half of the classrooms in the United States."
"To ask me - a business degree major from Texas Tech University - to distinguish whether the Earth cooled 4 billion years ago or 4.2 billion years ago for purposes of approving a textbook at 10:15 on a Thursday night is laughable," Ratliff said.
Colleagues on the other side of the debate shot back that they "weren't laughing."
<div class="nc_footer">
Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</div>

The Texas School Board Is Having Another Crisis Over Evolution In Textbooks

Using your smartphone or other computer devices, a set of cloud-based virtual globes can let you visualise the <keyword id="2453310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="geological-evolution">geological evolution</keyword> of planet Earth with unprecedented speed and ease of use. 
 
These virtual globes have been gradually made available since September 2014. While some of them show Earth as it is today, others allow reconstructions through 'geological time', taking you to the time when Earth originated. 
 
The portal also shows the breakup and dispersal of Pangea over the last 200 million years, while offering a visualisation of the supercontinent Rodinia, which is said to have existed 1.1 billion years ago. 
 "Concepts like continental drift, first hypothesised by Alfred Wegener more than a century ago, are now easily accessible to students and researchers around the world," said <keyword id="3278806" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="dietmar-muller">Dietmar Muller</keyword>, a professor at the University of Sydney. 
 
"The portal is being used in high schools to visualise features of the Earth and explain how it has evolved through time," he added. 
 
These globes consist of visual depictions of a high-resolution global digital elevation model, the global gravity and magnetic field and seabed geology, for the ease of access of the amazing tapestry of deep ocean basins. 
 
Ever since it started, the portal has seen more than 300,000 visits from more than 200 countries. 
 
The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE. 
 
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L9K0ViCXvRE/VOsp-W8XrXI/AAAAAAAAAQs/Xcmz5j7hAfE/s1600/planet%2Bearth.jpg">Image source</a>

Scientists device a virtual time machine to see the evolution of Earth's geology

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12176239" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="herschel-walker" source="Orion">Herschel Walker</keyword> questioned the existence of human <keyword id="12109010" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="evolution" source="Orion">evolution</keyword> during a recent event.</li><li>Walker poised that if "there are still apes" then one of the main theories of modern science must be bunk.</li></ul>Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker expressed skepticism over evolution during a recent event at a Georgia church, questioning whether such a thing can be real based on the current existence of apes."At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? ... If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it," Walker said in an appearance at Sugar Hill Church in Georgia on Sunday, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/herschel-walker-evolution_n_6230b08ce4b0fe0944dc0e65">HuffPost first reported his remarks.</a>Walker is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Raphael Warnock this November, a marquee race in Republicans' quest to retake the US Senate. A Georgia football legend, Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, is viewed as the frontrunner in the GOP primary. Former President Donald Trump recruited Walker to run in the race. The former football star has also received an increased welcoming from more traditional GOP figures <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/27/politics/herschel-walker-mitch-mcconnell-endorsement-georgia/index.html">like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. </a>Walker's claim echoes one of the biggest misunderstandings of evolution that has plagued scientists and biologists since Charles Darwin first made his theory. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution">The theory does not state</a> that humans descended from apes or chimpanzees or any other related animal that is alive today. Rather, humans and apes shared a common ancestor millions of years ago."Asking why modern chimps don't look more like humans is like asking why the children of your cousins don't look more like you than their parents. They're on an entirely different evolutionary path," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/07/25/dear-science-answers-your-questions-about-evolution/">The Washington Post wrote in 2016.</a>While the fossil record isn't complete, <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/a-timeline-of-fossil-discoveries/">scientists continue to discover common ancestors</a> between humans and monkeys. In fact, the record has supported some of Darwin's original assumptions, including that the common ancestor between humans and apes lived in Africa. But as Scientific America explained in 2020, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-scientists-discovered-the-staggering-complexity-of-human-evolution/">evolution is far messier than Darwin could have foreseen</a> because there is no single "missing link" between humans and apes.A spokesperson for Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker suggests evolution isn't real: 'Science said man came from apes...If that is true, why are there still apes?'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rep. <keyword id="9740457" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="marjorie-taylor-greene">Marjorie Taylor Greene</keyword> said she doesn't believe <keyword id="54958" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="evolution">evolution</keyword> exists.</li><li>Evolution has been comprehensively studied by scientists and is considered a real occurrence.</li><li>"I don't believe in evolution,"Greene said. "I don't believe in that type of so-called science." </li></ul>On a podcast released earlier this week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she doesn't "believe in evolution.""I don't believe in that type of so-called science," Greene, who represents <keyword id="6385073" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="georgia">Georgia</keyword>'s 14th congressional district, said. Greene made the remarks on the "Real America's Voice" podcast, hosted by Steve Bannon, ex-aide to former President Donald Trump. Among scientists, evolution is considered to be an infallible theory, backed by <a href="https://necsi.edu/evidence-for-evolution">comprehensive research and evidence</a>. But <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/27847/Majority-Republicans-Doubt-Theory-Evolution.aspx">several polls conducted in the last 15 years</a> have found that the <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/poll-shows-republicans-rejecting-evolution-msna537756">majority of Republicans do not believe evolution is real</a>. During a discussion with Bannon about COVID-19 origin theories, Greene peddled the <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/05/scientists-exactly-zero-evidence-covid-19-came-lab">unproven claim</a> that the virus had been created in a lab and disseminated out into the public on purpose. Scientists haven't <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-lab-leak-animal-spillover-coronavirus-origin-questions-2021-5">ruled out the possibility</a> that the coronavirus leaked from a lab.Greene alluded to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-officials-avoided-lab-leak-theory-gain-of-function-research-2021-6">gain-of-function research</a>, in which scientists deliberately enhance pathogens in a lab to study their spreadability and prepare for future pandemics. This kind of research can also help scientists create vaccines and treatments in response to the pathogen. Conspiracy theories about the origin of the coronavirus have spread for over a year. Gain-of-function research has now become something of a household term after conspiracy theorists tried to connect Dr. Anthony Fauci to <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/feb/08/worldnetdaily/no-dr-anthony-fauci-did-not-fund-research-tied-cov/">unfounded claims that the virus was created at a Wuhan lab using grant money</a> from the National Institutes of Health.Opponents to this research method say scientists are unnecessarily exposing humans to more dangerous viruses this way. "Why is there any need to create a virus that could spread rapidly through a population, make people sick and kill them? That's a bioweapon," Greene said. "So we need to very clear about what was the intent of COVID-19 and these viruses that they experiment with like some sort of Dr. Frankenstein experiments."Bannon then interrupted Greene, asking if she believed in gain-of-function research. Greene said didn't believe in this method of research because "I don't believe in evolution," she told Bannon."I believe in God," Greene added.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she doesn't believe in the 'so-called science' of evolution

After a six year study, scientists have decided that all mammals born from wombs like your mom's are related to this rat-sized, insect-eating fellow.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/science/common-ancestor-of-mammals-plucked-from-obscurity.html?ref=science">The New York Times has the full story.</a>
Behold, your beady-eyed ancestor:
<div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/science/common-ancestor-of-mammals-plucked-from-obscurity.html?ref=science">Illustration by Carl Buell</a></div>

You Are Directly Related To This Rat

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%281525%29_Jan_Gossaert-Adam_%26_Eve_%28Staatliche_Museum,_Berlin%29.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>Adam &amp; Eve</td></tr></table><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/25/creationist-trial-bible-genesis-evolution">A California creationist is challenging anyone</a> to disprove the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, Amanda Holpuch of the Guardian reports.
The wager is $10,000, the arena is a minitrial (featuring a bailiff and a court reporter along with the judge), and the rules state that evidence must be "objective, valid, reliable and calibrated."
"They [evolutionists] are not stupid people, they are bright, but they are bright enough to know there is no scientific evidence they can give in a minitrial," <a href="http://originalitythroughouttheuniverse.com/">Dr. Joseph Mastropaolo</a>, who has a PhD in kinesiology and taught biomechanics and physiology at a California State University for more than 25 years, told The Guardian. "It turns out that there is nothing in the universe [that] is evolving — everything is devolving, everything is going in the opposite direction."
In June a Gallup poll found that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/half-of-us-believe-creationism-2012-6#ixzz2Os9DjKtY">46 percent of Americans</a> believe the literal interpretation of Genesis i.e. that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years without the benefit of <keyword id="54958" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="evolution">evolution</keyword>.
Substantial scientific evidence suggests that humans evolved <a href="http://www.evcforum.net/DataDropsite/NAS_EvolutionBook.pdf">over millions of years</a>.
Here are <a href="http://creationsciencehalloffame.org/contests/literal-genesis-trial-contest/">the rules</a>:
<ol>
<li>The non-literal Genesis advocate puts $10,000 in escrow with the judge.</li>
<li>The literal Genesis advocate and contributing writer for the Creation <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Hall of Fame, Joseph Mastropaolo, puts $10,000 in escrow with the judge.</li>
<li>If the non-literal Genesis advocate proves that science contradicts the literal reading of Genesis, then the non-literal Genesis advocate is awarded the $20,000.</li>
<li>If the literal Genesis advocate proves that science indicates the literal reading of Genesis, then the literal Genesis advocate is awarded the $20,000.</li>
<li>Evidence must be scientific, that is, objective, valid, reliable and calibrated.</li>
<li>The preponderance of evidence prevails.</li>
<li>At the end of the trial, the judge hands the prevailing party both checks.</li>
<li>The judge is a superior court judge.</li>
<li>The venue is a courthouse.</li>
<li>Court costs will be paid by the prevailing party.</li>
</ol>

Creationist Wagers $10,000 That No One Can Disprove Genesis

Hundreds of years ago, the term geek wasn't as benign as it is today (high fives all around, gang).
In 18th-century Austria-Hungary it was synonymous with freak — literally, used as the word for circus performers.
Now, at worst, it's used to describe someone who's maybe a little too into comic books or tech.
<a href="http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-evolution-of-the-geek?display=wide">Flowtown breaks down</a> the evolution of the word geek over time in this infographic. See the fall of the Ubergeek Steve Urkel and the kaleidoscopic fracturing of the pop culture geek.
But could some of these things <a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/difference-between-geek-and-nerd-infographic">actually be nerdy</a>? <div class="image-container full" style="width:800px"><div class="image"><a href="http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-evolution-of-the-geek?display=wide">Flowtown</a></div></div>

The Origins And Evolution Of The Geek

The <keyword id="1150644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Batmobile">Batmobile</keyword> is probably the most iconic vehicle in cinema. From the converted Ford Lincoln Futura driven by <keyword id="686652" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Adam-West">Adam West</keyword> to the beast that was <keyword id="27900" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Christian-Bale">Christian Bale</keyword>’s Tumbler, each Batmobile has made an indelible mark on the movie going public. 
 
This video shows how the Batmobile has changed through the years and gives some cool facts about each of the vehicles. 
 
Believe it or not, there’s more to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobile&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobile</a>. Each Batmobile is an extension of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batman&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batman</a> that sat behind the wheel. That way we can tell a lot about the <keyword id="25718" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="batman">Batman</keyword> from the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobile&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobile</a> itself. 
 
The first <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobile&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobile</a> to grace our screens was driven by Adam West in the 1966 movie ‘<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batman&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batman</a>’. As befits a lighter interpretation of the character, this Batmobile is more fun than intimidating. With fancy red stripes and a space for Robin to sit side by side with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batman&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batman</a>, this car looks like would be as good for a nice Sunday drive as it is for fighting crime. It’s certainly not a car we could see any of West’s successors driving. 
 
The next <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobile&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobile</a> was driven by Micheal Keaton, in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Tim+Burton&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Tim Burton</a> directed Batman and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batman+Returns&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batman Returns</a>. As befits Burton’s take on Gotham, Keaton’s Batmobile looks like it was born in a nightmare. To many this is still the most iconic Batmobile seen on the big screen. 
 
Then came Joel Shumaker and Gotham’s neon years. First there was Val Kilmer’s, perhaps underrated, turn as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batman&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batman</a>. And then came <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=George+Clooney&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">George Clooney</a> and his much maligned attempt to play the Caped Crusader. As you might expect from these movies, these Batmobiles are the most flamboyant and colourful Batmobiles in film. 
 
Then came <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Christian+Bale&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Christian Bale</a>’s Tumbler, which looked like the uncared for love child of a Limbering and a tank that grew up with serious rage issues. Like Bale’s Batman, it is a dark physical screen presence that’s built to intimidate. 
 
This brings us to Ben Affleck’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobiles&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobile</a>. From what we’ve seen, it looks like this will be a real tank of a vehicle, possibly taking its inspiration from the Batmobile from Frank Miller’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Dark+Knight+Returns&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Dark Knight Returns</a>. 
 
This infographic takes you through all of these <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Batmobiles&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Batmobiles</a> and provides interesting facts about the vehicles. 
<a href="http://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/news/the-batmobile.html"></a> 
 
The infographic and animation were provided by <a href="http://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk">SELECT CAR LEASING</a>. 

	 
	<a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/mwhftxsz0pl5mcem8xf0.png">Image Source</a>

The Evolution of the Batmobile

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Global temperature changes have been an important driver of penguin <keyword id="12109010" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="evolution" source="Orion">evolution</keyword>, a new study suggests.</li><li>Researchers mapped penguin evolution and identified traits that helped them survive.</li></ul>About 60 million years ago, <keyword id="12133598" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="penguins" source="Orion">penguins</keyword> evolved from their flying ancestors into the water-loving swimmers and divers we know today. A new genetic analysis reveals just how they evolved this underwater prowess, offering the most comprehensive overview of the tuxedo-clad bird's evolutionary history to date.In a new study, published this week in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31508-9">Nature Communications</a>, a team of international researchers analyzed 27 genomes — or the complete set of genetic information — of all living and recently extinct penguin species. Using that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/telomere-consortium-scientists-map-full-human-genome-for-first-time-2022-4">genetic data</a> and the existing penguin fossil record, researchers compared the penguin genomes to the genomes of other birds, like pelicans and albatrosses.They found that penguins evolved in response to ancient <keyword id="12002886" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate" source="Orion">climate</keyword> shifts, making their bodies uniquely specialized to some of the harshest conditions on Earth."This paper provides a step change in our understanding of which genes underpin these different adaptations," Richard Phillips, a seabird ecologist at British Antarctic Survey and a co-author on the study, said in a <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/study-reveals-60-million-years-of-penguin-evolution/">press release</a>. <h1>Temperature changes drove penguin evolution</h1>Ancient penguins <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/extinct-penguin-species-suggests-origin-on-lost-zealandia-continent-2020-9">originated in Zealandia</a>, a submerged land mass off the coast of Australia, about 60 million years ago. Scientists think from there, they migrated to South America and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/Antarctica-ice-shelf-previously-thought-stable-collapses-2022-3">Antarctica</a>. Around 30 to 40 million years ago, later groups likely hitched rides on a strong ocean current flowing around the globe, called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Penguins lost their ability to fly before the formation of the polar ice sheets, as getting off the ground took too much effort for birds that were becoming expert swimmers."Although when most people think of penguins, they picture them among ice floes and being chased by leopard seals, penguins evolved to be aquatic creatures," Phillips said.<div type="image" title="Many penguins in the snow in the Falkland Islands on June 20, 2022." height="2274" width="3024" msid="93073466" hostid="261" sizebytes="285386"></div>Researchers found that global temperature changes have been an important driver of penguin evolution and contributed to the diversification of new species. For example, the expansion of Antarctica's glaciers during the middle-to-late Miocene period, a period roughly 5.3 to 16 million years ago, marked by significant global cooling, coincides with the emergence of modern crown penguins, roughly 14 million years ago. A suite of genetic adaptations, including body size, underwater vision, heat regulation, and diving ability, allowed these birds to thrive on both land and in water, according to researchers.For example, some genes made forearm bones shorter, while others reduced penguins' feathers, leading them to develop flippers. Other genes helped penguins store white fat, which works as an insulator and energy source, helping the birds stay warm in bitterly cold environments. <h1>Penguins in a warming world</h1><div type="image" title="Keepers at the London Zoo keep the Humboldt penguins cool with frozen fish lollies treats during the heatwave on July 18, 2022." height="2552" width="3650" msid="93073468" hostid="261" sizebytes="311894"></div>The way ancient penguins experienced immense climate fluctuations in the past could offer insight into how they are coping with a warming world. Research suggests modern penguins are not coping well. Due in part to to rising temperatures from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2">climate change</a>, half of all living penguin species are classified as either endangered or vulnerable on the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">IUCN Red List of Threatened Species</a>. One of the new study's findings is that in warmer temperatures, penguins' rate of evolution slowed. The flightless birds might not be able to handle modern climate change, researchers say, which is happening at a faster clip than the past temperature changes ancient penguins survived."Over 60 million years, these iconic birds have evolved to become highly specialized marine predators, and are now well adapted to some of the most extreme environments on Earth," <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31508-9">the study authors wrote in the new paper.</a> "Yet, as their evolutionary history reveals, they now stand as sentinels highlighting the vulnerability of cold-adapted fauna in a rapidly warming world."

A new genetic analysis explains how penguins lost the ability to fly, headed south, and became excellent swimmers

<div class="image-container full"><div class="image">Javier Trueba, MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMSThe Sima de los Huesos hominins lived approximately 400,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene.</div></div>Four-hundred-thousand-year-old human remains found deep in <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu/resources/whats-hot/mystery-pit-bones-atapuerca-spain" target="_blank">the Pit of Bones</a> - a cave 43 feet under the ground in northern Spain - could hold the secrets of our origin. For now, however, the first analysis of ancient human genetic material has created more questions than answers.
"Right now, we've basically generated a big question mark," study researcher Matthias Meyer, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html?ref=science" target="_blank">told The New York Times</a>.
<div class="image-container float_left"><div class="image">Javier Trueba, MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMSSkeleton of a Homo heidelbergensis from Sima de los Huesos, a unique cave site in Northern Spain.</div></div>
The Pit of Bones was discovered in the 1970s and scientists have been studying it and the bones it contains ever since. So far they've found the bones of 28 <keyword id="1755509" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ancient-Humans">ancient humans</keyword>, tentatively classified as Homo heidelbergensis, dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
The 400,000-year-old bones were originally thought to belong to ancient relatives of <keyword id="528865" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Neanderthals">Neanderthals</keyword>, a species of ancient hominin on a different branch of the evolutionary tree than our ancestors, based on their size and shape.
But the new genetic information <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12788.html" target="_blank">published Dec. 4 in the journal Nature</a> has thrown that assumption into question.
The researchers used a completely new technique to isolate the DNA from a thigh bone, which they say wouldn't even have been possible a year ago.
Previously, the oldest human DNA ever sequenced was a paltry 100,000 years old.
The genetic material they sequenced is not the DNA we traditionally think of but the specialized DNA that runs our cell's energy-making machine (the mitochondria) and is passed down only from the mother.
This mitochondrial DNA indicated that these ancient humans, though they looked like Neanderthals, were more genetically related (or, at least their mitochondria were) to another ancient human species, the Denisovians.
The Denisovians are a completely different, also dead, branch of the human evolutionary tree. They are known to have lived about 80,000 years ago in East Asia. The bones from those Denisovians don't look like Neanderthals or like the 400,000-year-old bones that researchers have found in the pit.
<div class="image-container full"><div class="image">Javier Trueba, MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMSThe thigh bone of a 400,000-year-old hominin from Sima de los Huesos, Spain, was excavated by Arsuaga and his team. </div></div>Finding their DNA thousands of miles and hundreds of thousands of years away from where we thought Denisovians evolved throws everything we know about ancient humans and how they spread out around the globe and evolved into distinct species into question.
"It's extremely hard to make sense of," <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html?ref=science" target="_blank">Meyer told The NYT</a>. "We still are a bit lost here."
The DNA isolated from these ancient bones suggests that there could have been many more species of ancient humans than we thought.
Another possibility is that these mysterious people found in the Pit of Bones were the evolutionary ancestors of both the Neanderthals and Denisovians. The mitochondrial DNA might have disappeared from the Neanderthals at some point but remained with the Denisovians, the researchers said.
This builds upon other findings, presented Nov. 18 at a meeting on ancient DNA at the Royal Society and reported by <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/mystery-humans-spiced-up-ancients-sex-lives-1.14196" target="_blank">Nature News</a>, that indicated that ancient humans interbred with not just Neanderthals and Denisovians, but <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-humans-had-sex-with-mystery-species-2013-12" target="_blank">also another mystery relative</a>. The researchers on that study suggest that it could have been the ancient human species Homo erectus, which came along a few million years ago, then disappeared from the fossil record right before modern humans.
Ben Shapiro, an ancient DNA researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html?ref=science" target="_blank">suggested to The New York Times</a> that Homo erectus could be the species in the Pit of Bones as well.
The only way to find answers is to sequence more of the ancient DNA in the pit and from other ancient human fossils.

400,000-Year-Old Hominin DNA Throws Everything We Know About Human Evolution Into Disarray

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>New name, who's this? When you <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.businessinsider.com">visit our homepage today</a>, you'll notice we've changed our name to Business Insider. <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/letter-from-business-insider-editor-nicholas-carlson-on-name-change-2023-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more here</a> about the exciting switch. And don't worry, it's still business as usual with the newsletter. (I had to do it.)In today's big story, we're looking at a fascinating deep dive into the state of Goldman Sachs, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">including an interview with CEO David Solomon</a>.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: One bank's predicting <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-full-accommodation-economic-contraction-unemployment-2023-11">big cuts to rates next year</a>.</li><li>Tech: Meta is winning some key battles against TikTok <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-instagram-facebook-growing-faster-than-tiktok-2023-11">regarding growth</a>.</li><li>Business: The case for why AI can make <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbots-less-toxic-social-networks-twitter-simulation-2023-11">social media less toxic</a>.</li></ul>But first, the times they are a-changin.<h2>The big story</h2>Long live Goldman<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Tombstone with Goldman Sach's logo with a rose in front." height="2146" width="2861" msid="105215778" hostid="261" sizebytes="87306"></div>Did Goldman Sachs need to die to survive?The prestigious Wall Street bank has drawn plenty of bad headlines over the past few years, often focused on CEO David Solomon. But was Solomon merely evolving the bank to stay ahead of a financial world starting to pass it by?Famed journalist Bethany McLean, who had a stint in the bank's analyst program, examined the turbulence and the role played by Solomon in this <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">must-read deep dive on the state of Goldman Sachs</a>. McLean, who coauthored the bestseller "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron," spoke to Solomon, among other top executives, about <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">the state of affairs at 200 West Street</a>. And while Solomon has undoubtedly had some missteps — most notably in consumer banking — he's had his fair share of wins, including raising the bank's share price. Still, that hasn't stopped people from viewing Goldman's bygone era with nostalgia. It is "fantasyland," Solomon told McLean. But <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/david-solomon-goldman-sachs-profile.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scathing media reports</a> and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-partners-board-david-solomon-revolt-2023-2">unhappy partners</a> only matter to a certain extent. The group that ultimately decides Solomon's fate — Goldman's board of directors — still supports him, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">according to McLean's reporting</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="David Solomon" height="1665" width="2220" msid="105215780" hostid="261" sizebytes="211730"></div>McLean's story <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">provides a fascinating look</a> at not just Goldman Sachs' evolution but Wall Street's. Private-equity firms' power has swelled for years, but that process seems to have accelerated more recently. Regulations requiring banks to sit on more and more of their capital, thereby limiting the risks they can take, have essentially upended the world of finance.Banks' origin story — lending — has even been loosened from their grip. <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/private-debt-credit-market-risks-outlook-2023-2022-11">Private credit</a> has become the topic du jour on Wall Street.But the most significant risk to banks in this new version of Wall Street might be <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-alumni-being-hired-by-top-hedge-funds-2023-3?op=1">where talent is headed</a>. Goldman COO John Waldron told McLean <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">it's a "big, big issue" at the bank</a>. All of that is to say, with so much changing on Wall Street, why wouldn't Goldman adjust accordingly? <h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-full-accommodation-economic-contraction-unemployment-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Jerome Powell" height="1333" width="1778" msid="105215781" hostid="261" sizebytes="131152"></div><ul><li>UBS is feeling optimistic about big interest-rate cuts next year. The bank predicts a sharp slowdown in economic growth in 2024. As a result, it sees the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-forecast-2024-full-accommodation-economic-contraction-unemployment-2023-11">Fed cutting rates by nearly 3%</a> starting in March.</li><li>US debt is back in the spotlight. Moody's Investors Service cut its outlook for the US's credit rating from "stable" to "negative." Here's <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/bond-market-crash-moodys-credit-rating-cut-joe-biden-economy-2023-11">what played a role in the decision</a>, from rising rates to a sky-high deficit, and how the market reacted. </li><li>Inside Man Group's AI strategy. The new head of data and machine learning at the $161 billion investment firm <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/man-group-new-ai-team-plans-alpha-assistant-2023-11">highlighted the capabilities his department is developing</a>. The ultimate goal is a so-called "alpha assistant" to which investors can pass off their grunt work. </li></ul><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-instagram-facebook-growing-faster-than-tiktok-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="Mark Zuckerberg" height="1734" width="2312" msid="105215783" hostid="261" sizebytes="151698"></div><ul><li>Instagram and Facebook are growing faster than TikTok. For the first time in a while, Mark Zuckerberg's apps are beating TikTok on several major metrics, including <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-instagram-facebook-growing-faster-than-tiktok-2023-11">daily usage and app downloads</a>.</li><li>A billionaire investor suggests that VCs could be replaced by "an automated system." Chamath Palihapitiya is the CEO of a VC firm, but he says that the rise of AI could lead to VCs being replaced by "<a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chamath-palihapitiya-venture-capitalists-wiped-out-ai-2023-11">an automated system of capital against objectives</a>."</li><li>OpenAI recruiters are reportedly trying to lure Google AI employees with $10 million pay packages. The ChatGPT parent company has already hired dozens of <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-recruiters-luring-google-ai-employees-10-million-compensation-package-2023-11">former Google and Meta employees</a>. Plus, it's offering people top dollar thanks to a recent share sale.</li></ul><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbots-less-toxic-social-networks-twitter-simulation-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A scientist experiments with AI." height="1000" width="1333" msid="105215785" hostid="261" sizebytes="58866"></div><ul><li>Chatbots just showed scientists how to make social media less toxic. Researchers built a few fake Twitters and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbots-less-toxic-social-networks-twitter-simulation-2023-11">filled them with 500 bots</a>. One was an echo chamber. Another showed posts liked by the greatest number of other bots — regardless of their political beliefs. And the last showed posts that got the most "likes" from bots of the opposite political party.</li><li>Is that $35 Apple Watch real? Misleading TikTok videos could be the next big headache. TikTok has struggled to keep <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/misleading-tiktok-shop-videos-are-becoming-e-commerce-headache-2023-11">prohibited products and knockoffs</a> out of its marketplace. Many TikTok creators have been pitching apparent knockoffs for brands like Apple, Lululemon, and Crocs.</li><li>Bright pink ads could help fix search. The steady creeping of poorly labeled ads among search results is a major problem with search engines today. A simple solution would be to <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/simple-fix-online-search-google-amazon-bing-bright-pink-ads-2023-11">require all search ads to be bright pink</a>.</li></ul><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/slack-new-ceo-salesforce-executive-denise-dresser-2023-11">Slack names longtime Salesforce executive Denise Dresser as new CEO</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hamas-second-phase-regional-war-october-7-terrorist-attacks-israel-2023-11">Hamas militants had prepared for a "second phase" of terrorist attacks in Israel, report says</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-air-defense-weapons-wicked-problem-for-us-air-force-2023-11">The US Air Force is training to take down Chinese warships, but China's military has built a "wicked" problem for it to overcome</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordashs-no-tip-warning-sparks-controversy-among-drivers-2023-11">Some DoorDash drivers are slamming a new feature that pressures customers to tip</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finding-sperm-donors-facebook-high-sperm-bank-prices-2023-11">Women are turning to Facebook for a DIY approach to getting pregnant</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/schonfeld-employees-brace-for-millennium-news-ahead-of-redemption-deadline-2023-11">As key deadline looms, Schonfeld employees remain in the dark about the hedge fund's future</a>.</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/sp500-earnings-recession-officially-ended-mega-cap-tech-stocks-buybacks-2023-11">CHART OF THE DAY: The S&amp;P 500's earnings recession has officially ended</a>.</li></ul><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>It's World Diabetes Day. The observance is meant to raise awareness of the disease and falls on the birthday of Frederick Banting, who helped reach the discovery of insulin.</li><li>Happy birthday, Travis Barker. King Charles III, Yuna, Condoleezza Rice, and Claude Monet were also born on this day.</li><li>Earnings today: Home Depot, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">and other companies</a>.</li></ul><h2>For your bookmarks</h2>Ina Garten Thanksgiving<a href="https://www.insider.com/ina-garten-thanksgiving-dinner-recipes-review-photos"></a><div type="image" title="Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, spread out on a countertop" height="3024" width="4032" msid="105215786" hostid="261" sizebytes="761940"></div>"I made an entire Thanksgiving dinner using only Ina Garten recipes." The <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.insider.com/ina-garten-thanksgiving-dinner-recipes-review-photos">delicious and largely simple meal</a> cost $132 and took 10 hours to cook.The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

Inside David Solomon's evolution of Goldman Sachs

A third of Americans reject the idea of evolution, <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/" target="_blank">a new Pew Research Center poll has found</a>, including a majority of white evangelical Protestants (64%) and Republicans (57%).
That means one in three Americans would agree that "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."
This is embarrassing given overwhelming evidence that evolution is real (more on that below).
What's particularly disturbing is that the share of Republicans who don't believe in evolution has dramatically increased from 46% in 2009.
Here are the findings:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Pew Research Center</div></div></div>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Pew Research Center</div></div></div>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Pew Research Center</div></div></div>
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Pew Research Center</div></div></div>
It's difficult to imagine who could believe such things when faced with the mountain of evidence supporting evolution. 
"The Darwinian theory of evolution has withstood the test of time and thousands of scientific experiments; nothing has disproved it since Darwin first proposed it more than 150 years ago," notes PBS, in <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat01.html#Q02" target="_blank">a primer on evolution</a>. "Indeed, many scientific advances, in a range of scientific disciplines including physics, geology, chemistry, and molecular biology, have supported, refined, and expanded evolutionary theory far beyond anything Darwin could have imagined."
We have <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils" target="_blank">thousands of human fossils</a> documenting key moments in our own evolution, <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics" target="_blank">genetic evidence</a> linking us to other primates, traits (<a href="http://jerrycoyne.uchicago.edu/excerpt.html" target="_blank">like ostrich wings</a>) that are leftover from previous uses, and <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior" target="_blank">behavioral clues</a> that demonstrate how early humans differed from us. We even have a fossil illustrating a key step in the evolutionary process, when organisms began to evolve <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0401_040401_tetrapodfossil.html" target="_blank">limbs from fins</a>.
<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1018_041018_science_religion.html" target="_blank">As many God-fearing scientists will tell you</a>, evolution need not conflict with religion.

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