New species of fossil primate found in Thailand

according to National Geographic:


A handful of fossilized jawbones found in a Thai coal mine belong to a new species of ancient tarsier, scientists say.

Tarsiers are primates that share a common ancestor with monkeys and humans. The big-eyed, nocturnal animals are today found mostly in Southeast Asia.


The new species—named Tarsius sirindhornae—lived about 13 million years ago. Based on the fossil jaws, the whole animal would have weighed up to 6 ounces (180 grams), making it the largest known tarsier, said study leader Yaowalak Chaimanee, a geologist with Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources.

Chaimanee and her team recently found 18 jawbone fossils from the new species in an old coal mine in Lampang Province. Each jaw holds one to four tiny teeth.

Tarsiers were—and still are—pretty rare, she said, "so you can imagine to have 18 jaws is marvelous." (See pictures: 25 Most Endangered Primates Named)

Atlantis? Puh-lease!

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as "an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules," as the Straits of Gibraltar were known in antiquity. Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.

Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years. Plato's "dialogues" from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city. Plato said the island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths of the sea."

Rueters reported Saturday that  A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.

Archaeologists everywhere shuddered.

Led by professor Richard Freund of the University of Hartford, Connecticut, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. 

There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis. 

The team of archeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site. 

Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said. 

Atlantis residents who did not perish in the engulfing tsunami fled inland and built new cities there, he added. 

The team's findings will be unveiled on Sunday in "Finding Atlantis," a new National Geographic Channel special. 

While it is hard to know with certainty that the site in Spain in Atlantis, Freund said the "twist" of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats on Spain's southern coast. 

"We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archeology, that makes a lot more sense," Freund said. 

Experts plan further excavations are planned at the site where they believe Atlantis is located and at the mysterious "cities" in central Spain 150 miles away to more closely study geological formations and to date artifacts.

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I certainly hope he doesn't plan to show up at SAAs with any of this nonsense (or he'll be laughed out of the conference). In fact, I think I'll bring some rotten tomatoes just in case.

This is a perfect example of BAD, MISGUIDED SCIENCE.