Fossil Discovery

The discovery I found is from Chad in 2002 by Michel Brunet. The name is Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

1. This discovery is exciting because it has the potential to change our understanding of the earliest beginnings of humans.

2. This discovery has changed our understanding of evolution because the features are more human than scientists would have imagined for a fossil as old as it is. It changes our understanding of biodiversity by potentially adding another branch to our history.

3. This organism is reported to have lived 6 to 7 million years ago.

4. The fossil was found in Chad.

5. The information presented in the newspaper article was mostly a rough overview of the journal article. The journal article is extremely detailed and is obviously meant for academics, while the newspaper article is for the general public.

6. I did a few google searches, and actually found a religious site that used the discovery to (in their opinion) disprove evolution.

7. I found the original scientific paper via wikipedia.

8. The main differences are that the journal article is strictly fact, and doesn't pose questions, whereas the newspaper article poses interesting questions pertaining to the discovery. This is probably because it is a completely different medium.

9. Yes, I trust the information presented in the papers. The journal article is much more informative than the newspaper article, but that's not to say the newspaper article is not reliable, it's just different.

10. Since the two are completely different, and serve different purposes, it is difficult to compare biases. I guess you could say the newspaper is biased toward a less educated reader.