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Show Monday, March 7, 2005 At A Glance News Editor: Heather Hunt-Wood Phone: 626-7655 Monday, March 7 •Answers in Genesis presents Dr. Jason Lisle, discussing science and religion; meetings throughout the day, 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m.. 6 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m.; Student Union Building, Wildcat Theater; free. For more information, call 725-8347. Island's tiny humans had advanced brains, researchers find By Alexandra Witze Knight Ridder Tribune DALLAS - Frodo and Bilbo might have met. their intellectual match in the prehistoric hobbits from Indonesia. New research shows that the tiny humans, nicknamed "hobbits," who once inhabited the Indonesian island of Flores had relatively advanced brains capable of higher levels of thinking and cognition. The finding meshes with archaeological studies of these long-vanished people, who apparently had mastered toolmaking and hunting tens of thousands of years ago. Dean Falk, an anthropologist at Florida State University, led an international team of researchers that described a hobbit's unique braincase in Friday's online edition of the journal Science. "I thought we were going to see a little chimpanzee-like brain, and I was wrong," she said. "I'm bowled over." Archaeologists have unearthed the bones of eight hobbits, formally known as Homo floresiensis, but only one skull. Falk CAT-scanned that fragile, 18,000year-old skull, then created a clear resin copy that she could study. "In life, pulsating brains leave impressions within the braincase," Falk said during a news conference sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Although just one-third the size of the average modern human brain, the hobbit brain turned out to have several features that could indicate higher thinking skills, she said. For instance, the brain had enlarged temporal lobes, an area that is bigger in humans and helps with functions such as memory and emotion. Another area, called Brodmann's area 10, was also bigger than expected; in humans, this region is involved in undertaking initiatives and planning future actions. The hobbit skull didn't resemble similar casts taken from skulls of modern humans, pygmies, gorillas, chimpanzees, or other ancient human species, Falk said. Together, the brain features strengthen, the case that Homo Crossword see Solutions page 15 1 5 10 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 28 29 32 35 37 39 40 42 43 44 , 46 47 48 50 53 54 57 58 60 61 62 ACROSS Splinter group Brogan binders Cultivate Reverberation Mersey's bell town In of Conveys Rustic hotels Sudden rush Drive a dinghy Rose and Rozelle Careless Slurs over Exist Sports venues Nincompoop Landlord Limit Thorn apples Oscar-winner Norma Worthy of penance Weasel with a black-tipped tail __ Diego British insurance syndicate Recent Brakiy Excess weight Hatfield's enemy Chicken _ king Be flexible Promissory notes Florida swamp Fruit pastry Comic actress Zasu Ale's cousin 1 2 3 • 4 |^H 10 1 14 20 23 12 13 29 30 31 18 l ie 17 11 19 -I 3* 37 •String Festival Honors Concert, featuring floresiensis is its own unique species performers from local elementary, - not simply an undersized version of middle and high schools; 7:30 p.m.; Val Homo sapiens. A. Browning Center, Room 136; free. For That challenge, along with other more information, caJ] 626-6431. controversies, has swirled around the hobbit fossils ever since they were publicly revealed last fall'. In the latest Tuesday, March 8 twist, the researchers who excavated •Latter-day Saint Student Association the bones have finally gotten them back sponsors weekly devotional, featuring from another scientist who "borrowed" Vickey Pahnke-Taylor, songwriter/ them without a clearly understood professional speaker; 10:30 a.m.; LDS agreement. Institute of Religion; free. For more information, call 621-1800. After being dug up, the bones had stayed in Jakarta under the care of Tony Djubiantono, director of the Center •WSU's Services for Women Students for Archaeology there. But another presents "Bringing Hope to Single Moms"; scientist at the center loaned the bones noon; Student Service Center, Room 167; to Teuku Jacob, a paleoanthropologist free. For more information, call 626-6090. in the city of Yogyakarta. Other members of the original research team •WSU Religion and Ethics weekly forum, complained. led by Brian Davis; 1 p.m.; Shepherd Last week, Jacob returned all but three Union Building, Room 218; free. For more leg bones, said Michael Morwood of the information, call 626-7947. University of New England in Australia, one of the original researchers. On •WSU Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble Thursday, Morwood called the condition concert; 7:30 p.m.; Val A. Browning Center, of the returned bones "appalling," saying Austad Auditorium; $4.50/$3.50. For more that many critical details had been information, call 626-8500. destroyed during transport. "Some enormously important material •Seven-time Grammy winning Pat Metheny Group Concert; 7:30 p.m.; has been damaged," he said. In brighter news, some researchers Kingsbury Hail; $45/$39/$28, students are optimistic that they can retrieve can receive a $5 discount by presenting ancient DNA from some of the hair and student ID card at the Kingsbury HaJl box bones, which could better illuminate the office on the University of Utah campus. hobbits1 relationship to modern humans. And this summer, the original team plans •Gay and Straight Alliance (Formerly to return to the excavation site to hunt for known as DLSU) club meeting; 8 p.m.; Student Union Junction; free. more fossils. Corrections ex 139 40 - 43 50 •Executive Lecture Series features Todd Weiler; 5:30 p.m.; WSU-Davis Campus, Room 110; free. For more information, call 395-3482. 51 • 1 44 -f Letters 52 Hfefc; 54° 56 •^uj^ b? 60 62 63 65 63 Alimony recipients 64 Out of style 65 "SportsCenter" stn. DOWN 1 Solidifies .2 Beige shade 3 South Carolina port 4 Country near Fiji 5 Human seat 6 Worshipper 7 Seasonal serenader 8 Twists together 9 Help! 10 Takes to the air Monday 11 " Too Proud to Beg" 12 Philosopher Descartes 13 Rumple 18 Gender 22 Nag 25 Breaks violently 26 Robert and Alan 27 Spanish cowboy's lariat 28'Fit for farming 29 Ventilation ports 30 Act division 31 Scatter* about 33 Baltimore paper 34 Verbally 36 Aries image 38 Bratislava's country 41 Holes for laces 45 Air currents 47 Expenses 48 Team follower 49 Homemade brick 50 Speck 51 Wheedle 52 Make well 55 Call from the hatchery 56 Gull relative 58 Antithesis: abbr. 59 Map dir. Low: 37° Low: 55° 34° Tuesday Submissions Please submit to The Signpost offices in person SUB $267 or e-mail natalie@wsusignpost.com or call 626-7974 for more information. •\!^J Wednesday High: 51° 36° |
