Perhaps you’re one of those people who get their dander up when you hear creationists saying “I’m not descended from some monkey” not only for the obvious reason, but also because you can’t help but blurt out, “No, you mean ‘ape!’ We’re apes, not monkeys.”

Indeed, our superfamily, Hominoidea, split from the group labeled “old world monkeys” millions of years ago—but perhaps not as many million as we thought. In Nature this week, a team of scientists report on a 28-29 million year old fossil that appears to predate the split, meaning the separation would have happened more recently than other studies suggested.

The partial skull of this new creature, which the team dubbed Saadanius hijazensis, turned up in Saudi Arabia in February 2009.

Saadanius sports a projecting snout, a relatively tall face with long, narrow nasal bones, broad cheek teeth and other traits resembling those of older primates previously unearthed at a geological formation on the edge of Egypt’s Sahara Desert. Researchers estimate that those creatures lived between 35 million and 30 million years ago.

But a few critical anatomical features, including a long, tube-shaped ear canal, distinguish Saadanius from its primate predecessors, the scientists say. And unlike Old World monkeys and hominoids that evolved after about 24 million years ago, Saadanius — which Zalmout’s group identifies as a male based on dental characteristics — lacked nasal sinuses and large canine teeth typical of later ape and monkey males [Science News].

In short: Before Saadanius, the researchers write, there wasn’t much evidence between 30 and 23 million years ago to illustrate the divergence between our group and the old world monkeys (which led to today’s baboons and macaques). And DNA studies had suggested a separation sometime between 35 and 29 million years ago. But if this team of scientists is right, it means that the separation’s date was in the range of 24 to 29 million years ago instead.

“The roots of apes, humans and monkeys go back a long way. We were interested to know when these ancient primates diverged because, in a way, that’s when we got our start,” said William Sanders, an author on the paper at the University of Michigan’s Museum of Palaeontology. “Knowing the date is important because you can then look at what the conditions were like at that time and place and get some idea of what was driving their evolution,” he added [The Guardian].

But while it’s tempting to see ourselves in primate fossils, there’s no way to know whether Saadanius was actually an ancestor of humanity. It may have predated that split between old world monkeys and apes, but it could have been a branch on the evolutionary tree that died out.

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Image: Zalmout and Sanders

World Trade Center construction workers dug up something unexpected this week: an 18th century sailing ship.

Plans for the new Trade Center require workers to unearth parts of lower Manhattan left undisturbed during construction of the original buildings. During part of this dig, in an area between Liberty and Cedar Streets, beams of wood rose from the mud. Yesterday, archaeologists confirmed that 20 to 30 feet below street level, a 30-foot ship chunk has rested for more than 200 years.

It’s not unusual for such artifacts to hide under large coastal cities. As a young city’s population grows, inhabitants look for any way possible to extend the city’s borders, transforming dirt and trash poured into the water into prime real estate. As The New York Times reports, this isn’t the first ship uncovered in Manhattan. In 1982, New Yorkers discovered a 1700s sailing vessel that had been hiding under 175 Water Street.

A. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told The New York Times that he believes that the entire ship may have originally been around 2 to 3 times larger than the uncovered piece and, because the section looks deliberately sawed off, it’s likely that the ship was purposely chopped up and used for landfill material. Now uncovered, the ship is vulnerable to degradation, so archaeologists must work quickly to document and move the find as construction continues around it.

Archaeologist Doug Mackey told the The New York Times that because of the ship’s vulnerability, he is particularly happy to have this week’s rainy weather:

“If the sun had been out,” he said, “the wood would already have started to fall apart.”

Pictures of the dig are available at The New York Times website.

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Image: New York Historical Society

In light of California's most recent faux pas, today's guest commentary comes from California native David Lowry. David's an extraordinary plant biologist working on the genetics of switchgrass as a postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin. (And yes I'm biased, he's soon to be my husband). Given the economic crisis has wreaked havoc to my beloved home state of California, why are our lawmakers spending any time on a horribly misguided quest to dethrone serpentine (pictured left) as the state rock? A bit of background: Serpentine is commonly found in the hilly areas of California. It usually has a lovely smooth green or whitish tinge and its chemical composition has other characteristics fascinating to geologists, which I won’t detail here…except to include that some forms contain a small amount of asbestos, which leads us to our current predicament. You all remember asbestos, right? That lung cancer-causing white powdery substance that closed down your school gym as a kid for a year when they discovered it in those flame-resistant tiles (which seemed like a good idea at the time) lining the ceiling. Yep, it’s nasty stuff. We know we don’t want it around and can move on, right? Wrong! In a misguided attempt ...

Back at my alma mater, the University of Virginia, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli continues to tilt against his windmill of climate change: he still wants to investigate climate scientist Michael Mann for possible fraud. As I’ve pointed out before, Cuccinelli is attacking Michael Mann despite Mann repeatedly being cleared of all wrongdoing. Cuccinelli subpoenaed UVa for records involving Mann, but the University filed an appeal saying (correctly) this would chill academic freedom.

The Daily Progress has an update: Cuccinelli won’t quit:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli argued Tuesday that the University of Virginia must comply with his demand for a trove of documents related to the research of former UVa climate change scientist Michael Mann, saying that Mann’s academic freedom does not shield him from Cuccinelli’s probe into possible fraud.

Apparently it doesn’t shield him from frivolous lawsuits, either. Mann has been investigated quite thoroughly by several panels, and has been cleared of wrongdoing. In my opinion, Cuccinelli is on a fishing expedition, hoping to find anything to throw against Mann.

Cuccinelli has made it clear he’s a climate change denier. The Progress calls him a skeptic, but a real skeptic looks at the evidence fairly and objectively. I don’t see much evidence of that; which is why I think the term denier fits better. I have little problem with climate change skeptics — someone who fairly and scientifically looks at the data to come to a reasonable conclusion. Technically, I’m a skeptic as well, since I have looked into the issue as best I can.

The difference is, the evidence I have seen all points to the Earth warming up. I have to rely on the experts, of course, since this isn’t my chosen field, but as a scientist myself I can look at the data and understand the processes involved in analyzing it. So when I say I think climate change/global warming is real, it’s not based on faith or politics or anything like that.

It’s based on evidence.

I hope the judge in this case upholds the UVa appeal, and denies (haha) Cuccinelli’s request. His ongoing attempts to look into Mann’s work does chill academic freedom, but it’s also bad money long, long after good.

Tip o’ the thermometer to Nicole Wassacommandago.

Gabriel writes, “I’m a Brazilian biologist. I had the idea of tattooing a neural net as a form of tribute to scientific, logical thinking and the rational understanding of the world.”

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.