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Creationists Don't Want Turkana Boy Displayed

Turkana BoyThe Associated Press is reporting that a radical group of creationists is literally trying to keep Turkana Boy confined to a back room in his home at the Kenya National Museum in Nairobi. Turkana Boy is a nearly complete skeleton of a 1.5 million year-old hominid boy. Turkana Boy is believed to be about eleven or twelve years-old according to the Wikipedia entry. He is due to move to a much more prominent display at the museum. He will be the center piece of a $10.5 million renovation of the National Museums of Kenya.
But his first public display later this year is at the heart of a growing storm - one pitting scientists against Kenya's powerful and popular evangelical Christian movement. The debate over evolution vs. creationism - once largely confined to the United States - has arrived in a country known as the cradle of mankind.

"I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it," says Bishop Boniface Adoyo, head of Kenya's 35 evangelical denominations, which he claims have 10 million followers. "These sorts of silly views are killing our faith."

He's calling on his flock to boycott the exhibition and has demanded the museum relegate the fossil collection to a back room - along with some kind of notice saying evolution is not a fact but merely one of a number of theories.
The last thing we need are creationists trying to destroy the skeletons and fossils they don't believe exist. Pushing science to the back of the room is a great way to head mankind straight towards another middle ages. Many archaeologist including Richard Leaky, whose team discovered the skeleton in 1984, are concerned about the Turkana Boy's safety. Fortunately, there will be high security at the museum.
Leakey fears the ideological spat may provoke an attack on the priceless collection, one largely found during the 1920s by his paleontologist parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, who passed their fossil-hunting traditions on to him.

The museum, which attracts around 100,000 visitors a year, is taking no chances.

Turkana Boy will be displayed in a private room, with limited access and behind a glass screen with 24-hour closed-circuit TV. Security guards will be at the entrance.

"There are issues about the security," said Dr. Emma Mbua, the head of paleontology at the museum. "These fossils are irreplaceable and we wouldn't want anything to happen to them."
The museum's attendance should soar once the famous skeleton is on display. The website for the National Museums of Kenya can be found here.

Posted on February 8, 2007
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Science News Roundup 6-26-05

  • Archaeologists have solved the mysetery of Stonehenge bluestones.
  • In your brain you have a single neuron for each celebrity according to a new study.
  • A shark has killed a young girl off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. It was described as a very unusual and aggressive attack.
  • The fossil of a venomous mammal has been found.
  • Lots of people fear the dentist.
  • A study suggests that the smell of grapefruit makes men think women are six years younger than they really are.
  • Monks are using hypersectral imaging to retrieve ancient texts.
  • Live Science describes ways global warming is changing life in the animal kingdom.
  • A Da Vinci masterpiece may be hidden in a hollow space behind an Italian palazzo's murals.
  • The only sunblock that really works is illegal in the U.S.
  • A New Scientist article says there is no paradox for time travellers.
  • Chinese and European scientists have found Anti-SARS medicine.
  • The coast of Louisiana and Texas might be sinking.
  • Having great friends can make you live longer. Friends had more of an impact than being close to family members according to the study.

    Posted on June 26, 2005
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  • Tsunami Uncovers Ancient Indian City

    The Tsunami that ravaged the coasts of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and killed over 200,000 people also revealed the relics on an ancient Indian city in Mahabalipuram, India. CBC news reports that the structures include carvings of animals like elephants, horses and lions. T. Satyamurthy, a senior archeologist with the Indian government, told the Associated Press that the structures could be part of the legendary seven pagodas.

    Posted on February 23, 2005
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