We've heard a lot about the Golden Ratio in cosmic terms but now we have the golden ratio in human skulls – see https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2019/10/golden-ratio-observe… … Researchers at John Hopkins University have compared 100 human skulls with 70 animal skulls. They found the human skulls are remarkably close to the golden ratio, whereas the skulls of dogs, monkeys, rabbits, lions and tigers are not. However, the animal skulls do have unique ratios that appear to approach that of the golden ratio. They think these findings have important anthropological and evolutionary implications …
…. ….. … but it seems not everybody is happy about the idea. It smacks of humans having a special creation. Or that is the interpretation being put on it by some scientists – see www.livescience.com/golden-ratio-human-skull.html … As the idea came from doctors and surgeons there is also a bit of dismissal going on with the jibe they are not scientists and cannot be believed – or have another agenda. The argument is that this idea is designed to make humans special in creation (or evolution). This of course runs counter to certain political belief systems. At the moment we have no idea if the researchers thought it meant special creation as they are saying that other animals also have ratios that one day may reach the golden ratio, and indeed, humans are not quite there as yet.
At https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2019/10/genetics-contributed… … genetics contributed to changes in height observed amongst Europeans over the last 38,000 years according to a PNAS published study. Height has been variable across human history.
While at https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2019/10/how-differences-in-g… … is about genetic differences between the Neanderthals and modern humans …
… but note that Neanderthals were relatively short and Palaeolithic humans quite tall (height falling in the Mesolithic period).
… and at https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2019/10/chemical-evolution-o… … which is about RNA molecules – the precursors of life. They may have emerged at geothermal situations on early Earth. This is an oft cited guess as it is all about a chemical soup. They are talking about the sort of things you get to see in Yellowstone National Park. What set life in motion. The first building blocks of life .must. have been created four billion years ago, we are assured. It is a theory of course and one that sees life's origins on earth rather than in space. The idea of a primordial soup kitchen is old hat, a place of chemical reactions which is said to have led to the four different components of RNA. One may also check out the SAFIRE project, the subject of our speaker meeting last Saturday. It seems that they have reproduced many of the chemical elements simply by running a plasma experiment – replicating how they think the Sun works. Soup kitchens may shortly become yesterday's science as electro-magnetism in the cosmos is explored further.
In addition we had an oldie, a 30 year old video of Patrick Moore interviewing Halton Arp. Good day was had by one and all.