Ancient Ecosystem Found in Israel
 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.

The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions.

"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He said the cave's ecosystem probably dates back around five million years when the Mediterranean Sea covered parts of Israel.

The cave was completely sealed off from the world, including from water and nutrients seeping through rock crevices above. Scientists who discovered the cave believe it has been intact for millions of years.

"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman.

Samples of the animals discovered in the cave were sent for DNA tests which found they were unique, he said. The cave has been closed off as scientists conduct a more detailed survey.

"This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity," Dimantman said.

Don't worry, Spode. This is the middle east. Someone will be by to blow up the cave (and all its diversity) rsn.

So now that the cave has been burst into does that mean the ecosystem is more or less dead?

Sorry, spode, I had to IotD it. :D

You're now a celebrity hero, Elspode.
Oh....wait....you already were.
Nevermind. :D

Linkage?
 

Nice story. I can't find it independantly on any newswire, even those is Israel. Care to show the source?

JPost story (posted on IotD thread)

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

I got it off of Yahoo Science News...

"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman


lol ok so i love it how, amoung evolutionists, theres no room for any other viewpoint. but in the rest of the world, we're taught to accept and tolerate every other viewpoint.
its also funny to me that in this statement, the automatic explanation for the loss of eyesight is some kind of evolution. this statement is made without any research or knowledge of the species whatsoever. hell, this is a completely different organism than we've been seeing for "5 million" years and evolutionists automatically assume that current theories apply.
c'mon, evolution is still just a theory, not cold hard fact...treat it that way

Well, the current theory fits better than any other.

jdent, please read up on what a scientific theory is.

Have a look here for an explanation.

Evolution is a lot more than what most people think of a theory. It is a scientific theory.

It's not just a guess.

If they had been found with eyes in an atmosphere that was without light for tens of thousands of years, and the researcher had found them and reached hard for an evolutionary explanation why this might be, you might have a point, jdent.

But no, it was yet another case of a species that lives in a light-free environment, having no eyes and no coloration.

Instead of the big counter-example we're all waiting for, it was just another example of proof that the theory is correct.

That's about 10,000 examples that prove evolution to none that don't. Can I get snarky about this? It is possible that we're just being fooled. Stick with that idea if you like. Maybe that "intelligent design" thing will work for you, after all, somebody had to put those scorps in that cave eh? Surely they didn't just dig in... the hand of an intelligent designer put them there and blinded them, to fool us.

...they were blinded by his noodley appendage!

:lobstah::fsm:

Exactly. That's how scientific theories work. They make predictions, and then look for data that supports or contradict those predictions. The further removed a new species is from known species, the better, because it has the greatest chance to contradict current theory. On the other hand, if it supports the theory, it is quite strong evidence for the correctness of the theory.
One prediction of evolutionary theory: Given time, a species cut off from light will lose its eyes and coloration.
Cold hard fact: an ecosystem cut off from light for millennia lost its eyes and coloration.
Conclusion: The theory has been supported.

What I can never figure out is why evolution can not be part of the "intellect's design" if you need that to be true for some reason?

Three words: God Created Evolution.

:::evolution vs. creation debate vanishes in puff of rhetorical smoke:::

That's the stance that the Catholics take. It's one that most scientists can live with, and many (possibly most) subscribe to. It's the Genesis-literalists who keep the debate going.

Yeah, but God said he created the world in 6 days, so if you say God created evolution, then God must be a liar, because evolution says the world is much older than that. We can't have God being a liar. So we have to go with the idea that evolution is wrong. Ya see?

Another thing is that, somehow, the definition of the word God never gets discussed much. To me, God means roughly the same thing as Mother Nature, or, more accurately, the collective organization of natural laws in the universe. That's right: evolution created evolution.

The word "day" is not easily interpreted and has other meanings and is not specific in the original text within that line. My study Torah has a whole paragraph dedicated to this topic.
Basically God's "day" can be anything from 24 hours to 24 million years.

What I wonder is how the Genesis-literalists get past the fact that chapters 1 & 2 of Genesis have 2 different versions of the creation myth, one in which man is created before the animals, and the other in which man is created after the animals. If you believe that the Bible is a literal account of creation, then these both can't be true.

Ah, but you can only read one of those at a time!

I got an interesting cookie from St. Augustine, that led me to his quote on the literal interpretation of Genesis:
Of course, the cookie quote shows him doing what he was cautioning others not to do:

Unless he was talking about astrologers, as seems likely... "Mathematician" as currently used probably was more of a hobby than a profession at that point.

Actually, that first quote is a more reasonable statement than I would have expected from St. Auggy. I think the last time I read him was back when I was doing a paper on free will vs. determinism. I seem to recall his argument on how free will can exist with an omniscient God was something along the lines of "stop asking so many freaking questions!" Needless to say I didn't read much from him after that.

Science team finds 'lost world'

An international team of scientists says it has found a "lost world" in the Indonesian jungle that is home to dozens of new animal and plant species.
"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence"
Dr Bruce Beehler, Conservation International

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl...0496/img/1.jpg
The Foja Mountains are a hotspot for frogs, says the Conservation International Rapid Assessment Program expedition team (Image: Stephen Richards)

I'm afraid they're going to have to look a lot more tribble-like if you want people to care about them...

Don't worry Griff, by the time the chef finishes with them, they'll look lovely. ;)

A place untouched by the hand of Man, a pure and unspoiled place.

Can you imagine how much bread you could make if you built a hotel, a couple of casinos and started flying people in there to a new airport bulldozed out of the wilderness?

How's about a hunting lodge, really make use of that unspoiled wilderness and previously unknown species?

I want the swan shaped peddle boat concession. :idea:

I'll see your paddle boats and raise you twin 150 horse two stroke outboards. Remember, we're exploiting a virgin wilderness, here.

Its amazing how parts of the world are still yet to be discovered and ruined by man kind. Though I am not a bug lover so my first thought was no eyes they won’t be able to see me coming with the can of raid. New species are always a interesting read thanks.

http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany...apphires/Blue/

Welcome to the Cellar, Mia. :D

Your welcome to hang out and contribute... if you lose the signature.

I created them without eyes. Why would they need them in that environment?

God supplies what's required for survival. Not much more.

Welcome to the cellar, Mia.

please stay and read and post. please also stop advertising in your sig.

It's not just xoxoxoBruce bustin your chops. you're, um, it doesn't fit in.. it's not really allowed. [/newbie free advice]

It's not even in her sig file, there's a line that separates the sig from the post. She actively added an unrelated spam link to the end of her post.

Pssst, I was being nice.