ANOTHER THEORY - HELD TO BE TRUE BECAUSE IT WAS THE "SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS" - IS ABOUT TO BITE THE DUST

YAHOO/AFP:

A new analysis of the dental fossils of human ancestors suggests that Asian populations played a larger role than Africans in colonizing Europe millions of years ago, said a study released Monday.

The findings challenge the prevailing "Out of Africa" theory, which holds that anatomically modern man first arose from one point in Africa and fanned out to conquer the globe, and bolsters the notion that Homo sapiens evolved from different populations in different parts of the globe.

The "Out of Africa" scenario has been underpinned since 1987 by genetic studies based mainly on the rate of mutations in mitochondrial DNA, a cell material inherited from the maternal line of ancestry.

But for this study, European researchers opted to study the tooth fossil record of modern man's ancestors because of their high component of genetic expression.

The investigators examined the shapes of more than 5,000 teeth from human ancestors from Africa, Asia and Europe dating back millions of years.

They found that European teeth had more Asian features than African ones.

OKAY: THE CONVENTIONAL/WIDELY HELD/CONSENSUS THEORY WAS THAT WE ALL CAME FORM AFRICA. IT WAS FORMULATED ION 1987. AND IS NOW REJECTED.

THAT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT SCIENCE.

THAT'S HOW SCIENCE WORKS. ONE THEORY DOMINATES UNTIL ANOTHER ONE COMES ALONG THAT BETTER EXPLAINS PREVIOUS PHENOMENA AND NEW PHENOMENA.

THIS IS WHY IT IS WISE NOT TO PLACE TO MUCH FAITH IN CONSENSUS THEORIES - OR CONVENTIONAL WISDOM.

CONSENSUS THEORIES HAVE WEIGHT BECAUSE THEY ARE POPULAR, NOT BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN PROVEN USING THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD.

IOW: WHEN YOU HERE THE WORD CONSENSUS, REACH FOR YOU BULLSHITOMETER.

THIS GOES FOR AGW, TOO.