What is Homo Floresiensis?
How is Homo floresiensis similar/different to Homo sapien? What “happened” resulting in the extinction of Homo floresiensis and the survival of Homo sapien? October 25-29 Saturday October 23 The Leaderpost A1 “Shedding light on science’s mysteries” What is the synchrotron? How does the synchrotron work? What types of experimentation will the sychrotron be used for? How might the findings from this experimentation benefit daily life? October 18-22 Thursday October 14 The Leaderpost D9 “Protein said key to hearing” How are messages sent from the ear to the brain for interpretation? Be specific. Scientists believe they have identified the protein responsible for translating sound waves into electrical impulses, how does this discovery apply to the concepts of balance and hearing? In other words, how do these proteins work? How do scientists hope to use this information to treat hearing and balance problems? October 12-15 Thursday October 7 2004 Leaderpost G1 “Whooping crane making a comeb
Homo floresiensis, meaning “Man of Flores” or “Flores Man,” is an extinct species of the genus Homo, a group composed of humans and our close relatives. Homo floresiensis is especially interesting for several reasons. Nicknamed “Hobbit,” Homo floresiensis was on average just a meter (3.3 ft) tall, substantially shorter than the average of any human ethnic group, and weighed just 25 kg (55 lb). The description of the species is based on a single complete skeleton discovered in 2004 on the island of Flores in Indonesia, LB1, and fragmentary remains of eight other individuals. It was discovered by researchers looking for signs of early human migration to Australia. Besides its extremely small size, Homo floresiensis is well-known for being the most recent human relative to go extinct — it lived from about 93,000 to just 12,000 years ago. This is 12,000 years more recent than the death of the last Neanderthals, which happened c. 24,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis may have even survived in
