Smelling a Turkey

A story about a family in Turkey is getting some play--the kids have a genetic mutation that has affected their brain development such that they do not walk upright but bear crawl instead. Although this is interesting on its own terms, the publicity has been increased by talk of their behavior as being an evolutionary "throwback" and a forthcoming BBC documentary.

Anthropologist John Hawks has a lengthy and skeptical post that urges caution. Some highlights:

It is not a hoax. It is a BBC publicity blitz. And to me, it seems like a stunningly cynical PR blitz. In other words, we're being played.

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The cynical part is that the entire progression of the story was predictable without any necessity of orchestrating it. You see, it has all happened before, with almost exactly the same sequence of events. It is the Flores story reborn.

Consider: a rare, unique, and strange discovery comes to light. Immediately many experts are skeptical, but it takes time for them to organize a response. In the interim, a few strong backers explain that unique evolutionary principles can explain the find, and some experts cautiously agree. Then, two things happen: first, there is a conflict between the Western backers of the find and a senior local scientist; second, a high-profile documentary appears in which the discoverers can take their case directly to the public.

It's an autocircus.

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The main point is this: the fact that a gene breaks something doesn't mean that it was the key gene necessary to create something.

Go read his post if you are interested. For my part, I'll just say that it is unfortunate--years from now critics of evolution will say, "Oh yeah, and remember when scientists thought that family in Turkey was like the missing link?"