The following list shows how coverage about Darwinius masillae evolved on Wikipedia:
(first edit) Scientists announce that Darwinius masillae (radiographs pictured), a 47-million-year-old skeleton of a primate species, is humanity’s missing link.
(edit) Scientists announce that Darwinius masillae (radiographs pictured), a 47-million-year-old fossilized primate species, is humanity’s transitional fossil.
(edit) Scientists announce that Darwinius masillae (radiographs pictured), a 47-million-year-old fossilized primate species, may have significance in understanding human evolution.
(edit) Scientists announce that Darwinius masillae (radiographs pictured), a 47-million-year-old fossil, may represent an important intermediate form in primate evolution.
(edit) Paleontologists announce that Darwinius masillae (radiographs pictured)’, a 47-million-year-old fossil, may represent an important intermediate form in primate evolution.
This could be considered a good representation of the PR problems of science. Quoting from “Ida: Humankind’s Earliest Ancestor! (Not Really)“:
From the beginning, Ida’s unveiling has been a master class in ballyhoo. A week ago, the first breathless press releases began to arrive, portending the presentation of the now famous 47-million-year-old primate fossil from Germany: “MEDIA ALERT,” the notice shouted in all caps. “WORLD-RENOWNED SCIENTISTS REVEAL A REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC FIND THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING.”
The press releases were followed by an international press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the publication of a book, The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor (Little, Brown), an ABC News exclusive and on May 25 a prime-time television special on the History Channel. Of the avalanche of media-related promotion, Jorn Hurum, a Norwegian paleontologist involved in Ida’s discovery, told the New York Times, “Any pop band is doing the same thing.”
This isn’t exactly the stamp of approval most scientists look for, though, and in this case the puffery is especially unfortunate because the actual scientific finding, described in a paper published on May 19 in the online journal PLoS One, really is important.
The Science News Cycle (PhD Comics)
