The Piltdown Hoax started with Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist, found a piece of a human skull and a jaw bone in 1912 in a pit in the English town of Piltdown. This fossil was especially significant because it looked like a common ancestor of both humans and apes. They were believed to be from about one million years ago, proving exciting because while early human remains have been discovered in France, Germany, and Asia, this was the first to be found in England. This suggested that the ancestors of England could possibly be the earliest humans, and that apes and people share a common lineage. Although some scientists may have been skeptical of the remains, they neglected to challenge Dawson and his team. An anatomist, Arthur Keith, was especially supportive of this discovery because it supported his theory that big brains in humans evolved before upright walking did. The hoax was discovered after fossils were found in Asia and Africa, dating after the supposed Piltdown man. However, the new discoveries appeared to be less human than the Piltdown fossils, despite being older. This prompted a further look at the fossils with more advanced dating methods and it was soon discovered that the artifacts were artificially stained, material was cut with a steel knife, and the teeth were manually filed down. People believed that Dawson, himself, was responsible for the forging of the artifacts in order to become accepted into royal society and obtain prestige. Woodward, another involved scientist, was not to blame because he kept digging after the Dawson died, and found nothing else. Father Teilhard was quiet when the hoax was brought to light.

Human faults are exposed when looking at this scandal. In this particular scandal, Watson was more obsessed with being accepted into Royal Society and establishing himself as a prestigious scientist than actually being accurate and finding honest, honorable results. Humans can also be trusting, and sometimes too quick to believe what they are being told. The other scientist did not question Watson’s findings as much as the process required. Also, the skeptical individuals were too scared to confront or challenge Watson because if his standing in science at the time. Humans tend to not want to stand out or be criticized, and the scientific process was compromised because others did not want to be proven wrong.

When the truth was revealed about Piltdown man, it was due to many technological advancements. There was more advanced radioactive dating, which allowed them to find that the artifacts were not from millions of years ago. The jaw, in fact, was from less than 100 years ago from a female orangutan. There were also stronger microscopes, which helped scientists to see that the teeth had been filled down into the shape the suspect wanted. They also, after finding deep scratch marks, saw that the bones fossils had been cut by a steel knife.

As long as humans are performing these processes and experiments, I don’t believe than it is possible to completely remove the human factor from science. It is possible to reduce and minimize, but not to completely eliminate. Some aspects of the human factor should be removed such as motivations like recognition or fame. This can compromise the process and possibly lead to incorrect manipulation of experiments in order to produce a desired outcome. Other aspects, however, such as natural curiosity and innovation, should be kept in science because they are what makes the field advance. Computers cannot perform these tasks. They are needed to problem solve and figure out solutions to unexpected obstacles.

This historical event shows us that you must always be a little bit skeptical when receiving information from unverified sources. It can be tempting to simply believe it if it supports something you believe, similar to Arthur Keith, but it is better to have an incorrect theory to have unreliable, false support. Every aspect of the information has to be carefully examined to confirm its claims, not matter how convincingly correct it may seem. Accuracy is key to everything.

1. The tail of a monkey and the tailbone of a human are homologous structures. Monkeys are primates that dwell  in trees and eat fruits, seeds, leaves, and nuts off of trees, as well. They have prehensile tails and have been extensively experimented on due to their similarity to humans. Humans have erect posture, walk on two feet, and have high manual dexterity. They do not have visible tails, but remnants of one in the form of a tailbone. 

 While the monkey has a tail, the human bone is only a small triangular bone at the base of the back. These structures share a common lineage, but what once was a human tail, disappeared during the process of evolution as a vestigial.The monkey’s tail serves to swat away unwanted insects and aid with balance. It also allows the monkey to swing from trees and grab food. The human tailbone functions as a stabilizing bone to help humans in certain positions such as sitting. It is also a connection point for multiple ligaments, joints, and muscles. There is such a difference between these species due to the fact that humans don’t need to be able to swing from trees in order to get their food. There isn’t any need for a tail because of the tree-lacking environment that they live in. In addition to this, humans have multiple mechanisms within the body that help with balance, such as cochlear fluid and kinesthetic sense, rendering a tail completely useless. Although a common ancestor did have a tail, it is now a vestigial for humans.

The common ancestor between humans and monkeys is most likely a species of ape, possibly resembling a gibbon. There is evidence of common ancestry in broken jaw artifacts and teeth. Both species are form the genera of Hominini. Apes do have tails, revealing that the common ancestor did posses this homologous trait.

2. Penguins and fish both have fins. Because one is a bird, and one is a fish, they have no recent common ancestor that could possibly be the source of this feature. Penguins live in colder environments where they have to swim in the ocean to catch their food. Fish live in the ocean and also have to swim to get food, move from place to place, and generally survive. 

The fins of the penguin are coated with scale-like feathers, providing a water resistant coating. It is a bird, and most bird wings would not be flexible enough to swim, but penguins fins are flat and tapered to help in the aquatic environment. Fish fins are also coated with scales and are flat, flexible, and strong enough to propel the body through the water. these analogous traits show strong similarities as a result of similar environments. They both have a biological need to swim so that they can find food, escape from predators, and move to different locations. The shape of both species' fins closely resemble each other because of the physical motions that they perform and their aquatic environments.

I don't believe that their common ancestor possessed this trait because fins evolved after the first birds. While both species belong to the phylum chordata, they belong to different classes. Penguins are in the aves class while fish belong to belong to multiple including agnatha, placodermi, and chondrichthyes.  Because they belong to different classes, this trait could not be genetically related.