Hurray! Darwin was right, and all it took was one long-lost fossil to prove it! So claims this article from the New York Daily News.
The fossil in question, "Ida", was described in PLoS One. It's a 58 cm long primate that is hailed by the popular press as the "missing link" in evolution. Ugh.
This fossil is very important for the study of primate evolution. It's 47 million years old (that's OLD). It's in incredibly good shape. It's an exciting find. But, you know, evolutionary biologists already knew Darwin was right about the whole descent-with-modification/natural selection business. There's so much other evidence from comparative anatomy, biochemistry, molecular biology, paleontology, medicine, and I could go on. One more fossil, as important as it is, wasn't necessary to convince us. As for Intelligent Design proponents, they'll continue to point to all the other gaps in our knowledge and claim them as evidence that we were all put here by a creator. And there will ALWAYS be missing transition forms for them to point to.
