Page 26 - The Evolution Impasse 2

24 Leakey, Richard

If pol y mer ic chains of pro teins and nu -
cle ic ac ids are to be forged out of their
pre cur sor mon o mers, a mol e cule of
wa ter must be re moved at each link in
the chain. It is there fore hard to see
how po lym er i za tion could have pro -
ceed ed in the aque ous en vi ron ment of
the prim i tive ocean, since the pres ence
of wa ter fa vors de po lym er i za tion rath -
er than po lym er i za tion. 16

But in the face of this, it is al so
im pos si ble for ev o lu tion ists to al ter
their claim and to main tain that life
be gan on land, be cause the seas
were sup pos ed ly the on ly en vi ron -
ment ca pa ble of pro tect ing the ami - Richard Leakey's claims re gard ing the
no ac ids from harm ful ul tra vi o let fos sils he found by the shores of Lake
Turkana in north ern Kenya mis led the
rays. Amino ac ids formed in the
world of pa le o an thro pol o gy sev er al
prim i tive at mos phere on land times.
would be bro ken down by ul tra vi o -
let rays. tic u lar ly along the shores of Lake
Yet Le Chatelier's prin ci ple Turkana in Northern Kenya. Yet
makes it im pos si ble for ami no ac ids more than once, his sug ges tions re -
to have emerged in the sea! This is gard ing these fos sils have mis led the
yet an oth er in sol u ble di lem ma fac - world of pa le o an thro pol o gy.
ing the the o ry of ev o lu tion. For ex am ple, he de scribed a fos sil
skull he dat ed at 2.8 mil lion years
old as the great est dis cov ery in the
LEAKEY, RICHARD his to ry of an thro pol o gy, though it
was lat er re al ized that this skull's
As well as be ing an an thro pol o -
hu man-like face was the re sult of a
gist and pa le on tol o gist, Richard
de lib er ate ly fal si fied re con struc tion.
Leakey is al so a well known ev o lu -
(See Homo rud ol fen sis.)
tion ist writer. He is best known for
Leakey was strong ly bi ased in fa -
his fos sil-hunt ing ac tiv i ties, hav ing
vor of the the o ry of ev o lu tion, and
dis cov ered a great many fos sils, par -

The Evolution Impasse II