by Daniel Loxton, Feb 14 2013 via Skepticblog
The internet was buzzing [on February 13, 2013] with the long-anticipated1 release of a paper purporting to present DNA evidence that “conclusively proves that the Sasquatch exist as an extant hominin and are a direct maternal descendent of modern humans.”2 With DNA sourced, according to the paper, from among “One hundred eleven samples of blood, tissue, hair, and other types of specimens,” this is the most prominent Sasquatch DNA case to date.
Full expert review of the team’s data and methods should emerge in the coming days. In the meantime, science writers identified several serious red flags within hours of the paper’s release.
To begin with, it seems that the paper was roundly rejected by mainstream science journals. “We were even mocked by one reviewer in his peer review,” complained lead author Melba Ketchum.3 So how did the paper get published? Although Ketchum insists that this fact did not influence the editorial process, it seems she bought the publication.4 In fact, her paper is the only paper included in the inaugural “Special Issue” of the DeNovo Scientific Journal. Benjamin Radford notes that no libraries or universities subscribe to the newly minted DeNovo, “and the journal and its website apparently did not exist three weeks ago. There’s no indication that the study was peer-reviewed by other knowledgeable scientists to assure quality. It is not an existing, known, or respected journal in any sense of the word.”5 Invertebrate neuroethologist Zen Faulkes notes further that DeNovo lists no editor, no editorial board, no physical address—not even a phone number. “This whole thing looks completely dodgy,” he writes, “with the lack of any identifiable names being the one screaming warning to stay away from this journal. Far, far away.”6
Beyond these irregularities, there are also signs of serious problems with the paper’s data, methods, and conclusions.
MORE . . .
Also see: Bigfoot Witnessed in Texas (GhostTheory.com)
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- Bigfoot DNA Under The Microscope; The Controversy Brews (usahitman.com)
- Bigfoot evidence ‘conclusive,’ says scientifically dubious study (mnn.com)
- Bigfoot DNA Discovered? Not So Fast (livescience.com)
- Bigfoot DNA discovered at last? Not so fast… – NBCNews.com (blog) (science.nbcnews.com)
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I think the concept of bigfoot is one of the few “paranormal” (for lack of a better word) concept that I can accept as reasonable. It makes sense evolutionary-wise — no doubt there have been plenty of “bigfoots” — and if you’ve been into the deep countryside in Canada, America, Australia or Russia or many other places, you’ll know that overwhelming feeling of “damn, the world is just huge!”
That said, I don’t find any of the actual accounts of bigfoot sightings to be believable. I just believe that the concept is plausible, albeit unlikely.
I used to be more open minded about the possibility, but having never found ANY bones, i’ve stopped believing. We can find dinosaur bones from millions of years ago but no bones of bigfoot? I can’t believe it.
Well, I mean, that raises the question of what is Bigfoot? Could it be something so close to humans that the skeletal structure, if not carefully analyzed, would be assumed to be human? Again, I said I don’t believe it’s true, just that it is at least plausible, unlike ghosts or something like that.
Actually, I theorize that bigfoot doesn’t exist now, but is something that has remained in our collective consciousnesses since an ancient time when another homo —- existed alongside us. I read a little while ago about people in I believe it is Indonesia, who have a legend of a small humanlike animal living in the forest with a name that translates into “grandfather who eats anything”. Amazingly, recent DNA testing has shown that there is some other small humanlike animal in our DNA history that would have originated in this same place. Just a cool story, whether there is a link between the story and our DNA history is of course debatable. You seem like the kind of person who’d be interested in such an example of mythology and reality converging. Oh, and Marco Polo and the elephant bird are another example, but I’m writing on my iphone and my hands are tired…:(
Bigfoot is a curious story but i’ve stopped spending time on it because, like i said, no physical proof for something people claim to see hundreds (if not thousands) of times every year. As a myth it’s pretty cool. Maybe something like it existed in the past. Still, the lack of physical evidence has exhausted any reason i had to continue believing.
Videamus Cadaver (Let us see the corpse).