Fragmentary remains of two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, were carried aboard a Virgin Galactic flight on Sept. 8. Departing from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the fossils, carried by South African-born billionaire Timothy Nash in a cigar-shaped tube, were rocketed to the edge of space.
“I am horrified that they were granted a permit,” Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton in the U.K., wrote in an X thread, noting she would use it as an example in her class about unethical approaches. “This is NOT science.”
It was dumb to risk something this rare for no reward. That’s a problem.
But even with the remains safe, this is part of a troubling trend from the archeologist in question of seeking publicity and raising the stature of the H. naledi finds (which are legit amazing) beyond what he’s scientifically proven. Don’t blast them into space for a few minutes - show experts the proof for all those claims you continue to make despite failing peer review.