"This discovery has flummoxed the field of anthropology."

I love the word 'flummox.'

"Scientists working with powerful imaging computers say the spectacular 'Hobbit' fossil recently discovered in Indonesia had distinctive brain features that could justify its classification as a separate — and tiny — human ancestor...

" In October, scientists from Indonesia and Australia caused an international sensation with their report of a trove of fossils found in a cave on the equatorial island of Flores. As many as seven tiny individuals were represented by the bones in layers that were dated from 95,000 to 12,000 years ago. The Hobbit skeleton was the most complete specimen to be described...

"New research produced a computer-generated model that compared surface impressions on the inside of the fossil skull with brain casts of modern and ancient humans, as well as chimps and other primates. The scientists said the model shows that the 3-foot specimen, nicknamed Hobbit, had a brain unlike anything they had seen before in recent human lineage. The brain is chimplike in size, between 380 and 420 cubic centimeters.

"Despite being up to two-thirds smaller than a modern human brain, the Hobbit fossil's brain shared wrinkled surface features with the brains of both modern humans and Homo erectus, tool-making human ancestors that lived more than 1 million years ago, the researchers said. Some of those features are consistent with higher cognitive traits, they report.

"At the same time, they said the Hobbit brain was different from the brain of a modern human pygmy or a human with abnormal brain growth.

"'This is something new,' said Florida State University anthropologist Dean Falk, who led the study. 'This discovery has flummoxed the field of anthropology.'"


See also... well, no, I'll just continue with:

Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians

"Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days [in 2003] under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

"During that time, he did not consume anything and 'neither did he pass urine or stool,' according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai. Yet he is in fine mental and physical fettle, say doctors. At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight.

"'A series of tests conducted on him show his body mechanism is that of a normal person,' said Dr Desai.

"Mr Jani spends most of his time in a cave near the Ambaji temple in Gujarat state.

"'I feel no need for food and water,' says Mr Jani, who claims he was blessed by a goddess at the age of eight and has lived in caves ever since. He grew up in Charod village in Mehsana district and wears the dress of a devotee of the goddess Ambaji [or Devi Durga] -- a red sari-like garment, nose ring, bangles and crimson flowers in the hair.



Jani says he has survived several decades without food or water because of a hole in his palate. Drops of water filter through this hole, he says, sustaining him.

[The water that drips through the hole in his palate is likely the manifestation of a channel for divine nectar, attained through mastery of one's internal energies. Such an accomplishment is described in a couple of vajrayana texts and commentaries that I've read. --Ed.]

"'He has never fallen ill and can continue to live like this,' said Bhiku Prajapati, one of Mr Jani's many followers.

"'A hole in the palate is an abnormal phenomenon,' says Dr Desai.

"Dr Desai's colleague, Dr Urman Dhruv, told the BBC a full medical report is being prepared on Mr Jani's 10 days under observation. Doctors say they cannot verify his claim to have not eaten or drunk for decades - but by observing his feat under laboratory conditions, they hope to learn more about the human body.

"It is likely that doctors will want to examine Mr Jani again in order to solve the medical mystery he has presented them with."