The Apes—Points To Ponder

Scarcity of data

In some areas of scientific study there is insufficient data to offer strong support to any theory. If we take cosmology as an example, the field of study is handicapped because we can only make observations of the universe from the Earth or from satellites within the solar system. The accurate data that has been gathered is confined to a relatively short period of time—a few hundred years at best—less than the blink of an eye in the life of the universe.
Similarly, paleontology, the study of ancient life, is restricted to what can be discovered via the fossil record. Data is confined to the specific times when fossils were created. And the fossil record from any given era is only a minuscule snapshot of that time. This leaves huge gaps in the evidence for any theory in this field.

Other areas of science are not so constricted. For example, with modern instruments, zoologists can examine both living and recently dead specimens of a species in fine detail and gather very large amounts of data to support or oppose any specific theory.

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