Abstract
The fossil record certainly serves as an invaluable source of information on the evolution of earthly life. In recent years, several important transitions have been illuminated through fossil discoveries, including the evolution of whales from small land animals, the evolution of amphibians from fish, the evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs, and of course the evolution of modern humans from a bush of more than a dozen divergent species. Progress has also been made as to the earliest beginnings of the animal and plant kingdoms. Importantly, the transitions, the replacements, the extinctions, and the timing of these events all support the gradual evolution of the forms we see around us today. Paleontology is an especially good example of the cumulative nature of science, with each new find adding a new piece of information to the puzzle of life's past. Even when a new fossil overturns current views, this is still cumulative in the corrective sense, and not so different from similar corrections in other scientific disciplines.
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