on this day in history

An interesting day for history. Casts of a fossil (above) discovered in Canada are set to be put on display in London this week depicting an animal which appears to be part fish, part land animal.

Two points to Darwin on this one.

And, in another interesting story, the National Geographic Society is putting pages on display today of what they believe may be the lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot. From an interview on the NPR website describing the content of the document:

Judas is a different kind of character. He's the person who is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. And that sacrifice is to sacrifice the life of Jesus in order that Jesus may attain eternity and immortality. And Judas is the one who enables all of us to help find that inner spark within ourselves. I think that the gospel of Judas Iscariot is actually a very reverent document coming from approximately the 2nd century -- well after the four gospels accepted as the canonical gospels were actually written. We don't really know 100 percent that it's Judas' account. We know that a writer in the 2nd century told this story, which is the story of the encounter between Judas Iscariot and Jesus some time after the Resurrection. Judas is actually Jesus' best friend. Judas is the one who enables Jesus to fulfill his mission -- to die and to release that inner spark within himself and within all of us that is the divine.