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Premature release of scientific results to the public is against the interests of scientists, journalists and the public. The use of embargoed press releases is beneficial, and helps the quality of coverage of science in the media.
The discovery of 510-million-year-old skeletal fragments that are thought to belong to an early armoured fish — probably one of the earliest-known vertebrates — may change accepted ideas about the evolution of the vertebrate skeleton.
The case became a cause celebre for the vindication of a corporate pharmaceutical giant's cash cow, and a legal battle between free will and neurophilosophical reductionism.
