A 47-million year-old rockstar. In New York Ida (EE-DA) was unveiled to the world. Until now our oldest known ancestor was Lucy, just three point two million years-old. Ida, fifteen times older, has a human-like hand, opposable thumbs and a bone in her foot similar to one of ours. She just might be a relative.

Hi, I’m Erica  for Newsy.com. That was video from Good Morning America that featured a visit from Darwinius masillae on their show Wednesday morning.

The appearance was the latest in a string of publicity events surrounding news of the discovery, which was kept secret for two years while scientists examined the fossil discovered in Messel, Germany.

Google even featured Ida in their homepage logo, but is this hype good for the science? Jorn Hurum , lead member of the fossils scientific team, told the New York Times: Yes.

“Any pop band is doing the same thing. Any athlete is doing the same thing. We have to start thinking the same way in science.”

However, Science-blogs.com disagrees, saying all the hype detracts from the science.

“Under different circumstances I would be happy to see an exceptional fossil receiving such treatment, but I fear that Ida has become a victim of a sensationalistic media that values audience size over scientific substance.”

However; conservative groups aren’t convinced of the fossil’s importance nor do they accept scientists’ interpretation of its origin. The Baltimore Christian Conservative Examiner said on Examiner.com:

“Without getting into the creation debate all over again, I just want to say, really 45 million years huh? They had monkeys back then?
Just because the monkey had some similar types of bones, doesn’t make it a missing link because it’s still a monkey!”

And finally, the BBC brings us another comment from Hurum defending the discovery:

“If it is a missing link, then it’s not missing anymore. You could say that this was a part of our history maybe that no body has seen before. In that way its been missing for 47 million years. But now we can describe it…”