Scientists have
recently found the remains of several more Homo floresiensis hominids on the Flores Island in Indonesia. This puts to rest most of the speculation that the original skeleton of the hobbit was simply a diseased normal human individual and not a member of a newfound species.
This discovery further bolsters the theory of evolution (much to the chagrin of creationists, who originally attacked this find as a single diseased individual). Homo floresiensis is not an ancestor of modern Homo sapiens sapiens, but rather, an evolutionary off-shoot of Homo erectus. It has been known in evolutionary theory for a long time that when a population is isolated on an island or other small habitat the size of the members of that species decreases. We have seen evidence of this before in mini dinosaurs, mini elephants, and other remains of miniaturized animals. This recent evidence is the first time that miniaturization has been found in humans' close relatives, leaving us to ponder that we are more subject to extreme evolutionary variability than we previously thought.
Also of interest is the discovery that these hobbits had rather small brains (to go along with their smallish heads and bodies), yet were still capable of making all the variety of tools that their larger-brained Homo erectus ancestors were. Brain size may not be as important in the development of tool use as previously thought.
Now you may be wondering, what is all of this connected to? Evolution! This is just another data point to go along with millions of others in favor of evolution. Creationists (sorry, "intelligent design proponents") have a looong way to go to even begin to attempt to discredit evolutionary theory, nevermind somehow getting their harebrained hypotheses to explain the evidence equally well.
Trying to get creationism into the school curriculum is like fighting a constantly uphill battle. Billions of dollars are made using evolutionary concepts annually (just ask the drug and pharmaceutical industry), and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of evidences in favor of evolution are added to the pile each year. The only way creationists can even hope to get their religious stories taught alongside real science in the science classroom is by trying to get the curriculum set by laypersons (School Board members) rather than real scientists. Unfortunately, they are being somewhat successful in this task -- just look at Dover, Pennsylvania and Kansas. That is why it is important for people for the advancement of science everywhere to take a stand and make sure that real science continues to be the only thing taught in science class.