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Neandertal introgression, 1000 Genomes style
Synopsis: We're quantifying the amount of Neandertal ancestry in whole genome data from living people.For our project to understand pigmentation genetics in archaic humans, we had to find a good...
View ArticleHiggs hunting
I follow physics news but generally don't post about it. But after the recent Higgs boson press conference, I found this article by Lawrence Krauss to be a very useful explanation of the underlying...
View ArticleTestosterone, fatherhood,
Daniel Lende has done a nice interview with Northwestern University anthropologist Lee Gettler ("On Testosterone and Real Men: An Interview with Lee Gettler"). Gettler is a Ph.D. candidate in human...
View ArticleBlogs rank high in online education
This morning I read a notice from our Division of Continuing Studies, pointing to how their online resource library had received more than one million visits so far this year ("Vast distance education...
View ArticleOver coffee
G: Guess what Daddy and I learned last night? I'm more Neandertal than he is! S: How did you find that out? G: Our genes. S: That's creepy. G: What do you mean, creepy? We think it's awesome! S:...
View ArticleA quick look at your Neandertal fraction
The 23andMe blog, the Spittoon, has a description of their new technique to use 23andMe SNPs to estimate any customer's fraction of Neandertal: "Find your inner Neanderthal". The result is a...
View ArticleNeandertal anti-defamation files, 14
Another Geico commercial tonight during college football bowl season: Geico Caveman is playing Scrabble with some famous NFL player. Caveman plays "CAT" and is proud of himself. Football jock plays...
View ArticleQuote: Marshall Sahlins on relevance
Marshall Sahlins writing in the pamphlet, Waiting for Foucault, p. 18: Relevance I don't know about Britain, but in America many graduate students are totally uninterested in other times and places....
View ArticleIs humanistic research a waste of time?
Synopsis: A scholar tries to quantify the value of humanistic research. Academic work in the humanities is a giant waste of time, claims Mark Bauerlein in the Chronicle of Higher Education ("The...
View ArticleRapid adaptation to captivity in salmon
I just want to note this study by Mark Christie and colleagues [1] because it is such a clear demonstration of powerful selection working on standing variants in association with domestication. Rachel...
View ArticleSchools of fish, schools of thought
Synopsis: A paper on decision making in groups of animals prompts me to think about science.Kate Shaw enters a report in the science section of Wired on a paper that modeled decision-making in animal...
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James F. Crow, 1916-2012
Synopsis: In memory of a friend and colleague, one of the most prominent figures in the history of geneticsI received today the sad news that my friend and colleague James F. Crow has died, at the age...
View ArticleIn the lab of Shakhashiri
Nature this week profiles [1] my University of Wisconsin-Madison colleague Bassam Shakhashiri, now president of the American Chemical Society. Around here he is most famous for his activism in science...
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Best practices and tips for Twitter in the higher-ed classroom
Synopsis: Thinking about integrating Twitter in your class communication strategy? Here are some pointers. Photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa, on Flickr, Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 College students have...
View ArticleEcologists against public access to peer reviewed publications
This seems incredible, from Jonathan Eisen: "YHGTBFKM: Ecological Society of America letter regarding #OpenAccess is disturbing". Wow -- I am really disturbed by the letter the Ecological Society of...
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Charles R. Knight biography
Brian Switek reviews the book, Charles R. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time, by Richard Milner: "Charles R. Knight’s Prehistoric Visions". Knight’s successes were hard-won, but, as Milner’s...
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Looking over a Neandertal's shoulder
Synopsis: A study of the glenoid joint finds a pattern across the genus Homo, and similarities between a Vindija specimen and more recent humans A study by Di Vincenzo, Steven Churchill and Giorgio...
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Sketchbook
Today's sketchbook: KNM-ER 1802 mandible, in occlusal view. This mandible is attributed to the genus Homo, often placed in Homo habilis, although those who believe in Homo rudolfensis generally include...
View ArticleQuote: Stephen Hawking on models
Stephen Hawking, quoted in Wired ("Stephen Hawking's best quotes") “A model is a good model if first it interprets a wide range of observations in terms of a simple and elegant model, and second if the...
View ArticleCounting citations and career fitness
Philip Ball: "The h-index, or the academic equivalent of the stag's antlers". Few topics excite more controversy among scientists. When I spoke about the h-index to the German Physical Society a few...
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