Kennis show
The Daily Mail is running a pictorial showing hominin reconstructions from Kennis and Kennis, who are being featured in a show in Dresden, Germany: "Meet the grandparents: Researchers use forensics to...
View Article114-year-olds are not mutants!
Alexis Madrigal for the Atlantic: "The Surprisingly Mundane Genetic 'Secrets' of Earth's Oldest People". Recently, the genomes of two 114-year-olds were published by a Boston University team in...
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Sketchbook
Today's sketchbook: These are STW 505 (left) and Sts 71 (right), both from Sterkfontein, South Africa.
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Stature estimates for Sima de los Huesos
Synopsis: The long bones of the Atapuerca people double our information about early human staturesJosé-Miguel Carretero and colleagues [1] report on the lengths of long bones from Sima de los Huesos,...
View ArticleMax-Planck-Weizmann
A reader tipped me off to this Michael Balter news item: "New German-Israeli Center Will Research Archaeology and Anthropology". The new Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and...
View ArticleOpen access op/ed in NY Times
Molecular biologist Michael Eisen, writing in the New York Times: "Research bought, then paid for". THROUGH the National Institutes of Health, American taxpayers have long supported research directed...
View ArticleBody donation is a weighty matter
Barbara King gives a shout-out to the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee ("Cremation, burial, or Body Farm?"). Twenty-two years ago, Dr. William M. Bass founded the Body Farm,...
View ArticlePublic interests in data from federally funded research
Synopsis: My response to a federal Request for Information on the topic of digital data access to federally funded researchI submitted the following essay in response to the Request for Information on...
View ArticleThe Mayflower criminal registry
Of some interest with respect to DNA databases and privacy concerns: "DNA links 1991 killing to Colonial-era family". The DNA sample was taken in the death of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough, who was...
View ArticleSynthetic biology explainer
Nice piece on synthetic biology by Adam Rutherford: But Freckles is a long way from normal. She is an extraordinary creation, an animal that could not have existed at any point in history before the...
View ArticleSteno: not just for stratigraphy
Matthew Cobb, guest-blogging at Why Evolution Is True, gives an appreciation of Nicholas Steno's contributions to biology: "Google’s doodle: women have eggs". ‘The testicles of women are analogous to...
View ArticleAleut origins and relationships
Synopsis: A news article covers research into the history of Aleut populations. Michael Balter last week had a news article in Science reviewing archaeological and genetic research into the origins and...
View Article"Journals seem noticeably less important than 10 years ago."
As ScienceOnline2012 gets underway later this week, the New York Times is running an article about open science: "Cracking open the scientific process". The article spends many paragraphs promoting a...
View ArticleThe thrifty brainotype
Synopsis: Were brains constrained by information efficiency, or energy efficiency? Andy Clark, a philosopher of the mind, has entered a useful essay in the NY Times online commentary section: "Do...
View ArticleMy Romanian translation
I'm pleased to note that my diet category now is available in a Romanian translation. The translation is courtesy of Alexander Ovsov, and although it is not the first (I've approved some Spanish...
View ArticleOrangutan loris capture and meat-eating
Synopsis: A discussion of early hominin meat-eating emerges from observations of orangutan huntingMadeleine Hardus and colleagues [1] describe long-term observations of hunting by Sumatran orangutans....
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Bordeaux
I'm in Bordeaux for the rest of this week, taking part in the meetings of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. The city is just as beautiful as I remember! Tags: Hawks sightingstravelFrance
View Article#IamScience trending
I want to point to this powerful personal story by marine biologist and friend Kevin Zelnio: "#IamScience: Embracing Personal Experience on Our Rise Through Science". It may make a difference to some...
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Low-velocity spatter from the Neandertal palette
Synopsis: A discovery of red ochre use by ancient Europeans before 250,000 years agoPaleolithic archaeology is the home of some of the best forensic work anywhere. I've often written about impressive...
View ArticleOpen science interview
NPR's Science Friday interviewed open science advocate Michael Nielsen last week: "Can science be done without secrecy?" I like the headline. FLATOW: Why are scientists the last ones to get in on this?...
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