Cousin marriage in the UK and genetic testing
The Guardian is running an essay by two British GP's about the consequences of cousin marriage in the UK: "Cousin marriages: a question of understanding". The fact remains that this is a health issue,...
View ArticleGreeks bearing gifts
A reader writes: "A good argument to require introductory anthropology": Greeks find human skulls in luggage of U.S. tourists The two young tourists said they had bought the skulls in a souvenir shop...
View ArticleBitwise consciousness
Carl Zimmer writes about theories of consciousness in today's Science NY Times, and describes the work of my Wisconsin colleague, Giulio Tononi. But Dr. Tononi’s theory is, potentially, very different....
View ArticleParasite wrecks
When I used to think about the 21st century, I didn't expect they'd be telling me to go easy on the head lice. Yeah, that joke's wearing thin about bedbugs. Doesn't make it less true.
View ArticleQuote: Huxley and the gorilla mystique
Thomas Henry Huxley, in Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature: If I have abstained from quoting M. Du Chaillu's work, then, it is not because I discern any inherent improbability in his assertions...
View ArticleTweets will find a way
A Twitter virus emerged within the 140 character limit: The exploit was fairly simple, but remarkably effective. Somebody found a bug in the Twitter.com website that allowed them to insert simple bits...
View ArticleFalciparum malaria came from gorillas
Malaria in humans is caused by one of five different species of Plasmodium parasites. The deadliest of these is P. falciparum, especially within Africa where native resistance to P. vivax is high....
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Mental mismatches
A Primate of Modern Aspect ("The sexuality wars, featuring apes") writes about some of the reactions to the new book, Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. As the subtitle suggests,...
View ArticleVegetable superiority
Is there any better example of the importance of throwing for our evolution? Woman scares off charging bear – with a courgette The woman jumped back and grasped the nearest object on her kitchen...
View ArticleLost in Arabia
The BBC is reporting on a talk by archaeologist Michael Petraglia, at the British Science Festival: But Dr Michael Petraglia, of Oxford University, and colleagues say stone artefacts found in the...
View ArticleGene expunction
So, it's a perfectly ordinary story about epigenetics and how the methylation of some genes may be correlated with BMI. But what I don't understand is the headline: Study: Can We Tell Our Genes to Make...
View ArticleCharlemagne the tall
I found an interesting, short paper doing a bit of forensic investigation on Charlemagne [1]: Charlemagne (ca. 747–814 CE; Fig. 1) – or Carolus Magnus meaning “Charles the Big” as well as “Charles the...
View ArticleGenomics by press release
The Spandrel Shop: "When did announcing science become the same as publishing science?" When I think of getting scooped, it means that another lab has published the major findings of something I am...
View Article"Neandertal stimulation": Weckler and biogeography
I'm reviewing some old viewpoints about the relationships of Neandertals and other peoples. These include mainstream opinions that persisted over decades as well as more idiosyncratic ideas. This is...
View ArticleThe failures of dinosaur splitters
A-HA! We all lecture in our classes about the perils of naming too many species, but now the facts have been statistically proven! Well, at least for dinosaurs: Top dinosaur hunters are worst at naming...
View ArticleScanning the ape fecome
Donald McNeil, Jr., has written up some background detail about last week's story that falciparum malaria came from gorillas: "A finding on malaria comes from humble origins". It's one of many research...
View ArticleQuote: Ellison on posthumous work
Writer Harlan Ellison has been saying goodbye to fans, according to the Madison independent paper, Isthmus. The interview is interesting, including this part about unfinished work and posthumous...
View ArticleQuote: Boyd on New World pigmentation clines
I'm using some statistics out of William Boyd's 1956 printing of Genetics and the Races of Man[1]. It gives a good accounting of blood group data known more than fifty years ago, which I'm using to...
View ArticleGenetic bike path
Eva Amsen describes her trip down the BRCA2 cycle path, near the Sanger Institute in the UK. She also points to Jennifer Rohn's description of the path last year. The path was opened in 2007, and...
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